ARAMCO BOSS DISPUTES PEAK OIL

NewEnergyNews was thinking about composing a new Shakespearean tragedy but decided reporting the news was about the same thing:

An impressive array of oil industry experts have become convinced in the last 5 years that world supplies of easily accessible, economically obtainable oil are dwindling. See PEAK OIL UPDATE FROM MATT SIMMONS and PEAK OIL ENVISIONED, EXPLAINED and MAINSTREAM PRESS, FRONT PAGE HEADLINE: PEAK OIL. Or just Google “peak oil.”

Many point to rising prices as the best indicator the supply is tightening. Abdallah Jum'ah, OPEC’s highest official, disagrees: "Based on total global reserves of both conventional and nonconventional oil and the world's current demand for oil of some 86 million b/d, we still have almost a century's worth of oil under the conservative scenario…and nearly 200 years' worth under the target scenario…"

Seems that Chevron and OPEC are in disagreement on this point.

Jum’ah also pointed out that past theories of peaking oil supplies have proved inaccurate. In fact, there were panics based on no real science that were wrong but the mathematically-derived predictions of M. King Hubbert for the peaking of US supplies were almost spot on. And, if the experts’ are correct that current high prices are the first indication of peaking world supplies, that would make Hubbert’s students’ mathematically derived predictions equally accurate.

Very upbeat about the world’s oil supply, Jum’ah was dutifully sober about climate change, recommending energy efficiency and new technologies to protect the environment - from the harm the oil's emissions must inevitably do!

If Shakespeare were alive, he would be turning over in his grave.

WEC: Saudi Aramco chief dismisses peak oil fears
Uchenna Izundu, November 14, 2007 (Oil & Gas Journal)

WHO
Abdallah Jum'ah, President/Chief Executive, Saudi Arabian oil company Aramco

WHAT
Jum'ah calculates the world supply of oil to be more than adequate to meet world needs for the next 1 to 2 centuries.

WHEN
Jum’ah’s statements came during the World Energy Congress November 13.

It made the headlines but you can't believe everything you read in the news (unless it's NewEnergyNews).

WHERE
The World Energy Congress convened in Rome.

WHY
- Jum’ah pointed to 3 to 6 trillion barrels from conventional resources in known fields and anticipated new discoveries for the coming decades.
- He estimated a total of 6 to 8 trillion barrels of total conventional world reserves.
He estimated 7 to 8 trillion barrels of nonconventional world reserves such as the Canadian and Venezuelan oil sands and US oil shale.
- Another trillion of conventional reserves and 1 to 2 trillion more of unconventional reserves, he said, could be obtained through enhanced production techniques now under development.
- Jum’ah predicts the Middle East will continue to be the main supplier of oil and foresees nothing but roses and candy in policies, economics and R&D.
He was not so optimistic about biofuels.

Just kidding. He missed peak oil and the unified field theory.

QUOTES
- Jum’ah, on undiscovered conventional reserves: "Depending on just how conservative their assumptions are, analysts believe there are between 250 billion and 1 trillion bbl of conventional oil reserves still waiting to be found. Again, I urge our scientists to accept the challenge of a trillion barrels in new discoveries…”
- Jum’ah, on uconventional reserves: "A key area of contention is oil shales, since the characteristics of their accumulations, especially the degrees of resource richness, vary so much and their development has been perennially impacted by overwhelming challenges involving technology, economics, water and land impacts, and environmental concerns.”
- Jum'ah, on biofuels: "There are huge uncertainties associated with biofuels…It is difficult to predict their contribution to the energy mix."