So says the Australian Resources Research Centre, newly opened last week.

"There is no doubt oil will be very important in the coming decades, but we must begin looking for alternatives as demand continues to grow at 2.3 to 2.4 per cent a year," CSIRO petroleum chief Mr Adrian Williams said.

He said the Centre and industry partner, the Curtin University of Technology, promised smarter oil production and the efficient recovery of oil from existing and future reserves. Mr Williams added Australia has good reserves of gas, which presented the opportunity of exploiting hydrogen as a fuel.