"It seems that even with very high prices people are willing to consume as much petroleum products as before. That does not help to calm the market," said Mandil.

"It would be extremely useful for all governments in consuming countries to be serious about energy efficiency."

That last happened in the mid 1970s, when the Arab oil embargo choked off supplies to the industrial world.

But that oil crisis was political, not a problem of supply and demand, and hastily-introduced measures of rationed gasoline and lowered household thermostats were soon abandoned.

"In the 70s, high oil prices were a shock... People woke up, but then they relaxed," said former oil company geologist Colin Campbell, now a leading proponent of the view global oil supply is near its peak.

"We went from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and it was a natural, onward progression. But for the first time in history, we're running out of the best thing and we have to go on to the next best thing. That is really awfully hard to face," he added.

Campbell is a trustee of the London-based Oil Depletion Analysis Centre and chairman of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, whose ideas, he said, are gaining currency in this high-oil climate.

He cited French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who said last week: "We have entered the post-oil era."

KATRINA, TRIGGER NOT CAUSE

Last week's march to a record high for US light crude of $70.85 a barrel was triggered by the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina on US oil and gas production.

But prior to that a sustained rally has been driven by surging demand, led by the United States and China, and dwindling supplies as investment in new capacity has lagged consumption.

The question is whether this new energy squeeze will make the world change its ways more permanently.

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it" -- US President George W. Bush's plea to Americans has been the extent of an official government policy response to the country's petrol shortage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The United States has lost about 1 million barrels a day of gasoline, about 10 percent of normal consumption, after Katrina shut down refineries and forced others to cut runs.

The result has been retail gasoline prices in the United States above $3 a gallon and long queues at service stations that have at least temporarily reawakened some US motorists to the need to stop guzzling gas.

In much of Europe, petrol has climbed to more than a euro a litre and governments are beginning to talk of curbing fuel use.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs has called for an international conference on energy efficiency in November.

This week, he presented a five-point plan to counterbalance high oil prices, ranging from reducing energy demand and boosting renewable fuel sources to improving transparency in oil markets and increasing the supply of oil and gas.

The EU had to pay particular attention to renewable and green forms of energy, he said.

But there is also huge pressure to maintain the status quo.

With the election in Germany just two weeks away, there is no talk there of unpopular measures such as reducing speed limits, even though much of its motorway network has no speed limit at all.

The conservatives of Angela Merkel, tipped to be the next chancellor, have even said they would consider reducing tax on gasoline by three cents per litre.

Rising fuel costs in France moved French truckers to set up blockades, most of which have now been lifted after the minister of transport promised to help them cope with fuel costs.