We’ve all heard the story. Most of the world’s major oil deposits have already been discovered. The low-hanging fruit has been picked. The remaining oil supplies are tough to get at – and expensive to recover.

In the energy market Wednesday, crude for June delivery debuted as the front-month contract by rising slightly to close at $118.30/barrel, up 23 cents. May reformulated gasoline gained 3.23 cents, solidifying its place above $3 at $3.0424/gallon.

A recent story in the Financial Times covered the possibility that Nigeria’s crude oil output could fall by a third in the next seven years. The problem is, Nigeria is one of the top five foreign oil suppliers to the U.S.

In the energy market Tuesday, crude for May delivery capped its run as front-month contract by rocketing to yet another record close at $119.37/barrel, up $1.89.

Pemex better start exploring for more oil in the Gulf of Mexico or its going to pump out all its reserves in less than ten years. Mexican President Felipe Calderon went on national television last night in Mexico and told his countrymen (in Spanish, we presume), “We have to act now because we’re running out of time and out of oil.”

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After years of denials $100-a-barrel oil has been recognized as a reality by Uncle Sam, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The WSJ reports that the “normally bearish” US Energy Information Administration forecasts that crude oil prices will remain above $100 this year.

Soaring demand in China, India, and Russia will continue to keep prices high. Lack of spare capacity worldwide will also continue to push up prices, according to the report.

– UBS gets thumped

Swiss bank UBS makes front-page news on The Wall Street Journal for its thumping quarterly loss of more than $12 billion on write-downs of $19 billion. The losses have claimed chairman Marc Ospel.

– USA 2008: The Great Depression

Brit newspaper The Independent leads with “dismal projections” that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will rely on government food stamps to survive, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.

– Paulson plan will be DOA

Paulson plan will be “dead on arrival”, according to The New York Times, as “lawmakers and lobbyists from an array of industries” oppose to the plan to create a new financial regulatory system…