Saudi Prince says US shale oil boom is threat to survival of all oil producing countries, must fight back against US, Prince 'will mobilize media,' get people to pressure gov. to rectify problem, 'economic emergency'--Globe and Mail, Nov. 2013

11/15/13, "Saudi billionaire sees a world awash in oil," The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Jacquie McNish

"“He has arrived.” As the hushed alert circulates in the lobby of Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel, a dozen employees rush to their positions near doors and elevators....

Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire who invests in everything from Twitter to Disney, is visiting the recently built hotel, the newest addition to his collection of five-star pleasure palaces....
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Now he is emerging as an activist in his home country with a rare public challenge to Saudi Arabia’s political elite, whom he believes are recklessly ignoring economic threats posed by shale oil discoveries in the United States..

The Prince makes this point repeatedly in an interview with The Globe and Mail, one of his first since he rattled global oil markets in July by disclosing on his Twitter account a letter to Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister. The missive warned that the American shale oil boom would soon threaten demand for crude from members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

New shale oil discoveries “are threats to any oil-producing country in the world,” he says.

Inside the Four Seasons, the Prince and his handlers nudge their way through the hotel’s packed street-level “dbar” (a nod to chef Daniel Boulud) to a raised dais of taupe couches and chairs at the end of the lounge.

Signalling his comfort in Western society, the Prince juggles his prayer beads and Android phone while conducting business in the lobby bar. This is his custom, an adviser whispers – the Prince likes to make himself visible when spending time at his five-star resorts....

In less than two years, Prince al-Waleed says, the United States will be producing so much oil that it will be a competing exporter of crude. Oil prices currently hovering a little below $100 (U.S.) a barrel could sink as low as $80 over the next few years and potentially fall even further if more shale oil discoveries emerge in the United States, Europe and Australia.

“It is a pivot moment for any oil-producing country that has not diversified,” he says. “Ninety-two per cent of Saudi Arabia’s annual budget comes from oil. Definitely it is a worry and a concern.” Does Saudi Arabia get it?

“I will make them get it; there is no doubt about that. I’ll make them get it. It is matter of survival. There is no choice but to get it. I will keep pushing until they do.

“The majority of Saudi Arabians get it. We will mobilize the media; mobilize the people to put maximum pressure on the government to do things to rectify the problem.”

The more emphatic the Prince becomes, the more his attendants nod their heads in agreement. “He will tweet this all the time,” one pipes up....

Many Saudis share his concern about an economic reckoning as a result of the shale oil boom, he says, but powerful political figures continue to push for the country to expand its oil output. These oil optimists, he says, have a false sense of security because of the country’s enormous stockpile of nearly $700-billion in foreign exchange reserves. As a result of the reserve buffer, he says, Saudi leaders do not agree that a looming oil glut is an economic “emergency.”

He estimates the currency reserves will last another decade if oil prices continue to fall. “In the life of a nation, 10 years is a blip.”" via CNS News




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