No Extra Oil as Saudis Cite Full Capacity

This is a transcript from The World Today. The program is broadcast around Australia at 12:10pm on ABC Local Radio.

You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA formats.

No extra oil as Saudis cite full capacity

The World Today - Tuesday, 26 April , 2005  12:35:00

Reporter: John Shovelan
ELEANOR HALL: United States President George W. Bush has failed in his effort to get the Saudi Government to increase oil production in the near term.

In a meeting at his ranch in Crawford Texas the President sought the help of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to ease the pressure on the world price of oil.

But the Saudi Government has said there is nothing it can do because its production is already at or near full capacity, and that the long-term solution to the oil price problem is for the US to increase its investment in refining capacity.

From Washington, John Shovelan reports.

JOHN SHOVELAN: As oil prices have steadily marched ever higher, the hurt at the bowser for US consumers is being felt by the administration. Ahead of today's talks with the Saudi Prince, US officials were busy briefing journalists that the president would be demanding action from the Saudi's to increase their production to ease the price.


http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1353684.htm

this lousy, overseas sweat-shop made, t-shirt!

Seems I saw that headline recently. ;-)

Ah yes, here it is...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1421065

...which was, I suspect, the real reason for their meeting yesterday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1421575

The 'talk about gas prices' cover story was just that, and was a lame attempt to 'jawbone' the markets down.

on edit:

I did notice one other thing. The Saudi's PR flack was talking about how we need to build more refineries in the US, and it was our onerous environmental regulation preventing that. So I guess the Saudi's also agreed to provide a little cover for more Bush environmental destruction.

Are the Saudi's willing to put up the money to build more refineries (given the prognosis that oil production is reaching a peak)?

No. Didn't think so.

out of them Saudis. Whoooeeee. I never done seen a dressing down what that Bush gave 'em. Well, I didn't actually see it but I'm sure ol' Dubya fixed their wagon but good.

Why you don't you just pray our troubles away. Surely your God will act.

180

Bush's Crawford "ranch" is completely equipped with alternative energy capabilities. When the oil crash happens, he'll be self sufficient. I read that Cheney's Wyoming "ranch" is equally equipped.

They have made the transition on a personal level, yet refuse to help their nation make the same, much needed transition.

I would interested to see what they have done.

couldn't go higher. Is it just show for the public? Or are they hatching more plans to deceive the public. I go with #2.

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** was getting his marching orders after the prince and crashcart worked them out the day before?

is to enable going into every state and country after whatever energy resources the people demand! (more suvs, more gas)

This is news!

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1353684.htm

I don't recall this making the US corporate news..

JOHN SHOVELAN: The Bush administration wants an increase in supply by producers like Saudi Arabia. But the Saudis rejected the White House's demands, saying production isn't the cause of the price increase. Instead Adel al Jubeir, spokesman for the Saudi Government, says the US needs to increase its own refining capacity and agree on uniform petrol standards for the country.

ADEL AL JUBEIR: It will not make a difference if Saudi Arabia ships and extra million or two million barrels of crude oil to the United States if you cannot refine it, it will not turn into gasoline and that will not turn into lower prices. The infrastructure for energy globally is beginning to max out. The ability of the world to ship, to refine, to distribute, to store crude oil, is fairly close to what the amount of oil produced is today.

"My grandfather rode a camel
my father drove a car
I fly a jet
My son will ride a camel"

But not oil...

I find the image of Ann Coulter using her long legs for doing something economically productive--like powering a bicycle-powered electric generator to power an oil-patch pump jack to be a very amusing thought.

:evilgrin:

reported that the Saudis had promised to produce 30% more by 2009. See what Our Leader accomplished? Isn't he great?

:sarcasm:

wouldn't arbitrarily collude to restrict refining capacity, now would they?

hugs and kisses and Bush didn't deliver for the American people. Do you suppose W has bad breath? Are his hands sweaty? Does he slobber when he kisses? There's got to be a reason for this.

Just got a copy for Earth Day.

Is it really about oil? Or is it really about something else that noone wants to think about? Isn't it obvious?

Sooner or later there will be no alternative but to confront the real issue. It's not the oil.

and a lot of people will get hungry.

"...which will have little immediate effect on gas prices....(then she reported on a guy who went beserk over not getting fries at a Burger King)

"Hey Karl, why'd you tell me to swallow? I knew I shoulda spit!!"

Analyst fears global oil crisis in three years

John Vidal, environment editor
Tuesday April 26, 2005
The Guardian

One of the world's leading energy analysts yesterday called for an independent assessment of global oil reserves because he believed that Middle Eastern countries may have far less than officially stated and that oil prices could double to more than $100 a barrel within three years, triggering economic collapse.
Matthew Simmons, an adviser to President George Bush and chairman of the Wall Street energy investment company Simmons, said that "peak oil" - when global oil production rises to its highest point before declining irreversibly - was rapidly approaching even as demand was increasing.
"This is a new era," Mr Simmons told a conference of oil industry analysts, government officials and academics in Edinburgh. "There is a big chance that Saudi Arabia actually peaked production in 1981. We have no reliable data. Our data collection system for oil is rubbish. I suspect that if we had, we would find that we are over-producing in most of our major fields and that we should be throttling back. We may have passed that point."
Mr Simmons told the meeting that it was inevitable that the price of oil would soar above $100 as supplies failed to meet demand. "Demand is pulling away from supply...and we have to ask whether we have the resources that we think we do. It could be catastrophic if we do not anticipate when peak oil comes."

(More)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1470221,00.html

just had a article where Bu$h said the Saudi's were going to raise oil production. This mornings paper.

Furthermore, Bu$h said Saudi will raise production from the current 9.5mb/day to 12.5mb/day then on to 15mb/day.

What gives?

"But the Saudi Government has said there is nothing it can do because its production is already at or near full capacity, and that the long-term solution to the oil price problem is for the US to increase its investment in refining capacity."

Of what benefit would it be to increase refining capability if the amount of oil available to these refineries is not going to increase ?

You see, Bush wants to remove all the environmental laws as a matter of principle.

By getting the Saudis to state that 'we need more refineries in the US', it directly plays into Bush's plan to blame the lack of refineries on our 'restrictive environmental laws'. Then he will proceed to gut those laws.

It has very little to do with the price of gas, and everything to do with making their corporate donors happy in preparation for hitting them up for cash during the 2006 midterm elections.

"By getting the Saudis to state that 'we need more refineries in the US', it directly plays into Bush's plan to blame the lack of refineries on our 'restrictive environmental laws'. Then he will proceed to gut those laws."

"No spare capacity".

isnt that what he said in 2000??

Peak Oil is here. fuck bush Liar MF'er

over the oil barrel! We are so screwed.:(

From the Saudis' point of view, why should they give a sucker an even break? The US is addicted to oil and has shown no genuine interest in moving off the petroleum binge. Why shouldn't the Saudis charge Uncle Sap through the nose?

If the US was serious about moving away from petroleum dependency, the federal government would be encouraging mass transit and intercity rail lines instead of cutting subsidies and plotting to destroy Amtrak. If the Banana Republican-controlled federal government were serious about moving away from the petroleum standard, they would have put emphasis on renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and biomass.

We know d__n well that the Rulin' Dubya Posse is doing none of those things, and neither are their Banana Republican allies in Congress. So do the Saudis.

This sin't the first time that the Saudis have shown that they can play Gee Dubya for a sucker. Osama bin Laden lulled the Boosh regime into complacency before he sprung 9/11 on us. The Saudis have enlisted Bushco support into covering up Saudi financing of Al Quaeda and of the madrases that support Islamic extremists and anti-Semitism.

Why should we, or even the dumbest knee-jerk Republican, be surprised if the Saudis are playing rope-a-dope with "Dear Leader" in Crawford right now?

:scared:

It is a lie, that there is a refinery shortage, and that it is responsible for the high price of gasoline. The price of gasoline is high, because the price per barrel of oil is high. If the Saudis, or anyone, were to dump more oil on the world market, the price per barrel would go down. The price per barrel of oil is set at the same price everywhere. It is determined by world supply, and world demand . It has nothing to do with refineries, except that a real shortage of refining capacity would lower the price per barrel of oil, by lowering overall demand.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/refineryops.html

Where was all this sitting when the gas prices rose to around $3.00? Was it sitting under the hunting range bleachers of Bush's backyard in Crawford?

Stick a fork in it, its done.

That was under the Oil for Food Program, and doesn't even include what was smuggled out. By the time of the 2003 invasion Iraqi oil production was down to 1.3 million barrels per day. I laughed when they bragged that oil production in Iraq was back up to prewar levels, because the 1.3 million barrels per month figure was what they were bragging about being back up to, not the 2.5 million barrels of oil per day that was being produced under the Oil for Food Program. That production had to be taken off the market in order for oil prices to do what they call "firm". Iraqi oil production was at it's peak in 1979 at 3.5 million barrels per day. Of course that was before Reagan/Bush got to work in the region.


Sources: CIA World Fact Book, and USA Today research.

lets share this with the lie buying public, it clearly points the finger at the individual responsible for the price increases.

The first thing that was done on entering Iraq was to get it back into OPEC, which it had been out of for some time. Even after this right wing media continued to spread the false hope that oil coming out of Iraq could be a counter to OPEC. Even if there is no instability in Iraq, OPEC still decides how much will be produced. As it is continued instability justifies continued occupation leading to continued instability. The world's second largest reserve of oil stays off the market. The Saudis, with their number one reserve of oil in the world make out like bandits. To know what Bush will do, just ask "What do the Saudis want done?" Here's a related thread, with other related threads in it. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3545478