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Arabia
Saudis vow to guarantee oil supplies
2004-10-11
ABU DHABI - Opec vowed yesterday to do what it can to deflate record high oil prices that have soared above $53 a barrel, and top exporter Saudi Arabia promised to keep the world supplied with as much oil as it needs. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi said Riyadh would hold 1.5-2.0 million barrels per day (bpd) of production capacity in reserve but urged global consumers to upgrade refining capacity to handle the extra sour barrels being pumped by the kingdom. With the 11-member Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries already stretching pumping rates beyond 30 million bpd, a 25-year high, only Saudi Arabia has production to spare. "We are pumping around 9.5 million bpd now and if our customers want more crude it's available," Naimi told reporters ahead of  the Adipec 2004 oil exhibition in Abu Dhabi.
AT $53 a barrel I'll bet they'll pump everything they can.
"There is no shortage of oil and there will be no shortage of oil and we are willing to meet demand as it rises," he said. "We plan to maintain spare capacity of 1.5-2.0 million barrels a day for the foreseeable future," he added. "We are ahead of demand, capacity-wise, by 1.5 million barrels per day." Riyadh has said for several months it will meet all its customers' needs, but the vow has failed to cool oil prices, which hit $53, a barrel on Friday. 
Posted by:Steve White

#8  There's another problem the Sauds don't mention: their production capacity depends on a handful, perhaps only two, major facilities that are extremely vulnerable to an AQ or other terrorist disruption. Bob Baer highlighted these in his books and argued that little was being done (as of writing in 2002) to secure these facilities.

If jihadists knock out one or both of these production facilities, Saudi reserve capacity evaporates, and the price of oil will go to $60+ overnight.
Posted by: lex   2004-10-11 11:36:02 AM  

#7  I think I'll run your teflon-coated engine idea past a friend of mine who designs airplane engines for GE. Google came up with some interesting sites on teflon lubricants for airplanes/boats, and so forth, but I prefer the opinion of someone who knows a great deal more than I do.
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-11 11:31:10 AM  

#6  actually that last site is REALLY good.

Given a bit of time, trouble and money, ANY of you out there could take these specs to a mechanic and convert your car to run on ethanol. Stop giving money to terrorists today!
Posted by: Anon1   2004-10-11 11:00:29 AM  

#5  well actually i am here guilty of typing off the top of my head.

Your car engine can be converted to run on ethanol instead of petrol. In the past, US farm machinery was run on ethanol, as are/were race cars (it is high-performance fuel). The problem with ethanol is that it is very corrosive.

Somebody told me the other day that the Japanese had made a teflon engine (ie: coated like your frypans) so it wouldn't corrode on contact with ethanol.

It is true that ethanol burns clean producing only carbon dioxide and water, and the oil never needs changing.

Several car companies have released cars that run on ethanol which i posted here a while back.

here is a discussion board for motor enthusiasts (well, car hoons) that discus the technicalities of using ethanol instead of petrol:

http://www.hotrodders.com/t48947.html

And here is a very informative site telling you how to go about using ethanol instead of Saudi Black Slag as fuel:

http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/id32.html

Posted by: Anon1   2004-10-11 10:57:27 AM  

#4  Time for a Manhattan Project to perfect the matter/antimatter bus engine.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-10-11 10:37:10 AM  

#3  Teflon engine? More info please.
Posted by: trailing wife   2004-10-11 10:23:20 AM  

#2  Teflon engine runs on ethanol. Doesn't need servicing or oil change as it burns clean.

ethanol can be distributed to existing service stations.

would cost a bomb in government expenditure to pay for everyone to convert their vehicles, enforce legislation that all new cars must be fitted with teflon engines.

then our dependance on saudi black slag would be greatly, greatly reduced. we could stop paying jihadi murderers.

I would happily treble my tax payments for that honour.
Posted by: Anon1   2004-10-11 9:54:32 AM  

#1  Any body else expect the price of oil to fall dramatically on November 3? I expect Soros to begin covering his futures contracts then and all those specutively holding inventories to quickly bail. It is a shame, because there is an ultimate oil problem. Moderately rising prices would send signals that the economy could use to develop the proper balance of alternative fuels and conservation. This kind of erratic price movement does not provide useful information to the markets.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis   2004-10-11 7:42:07 AM  

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