PeteMorris Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 What happened to all the rhetoric about the Iraq war being all about the Americans getting their hands on the oil...etc...blah blah....If they're well on their way to being self sufficient? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cavegirl Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Russia, not Saudi Arabia, has been the world's largest oil producer for a year now, producing 10.5 billion barrels per year whereas the Saud's produced 10.3bbpy. I do hate it when reporters don't even check basic facts in their reports...or perhaps this is just the propaganda machine in full force. Ghawar, the largest superfield in Saudi Arabia is currently being pumped with CO2 in order to pump out its dwindling oil supply. The Saud's have announced that they plan to convert their energy supply entirely to renewables by 2030 and leave as much oil in the ground as they can for use as liquid fuels and petrochemicals well into the future. Until 1970 the US was the world's largest oil producer, but their private business model meant that their oil companies essentially just kept upping US production year on year in the US 48 and selling it far too cheaply (due to the constant oversupply in the market) until their wells ran dry. Any future oil production must now come from sub-grade shales in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, so they're obviously hell bent on destroying one of the largest, most precious and untouched nature reserves on earth in their quest for oil. The Saudi oil companies were all state controlled and so the Saudi government could control the oil price by controlling their supply levels according to demand, selling their oil for the maximum potential price rather than oversupplying the market as the US did. Personally, I think this was the smart thing to do, but the US in particular has villified them for it, mostly on ideological grounds. Russia is likely to follow a similar strategy as the Saud's. China has much larger deposits of oil-shale than the US, but they can't mine them due to a lack of water supply in the local region which is something that they're currently looking at. They're also showing a major interest in potential oil superfields within the deep waters of the South China Sea. This has led to huge tensions with the Philippines who lay claim to this territory and are backed by protection treaties with the US, so I'd say that's definately an area to keep an eye on in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppins Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 The US would have enough oil for themselves and to supply other countries too if it wasn't for the environmentalist putting a stop to it all these years, I'm sure we'd have to pay more but I for one would be willing to pay it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotone Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Why is it good? The Saudi's will still maintain their wealth by selling their oil to other parties, the oil will still continue to rise; what will change? America will get stronger from the revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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