Raymond J. Learsy: President Bush in Saudi Land

Questions to Ask While Holding King Abdullah’s Hand

– Your Highness, my people at our Energy Department and my good friend Matt Simmons are somewhat confused. They tell me they know so little about your true production capabilities. That you have let it be known that Saudi Arabia holds 260 billion barrels of crude oil reserves. Then in March of last year the head of reservoir management at Saudi Aramco, estimated the kingdom’s reserves were almost three times greater, being closer to 716 billion barrels and possibly as great as a trillion (1,000,000,000,000) barrels. You see, we feel strongly that the lack of transparency in oil markets and the poor quality of information available generally, and especially from you as the most important producer in the world, contribute enormously to volatility and uncertainties. Therefore we would be especially grateful were you to lift the veil of secrecy and share data on your output and reserves setting an example for oil producers everywhere. Could we count on your cooperation in this matter as it is a key to our economic planning and that of so many others?
– Saudi Arabia has accumulated enormous wealth through the sale of oil especially so at current prices. A portion of that wealth is funding the Saudi Sovereign Investment Fund with some $900 billion, with much more to come in the years ahead. These funds are so huge and their aims and objectives so opaque that they are creating great concern in financial communities both in my country and around the world. Operational secrecy seems to be their order of the day. My SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has speculated that government investment funds could use the “vast amount of covert information” their intelligence services collect, making them “the ultimate insider trading tool”. Given that insider trading is anathema to free markets, given the size and importance of your Sovereign Fund, would you be prepared to allay our and the financial community’s concerns and set an example to other Sovereign Funds by opening your Fund’s activities to candid public disclosure.?

Huffington Post