Saudi oil well dries up

[questionmark]

If Citigroup is right, Saudi Arabia will cease to be an oil exporter by 2030, far sooner than previously thought.

A 150-page report by Heidy Rehman on the Saudi petrochemical industry should be sober reading for those who think that shale oil and gas have solved our global energy crunch.

I don't wish to knock shale. It is a Godsend and should be encouraged with utmost vigour and dispatch in Britain. But it is for now plugging holes in global supply rather than covering the future shortfall as the industrial revolutions of Asia mature.

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[Grandpa Greenman]

I don't know why but this makes me smile. Time to figure out another way to fuel the world.

[Grey14]

until the oil companies can figure out how to charge for sunlight and wind, oil isn't going anywere any time soon.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Grey, all they need to do is patent some technology needed to collect solar energy to make a mint.

[questionmark]

Grey, all they need to do is patent some technology needed to collect solar energy to make a mint.

collecting solar energy is not really the problem, that is being done successfully in many parts of the world. The energy storage is tricky.

[+and-then]

collecting solar energy is not really the problem, that is being done successfully in many parts of the world. The energy storage is tricky.

I wish that a few of the billions that were thrown at banks could have been used to create a "startup" of research for such storage. THAT might have actually borne fruit.

[Guest]

I wish that a few of the billions that were thrown at banks could have been used to create a "startup" of research for such storage. THAT might have actually borne fruit.

It shows a bit of a misunderstanding of the real situation with regard to the monetary system. That money which was thrown at the banks was not real and was simply the banking system attempting to shore up a fundamentally flawed economy. The money was created out of thin air so was never really available to invest in real productive capacity such as solar energy.

The economy we live in is a confidence trick which was long ago decoupled from real productivity and value.

By the way this is the most serious piece of news ever to have been reported. the only real value in the world is the value of energy and when it runs out in the way it is in Saudi it means that many many things which we take for granted will cease to function - including our food supply chains. Much more serious than any economic crisis which we might be facing at the moment. it fundamentally spells the end of Civilization as we know it. I certainly hope that someone has been working on Plan B.

Br Cornelius

[Professor T]

If Citigroup is right, Saudi Arabia will cease to be an oil exporter by 2030, far sooner than previously thought.

I think 2030 is an oversight. IMO they'll be running out by the end of the decade.

Most/If not all of the oil reserves on the books are cooked figures to increase their company share-prices. $$

[+and-then]

It shows a bit of a misunderstanding of the real situation with regard to the monetary system. That money which was thrown at the banks was not real and was simply the banking system attempting to shore up a fundamentally flawed economy. The money was created out of thin air so was never really available to invest in real productive capacity such as solar energy.

The economy we live in is a confidence trick which was long ago decoupled from real productivity and value.

By the way this is the most serious piece of news ever to have been reported. the only real value in the world is the value of energy and when it runs out in the way it is in Saudi it means that many many things which we take for granted will cease to function - including our food supply chains. Much more serious than any economic crisis which we might be facing at the moment. it fundamentally spells the end of Civilization as we know it. I certainly hope that someone has been working on Plan B.

Br Cornelius

I recently saw a documentary where one of the pundits made the same remarks. There were a half dozen worthies there making different points and included their own versions of what might bring on the end of civilization as we currently know it. The issues ranged from economics to water to nuclear conflict. Apparently LOTS of diverse issues are all coming to a head these days.