Overpopulation.Com » Oil

Saudi Arabia: We Could Increase Oil Reserves by 77 Percent in Just a Few Years

briancarnell — Sun, 09 Jan 2005 06:00:00 +0000

Just how much oil is there, and when will the world begin to run out of it (if ever)? Part of the problem answering that question is the amount of known oil in the world keeps increasing, especially in the face of market demand such as the recently relatively high prices for oil.

On December 26, for example, Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi claimed that his nation could come close to doubling its proven oil reserves over the next few years. Naimi issued a press releasing saying,

There are big chances to increase the kingdom’s produceable oil reserves by 200 billion barrels. This will come either through new discoveries or through increasing production from known deposits.

Currently Saudi Arabia’s proven oil reserves sits at 261 billion barrels. Naimi’s comments came as the country opened new oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia which Naimi says will allow Saudi Arabia to increase its daily oil production from 11 million barrels/day currently to 12.5 million barrels/day over the next few years.

Sources:

Kingdom Will Meet Oil Needs of Asian Economies: Naimi. ArabNews.Com, January 7, 2005.

Saudi Oil Reserves Could Increase by 77%. Associated Press, December 27, 2004.

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Billions in Oil Revenue Disappeared from Angola

briancarnell — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 06:00:00 +0000

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, more than $4 billion in oil revenue collected by the government of Angola simply disappeared between 1997 and 2002. That is an amount equal to the same amount Angola spent on all state-funded social programs during the same period of time and is equivalent to 9.2 percent of the country’s annual GDP.

The Angolan government denied the Human Rights Watch claims, saying that the charges were based on “fantasy and imagination.”

The Angolan government itself, however, made it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality with the passage of three laws intended to restrict the flow of information about government activities, including provisions that allow the state to define information about economic activities as state secrets. It also threatened companies that publicly discussed the extent of their oil activities in Angola.

Angola, of course, experience chronic food shortages which require international aid to alleviate.

Sources:

Some Transparency, No Accountability: The Use of Oil Revenue in Angola and Its Impact on Human Rights. Human Rights Watch, 2004.

$4.2 Billion In Oil Revenue Missing In Angola, Rights Group Says. U.N. Wire, January 14, 2004.

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Iran Discovers Major Oil Field

briancarnell — Mon, 21 Jul 2003 05:00:00 +0000

Reuters reports that Iran recently made a major oil discovery, finding an oil field that has estimated reserves of 38 billion barrels of oil. If true, that would make it one of the world’s largest undeveloped oil fields.

Reuters quoted Iran’s Oil Development and Engineering Company general director Abolhasan Khamoushi as saying that the vast oil reserves were discovered in three neighboring oil fields near the southern port city of Bushehr.

Work is currently underway to determine how much of that oil is commercially obtainable.

Source:

Report: Iran makes giant oil find. Reuters, July 14, 2003.

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OPEC Finding It Difficult to Control Oil Prices

briancarnell — Wed, 19 Dec 2001 06:00:00 +0000

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, demand for oil dropped causing the price of oil to bottom out. In late November, the price for a barrel of oil reached a two-year low of only $16.65 per barrel. Despite its best efforts, however, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has had little luck raising the price of oil — today a barrel of crude oil goes for $18.40.

OPEC called a special meeting of both OPEC and non-OPEC countries to try to hammer together an arrangement to reduce oil production to boost the price of oil. OPEC’s leaders think they might have enough countries on board to cut oil production, but whether those countries will follow through on their pledges (and for how long) remains to be seen.

In November, for example, OPEC nations agreed to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day beginning in January 2002, but oil prices were barely affected. And that is on top of a 3.5 million barrels per day cut in production that OPEC nations had already agreed to earlier in the year.

At some point, the advantage of higher prices will be offset for some member countries by the marked decrease in production. Given the current soft demand for oil, it is highly doubtful that OPEC will be able to prop up oil prices.

Sources:

OPEC calls special oil price talks. The BBC, December 16, 2001.

Oil’s tumultuous week. The BBC, November 23, 2001.

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OPEC’s Problem: Too Much Oil

briancarnell — Tue, 13 Nov 2001 06:00:00 +0000

Once again the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has a big problem on its hands — despite all its efforts, there is still too much oil. Excess oil supply has the price for barrel stuck well below the $22-28 price level that OPEC tries to maintain.

OPEC has held off on a production cut fearing that it would look bad in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, but it is now ready to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels per day.

According to the BBC, OPEC has managed to persuade non-OPEC nations Russia, Mexico and Norway to go along with the cut, which is crucial since those countries could undermine the cut by increasing oil production as OPEC nations reduce theirs. Meanwhile several OPEC members, including Iran, are threatening to increase their production if any agreement to cut production actually occurs (cartelizing an industry is extremely difficult because of just these sort of problems with defectors).

After Russian prime minister Mikhail Kaysyanov announced that Russia would voluntarily cut its crude oil production, the price of crude oil managed to hit a high of $21/barrel after hitting a two year low of $18.85/barrel.

This would be the third cut in oil production pushed through by OPEC this year, and put OPEC oil production at its lowest level since 1990.

Source:

Opec to cut oil output this week. The BBC, November 11, 2001.

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