by TheDude » Wed 21 May 2008, 21:46:21
WSJ Link in OP is behind a paywall,
try this one instead.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he IEA study won't be definitive. Big producers like Venezuela, Iran and China aren't cooperating with the study. Other producing nations like Saudi Arabia typically treat specific production data of individual fields as closely guarded state secrets.
To get around that, the IEA will depend on data gathered by IHS Inc., a major data and analysis provider in the U.S., as well as the U.S. Geologic Survey, a smattering of oil companies and national petroleum councils. Some oil-service companies are also lending a hand. The agency also plans to do computer modeling to make estimates where it lacks firm data.
Christ, IHS is CERA's parent company, and as I pointed out in Iraqi reserves thread, not exactly the model of fastidiousness themselves.
And having to take guesses about the big rollers in OPEC and China doesn't help. Still...