Environmentalists retard innovation in alternative fuels and energy sources.

Keep oil prices up and environmentalists down and we will soon be able to tell the Saudis “no, thanks.”

For nuclear to do much for oil consumption, you need to either (a)convert electricity and/or heat to fuel (viz hydrogen) or (b)store electricity efficiently in vehicles (better battery technology)

Many other thoughtful comments here as well. Thanks.

Great, another theocracy.

/JK

From what little I read, all the arab, if not other oil-producing countries play it extremely close to the vest.

Plus a couple of things I read on Rantburg how they’re using water to flush the oil closer to the surface. That’s only used if the wells are running dry, IIRC.

1. Like it or not, when the Saudis speak on Islam, 1/6 of the world’s population listens. They don’t always agree, but Saudi influence is very, very high. If the Saudis bless a questionable action by the US, then it’s easier for the US to get acquiescence from the rest. Conversely, if the Saudis object, it gets that much harder.

2. Talk to anyone in Logistics for the USAF in general, or CENTCOM in particular, about the problems they’d have if the Saudis were no longer willing to open their airspace to the US. The US does not own enough mid-air tankers and does not have enough ports to refuel flights going east of Suez. Turkey helps, to an extent, but it not a complete answer.

Finally, the Saudis are so deeply invested in the US economy–estimates put it around $800 Billion–that damaging the US economy equates with damaging the Saudi economy. They do not have monetary reserves to permit that as they’re still paying their bills from Desert Storm, as well as continuing infrastructure development. They’ve had a couple of good years, but are using that money mostly to pay down their debt.

He thinks that govt makes things happen faster. Clearly wrong. Govt makes some things happen faster, or at least has done so occasionally in the past, but often slows things down. (Govt often makes it easier for folks to make money on process than results, which leads to more process and less results.)

He seems to think that reducing gas consumption is a good thing. If it required no other changes, sure, but reducing consumption by reducing travel is a cost as is reducing consumption by replacing equipment. Sometimes the benefit is worth the cost, but not always.

He seems to think that carbon by humans is a big issue. He’s wrong.

Energy Bulletin

Aramco Expats

However, Saudi has to cover a lot of other costs with its oil revenues and so the $3 figure does not represent a level at which they could sell oil. There are other costs associated with oil production as well as the massive costs of running the Saudi government and social system. The country does have a lot of non-oil revenue.

The average per barrel cost of Saudi crude (simple average price of Saudi light, medium and heavy crudes since August,2004) has been $39.51. This is from Dept of Energy Energy Information Agency (http://www.eia.doe.gov/).

Personally, I agree with sceptics such as Matt Simmons who say that Saudi may not be able to increase production much in the future. In any event, it is a topic ripe for speculation. Saudi (and most OPEC) reserve figures are really political constructs and have not been audited in any way by outsiders.

However, there is no doubt that the financial position of oil exporters has reversed and they are currently swiming is cash.

Kyoto should be replaced by agreements that gas and/or carbon emission taxes will represent some amount of the gov’t revenue, and that amount should increase.

Letting folks get tax credits in return — so those wanting to buy smaller, more efficient cars, can do so. And everybody will know that gas prices just keep going up.

Until alternative tech comes on line. Which happens sooner with higher gas prices, and soonest with gov’t support (not always “better”, but faster).

“Look at the amount of reserves they have, versus rest of world.”

This isn’t your fault, but the media’s fault for not teaching the general public what an oil reserve is. Usually it’s any oil that can be extracted for 15 dollars a barrel. At 60 dollar oil, you realize quickly it’s nonsense.

Just as an example.
At this defnition, Canada has 5 bbo in oil reserves. Saudi has 261 bbo of reserves. But if we jump this up just a couple of dollars. Canada now has 180 bbo of oil and Saudi number remains the same.

So what does this mean? As technology increases, more oil will be found -though it has already been found.

Just imagine this, imagine we find a cheap way to extract shale oil? What happens then? Utah has as much oil as the Middle East.

Technology will save the day when it comes to commodities, this has been proven throughout history.

Though I wouldn’t mind tarrifing OPEC nations in the meantime, I have always believed America should not do business with Cartels. They aren’t legal in our country, so why do we allow trade with them?

-You can find all this info in the Almanac btw, which is even sadder, because it means the media isn’t even bothering to check it. I wonder how many in the Media even know that we get more oil from Canada, and Mexico than the middle east. Or that the Middle East only provides us with about 12% of our total oil -not imports. pg 173 of 2005 Almanac.

I didn’t realize the Saudis realized a 3000% markup on oil. Can you list the source?

Thanks.

Sure, it’s expensive to extract, but you could also say that propping up despotic Middle Eastern countries is also taking its toll if the source of terrorism is anything to go by.

This is not necessarily true. If your profit margin is only 10% then you make nothing no matter how much you sell at 10% less and if you sell for more than 10% less you will lose money.

The problem is not about the Saudis intentionally stopping oil shipments for whatever reason. That will not happen. (Though reduced production and price rises are possible).

The problem is the break of stability, and reduced oil shipments due to sabotage, destruction, war, insurgency or some such situation when things get out of control, for the Saudis and for the US as well.

The US (together with the rest of the world) is highly dependent on Saudi oil, and nothing can change that in the foreseable future (next several decades). Avoiding chaos and a loss of oil shipments is of paramount importance.