make all our dreams come true

Saudi Arabia must invest in oil production: IEA

PARIS (AFP) - The price of oil could rise by 50 percent by 2030 if Saudi Arabia does not invest adequately in oil production, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned.

Fatih Birol told the Financial Times newspaper that Saudi Arabia would have to almost double its current oil production of 10 million barrels per day to meet expected demand in 2030.

But the newspaper quoted her as saying in an interview that Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer of oil in the world, might increase its production by only half the amount needed in the next 25 years.

"It is not a problem of availability of reserves or capital. We need to be sure that the increase in production will be high enough and a sustained production capacity increase policy is in place. That will need sustained political will," she said.

More postcards from the Michael Lynch school of reality.

This is spoon-bending nonsense. There is no there, there. The rocks don't contain that much oil. Production in Saudi Arabia will never double, with or without political will, with or without "capital".

It is, after all, a problem of reserves.

Makes one wonder. When oil begins it's inevitable production decline, will all these geniuses start running around complaining that we missed our chance to drill 1000 wells over the last scoop of rocky road ice cream?

If it worked for the Quaker State, it can work for the world, or so the logic goes.