Saudis ask for aid if world cuts dependence on oil

BANGKOK — There are plenty of needy countries at the U.N. climate talks in Bangkok that make the case they need financial assistance to adapt to the impacts of global warming. Then there are the Saudis.

Saudi Arabia has led a quiet campaign during these and other negotiations — demanding behind closed doors that oil-producing nations get special financial assistance if a new climate pact calls for substantial reductions in the use of fossil fuels.

That campaign comes despite an International Energy Agency report released this week showing that OPEC revenues would still increase $23 trillion between 2008 and 2030 — a fourfold increase compared to the period from 1985 to 2007 — if countries agree to significantly slash emissions and thereby cut their use of oil. That is the limit most countries agree is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

The head of the Saudi delegation Mohammad S. Al Sabban dismissed the IEA figures as “biased” and said OPEC's own calculations showed that Saudi Arabia would lose $19 billion a year starting in 2012 under a new climate pact. The region would lose much more, he said.

“We are among the economically vulnerable countries,” Al Sabban told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the talks ahead of negotiations in Copenhagen in December for a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.


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How's this for Balls! The Oil producing companies and countries have raped us just like wall street and the banks and now they want a bailout too!

Just fookin' rediculous!

LOL how stupidly hilarious..multi trillion dollar country and business over thier nd they need a bailout? DOWN with the corporations!!!
okay! is thier a list of gasoline companys that are involved with this? i know all gas comes form the smae place, its the additives that are added per comapnys, that sets it apart...
shell?mobil?i doubt CITGO thas hugo chavez... chevron? Valero? getty? any of them in ont his? im not buying their gasoline anymore if thier invilved in this bailout...i WILL go back to buying hugo chavez gas*

The rest of the world should tell them to go **** themselves, after all they had the monopoly of fueling the world for years, they made billions if not trillions from the people to gas their cars. Now they're asking for bailout money if the world don't need them anymore?
Maybe they should get off their fatcat Saudi backsides and do something proactive, start developing new forms of power generators?
That way they can at least support their obviously meagre bank balances.

This is laughable.

I'd say its the perfect time to form the worlds largest middle finger and show it off to the Saudis.

The public may disagree with the Saudis. Heck. Everyone will disagree with the Saudis. But remember, it doesn't mean that when everyone disagrees it will automatically be revoked.

TPTB may already be doing something behind the back of the world since TPTB and Sauds are "close friends". Judging from what's happening in the world, TPTB doesn't care about the people. The only thing they care about is in their best interests.

Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that the Saudis were warning the US off reducing oil dependency on them with veiled threats?

Saudi can go suck a lemon. It wasn't us that told those morons to spend the billions of dollars they made on oil on material goods rather than build up the infrastructure of their country. The ruling elite just got wealthier and wealthier and when it looks like their golden goose is gonna get fleeced they ask for aid to compensate? HA!

Some advice to the Saudis...your in a desert, you got more sunlight than others..setup some solar panels and export that excess electricity or..god forbid share it among the countries in the middle east.

Seems like bailing out the Saudi's would be right in line with all the other stupid economic actions of the past few years.

After all, how can royalty used to raking in billions every minute possibly be expected to survive on merely millions every year? Quick, send them a care package of doubloons and caviar.

I heard on the news yesterday that "experts" are predicting that oil production will peak by 2020 due to emptying reserves.

I don't know how true that is, as statements like that often lead to a rise in oil prices, which benefits everyone except the consumer and business (except for oil business), so to be taken with a pinch of salt.

But countries like Saudi Arabia really should be looking at other ways to develop their economies instead of relying on their oil reserves. Tourism springs to mind (they have Mecca, but it's closed off to non-Muslmis). I like the idea above of using solar panels, but what are the ecological implications?