At Oil Conference, Saudis Offer Slight Rise in Production

[FreeStateDemocrat]

Source: NY Times



By ROBERT F. WORTH and JAD MOUAWAD
Published: June 23, 2008
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — A hastily convened global energy summit meeting led by Saudi Arabia ended largely in disagreement on Sunday, with only a modest pledge of increased production by the Saudis and no resolution on what other practical steps should be taken to ease the crisis over soaring oil prices.

The Saudis, who considered the meeting a success because of the high attendance, announced they would raise production by 200,000 barrels a day. But news of that increase had already been absorbed by the voracious world market for oil, and it was not expected to affect prices. Some energy experts had anticipated that the Saudis might announce a much bigger increase.

Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter, is the only country with the ability to significantly increase production quickly.

Rather than finding areas of agreement, participants in the one-day meeting in this coastal city on the Red Sea illustrated the sharply diverging views on what has caused oil prices to double in the past year to the $130 to $140 per barrel range.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/middleeast/23saudi.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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Turn out the lights, the party's over.

[whistle]

1. Saudis stuck their thumbs in Shrub's eyes

[chicagoboy84]

2. OK, let me see if I get this

Israel and Saudi Arabia are our friends in the Middle East, right? We give them a bazillion dollars in all sorts of aid every year, don't we? And the former repays us by dealing in bad faith with whatever's left of Palestine, while the latter repays us by - well, bilking us? And yet we can't tell them what to do, even though we have no problem placing demands on countries we've never done a good thing for. Like Iraq. Or Iran. Or Syria. Those are the rogue states of the Middle East. And boy, we're doing a darn good job whipping them into shape.

[harry123]

3. The Saudis have no spare capacity

I just wrote this on another thread, but it galls me that the press keeps acting like the Saudis have tons of crude production waiting to be uncorked. They don't. Matthew Simmons sheds light on this in his book "Twilight in the Desert>'

The news article says:
"Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter, is the only country with the ability to significantly increase production quickly."

Hogwash. We have hit peak oil. I have two posts directly related to the Saudis and their claims of spare capacity.

1. http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/06/blame-bernanke-dollar-and-oil.html
2. http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/06/peak-oil-are-we-there-yet.html

Do you believe they are going to start pumping more?

[uppityperson]

4. I feel for their culture, what will happen in the next 20 yrs when income drops.

It is not simple. Peak oil. Oil costing more to pump. The massive profits they have gotten over the last 50 yrs will drop. They won't be able to continue as they have been and wonder at what point they will not make enough to afford to pump it (keeping their citizen perks and salaries the same or even not)?

[CatholicEdHead]

5. Yes, it will be a hard time as the Monarchy will have the Whabbism bite them in the behind

They have used the Whabbists as a type of shield to hold onto power, but when the oil starts to dry up the Kingdom will probably not be able to hold against the religious extremists, when the money to keep them at bay dries up.

[sofa king]

6. Oh, they all know it.

"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel." -- Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum

(Edit: Yes, I know he's from the U.A.E. The point is that producers on the Arabian Peninsula have been well aware of peak oil for much longer than we have.)