Comments on: Saudi Arabia Bullish On Oil's Future

Kingdom's Oil Minister Tells 60 Minutes U.S. Oil Addiction Is Here To Stay Due To Lack Of Alternatives

[mortimer1951]

What a disappointing, soft-ball interview. No questions about the dire consequences of continuing to burn fossil fuels, other than some vague reference to Al Gore? No questions about how Saudi oil profits end up in the hands of terrorists? No challenge to the assertion of no alternatives to oil, e.g. American natural gas, Tesla Motors? This guy doesn''t know what the price of oil will be in six months? Yeah, right.

[cetispeak]

Funny seeing the Saudis giant combustion research engine. But, how about a dose of TRUTH: We''ve had the technology for years to dramatically increase gas mileage while significantly decreasing toxic emissions. And, it all fits under your hood. Imagine your friend/relative coming in and announcing 70+ mpg on an Olds Delta 88--from a TEST RUN! Imagine getting a patent 20 years ago(see www.freepatentsonline.com, United States Patent 4681081) for your super-mileage device, only to be unable to have it produced, to be offered high-dollar buy-outs so they can shelve your device. And, imagine big oil gov''t. and/or organized crime automakers all "in bed" together. Imagine having your life threatened, your house and children watched, because your device, while good for the environment, your vehicle and the common man''s pocketbook, would take $$$ away from big oil, auto mfg., etc. Finally, imagine dying before you could see your life''s work mean something. It happened in my family and probably in many more. Just ask J. Bruce McBurney, author of Secrets of Super Mileage Carburetors and all the other inventors out there who''ve tried. Maybe when it becomes less about the bottom line and more about caring we will start to implement real solutions. I hope I live to see that day.

We need to face the consequences of never having regulated the USE of automobiles. We are over run , over congested, over NOISED and over stressed by the use. We also kill our selves and each other 48,000 times a year on the roads.We pay trillions in support of the use through road building, maintenance,police surveillance,hospital care,parking,oil spill clean up,crime,etc.
We need to ask how many more autos can we permit on an already overly congested planet. The average household spends more on maintenance of one auto than they do on food and and hygeine products.

[cariboubarbi]

We send the Saudi''s money, they send us oil and terrorists.

It''s a matter of national security that we stop exporting money and blood to import oil.

We have the technology. We have smart innovative people.

Let''s become energy independent.

[fiberglass3]

Posted by Jacwhitney at 07:44 PM : Dec 07, 2008
Excellent story on Saudi oil...though Leslie, please loose the bright red lipstick



I thought Leslie did an excellent job of reporting the story from the Saudi''s point of view. It''s a different culture there, and interviewing them isn''t easy.
She was able to show us the investment made to try and continue with oil and solar energy.

As for the red lipstick - She looked great!

[shanev137]

Posted by RC20001 at 07:15 AM : Dec 08, 2008

While all that''s true, you have to remember in the last few months that most of them just lost about half of the money in their 401k''s. With their pensions and home equity gone, many of them will have to work well into old age.

[gmcnally2]

Alternatives DO exist. Solar, wind, and electric cars. Every house a decentralized power production plant. Every car maintenance free, free from fuel. The technology is here right NOW for this. It is the entrenched businesses that stand in the way. Evolve or become extinct. Do not let the ''cheap'' gas fool you. It is still more costly than solar RIGHT NOW. And while the cost of oil will only go up, the cost of solar will only come down. Don''t buy another car unless it has a plug in it.

[rc20001]

Besides baby boomers communting less, oil use can be further reduced with the stroke of a pen, if the President is willing to sign higher milage laws for cars. In the video, the Arab minister said that the current President is an "oil man" and it would seem that is one of the reasons that higher milage laws are not promoted. The most proven ways to increase car milage are to reduce the weight of cars, and to reduce air resistance of cars. During the oil shock years ago, laws were passed to demand higher milage from car manufacturers. Detroit responded by "relabeling" the cars to increase car milage literally in a flash. Mid-sized cars of that time were relabeled as standard sized cars. Compact sized cars were relabeled as mid-sized cars. Sub-compact cars were relabeled as compact sized cars. Six-cylinder engines replaced the eight-cylinder sized engines as the standard. The four cylinder engine became the base engine size. Thus, people were forced to drive lighter and smaller cars, which used less gasoline. The government accomplished the fuel savings with a stroke of the pen, while car manufacturers accomplished the fuel savings with relabeling the cars. It did not require rocket science. Today''s SUV''s can be almost three times more fuel efficient according to Amory Lovings, who is one of the world leading energy efficiency experts, by making it with light-weight steel, or even lighter using ultra-light-weight carbon fiber composites.

[rc20001]

The Megatrend in the US is that the Baby Boomers are nearing retirement age. They are starting to plan for retirement in a serious way, and some of them are taking early retirement. In the past, they have a big effect on the consumer markets. When they were preteens, tee-shirts were a booming market, and tee-shirts busted as they out grew them. Music records boomed when they reached the record buying age, and records busted as they out grew them. They demanded a lot of housing as they reached the age of raising families, and housing now starts to bust as their kids become adults and their kids leave the home. As baby boomers retire, they will not need to commute to their jobs daily in their cars. They will be driving less than half the milage with commuting. Less gasoline will be used with less driving. Less new cars need to be purchased to commute to their jobs. The current recession/depression just speeded up this megatrend of baby boomers reaching retirement age. It could even be that this megatrend is the basic underlying cause of the current economic retrenchment. Baby boomers have reached an age when they don''t need to buy bigger houses, and when many of them actually are considering selling their big houses for smaller dwellings as their kid become adults and move away from their parents. It is not a wonder the housing sectors is having an over supply. Sub-prime mortgage problems just made it worse. With less commuter driving, less oil will be needed.

[rc20001]

The Megatrend in the US is that the Baby Boomers are nearing retirement age. They are starting to plan for retirement in a serious way, and some of them are taking early retirement. In the past, they have a big effect on the consumer markets. When they were preteens, tee-shirts were a booming market, and tee-shirts busted as they out grew them. Music records boomed when they reached the record buying age, and records busted as they out grew them. They demanded a lot of housing as they reached the age of raising families, and housing now starts to bust as their kids become adults and their kids leave the home. As baby boomers retire, they will not need to commute to their jobs daily in their cars. They will be driving less than half the milage with commuting. Less gasoline will be used with less driving. Less new cars need to be purchased to commute to their jobs. The current recession/depression just speeded up this megatrend of baby boomers reaching retirement age. It could even be that this megatrend is the basic underlying cause of the current economic retrenchment. Baby boomers have reached an age when they don''t need to buy bigger houses, and when many of them actually are considering selling their big houses for smaller dwellings as their kid become adults and move away from their parents. It is not a wonder the housing sectors is having an over supply. Sub-prime mortgage problems just made it worse. With less commuter driving, less oil will be needed.

[petro49l]

O.P.E.C. declared war in Afghanistan and cut the production of oil to raise the price for each barrel. Why submit to Dubai''s extortion? There is no reason to pay $4 or $5 for a gallon of gasoline. Central and South America has more off shore oil than any reserve in the world. The Governments sell simple, cheap leases to drill. The People of those countries need revenue. They could regenerate rain forests and fashion new farms with the money. Americans should invest on their own side of the ocean.

[realtime09]

Oil has the same future the climate has.
Forget any other way of seeing it.
Or collect 3 dollar Ameros.

[shanev137]

Maybe, but the Saudis and middlemen are working hard to cut back production to keep those dollars rolling in.

-----------

Nope, sorry, they''re not.

These OPEC countries have already learned that whoever cuts production gets royally screwed, because other countries increase production and take up the slack.

[realtime09]

On a %u201CDay that will live in infamy%u201C%u2026.

The U.S. is only as %u201Caddicted to oil%u201D as the World is addicted to %u2026peace.

If we understood what we did with the Manhattan project, expect that the Rand Corporation didn%u2018t take a 50 year nap.

Oil shmoil.

Timing is everything.

Bet your lives.

[whitewolf60]

LOL.... I think that if they wanna play the game, so should we. THEY want the food AND money? Fine - WE want the oil! So what if oil hits $20 a barrel? Wahh Wahh Wahh. Just this Saturday I paid only $19.75 to fill up! I thought that was sweet! They want to "cut back" production to artificially inflate the prices, STOP SENDING ''EM FOOD!

[rf35]

Of course, if Western civilization were to fall, you know who would be there to pick up the pieces. I wonder what abaya futures are looking like.

[rf35]

It has become obvious that the only way to end global dependence on oil will be for the oil to run out. I%u2019m beginning to wonder if that will happen in my lifetime. I wonder what it will be like when it finally happens. Will there be a gradual decrease in production to allow the world to wean itself away from the addiction or will it be a sudden, sharp drop in production that will be shocking and catastrophic. I can imagine the riots, the economic collapse. You think it%u2019s bad now? Western civilization would be brought to its knees. I now hope it doesn%u2019t happen while I%u2019m around. I%u2019m past the years when I would have thrived in such a world.
I guess there is just no wisdom left. I will anxiously await the development of at least a skeletal hydrogen infrastructure and buy the first fuel cell car that becomes widely available. The rest of the world can suck my water vapor.

[shanev137]

Oil is going to $20 a barrel and gas will hit a buck a gallon.

[d996er]

The number consumer of oil consumption is not your SUV''s it is the Dept of Defense. Securing reserves help our ability to defend ourselves like what China and Russia are doing now. "WAKE UP!" stop relying weak domestic media like 60 minutes for your source of information.

[oneworldusa]

Posted by hillaryin016 at 01:32 AM : Dec 08, 2008
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Whew! Scared me for a sec there. Hillary In ''16! Why not ''12? Thank goodness for your foresight.