What is the real trouble with oil? In one of its recent issues, The Economist says the real problem is not scarcity but concentration. That’s interesting in many ways! Elaborating on the issue, the journal says, “about two thirds of the world’s proven oil reserves lie in the hands of just five Arabian Gulf countries. As the market share of those regimes soars, so too will the chance of disruption, embargo or worse.”

Commenting on the subject matter, a veteran of the oil industry remarked, “and the real problem is that all these five countries are Muslim countries” and are located in a region that in Western perspective is beset with instability, extremism, wars and violence.

Hence the rush all around is to secure energy resources. If the US went into Afghanistan, some say it had eyes set on the vast energy resources of the Caspian belt. There have been stories in recent times, that 911 or no 911, the US had plans in place to enter Afghanistan and 911 was a god gifted opportunity in some senses.

Then many, both in this part of the world and even in other parts of the globe are of the firm view that war on Baghdad was unleashed to secure its oil resources. The region holds such an importance for the world, as far as energy security is concerned, that energy thirsty United States could not afford strategically to let it slip out of its influence.

However, it is not the US alone which is after the energy riches of the region. A recent report on an Italian television channel RAI News 24 said that 3,000 Italian troops were sent to Iraq by the Berlusconi led government, not for post war humanitarian purposes, as was officially claimed, rather to secure oil deals worth $300 billion.

RAI News 24 is an all news channel of the Italian state owned network. The 20-minute report was based on interviews and official government documents. In the program, Italian forces were said to have picked the Nasseriyah area to safeguard a 1997 deal signed between Italy’s ENI and the then Saddam regime. The program cited a government report recommending Italy to secure the Nasseriyah and the nearby Halfaya region, south of Baghdad, so as to secure “the deal worth $300 billion.”

Politics is indeed so intertwined with energy that it is difficult to separate reality with fantasy.

A book by Gerald Posner, just published, almost fantasizes to the extent that it claims that in order to thwart any possible take over of its oil wells by hostile elements, Saudi Arabia has wired its oil fields with radio active explosives. What more could be the travesty of truth!

This all is happening at a point in time when Saudi Arabia and its oil company Saudi Aramco is trying its best to stabilize and cool down the over heated oil markets. This is definitely not being done to appease quarters in the west. Every one here in Dhahran, the virtual global energy capital concedes that if oil continues to dominate headlines the world over, ultimately it would pave for the emergence of new alternative sources of energy. Being single product economies, all the five countries of the region, which hold the major portion of the global proven oil reserves, cannot afford alternatives to emerge. It would destroy their economies.

In the same vein it could also be added that wiring it’s the major resource with explosives could turn the entire region barren. No healthy mind could go for it, knowing the repercussions.

In fact what is being said and hypothetized is quite contrary to facts and figures. Saudi Aramco is striving to maximum to ensure stable supply of this important commodity to the world.

All its selective fields now have individual data acquisition and reservoir surveillance programs in place to ensure maximum hydrocarbon recovery and optimal development strategies. The Qatif field, which came on stream, last year utilizes a network of dedicated observation wells and Permanent Downhole Monitoring Sensors (PDHMS) as an integral part of its Strategic Surveillance Masterplan.

Even the Abu Sa’fah field that has been in production since 1966 exhibits a remarkable, steady performance in terms of reservoir pressure, sweep and water cut due to prudent reservoir management practices.

Ghawar’s ‘Ain Dar/Shedgum area has produced 27 billion barrels of crude so far and yet enjoys stable reservoir pressure over the last two decades. Hence when Saudi Aramco says it is endeavoring to meet the global requirements, there are reasons for it to be confident. It indeed cannot play havoc with its major revenue earner, what ever the circumstances be, is for every one to mull and understand. Aramco has an agenda completely in contrast to wiring its wells. It is aiming at optimizing — and indeed not maximizing — its revenue generation capacity!