God has a sense of humor
The entire nation of Saudi Arabia has a total of 260 Billion barrels.
They just found a field in Israel with as much as 250 Billion and there may well be more -- a lot more...
From the
Financial Post:
Lawrence Solomon: Israel�s new energy
In the first 25 years after Israel�s founding in 1948, it was repeatedly attacked by the large armies of its Arab neighbours. Each time, Israel prevailed on the battlefield, only to have its victories rolled back by Western powers who feared losing access to Arab oilfields.
The fear was and is legitimate � Arab nations have often threatened to use their �oil weapon� against countries that support Israel and twice made good their threat through crippling OPEC oil embargoes.
But that fear, which shackles Israel to this day, may soon end. The old energy order in the Middle East is crumbling with Iran and Syria having left the Western fold and others, including Saudi Arabia, the largest of them all, in danger of doing so. Simultaneously, a new energy order is emerging to give the West some spine. In this new order, Israel is a major player.
The new energy order is founded on rock � the shale that traps vast stores of energy in deposits around the world. One of the largest deposits � 250 billion barrels of oil in Israel�s Shfela basin, comparable to Saudi Arabia�s entire reserves of 260 billion barrels of oil � has until now been unexploited, partly because the technology required has been expensive, mostly because the multinational oil companies that have the technology fear offending Muslims. �None of the major oil companies are willing to do business in Israel because they don�t want to be cut off from the Mideast supply of oil,� explains Howard Jonas, CEO of IDT, the U.S. company that owns the Shfela concession through its subsidiary, Israel Energy Initiatives. Jonas, an ardent Zionist, considers the Shfela deposit merely a beginning: �We believe that under Israel is more oil than under Saudi Arabia. There may be as much as half a trillion barrels.�
As for: "
the multinational oil companies that have the technology fear offending Muslims"
You snooze, you lose. Your pandering offends me -- where is the outrage because I am offended...
This is very cool.
Posted by DaveH at June 10, 2011 9:15 PM