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Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

bloomberg.com

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Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#101

Post by Mikeb85 »

crdoconnor wrote: post #94
beat wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISIS is fundamentally different from Al Qaeda and the sort of Wahhibist terrorism that the Saudis have historically been involved in. It is a direct threat to the Saudi government, and every other Arab government. I'll point out that the Saudis have actively bombed ISIS. They're militarily involved in this war. It's a huge, huge deal for them.

ISIS was actually partially funded from Saudi Arabia.

Individuals in Saudia Arabia who are against the monarchy. Not the Saudi government per se. Although the lines are certainly blurred when you consider that both the US and Saudis funded 'moderate' rebels in Syria, many of whom weren't so moderate and joined ISIS. And then of course Qatar and Turkey have also funded and assisted various rebel groups in Syria, many of whom are now ISIS as well.

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#102

Post by emodendroket »

beat wrote: post #83
emodendroket wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's very rare that any country's government consists entirely of people acting in concert, so it seems strange to make a sweeping statement like that. Besides that, there are also real costs to environmental devastation.

Let's say government A implements a carbon tax that increases fossil fuel costs by 25%. Government B chooses not to do so. So energy, the driver of the economy, is 25% cheaper for government B, giving them a competitive advantage. Now government A will be under massive internal pressure to abolish the carbon tax, because they're losing market share to the cheap energy of government B. That's why it won't work. Extern…

The same could be said for international regulations on, say, fishery. We nevertheless have a system in place that, while flawed, is considerably better than just throwing our hands up.

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#103

Post by beat »

Mikeb85 wrote: post #101
crdoconnor wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISIS was actually partially funded from Saudi Arabia.

Individuals in Saudia Arabia who are against the monarchy. Not the Saudi government per se. Although the lines are certainly blurred when you consider that both the US and Saudis funded 'moderate' rebels in Syria, many of whom weren't so moderate and joined ISIS. And then of course Qatar and Turkey have also funded and assisted various rebel groups in Syria, many of whom are now ISIS as well.

ISIS has tremendous popular support. A lot of ordinary people throughout the Arab world applaud their return to a pre-westernized Arab society. They actively provoke Arab governments, because it can lead to revolution in those other countries.

So yeah, lots of wealthy individuals in Saudi Arabia have funded them. But the government itself is terrified.

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#104

Post by jl6 »

a8da6b0c91d wrote: post #89
PopsiclePete wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Know what peak oil and nuclear fusion have in common? They're always 10 years away! I've been hearing this "doom and gloom" since the mid-90's. We're always 10 years away from a complete collapse of our oil-based economy and a Mad Max style dystopian society. We were 10 years away in 1994, we were 10 years away in 2004, and then in 2014. I will bet you $10 right now that you'll declare in 2024 that Peak Oil is going…

Peak Oil won't trigger a Mad Max dystopia. It will trigger pretty much what we've been seeing lately: ongoing financial crises and instability, deflationary pressures, growing unemployment, low/zero growth, etc. Please review the link above. You just have to look at oil production costs to know something has changed and continues to change. It's just not the 90s anymore. Many, many drillers need $80 oil to be solvent…

Do you have any Peak Oil articles from, say, 10 years ago that predict those four effects?

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#105

Post by selimthegrim »

monk_e_boy wrote: post #48
acjohnson55 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this can be (and is) manipulated by government policy and social dynamics. The externalities of the fossil fuel energy binge are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore, which is depressing demand.

Do you think Africa, China, India all think like that? Most of whom are living on or below the poverty line? They'll be driving old put-puts and crappy desel trucks, tractors and cars for tens of years to come. How long before second/third hand electric cars are being exported in tens or hundreds of thousands to these countries? 50 years? No one I know drives a NEW car, and I live in the UK. We all wait for 2nd/3rd h…

I think you're being a bit pessimistic. People in third world countries love status symbols and want to do their part too. In the eighties, when Datsuns were all the rage in Pakistan, my grandfather was one of the very few to track down an imported used Australian Ford Laser sedan, which was surprisingly cheap (probably smuggled through Dubai).

Until recently, Pakistan had one of the highest adoption rates in the world of CNG in cars as an alternative to petrol, you could just flip a switch when you were cruising on a flat. We modified our Laser (may it rest in peace) accordingly.

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#106

Post by 67726e »

crdoconnor wrote: post #90
beat wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's say government A implements a carbon tax that increases fossil fuel costs by 25%. Government B chooses not to do so. So energy, the driver of the economy, is 25% cheaper for government B, giving them a competitive advantage. Now government A will be under massive internal pressure to abolish the carbon tax, because they're losing market share to the cheap energy of government B. That's why it won't work. Extern…

Government A will more likely see their market operate in a rational way rather than irrational way. The rational way for its market to respond will be to shift to non-carbon forms of energy generation (which are already pretty much cost competitive without subsidies anyhow). The irrational way would simply be to stop producing and exporting goods because coal is more expensive.

The problem with that line of thought is that it's not going to be cheaper overnight. All the while Government A is plugging along on renewables, driving the price down, Government B is going to be eating Government A's lunch.

Re: Saudi Arabia’s Plan to Extend the Age of Oil

#107

Post by BrainInAJar »

Igglyboo wrote: post #18
jotm wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While also figuring out how to make fossil fuel safer for the environment. Don't get me wrong, solar/wind and especially nuclear are great, but it's gonna be a loooong time before we're completely rid of gas, coal and oil. There's so much of it and they're all so energy-dense and/or cheap that humans are gonna use them either until our planet turns into Venus or we figure out ways to reduce/eliminate those emissions.…

Another thing people seem to forget is that plastic requires oil. It's relatively easy to move from gas to electric cars, I don't know of an alternative for plastic production however.

silicone plastics, like modern bakeware.
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