Dueling Stories -- Saudi Peak Oil -- September 19, 2019

In an earlier post, I had this data point:

• Saudi's largest oil field is fading faster than anyone realizes, Bloomberg, April 2, 2019;

I did not want to clutter that post, get off track, muddy the waters, or confuse the point I was trying to make, but wattsupwiththat? posted a guest editorial two days ago saying the Bloomberg article was wrong. Here is the link to that article.

I'm a huge fan of wattsupwiththat? but in this case the Bloomberg article was more accurate than the wattsupwiththat? article, though technically both were correct, and interestingly enough, both saying the same thing.

The point that Bloomberg was trying to make -- and used a bit too much hyperbole --was that until the prospectus for the SaudiAramco was released, most folks thought that Saudi Arabia was producing 5 million bopd from their Ghawar, their largest field. In fact, it appears more like 3.8 million bopd. That was the headline.

wattsupwiththat? said, fine. So what if it's 3.8 million bopd? It's called "managing their assets."

But in this case, on the continuum from wattsupwiththat? to the Bloomberg story, I lean a bit more closely to the Bloomberg story. In light of recent events, the Bloomberg story becomes much more interesting, especially in light that it was published just a few months before the recent Iranian attack on Saudi Arabia.

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Sophia's Unicorn

Dimensions: about 2 inches by 2 inches
September 18, 2019
Age: 5 years 2 months