WikiLeaks: Saudis running out of oil

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110209/ts_yblog_thelookout/wikileaks-saudis-running-out-of-oil

The latest startling revelation to come via documents leaked to Julian Assange's muckraking website and published by The Guardian should give pause to every suburban SUV-driver: U.S. officials think Saudi Arabia is overpromising on its capacity to supply oil to a fuel-thirsty world. That sets up a scenario, the documents show, whereby the Saudis could dramatically underdeliver on output by as soon as next year, sending fuel prices soaring.
The cables detail a meeting between a U.S. diplomat and Sadad al-Husseini, a geologist and former head of exploration for Saudi oil monopoly Aramco, in November 2007. Husseini told the American official that the Saudis are unlikely to keep to their target oil output of  12.5 million barrels per day output in order to keep prices stable. Husseini also indicated that Saudi producers are likely to hit "peak oil" -- the point at which global output hit its high mark -- as early as 2012. That means, in essence, that it will be all downhill from there for the enormous Saudi oil industry.
"According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold. First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray," one of the cables reads. "While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line, he is no doomsday theorist. His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered."

[TruthSpreader]

What a joke. The Saudis are not running out of oil and they won't run out of oil for a long time.

[cjd]

The Saudis may not meet the production goal however I don't see them running out of oil any time soon... The biggest joke in the article is the fact that they suggest that America needs to be told about how much oil is left in the ground there. In actuality more than likely America knows how much is there better than the people living right on top of it do.

[Secularbeliever]

Outside of the title of the thread, nowhere is it stated the Saudis are running out of oil.  However if the world economies resume strong growth and Saudi oil production declines prices could skyrocket.

[cjd]

Outside of the title of the thread, nowhere is it stated the Saudis are running out of oil.  However if the world economies resume strong growth and Saudi oil production declines prices could skyrocket.

In the link they talk about shortfalls in production and the great old standby slogan "peak oil"...  In the next few years I would be more concerned about disruption in supply and "dirty tricks" such as stalling delivery to cause shortages....I think "peak oil" and running out are still a good many years off....  Oil has become a tool and in the wrong hands that tool could cause a great deal of problems... Sit in your house or apartment and look around at all the things that won't work anymore if the power supply to your home went dead... Heat, hot water, lights, ect.... Clearly they have people by the throats with this and in a way thats just how the government wants it... Here on Long Island we had a few coal fired plants that worked great... A barge would bring the coal in and take the ash away... The plants are visible from a distance and the air around them always looked clear.... In the past few years they started converting the plants to oil because it is said to be cleaner... My question is why move away from coal which is plentiful, cheap and is mined right here at home to something like oil which has supply problems and could be expensive? The said fact in all this is control of the people and their money... If the real picture were to be exposed if not held back there is more than likely enough oil and production around for the foreseeable future to collapse the price.

[Secularbeliever]

Peak oil and running out are two different things.  Running out would mean zero production or close to it.  Peak oil could mean many years of slight reductions in oil output.