WHY OIL COSTS MORE: CASE STUDY – SAUDI ARABIA

Why? Because it comes from places where conflict between those who control it and those who don’t makes it more and more difficult and expensive to protect. (Second in a series of case studies on WHY OIL COSTS MORE)

Saudis build oil field protection force
August 27, 2007 (Financial Times via UPI)

WHO
An unnamed Saudi adviser

WHAT
According to the unnamed source, Saudi Arabia is developing a new, special security force to protect its oil infrastructure.

A lot of vulnerable and vital infrastructure. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
The security force, now 5000-strong, is presently under development, reportedly in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, the private US military-industrial multinational.

WHERE
- The production sites, pipelines, refinery and shipping facilities in and around Saudi Arabia.
- The unnamed Saudi adviser’s information was reported by the Financial Times of London.
- Additional information came from a mid-east weekly based in Nicosia.

WHY
- Saudi Arabia’s 75,000-man army, its 18,000-man air force, its 15,500-man navy and its 16.000-man air defense force is not considered adequate to protect its 80 oil and gas fields and 11,000 miles of pipelines.
- Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia’s and the world’s most important petroleum refinery complex, barely escaped a terrorist attack in February 2006, thanks not to the Saudi military but to the facility’s private guards.

Or could THIS have something to do with the new need for heightened security? (click to enlarge)

- Terrorist attacks have been successful in Saudi Arabia at least seven times.
- The Saudis will spend $4 to 5 billion on the new 35,000-man security force, which reportedly will be trained in surveillance, terrorist countermeasures and crisis management.

QUOTES
UPI: “Lockheed said it did not have information on the initiative…” (NewEnergyNews: Was this supposed to be a secret?)