WikiLeaks: Saudis not so flush with oil

[thundley4]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Newly released U.S. diplomatic cables said a Saudi official warned in 2007 the kingdom may have drastically exaggerated the extent of its crude oil reserves.

The confidential cables, made public on the WikiLeaks Web site, warned Washington a Saudi government oil executive had said Saudi oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 40 percent, or a whopping 300 billion barrels.

Britain's The Guardian said Tuesday subsequent cables warned Saudi oil monopoly Aramco was "having to run harder to stay in place" and questioned Saudi Arabia's ability to keep the world supplied with enough crude to keep a lid on prices over the long term.

The WikiLeaks cables detailed a 2007 meeting between the U.S. consul general in Riyadh and Sadad al-Husseini, the former head of exploration for Aramco.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/02/09/WikiLeaks-Saudis-not-so-flush-with-oil/UPI-98981297229426/#ixzz1DUqDFykk

I'm beginning to wonder about the veracity of any of these leaks. They all seem to have one goal in common, causing as much worldwide disorder as possible.  It seems like Assange clearly hates the US, but why provide this , which if anything gives us more incentive to push for domestic production increases. 

[TVDOC]

Even if true.......it's BS........present (proven) Saudi reserves fulfill over 200 years of the world's requirements (at current production levels).  This change would place them at just over a century, big deal......plus new oil is being discovered in Saudi every week, as well as everywhere else in the world.

Over and understating reserves happens all the time, for various reasons.  Reserves are "snapshots" at a given point in time, and are always changing UPWARD.  Production is the statistic that drives oil prices.

doc

[Jmartin]

Bulls ! They change their production on a weekly basis to keep oil at current prices or make it go higher. Yet another reason we need to drill baby drill. We can more than meet our needs if we tapped our current reserves. When we do tap them we should say  to the rest of the worldand keep it all for ourselves do to the way they have screwed us over in the last few decades. We are teetering on a depression still right now, and the last thing we need is $4-$5 a gallon gas. It would be the straw on the camel's back just like in 08 when the crap hit the fan.

[DumbAss Tanker]

In the long run, we're all worm food and of course they run out of oil.  The only quibble is exactly when.

[Bertram]

Whether you believe it or not, the accusation that Saudi Arabia might be overestimating it's oil reserves is defiantly worth a large investigation.

[TVDOC]

Whether you believe it or not, the accusation that Saudi Arabia might be overestimating it's oil reserves is defiantly worth a large investigation.

And WHO exactly would you suggest conduct that investigation??

Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country, its oil reserves are its natural resource........what exactly would such an investigation prove??

Assuming that they ARE overstating their provable reserves......so what.......it's their business.

If an investigation would be convened, it would be FAR more productive to investigate why we (the US) are not developing our own reserves, such as shale and tar sands reserves in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, etc.  which are estimated to be twenty times as large as the total resources in Saudi Arabia

The US could be completely free from dependence on foreign oil within two decades simply by developing ALL of our potential reserves........that of course would require the complete destruction of liberalism, and a pragmatic set of shackles placed on the "environmental movement" (spelled communism) here.........which will ultimately happen......just a question of whether it takes the "lights going out" first, to awaken the populace.

doc

[Bertram]

And WHO exactly would you suggest conduct that investigation??

Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country, its oil reserves are its natural resource........what exactly would such an investigation prove??

Assuming that they ARE overstating their provable reserves......so what.......it's their business.

If an investigation would be convened, it would be FAR more productive to investigate why we (the US) are not developing our own reserves, such as shale and tar sands reserves in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, etc.  which are estimated to be twenty times as large as the total resources in Saudi Arabia

The US could be completely free from dependence on foreign oil within two decades simply by developing ALL of our potential reserves........that of course would require the complete destruction of liberalism, and a pragmatic set of shackles placed on the "environmental movement" (spelled communism) here.........which will ultimately happen......just a question of whether it takes the "lights going out" first, to awaken the populace.

doc

Right, clearly aren't taking advantage of the supposed oil reserves that you mentioned. Perhaps knowing that Saudi Arabia isn't all it's cracked up to be is a pretty good incentive to start exploiting this holy grail of potential reserves.
Also shutting down the environmental movement? We should be developing both. Solar and Wind and are legit for the Power Grid, but when it comes to everything from the plastic on your computer screen to the rubber on your tires we need oil to sustain, you are correct. Because its more than the lights. THATS why we need oil.
As for Environmentalism, it fuels innovation to seek other means of sustainability.

[TVDOC]

Right, clearly aren't taking advantage of the supposed oil reserves that you mentioned. Perhaps knowing that Saudi Arabia isn't all it's cracked up to be is a pretty good incentive to start exploiting this holy grail of potential reserves.
Also shutting down the environmental movement? We should be developing both. Solar and Wind and are legit for the Power Grid, but when it comes to everything from the plastic on your computer screen to the rubber on your tires we need oil to sustain, you are correct. Because its more than the lights. THATS why we need oil.
As for Environmentalism, it fuels innovation to seek other means of sustainability.

Just two quibbles to your response above...........

Solar and wind will NEVER produce even a tiny fraction of the nation's electrical needs.  They are ancient technologies, and far too expensive to place in grid production to ever be competitive as a national electrical generating resource.  Not to mention that they are grotesquely ugly, and mar the landscape.  The obvious and easy solution to power generating capacity is nuclear plants........LOTS of them.

Second quibble.......the "environmental movement" produces NOTHING, except impediments to progress and development of resources.....grossly inflated regulations and associated costs.  Environmentalism is the new home of the Communist Party in America........they need to be purged......eliminated.......eradicated.  

The methods used by America petroleum producers are several orders of magnitude friendlier to the environment than those used in the rest of the world.  A good example of this technology is the development of Anwar.  It is proposed that only using 5 square miles in Anwar, containing less than a dozen oil rigs could produce enough oil to  satisfy US requirements for ten years.  It should be noted that Anwar encompasses something like 50,000 square miles (if memory serves).  Environmentalists and liberals are the only factor prohibiting that development.

Does it make any sense that "preserving" an area that nobody visits, and the likelyhood of pissing off a few Caribou should stand in the way of a project with potential like that??

doc

[docstew]

it make any sense that "preserving" an area that nobody visits, and the likelyhood of pissing off a few Caribou should stand in the way of a project with potential like that??

Not to mention the fact that ANWR is pretty desolate already, as evidenced by any number of photographs of the area.