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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (74675)	7/3/2008 4:52:04 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543533

>>Because they aren't allowed to. Its not like Saudi Aramco, and Exxon Mobil bid on developing some new field in Saudi. All oil drilling in Saudi is done under the state monopoly. The same holds true for many other nations, and those nations are where the majority of known reserves are located. In many cases (such as Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait) they are also the locations where you have dense and easy to access fields, where oil can be brought from the ground very cheaply.<< Tim - Of course I understand that Saudi Aramco has the lock on development in Saudi Arabia. What I'm saying is that if the private oil companies are so much more efficient than their socialized counterparts, shouldn't they be able to compete effectively in the world oil market? And if the biggest problem they have is that most of the supply they have access to is in harder to reach places, and that the Saudis (and others) have supplies that are easier to get to, well, isn't that just the way things are? If things are so badly stacked against them, and they're still making world-record profits, then I don't think they have much to complain about. - Allen