Saudi Oil Production Collapse at Hand?

Some day or the other, the five million barrels per day that Saudi Arabia maintains will simply become unsustainable.  This article gives us a good indication that this day is now rapidly approaching.

It is also a good indication that the field has been subjected to a maximum effort to maintain a certain daily level of production.  We are now seeing the last kick at that can.  The corollary of course will be precipitous decline which may well be already underway.  That means the shock is coming sooner than later.

Figure that every well is pumping full out to sustain production and it is clear that it cannot be sustained.  Bringing Halliburton on board now is not a good sign.

Let me make one thing abundantly clear.  The decline of Saudi Oil does spell the beginning of the rapid end of the oil age.  It isn’t that there is not a lot more oil in different locales around the world.  The trouble is that no one single producer can backstop the whole industry.

Energy consumption needs supply security.  That disappeared briefly in the first energy shock in the early seventies.  With the diminishment of Saudi Arabia, energy security will become troublesome.

The King says no more exploration

The Official Saudi Press Agency reported this week that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has ordered a halt to all new oil exploration to save Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth for future generations.

“I was heading a cabinet meeting and told them to pray to God the Almighty to give it a long life. I told them that I have ordered a halt to all oil explorations so part of this wealth is left for our sons and successors God willing,” said King Abdullah.

Obviously, if the world’s largest oil field has peaked, the price of oil will rise dramatically when the global economy gets off the snide. 

But that’s not the half of it...

Given the current growth in demand, the International Energy Agency calculated that it would take the discovery of six new fields the size of those in Saudi Arabia to maintain current world oil output through to 2030.