Home>News Center>World
             
     

    Top Saudi says kingdom has plenty of oil
    (Agencies)
    Updated: 2005-06-09 18:25

    WASHINGTON - Saudi Arabia has plenty of oil — more than the world is likely to need — along with an increasing ability to refine crude oil into gasoline and other products before selling it overseas, a top Saudi official says.

    "The world is more likely to run out of uses for oil than Saudi Arabia is going to run out of oil," Adel al-Jubeir, top foreign policy adviser for Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, said Wednesday.

    In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Al-Jubeir said relations between his nation and the Bush administration were strong but "the environment in which the relationship operates ... still leaves a lot to be desired."

    He denied his country has any nuclear weapons ambitions, despite international concerns about a Saudi request to lower international scrutiny of its lone nuclear reactor.

    He said he was "bullish" about the Saudi economy, which although based on the country's vast oil reserves has also diversified to include a galloping stock market.

    Al-Jubeir dismissed speculation, including in a recent book, that the country was hiding the true picture of its oil reserves and that it may have far less than publicly assumed. He said Saudi Arabia has proven reserves of 261 billion barrels, and with the arrival of newer technology could extract an additional 100 billion to 200 billion barrels.

    "We will be producing oil for a very long time," al-Jubeir said.

    Saudi Arabia now pumps 9.5 million barrels of oil daily, with the capacity to produce 11 million barrels a day. The country has pledged to increase daily production to 12.5 million barrels by 2009, and the nation's oil minister said last month the level of 12.5 million to 15 million barrels daily could be sustained for up to 50 years.

    High oil prices benefit the Saudi economy in the short run, but al-Jubeir said his nation wants a stable price that won't hurt consumers so much that they reduce their energy demands.

    The problem for both the Saudis and the United States is what happens after the oil is pumped.

    "If we send more oil to the United States and you can't refine it, it's not going to become gasoline," al-Jubeir said. The United States has not built a refinery since the 1970s, and other markets have similarly outmoded or limited refining capacity. Environmental concerns and local opposition make it unlikely new U.S. refineries can be built quickly, even with the current gas price crunch.

    Saudi Arabia has partly stepped into the breach, with new refineries being built inside the kingdom as well as in China and soon in India, al-Jubeir said.

    The country has also invested in gasoline stations, part of a strategy of "going downstream" from oil production to distribution, al-Jubeir said.

    "We continue to do it, and we have one of the largest refining and distribution systems in the world," he said.

    Ordinary Saudis remain deeply distrustful of the United States in the aftermath of the Iraq invasion and revelations about mistreatment of Muslim prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and a range of complaints about conditions at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, al-Jubeir said.

    "Why do they hate you? They don't hate you, they just don't like your policies."

    Al-Jubeir said the Saudi regime takes no umbrage at U.S. efforts to spread democracy in the Middle East. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have made democratic expansion a centerpiece of Bush's second term foreign policy.

    "We believe that the idea of spreading freedom and democracy is a noble one," but change must come on terms each country can accept, al-Jubeir said.



     
      Today's Top News     Top World News
     

    Bush claims good enough relationship with China

     

       
     

    Bird flu outbreak confirmed in Xinjiang

     

       
     

    Flood death toll hits 96; relief fund floods in

     

       
     

    Bush: US opposed to Taiwan 'independence'

     

       
     

    Textile issue a 'yardstick' for free trade

     

       
     

    N.Korea has nuclear bombs, building more

     

       
      N.Korea has nuclear bombs, building more
       
      Bolivian lawmakers to name new president
       
      Top Saudi says kingdom has plenty of oil
       
      Veto dropped in draft for new UN Council members
       
      Bush claims good enough relationship with China
       
      Iraq leader lauds Shiite, Kurdish militia
       
     
      Go to Another Section  
     
     
      Story Tools  
       
      Related Stories  
       
    World Cup qualifiers Asian zone
       
    Iran, Japan qualify for 2006 World Cup
       
    Saudi King Fahd in stable condition
       
    Saudi Arabia's King Fahd hospitalized
       
    Saudi prince, Bush to meet, talk issues
       
    Four die as Saudi forces, militants clash in Mecca
       
    Saudi forces kill 14 Islamic militants
      News Talk  
      Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
    Advertisement
             
    少妇中文无码高清| 亚洲AV永久无码精品网站在线观看 | 中文毛片无遮挡高潮免费| 夜夜添无码一区二区三区| 中文亚洲欧美日韩无线码| 久久久无码人妻精品无码| 日韩人妻无码精品系列| 久久精品人妻中文系列| 精品久久久久久久无码| 亚洲AV无码久久| 无码精品A∨在线观看免费| 欧美人妻aⅴ中文字幕| 无码乱码观看精品久久| 久久久久亚洲精品无码蜜桃| 亚洲人成网亚洲欧洲无码久久| 久久中文精品无码中文字幕| 中文字幕日本人妻久久久免费| 大学生无码视频在线观看| 亚洲一区精品无码| 中文字幕手机在线观看| 亚洲欧美日韩在线中文字幕 | 久久中文字幕人妻熟av女| 成在人线AV无码免观看麻豆 | 精品无码三级在线观看视频| 色欲A∨无码蜜臀AV免费播| 夜夜添无码试看一区二区三区| 中文字幕在线看视频一区二区三区 | 人妻少妇无码精品视频区| 少妇无码太爽了不卡在线观看| 久久中文字幕视频、最近更新| 中文字幕一二三区| 亚洲一日韩欧美中文字幕欧美日韩在线精品一区二 | 久久精品无码一区二区WWW| xx中文字幕乱偷avxx| 人妻无码中文久久久久专区| 中文无码字慕在线观看| 中文字幕亚洲欧美日韩2019| 永久免费无码日韩视频| 日韩精品无码一区二区中文字幕 | 人妻中文字系列无码专区| 亚洲韩国—中文字幕|