Re: SC5

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL20548125&imageid=&cap=

Kuwait oil reserves only half official estimate

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - OPEC producer Kuwait's oil reserves are only half those officially stated, according to internal Kuwaiti records seen by industry newsletter Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW).

"PIW learns from sources that Kuwait's actual oil reserves, which are officially stated at around 99 billion barrels, or close to 10 percent of the global total.............

It said that according to data circulated in Kuwait Oil Co

(KOC), the upstream arm of state Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Kuwait's remaining proven and non-proven oil reserves are ( actually ) about 48 billion barrels.

So Kuwait, one of the world's leading fields of oil reserves, now apparently holds half of its previously stated amount. The Arab oil countries had a vested interest in, " overstating " thier reserves for the economic benifits it brought via policy arrangements concerning oil distribution. It has already been suggested that Saudi Arabia, No 1 in world oil reserves, has dramatically overstated its reserves also. The oil equation continues to go in dire directions.