by sjn » Sun 11 Nov 2007, 14:43:46
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Niagara', 'I') was watching Cramer's "Mad Money" the other night. He had on the show the CEO of Foster Wheeler, I forget his name.
He was saying one of their client's is Saudi Aramco who plans to increase their oil production by 1/3 in the next few years. The guy seemed pretty credible and Foster Wheeler has been an incredible turnaround story.
So if that's true, who knows? Maybe PO is still ahead but I doubt it will be far off. I think it's more likely that KSA will only be able to extend the plateau somewhat.
The Saudis and others have intentionally confused capacity and normal operating production levels. I have mentioned before on this thread that the Saudis have a little wiggle room with regular light oil production, and the Saudis and Kuwait have the ability to ramp up heavy oil production together about 500,000 bpd. In addition, the Saudis may bring 300,000 bpd of light on line after new year's.
However even at full production, I don't think OPEC could push us back to the prior peak - although it is a minority possibility. Meanwhile the Saudis continue to bombard us with their expansion plans. I accept that the physical facilities are there to handle their capacity, but not the actual ability to increase oil production to that capacity.
Aramco On Track To Raise Crude Output To 12M B/D By'09
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')OW JONES NEWSWIRES
November 11, 2007 6:45 a.m.
DHAHRAN (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world's largest oil company by production, said Sunday it is on track to raise the country's daily crude oil production capacity to 12 million barrels per day in 2009.
"We are still on track and output will reach about 12 million barrels per day in 2009," Aramco's public relation manager Ziyad Al Shiha told reporters in Dhahran in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The production increase of 1.2 million barrels a day will mostly come from new fields, Al Shiha said.
Aramco said last month it will invest as much as $90 billion between 2007 and 2012 to boost crude oil production capacity by almost a third and domestic refining capacity by about 86%.
Aramco presently processes 1.745 million barrels a day of crude into refined products, with the output to rise substantially as plans for new refineries move on, Alaa Osman, coordinator at Aramco's oil production and refineries unit, said in Dhahran.