[extropy-chat] PHREAK OIL: Saudi says they have more than we need...

[The Avantguardian]

--- Hal Finney <hal at finney.org> wrote:

> The book that claims the Saudis are close to peaking
> in their oil
> production is Twilight in the Desert by Matt
> Simmons.  I haven't read
> it but I'm not sure how credible it can be; the
> Saudis are notoriously
> secretive about the details of their oil operations.
> 
> The big thing I don't understand is why, if Saudi
> Arabia is in fact close
> to reaching a peak in its oil production, it would
> want to lie about it
> and claim that it can continue to increase. 
> Credible news of a Saudi
> peak would drive up oil prices as the prospect of
> near-future shortages
> becomes more likely.  This would put money in the
> Saudis' pockets!  By
> lying about it, the Saudis are keeping oil prices
> low and making sure
> that they don't make as much money as they could.
> 
> I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy,
> but don't conspirators
> usually aim to make money rather than lose it? 
> "Come on, guys, here's
> our big secret plan to find a new way to lose
> money!"  It's hard for
> me to see the reasoning behind why the Saudis would
> do this.
> 
My guess would be either, they want to soothe the
savage beast (US military) that has been rampaging
through the Middle East with a "the check is in the
mail" type excuse or maybe they are just overconfident
about their production capabilities and the advance of
technologies that would allow them to get the really
deep stuff. 


The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson


		
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