Suicide Bombing of Saudi Oil Complex Foiled
We all just dodged a bullet. But for how long?
The good news is that the suicide bombing by unidentified radicals against the Saudi oil processing center in largely Shiite Abqaiq (Baqiq) was foiled, though bombs did go off.
Saudi Arabia, dominated by hard line Wahhabi Sunnis, produces about 9.5 million barrels a day of petroleum, and exports over 7 million barrels a day.
Folks, the world only produces about 85 million barrels a day. And most of that is used up by the producers so it isn’t available for export. The US, for instance, produces 5.5 million barrels a day, but it uses about 20 million barrels a day. It uses all of its production and then 3 times that from other countries.
So the Saudi production is 11 percent of the world total, but it is far more than that of the amount of petroleum available for anyone else to buy.
If you took out the facility at Abqaiq, it would be very bad news for world transportation systems.
Iraqi production is already down 38% from pre-War levels. Nigerian production is off 20 percent because of political strife there. There haven’t been any big new strikes, and China and India and others are using more and more.
While it is desirable that the world be weaned off petroleum in favor of renewable energy like solar that do not contribute to global warming, it is also desirable that that process happen gradually. You don’t want the world thrown into a sort of Depression that would reduce research and development monies and effort for green energy.
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