WikiLeaks: Saudi oil estimates may have been exaggerated

WikiLeaks cable: Saudi oil estimates may have been exaggerated

To access the complete version of this article, please click here.

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's oil reserves may have been grossly overestimated and its capacity to continue pumping at current capacity exaggerated, according to a U.S. diplomatic cable sent from the kingdom in 2007.

The cable, obtained by WikiLeaks and published in the British newspaper The Guardian, cited the views of Sadad al-Husseini, who had been in charge of exploration and production at the Saudi state-owned company Aramco for 12 years until 2004.

Saudi Aramco dominates exploration and production in the kingdom.

"According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is two-fold," the cable says. "First it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco executives and energy optimists would like."

Al-Husseini is quoted as disagreeing with his former company's estimate of total reserves in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer.

"He believes that Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300 billion barrels of 'speculative resources.' He instead focuses on original proven reserves."

Al Husseini forecasts "a plateau in total output that will last approximately fifteen years," meaning that soon after 2020 "a slow but steady output decline will ensue and no amount of effort will be able to stop it."

To access the complete version of this article, please click here.

ENDS

© Scoop Media