Countries oil reserves may cause upheaval

…Even more puzzling is that all OPEC nations, together, have not admitted to diminishing oil reserves. Saudi Arabia produced nearly 55 billion barrels of oil between 1988 and 2004, practically all of which was exported.

Despite this outflow, and no appreciable new finds, the Saudis still estimate a reserve of 262 billion barrels today, about 28 percent of the world’s total. This is practically the same as was reported almost three decades ago.

The answer to this conundrum may be forthcoming from Matthew R. Simmons, a prominent energy industry executive, who has spent several years attempting to determine the real strength of Saudi Arabia’s reserves. He came to his conclusions by examining hundreds of technical papers published by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

What he derived from these papers is that Saudi Arabia is relying on a group of rapidly aging oil fields – with no evidence that new untapped fields are waiting in the wings.

Desert Sun (Palm Springs, CA)