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85 comments on Saudis announce oil production increases...again...and again...and again...

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sofistek on June 22, 2008 - 7:26pm Permalink | Subthread | Comments top

Perhaps the claims of over 10.8 mbpd included NGPL? I don't know what the estimates were, a year ago, but current estimates for July 2007 (your second quote), put total Saudi production, including NGPL, at 10.04 mbpd. That's still short of the claimed 10.8, of course.

The king used an interesting form of words when "promising" to increase supply, if needed. The BBC reported it as:

But Saudi Arabia said it would be prepared to pump more oil "if demand for such quantities materializes and our customers tell us they are needed".

How does Saudi Arabia expect demand to materialize, when there is not enough production to increase demand, or when prices are too high (because of restricted production) for people and business to afford to buy more?

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Pitt the Elder on June 22, 2008 - 8:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Perhaps the claims of over 10.8 mbpd included NGPL?

Re-read the quote:

"Saudi Arabia's crude oil production capacity has reached *10.8 million barrels per day*"

You probably thought they were talking about production because that's what the first number was about. The juxtaposition of those two numbers - seemingly-comparable, but actually talking about apples and oranges - is unclear writing, and I suspect will inadvertently lead more than a few people to jump to the same wrong conclusion you did.

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sofistek on June 22, 2008 - 10:13pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Quite right, Pitt. Perhaps the quote was included because the news headline claimed production reached 10.8 mbpd, not that production capacity reached 10.8 mbpd. I wonder if Jerome made the same mistake, since he highlighted the number but not the word "capacity".

Thanks for the correction.

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Kiashu on June 23, 2008 - 12:28am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Anyone can claim any production capacity they like. But it's meaningless until they actually produce something.

It's like if you apply for a job, "I can produce 1,250 hoodgiflops a day!" the potential employer will say, "Hmmm, okay, we'll try you out and see..."

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Bandits on June 23, 2008 - 1:31am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Scotty says to Captain Kirk, "we can do warp 9.5 Skipper........ but not for long, we'll blow up".

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research24 on June 23, 2008 - 4:42pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I seem to recall that Bush went to Riyadh twice to ask for more. Perhaps the king doesn't see him as a customer?

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