Oh, I hoped it might be some time before the whole thing goes down. Well, we'll see history is made 60 years later.
Swords are for wimps
In what world is it in the Saudis' interests for the price of oil to be low?
Primus: It's not. And good for them for trying to get whatever price the market will bear
Secundus: Having said that, the systematic lying about reserve volumes by OPEC nations is criminally insane. not to mention massively fraudulent. a properly functioning economy relies on accurate information
Tertius: How is this news? the OPEC nations all inflated their reserves during the 80's, often by around 50% with no significant new discoveries.
Quatrius: The reserve figures quoted have rarely been adjusted to account for extraction
edited 9th Feb '11 7:58:30 AM by pathfinder
The terrible downside to multiple identities: multiple tax returns
Renewable energy companies should (hopefully) start pushing their stuff a bit more. If only because relying on oil in foreign nations filled with bastards at the governmental level is not a good thing.
And so the green movement wins, if only by the mechanisms of the market. Hail Adam Smith! 
@Josef: Nucler power is the only viable alternative and oddly enough, Eastern Europe wants it to become less reliant on Russian oil.
Nuclear power at the moment and (eventually) renewables. Personally I like nuclear power, despite all the whinging that will inevitably occur.
How I wish I had the capital to invest in shares of renewables... like I said, capitalism is going to save us. The hippies will now enter the stock market, and Joe Mc Carthy will spin in his grave so rapidly, he'll be a renewable resource by himself.
From what I've seen, the hippies badly mismanaged the initial recycling and waste-managment programs.
Swords are for wimps
say what you will about capitalism, it's a highly efficient mechanism for incentivising desired outcomes
when it's set up to do so via external intervention.
The terrible downside to multiple identities: multiple tax returns
OMG NO NOSECONES
Pathfinder: The difference now, in contrast to the reserve inflation stunt that OPEC pulled, is that not many know about it. Now that this cable is out in the open, it will gain attention to the problem that easy oil reserves are finite, and more attention will be brought to bear to deal with that eventuality.
So, I think we can all look forward to large double-digit increases in prices for gasoline for this year - as well the effects that higher crude prices will do to the other 499,999 things that are derived from crude.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Doesn't Venezuela have like a shitload of untapped oil?
Just waiting for the CIA to announce that they've discovered a nuclear weapons program in Venezuela and demand that UN weapons inspectors avoid the country at all costs.
Besides, the US has enough oil to last it a long while, but it's been left in the ground as a reserve in case the rest of the world goes boom or something.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Swords are for wimps
@Best Of. No idea about Venezuela's "untapped" capacity. But as an oil exporting country, restricting supply is economically incentivised
As for the oil stores, that's what's called a "strategic reserve". A lot of large countries have them. but they don't last "a long time". weeks or months is closer to the reality
The terrible downside to multiple identities: multiple tax returns
OMG NO NOSECONES
Our strategic reserve is enough to run the country at full tilt for about six months or something, but that's the figure I heard about years ago. I think we tapped into it some time ago for something, and the rate of use was based off of that years demand rate.
So it could very well be less than six months.
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
scratching at .8, just hopin'
There's oil, but not all oil is created equal. The tar sands in Alberta are chock-full of oil - but it's expensive and difficult to get of the ground, making it less profitable. (Unless you subsidize the hell out of the extraction industry and hide the real costs from the Canadian public, but that's another thing for me to gripe about.)
Long story short: oil will stop being affordable long before it stops coming out of the ground.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
In a situation dire enough to force the reserve opened, it certainly would not be used for such trivialities as private transport (so it would not be 'in full tilt'). It would be regulated. In addition to that, the lack of available oil would have necessitated the development of alternative methods and resources, leading to a permanent decline in oil use. Thus, the reserve would last a long time.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
OMG NO NOSECONES
I'll have to revisit the estimation, but the fuel cost of running essential services (commerce, emergency services, utilities and since it's that bad, the military) will be a significant chunk.
EDIT: From The Other Wiki:
~730 million barrels currently, not all of it sweet. We use 21 million a day, so they cite that it's equivalent to 34 days. However, they can only withdraw 4.4 million a day from it, so that stretches it out to lasting about... six months.
edited 9th Feb '11 11:49:52 AM by pvtnum11
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Sounds like we should get rid of oil subsidies, let prices rise, and get alternative sources of fuel.
scratching at .8, just hopin'
That's a plan, Tomu. Now how do we overcome the wealthy lobbies and incredible political resistance to such notions?
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
Swords are for wimps
@Tomu, yes, definitely. It's Jevon's Paradox, supply/demand, and Creative Destruction all rolled into one ball of fun
The terrible downside to multiple identities: multiple tax returns
OMG NO NOSECONES
If we paid what most of Europe paid, we'd have the tax money to invest into alternative energy stuff.
Can't imagine that most people would be very happy with that, though. :/
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
Oh wait, shit. I'm moving to Michigan. It's cold there. We still have gas heating.
FUCK!
300 dollars a month on heat alone for a 2 bedroom house!
If only we had Mr. Fusion...
edited 9th Feb '11 11:54:47 AM by TheyCallMeTomu
OMG NO NOSECONES
And you can bet your bottom dollar that that particular figure will only increase.
What a lovely time for this to hit, when we still have close to 10-percent (official) unemployment - I can imagine some people who have harsh winters may consider moving in a southerly direction...
Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.
scratching at .8, just hopin'
All right, time to abandon Canada folks, we might as well pack up now eh?
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
Well gee, if only I lived in Florida ;/
"The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning from a senior Saudi government oil executive that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%."
Y'know, my views on peak oil are now quite similar to my views on anthropogenic climate change, in that I really hate being right.
Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.