World has tapped just 18 percent of global oil supplies

[Herman Munster]

http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=157340

VIENNA, Austria - The world has tapped only 18 percent of the total global supply of crude, a leading Saudi oil executive said Wednesday, challenging the notion that supplies are petering out.

Abdallah S. Jum’ah, president and CEO of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known better as Aramco, said the world has the potential of 4.5 trillion barrels in reserves - enough to power the globe at current levels of consumption for another 140 years.

Jum’ah challenged oil ministers and petroleum executives at an OPEC conference in Vienna to step up exploration “and leave the minimum amount of oil in the ground.”

“The world has only consumed about 18 percent of its conventional potential,” Jum’ah said, contending that should lay to rest fears that the world is in danger of being tapped out within a few decades.

[mmonk]

1. But what currency will they pay for it in?

The answer is what bush and the neocons are trying to force.

[Kutjara]

2. Excellent! That solves the energy crisis!

What a relief. Of course, it also means that the average daytime temperature on Earth will be higher than Venus within thirty years, but hey, at least we'll be able to power all the air conditioners we need.

Thanks God I can stop worrying.

[mmonk]

4. I agree we need to can fossil fuels. With today's

technology, we can but people put profits over their own well being.

[ovidsen]

3. That's not really a long time

So we're at the midway point, is that it? It was just around 140 years ago (give or take a decade) that inventors started using petroleum to fire up internal combustion contraptions. And now, here we are... and nobody's really exploring how we can create vast amounts of energy with something else.

It's gonna be fun....

[BuyingThyme]

5. I believe him kinda.

All of the maneuvering to make prices higher does not convince me of a pending shortage.

[Tesha]

27. It's another example of lying while speaking the perfect truth.

> I believe him kinda.

It's another example of lying while speaking the perfect truth;
a skill the Republicans and their Right-wing friends have abso-
lutely perfected.

Yes, it's entirely possible that we've tapped only 18% of the
world's oil supplies.

It's also possible that the other 82% of the oil is vastly less
economical to tap, and will cost far more than we've ever paid
before.

For example, in typical oil field, we don't "pump it dry", we
pump it to the point where it will cost more money to extract
the oil than the oil is (currently) worth. I believe the figure
right now is about 50% extraction. So right away, even if we
never discovered another oil field on the planet, you could
safely state, *ABSOLUTELY TRUTHFULLY* (if somewhat misleadingly)'
that "We've only tapped 50% of the planet's oil supply!"

It's just that we can't afford to pump out the other 50%.

So it probably goes like that. A big part of the 82% still there
is in known fields. Another big part is probably deep undersea,
where even our highest-tech rigs still can't access it. And yes,
there are probably a few undiscovered not-too-difficult sites
yet to be exploited.

But cheap oil is over.

And the faster the world accepts that fact, the better off we'll
all be.

Tesha

[trof]

28. Bingo! It ain't the EXISTANCE of oil that's the problem.

It's the EXTRACTION at a cost the world can afford.
Good call, Tesha.

[rug]

6. The Civil War had just ended 140 years ago.

[madrchsod]

7. i`d say that`s really optimist

going deeper is really expensive and technologically challenging and if there are fields that have not been found yet , it still will be cheaper to develop conservation technology and build the end products.

[MadHound]

8. That may or may not be so

I have a hard time taking anything concerning oil from the Saudis without a huge grain of salt, considering that they keep their current oil reserves a state secret.

But even let's take his number at face value. The question isn't how much is left, hell, he's probably right and there's a lot of oil deep in the earth. The trouble is can we get it, and is it economically feasible to do so. If neither condition can be met, then we may as well have no oil at all. In fact this is the gist of Peak Oil theory. It isn't that we're running out of oil, it is that we're running out of cheap, easily recovered oil.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Abdallah for president!

I'm just say'n...

[Ilsa]

10. I guess the 140 years will cover the million or so people left on

the planet when Global Warming kills off most of the 6 or 7 billion of us.

[MoseyWalker]

11. what's left though

may be just a little bit expensive to retrieve.

[KittyWampus]

13. And perhaps not the best quality.

[Jcrowley]

12. Quality not quantity

But even using the sole measure of quantity this is simply wrong.

Mankind has been drilling it up, lifting it out of the ground, and burning it into heat and vapor for the past 147 years. The oil that mankind will lift from the earth in the future, on the far side of Peak Oil, will be in faraway places, in harsh climates, under excruciatingly difficult conditions, deep down, heavy, sour, and overall expensive.

[enid602]

14. Saudis

It has been rumored that the Saudis have for years exaggerated the extent of their reserves in order to prop up their lines of credit with banks; much of what is left of their reserves is thought to be very expensive to mine, given their habit of injecting wells with salt water, which initially makes it easier to pump oil, but much harder later on.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

15. current R-wing talking point being pushed... google results...

News results for available oil earth - View today's top stories
Oil shortage a myth - petrol chief - Melbourne Herald Sun - Sep 10, 2006
Peak oil theories wrong, oil boss says - The Age - Sep 10, 2006
Peak oil theories wrong, says ExxonMobil boss - The Australian - Sep 10, 2006

[susanna]

16. That's lovely.

Someone who stands to profit from the sale of oil promising it will never run out. Thanks, but no thanks. I think he's a wee bit conflicted. In interest, that is.

Now, find someone who is in the oil industry but is not tied to the profits, and I might listen. Nice try though!

[GreenTea]

17. Gee, just think we have 82% more of that shit to put in the air we breath

[Blackthorn]

18. Two problems

Abdallah S. Jum’ah, president and CEO of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known better as Aramco, said the world has the
potential of 4.5 trillion barrels in reserves - enough to power the globe at current levels of consumption for another 140 years.

So there's only POTENTIAL, and it will last 140 years at CURRENT LEVELS. Yeah. Awesome. Time to buy 2 SUV's and start watering my garden with petrol. Fuckwit.

[Ignacio Upton]

22. It will ultimately be less than 140

Considering the increase in consumption of oil due to a larger population and larger global middle class.

[rman]

25. Which also assumes production capacity will not decline as sources

are being depleted. Which is obviously complete hogwash - not only for oil but for any natural resource.

[trekbiker]

19. Like anything coming from Aramco is to be trusted???

Its pretty obvious that the large, easy to find fields have all been drilled and are starting to decline. US production has been in decline since the early 70's. Just the fact that Chevron is willing to drill 5 miles down in over a mile of water in a location almost sure to get whacked by future hurricanes should tell us something. It has been estimated that Chevron can (maybe) profitably exploit this new find if oil stays above $45/barrel. And its not one big 3-15 billion barrel field they found. It's hundreds of small pockets of oil spread out over hundreds of square miles, all of it very difficult and very expensive to get to. Canadian oil sands, the same thing, expensive to process, very low EROEI, but still better than 1.0. Coal gasification, same thing. Oil shales?? lucky if we ever see EROEI greater than 1.0 with shales. Cheap oil is gone forever.

But I do believe Aramco on one thing, we will have oil available in one form or another for a long time to come, it will just cost a fortune.

[radwriter0555]

20. That's correct. Peak oil is a complete myth.

But it sure lets the oil cos pretend there's a shortage so they can profit 334% per quarter!

[rman]

24. Are you saying there never will be peak oil?

Or just that it won't happen any time soon?
If you mean to say the latter, than it's at least deceptive to say "peak oil is a complete myth".

[Odin2005]

21. The Saudis routinely LIE about thier oil reserves.

[rman]

23. Confirms that the era of cheap oil is over.

That's if you include all estimated reserves (as opposed to proven reserves) including low yield deposits such as tar sand and oil shale, heavy crude and yet to be discovered deep water fields.

[opihimoimoi]

26. I guess the GOP needs help.....How CONvinient..The Timing?..Perfect

[RB TexLa]

29. I'd still bet that number is very high

I'd be shocked if we had even tapped 10 percent.

[EnviroBat]

30. Well that's it then...

I'm off to the Hummer dealership so I can join the "I have no penis he-man club"! WOOO HOOOOO! Look out environment! I'm coming to get ya from behind!!!