Clinton raises alarm about oil depletion
by Charlie Smith
Former
U.S. president Bill Clinton has urged newspaper editors to focus more
attention on the depletion of the world’s oil reserves. In a June 17
speech to the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention in
Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton said a “significant number of petroleum
geologists” have warned that the world could be nearing the peak in oil
production. . . .
During a question-and-answer period, the Georgia Straight asked Clinton
if he believed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, and United Arab
Emirates had exaggerated claims about their proven oil reserves. The
four Persian Gulf states are among the six nations with the greatest
listed proven reserves. (Canada and Iraq are the other two.)
“I don’t know if they’re overstating their reserves,” Clinton replied.
He added that he expects oil prices will reach US$100 per barrel “in
five years or less”.
Texas-based energy-investment banker Matthew Simmons, author of
Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World
Economy (John Wiley & Sons, 2005), told the Straight last October
that 60 percent of all Saudi oil has come from one field, Ghawar.
Simmons said that after the Saudis nationalized the industry, they
increased their proven reserves by 100 billion barrels without making
any new discoveries. In 1998, retired petroleum geologists Colin
Campbell and Jean Laherrère wrote an article in Scientific American,
claiming that Saudi Arabia and several other Oil Producing and
Exporting Countries had also increased their proven reserves. This
enabled those countries to export more petroleum under OPEC’s quota
system.
. . .
Clinton also recommended that everyone at the convention read The Empty
Tank: Oil, Gas, Hot Air, and the Coming Global Financial Catastrophe
(Random House, 2005), by Jeremy Leggett, a petroleum geologist and
international campaigner for Greenpeace.
Clinton also emphasized the importance of developing the
alternative-energy industry and weaning his country off its dependence
on imported oil. He claimed that promoting renewable power would also
stimulate the American economy.
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