Is the UK government about to accept peak oil arguments?

According to The Guardian, the Energy Minister, Lord Hunt, has been meeting industrialists in London today in a bid to calm mounting fears about the disruption that could follow a sudden shortage of oil supplies. In a significant policy shift, the government has apparently agreed to undertake more work on whether the UK needs to take action to avoid the massive dislocation that could be caused by the early onset of "peak oil" – the point that marks the start of terminal decline in global oil production (see Hubbert's curve below).
See here for the full story in The Guardian. And see here for the excellent Bristol Peak Oil Report - evidence once again that communities and councils so often lead the way on the carbon agenda.