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Page added on May 1, 2013
Saudi Oil Minister Calls US Energy Independence Idea ‘Naive’
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi on Tuesday called the U.S. push for energy independence “naive,” saying the country will continue to need Middle Eastern oil long into the future.
Naimi said he welcomed the surge in U.S. domestic energy production from shale oil and gas fields, which he said will add depth and stability to global oil markets.
“Newly commercial reserves of shale or tight oil are transforming the energy industry in America — and that’s great news,” he told an audience of policy makers and academics at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.
“It is helping to sustain the U.S. economy and create jobs at a difficult time.”
“I welcome these new supplies into the global oil market,” he added.
On the other hand, he said, it was not realistic to believe this would help the U.S. eliminate imports of oil, a goal of some Americans who argue energy independence is crucial for the country’s security.
Despite the domestic production gains, U.S. imports of Middle East oil in the second half of 2012 were higher than any time since the 1990s, Naimi said.
The U.S. “will continue to meet domestic demand by utilizing a range of different sources, including from the Middle East. This is simply sound economics.
“I believe this talk of ending reliance is a naive, rather simplistic view.”
Naimi, meanwhile, emphasized that Saudi Arabia remains able to sustain its reserves at the current 266 billion barrels and said that could increase, especially if technology for extracting “tight” shale oil and gas improves.
But he contradicted comments by another top Saudi official, former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal, on Saudi oil development plans.
In a speech Monday at Harvard University, Turki said Saudi Arabia would increase production capacity to 15 million barrels a day from the current 12.5 million bd.
“Saudi Arabia’s national production management scheme is set to increase total capacity to 15 million barrels per day and have an export potential of 10 barrels per day by 2020,” Turki said.
Naimi suggested Turki misspoke.
“We have no plans” for that, Naimi said. “We don’t really see a need to build a capacity beyond what we have today.”
4 Comments on "Saudi Oil Minister Calls US Energy Independence Idea ‘Naive’"
BillT on Wed, 1st May 2013 7:22 am
“I believe this talk of ending reliance is a naive, rather simplistic view.”
He is absolutely correct!
“We don’t really see a need to build a capacity beyond what we have today.”
They have no ‘capacity’ to build…lol.
Arthur75 on Wed, 1st May 2013 7:24 am
““We have no plans” for that, Naimi said. “We don’t really see a need to build a capacity beyond what we have today.””
Quite clear …
DC on Wed, 1st May 2013 7:32 am
The US has never, ever sought ‘independence’ from all that ‘foreign'(arab) oil. That flow of oil is what allows amerika to afford its brutal terrorist military, and to terrorize and intimidate the world. So that arab is right, it is ‘naive’, but not for the reasons he thinks. After all, the US arms and trains the SA regime in order to oppress its own people. And what does the US want in exchange?
Just oil, US denominated oil of course..
To be ‘energy’ independent also implies the end of US global hegemony. Which is why that goal will never be seriously acted upon-ever.
So Ali al-Naimi can softly mock the fools in the US that think its a realistic goal. Hes on the inside, he knows what the real game is, and US energy independence is not even remotely on the agenda.
Arthur on Wed, 1st May 2013 12:35 pm
The Saudi oil minister should not worry about US oil production, he will get rid of his remaining oil reserves anyway, against high prices, regardless to westerners or others. He should instead worry about what’s next for SA, after the inevitable end of the oil age. Instead of wasting the remaining oil capital on thousands of ‘princes’ having a good time with European hookers, he should invest it on a renewable energy base, so that his society will not fall back again to the level of a society of camel breeders and little else. Not in the least because these ‘princes’ should themselves increasingly be worried about the possibility of a ‘springtime for Saudi-Arabia’, usually with less beneficial results for those in the saddle. Expect SA to fall apart along ethnic faultlines, just like Iraq, Lebanon and possibly Syria in the future. Expect NATO’s second largest army, that of Turkey, to expand southwards, into Syria, Jordan and SA, causing the remaining english speaking ‘Lawrences of Arabia’ to pack their bags. Expect tensions between Sunni Turkey and Shia Teheran-Bagdad about control over the SA Shia coastal oil provinces. Israeli fools, still concentrating on remote Iran, will find itself surrounded by a gigantic Turkish army, stationed in Syria and Jordan, seeking to liberate Palestinians. Exit Israel, let the Turks have them.lol. After South-Africa, the next colony of the white man, the Middle East, will fall, leaving the last European colony: the United States, expiration date 2025 (Pat Buchanan).
Talking about Pat Buchanan, today he gives all the right observations concerning the situation in Syria:
http://lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan308.html
But he is a conservative and since there is nothing left to conserve, we can use Buchanan to at least predict what is NOT going to happen and let the US play their last military game. Remember that the USSR achieved its largest expansion in 1980, a decade before its ultimate demise, by invading Afghanistan, not called the graveyard of empires for nothing.