Like other environmental issues, peak oil is not an issue we can ignore.  Are you ready for peak oil?  You probably aren’t,  because our entire social and economic structure is totally reliant on cheap, abundant oil and gas.  Cheap abundant oil is about to end.   Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East are not sticking their heads in the sand about it because they can’t — too much of their economy has depended on oil.  They are now “diversifying” and getting ready in other ways for the inevitability of peak oil.   “The push for cleaner technology is pivotal for the oil rich kingdom.” This is why it’s not strange that countries in the Middle East — like Iran — would want to use nuclear power.  Peak oil is going to hit the entire world, not just the countries who use the most of it, so every country on earth will need to find alternatives to fossil fuels for power.

More from the AP– JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — A top Saudi energy official expressed serious concern Monday that world oil demand could peak in the next decade and said his country was preparing for that eventuality by diversifying its economic base.

Mohammed al-Sabban, lead climate talks negotiator, said the country with the world’s largest proven reserves of conventional crude is working to become the top exporter of energy, including alternative forms such as solar power.

. . . .  Al-Sabban said the potential that world oil demand had peaked, or would peak soon, was an “alarm that we need to take more seriously” as Saudi charts a course for greater economic diversification.

“We cannot stay put and say ‘well, this is something that will happen anyway,” al-Sabban said at the Jeddah Economic Forum. The “world cannot wait for us before we are forced to adapt to the reality of lower and lower oil revenues,” he added later.

Some experts have argued that demand for oil, the chief export for Saudi Arabia and the vast majority of other Gulf Arab nations, has already peaked. Others say consumption will plateau soon, particularly in developed nations that are pushing for greater reliance on renewable energy sources. . . . .   Al-Sabban said that along with investing in education and economic diversification, Saudi must ensure that it become the top energy exporter, including in solar power, to keep moving forward.

The country recently launched its first solar-powered desalination plant and al-Sabban said oil giant Saudi Aramco was working on a pilot project to inject carbon emissions back into wells to help boost output. The carbon sequestration project, which he said would be operational by 2012, was a sign of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to environmentally sound energy development.”

And Bloomberg News reported on Monday that a Saudi oil adviser called declining oil demand in developed nations a serious “alarm”that should push Saudi Arabia to diversify its economy and reduce its reliance on oil exports.”

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