Analyst: Saudis can't meet oil productions goals

[hogwyld]

WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia is expected to fall short of its crude oil output targets. A leading analyst said Saudi Aramco, the world's largest state oil company, would fail to meet its production targets. Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co International, raised the prospect that Aramco would fail to overcome dwindling reserves in the Saudi kingdom.
"I'm dubious they can hit their targets,'' Simmons told a Houston conference sponsored by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas last week. "If they had hit their targets, they would be more forthcoming.''

Simmons has argued that Saudi Arabia and other oil producers were withholding data while exaggerating their reserves. Aramco has pledged to increase Saudi oil output from 11.3 million to 12.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2009. In Washington, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said Saudi Arabia could increase oil output to meet rising demand. Ms. Lagarde met Saudi officials during the annual meetings by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.


http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/me_oil_10_24.asp

_________________________________________________________________________________

In the immortal words of scooby doo: Ruh-roh...

[sam sarrha]

1. hopefully it is arm twisting to stay out of iran......

[MADem]

3. Naaah, arm twisting to go IN. The Saudis do not like the Persians.

Those Shi'ites have their eye on the Holy Places. They think they just might be better Guardians.

Bet Dick Cheney is licking his lips.

If you heat with oil, fill those tanks to the brim, NOW. Preparedness is key...!

[sam sarrha]

4. here is some insight into their religious situation...LINK>>

http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm

it is simply a 1400 year old family feud

[MADem]

5. Nothing 'simple' about that feud. Did you know that it's acceptable in Islam

to pretend you are a Sunni if you're a Shi'a praying with a bunch of 'em, or vice versa? They pray in slightly different fashion--you can tell just by looking.

That rule is in there so you don't get KILLED by a buncha zealots.

I used to live in Iran, trust me, it's not a little spat. It's a big deal. And the Shi'a feel like they got the Shi'a end of the stick, if you know what I mean. They're the "oppressed" guys. And they aren't enamoured of the excessively wealthy, cosmopolitan thobe-and-prayer on the weekday, 'Saville Row suit and gambling' on the weekend, Saudis. They think they can do a better job of managing those Holy Places than this Oil King and his family, who are propped up by renting the military of the Great Shatan (that's us, BTW).

[sam sarrha]

7. didn't say the details were simple.. the cause is.. and the resolution of a problem rarely/if ever

has anything to do with the genesis of the problem

[MADem]

8. That's why it is my considered opinion that the Saudis want the Shi'a tied up

They want them hemmed in and locked down. At a minimum.

[MADem]

2. Say, let's invade Cuba...they've got a ton of oil right off their coast!

Obscene amounts! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14095881/

From here on out, say a growing chorus of experts, America will pay a price for maintaining its 45-year trade ban with the communist nation — a strategic and economic price that will have negative repercussions for the United States in the decades to come.

What has changed the equation?

Oil.

To be more specific, recent, sizable discoveries of it in the North Cuba Basin — deep-water fields that have already drawn the interest of companies from China, India, Norway, Spain, Canada, Venezuela and Brazil.

Embargo past its prime?
This, in turn, has reheated debate in the U.S. Congress and the Cuban-American community on an old question:

Has the time finally come to shelve the embargo — given America’s need for more sources of crude at a time of rising gas prices, soaring global demand and the outbreak of war in the Middle East?

[hogwyld]

10. Isn't that about the same amount as ANWR?

Doub't if it would make enough of a difference to offset all of the world's dropping production.

[NickB79]

11. At most, 9.3 billion barrels of oil off of Cuba

That's roughly enough oil to run the US for 445 days, or less than 1.5 years.

[razzleberry]

6. some of the rhetoric seems illogical

Saudi is pumping something like
8.5 mdb.

unless they are holding back a lot,

talk of 12 mbd in 2009 seems rediculous

[amandabeech]

12. You might check out theoildrum.com.

Simmons is very well respected in the peak oil and semi-peak oil communities.

He's been saying this about the Saudis for a long time, as have others.

[tom_paine]

9. Yes, but they will PRETEND TO, and for a Loyal Bushie there can be no greater

service to the Emperor, whether it be from a Loyal Bushie Citizen or a Loyal Bushie Vassal.

Gotta keep the lid on as long as possible, until the getaway to Paraguay can be pulled off.