Fossil Fuels Set to Become Relics

[pberq]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/oneworld/45361195801127935317

<snip>

Abid Aslam, OneWorld US Wed Sep 28, 3:21 PM ET

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sep 28 (OneWorld) - Energy drawn from the wind, tide, sun, Earth's heat, and farm waste is poised to begin replacing oil and other fossil fuels, a prominent research group said Wednesday in a wake-up call to industry executives and government officials worldwide.

'Energy markets are about to experience a seismic shift,'' Christopher Flavin, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute, said in a speech to oil executives and energy ministers in Johannesburg, South Africa, site of the 18th World Petroleum Congress.

''The question for oil executives is whether you're in the oil business or the energy business.''

The conference's 5,000 participants included ExxonMobil President Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, Worldwatch said.

[YapiYapo]

1. The Saudi seem to be in panic,their biggest oil fields are depleting fast.

I had an interesting conversation this morning with a Haliburton employee just back from Saudi Arabia. His conversation confirmed what we have been hearing. He said: "people think Saudi Arabia has a lot of oil, but they have been injecting water to increase production for years, and now the production from their giant fields is depleting very rapidly. The Saudis are in panic, pulling in rigs from everywhere, punching more holes in the ground to get quick production to stave off rapid old field production decline, and to keep up appearances. Workers are there from many nations to drill the sites, but the new wells are not very prolific."

Reading between the lines, if Ghawar is still producing at gargantuan rates, why the race to get so many rigs to drill so many wells? And the new well production combined with flowing old well production should be showing huge increases in Saudi production supply. But the monthly reports of Saudi production has not been impressive. For example, last month, the Saudis reported an increase of 50,000bd, mostly sour crude. If Ghawar is depleting rapidly, then the Saudis have a major problem, for not only must they drill more to keep their production stable, but also to make up for the declining production of other OPEC producers. Like a juggler with too many plates in the air, at some point it can all crash down. Simmons stated that once Ghawar starts to go, it will drop very fast.

The old saying about the Saudis is you don’t listen to what they say, but you watch what they do. The account of frantic drilling activity and rig acquisition suggests they are in trouble. My friend’s perception is not just his personal one, he said, but one widely shared by those working the oil fields. FWIW

http://finance.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=FN&action=m&board=7081371&tid=cwei&sid=7081371&mid=123284

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. I had a conversation recently with a guy who makes oil rigs...

We got along just fine (talking politics) but when he told me what he does for a living, and that business was great, I became confused. How could business be so good if oil is running out? Now it makes a little more sense. They are adding new rigs at a furious pace to try and keep the output up.

Thanks for helping clear this up. :)