Oil prices "unrealistically high" -- Saudi adviser

Story dated 07 March 2005

"Current crude oil prices are "unrealistically high" and do not reflect any physical shortages in world markets, Adel al-Jubeir, a foreign affairs adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, said on Monday."

Well, that's interesting. It's as I pointed out in an earlier post, the Saudis actually cut back on production because there was too much oil flooding the world markets. So what's the problem? Big oil companies colluding to fix the prices? Or could it have something to do with the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) environmentalist crowd not letting us build any new refineries in the last 20 years or so?

I think that we should have a national policy of energy self-sufficiency. If the Bush Administration really cared about national security as much as they claimed, they would be pushing harder to drill in Alaska. In a related story, I have heard that some experts are projecting oil reserves off the coast of Louisiana that are greater than the amount of oil used so far in the petroleum age. I don't know if this is true or not. But even if it were, do you think the odds of us drilling there would be any greater than us drilling in Alaska? Before you start postulating about the deleterious effects of oil spills in the Gulf, allow me to point out that every year, more oil is released into the water from natural deposits than was spilled by the wreck of the Exxon Valdez. Or so I am told.

posted by The Sovereign Editor | 2:53 PM

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