The debate about the status of Saudi Arabia's oil reserves continues today on the op-ed pages of the Houston Chronicle. This time scholar Michael T. Klare weighs in to cry havoc, based on the controversial new book by investment banker Matthew Simmons.
The problem is, if you take away Saudi Arabia's 12.3 million barrels, there is no possibility of satisfying anticipated world demand in 2025.The Saudis vehemently deny their fields are in decline. The DOE, with no independent verification, backs them up. In the end, it comes down to this: America's entire energy strategy, with its commitment to an increased reliance on petroleum as the major source of our energy, rests on the unproven claims of Saudi oil producers that they can continuously increase Saudi output in accordance with the DOE predictions.
The moment that Saudi production goes into permanent decline in the not-too-distant future, the Petroleum Age as we know it will draw to a close. Oil still will be available on international markets, but not in the abundance to which we have become accustomed and not at a price that many of us will be able to afford.
Only if we act now to limit our consumption of oil and develop nonpetroleum energy alternatives, can we face the "twilight" of the Petroleum Age with some degree of hope; if we fail to do so, we are in for a very grim time.
Klare implies a cover-up is in progress.
There is no doubt that intense efforts will be made to refute Simmons' findings. With his book, however, it will no longer be possible for oil aficionados simply to chant "Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia" and convince us that everything is all right in the oil world.
The Chronicle identifies Klare only as "a professor at Hampshire College" and the author of "Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency." So, Klare must be an expert, right?
Well, a quick Web search turns up this from his faculty site:
Michael T. Klare is the Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies (a joint appointment at Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), and Director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies (PAWSS), a position he has held since 1985. Before assuming his present post, he served as Director of the Program on Militarism and Disarmament at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C. (1977-84).Professor Klare is also the defense correspondent of The Nation, a Contributing Editor of Current History. He has contributed articles to the two aforementioned journals and to Arms Control Today, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Harper's, International Security, Issues in Science and Technology, Journal of International Affairs, Le Monde Diplomatique, Mother Jones, Scientific American, Technology Review, Third World Quarterly, and World Policy Journal.
Michael Klare serves on the board of directors of the Arms Control Association, and the advisory board of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch; he is also a member of the Committee on International Security Studies of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Klare may (or may not) be an expert on petroleum economics and reservoir engineering, but Chronicle readers might want to know that he's apparently deeply into a leftist policy agenda.
Note: this isn't the first time the Chronicle has given a misleading description of an op-ed author. It's odd and unfortunate.
Posted by Alan at July 3, 2005 09:47 AM