Re: Storm Coming III

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/12/18/opinion/devine/20_54_0812_17_05.txt...............................Simmons, who advised President Bush's 2000 presidential campaign on energy policy, has catalyzed the debate over peak oil with his rigorous and highly skeptical analysis of Saudi Arabia's estimated 260 billion barrels of proven reserves. Just how much oil actually lies beneath Saudi soil is among the world's most closely held state secrets, but Simmons isn't content to take the Saudi royal family's word.

"It's the world's most incredible illusion, that the Middle East has a limitless supply of oil," Simmons said.

Instead, Simmons' research into long-overlooked engineering reports revealed that Saudi oil fields probably don't contain the vast reserves of recoverable oil that the kingdom would have the world believe ---- a charge the Saudis scoff at. But no giant oil fields have been discovered lately that compare to the reservoirs the Saudis have been tapping for decades; the Houston Chronicle recently reported that 2005 will finish as the worst year for oil exploration success in the history of the industry.