Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Forget About Reforming the Tar Sands

Documents released by WikiLeaks reveal that the US suspects Saudi Arabia may have overstated its oil reserves by 40%.   The cables from the American embassy in Riyadh conclude the Saudis might not be able to pump enough oil to keep world prices from surging.

The price of oil has soared in recent weeks to more than $US100 a barrel due to global demand and tensions in the Middle East. Many analysts expect the Saudis and others in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.
However, Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, told the US consul-general in Riyadh in November 2007 that Aramco's 12.5 million barrel-a-day capacity, needed to keep a lid on prices, could not be reached.

According to the cables, which date between 2007 and 2009, Mr Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12 million barrels a day in 10 years but before then, possibly as early as 2012, global oil production would have hit its highest point. This crunch point is known as ''peak oil''.

Others contend that Peak Oil won't arrive until 2020 and will then be followed by a production plateau that could last another 15-years.   Either way it looks like we're in for permanent oil price increases which, in turn, will fuel increased demand for Athabasca bitumen.  Oh well, we've always got the government's fairy tales about ethical oil to put our minds to rest.
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4 comments:

  1. LMA6:59 PM, February 09, 2011

    Isn't it possible that oil price increases could also increase consumer demand for alternate green energy sources? Of course, our government is going to have invest in the development of renewables which means taking it away from the oil companies. Oh dear.

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  2. Anonymous9:38 PM, February 09, 2011

    I've been seeing a propaganda commercial lately about "cleaner tar sands", I think it is from the same group as the more then fuel oil propaganda...

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  3. The Mound of Sound11:23 PM, February 09, 2011

    @LMA - I doubt there'll be any greening through alternative energy while Canada and Alberta stand to reap massive windfall profits from dead dinosaurs. It's enormous unearned wealth and shortsighted sphincters like the Conservative and Liberal leaders think we can build a strong country on that. We don't have to innovate and create and develop. All we must do is let Big Oil come in and dig our sludge and leave a few shillings in our begging bowls on the way out.

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  4. LMA10:49 AM, February 10, 2011

    If you are right MoS, I'm not sure I can live in a country that builds its' wealth on dirty oil that brings misery to the rest of the world. I am still hopeful for change in the political landscape, however, failing that, I may consider emigrating to the U.K.

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