United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

As the price of oil reached another all-time high of $119.86 a barrel on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's oil minister warned that "limited capacity along the entire supply chain" is "the real source of current global supply tightness," the Financial Times of London reported.[1] -- "Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya's national oil corporation, yesterday admitted there was little more oil the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could pump in case of a shortfall," Carola Hoyos wrote. -- "'Very little can be done by anyone, there is not enough spare capacity to help,' he said." -- But the paper continued to shun the notion of Peak Oil, reporting instead that "William Ramsay, deputy director of the International Energy Agency . . . said many other countries could contribute to growth in oil supplies if they did more to encourage investment in their industries and gave oil companies greater access to their reserves. 'The burden doesn't have to be on the Saudis. There is plenty of oil in so many places if those places will allow it to be developed.'" -- Carola Hoyos added, however: "But even Saudi Aramco has struggled with delays and some analysts have warned the country may not have enough easily accessible oil to meet demand, especially as it is called upon to make up the shortfalls caused by oil rich producers such as Nigeria, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq, where politics has stymied production growth." ...

The biggest threat to the future security of oil supplies is the lack of spare production capacity worldwide, Saudi Arabia warned yesterday.

In unusually frank remarks, Ali Naimi, the kingdom's oil minister, said: "Limited capacity along the entire supply chain is the real source of current global supply tightness and represents the greatest threat to ensuring adequate energy to fuel future economic growth."

His comments came as oil prices rose to a fresh all-time high of $119.86 a barrel on worries that supply outages in Nigeria and the UK could cause shortages in the market.

Shokri Ghanem, head of Libya's national oil corporation, yesterday admitted there was little more oil the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could pump in case of a shortfall. "Very little can be done by anyone, there is not enough spare capacity to help," he said.

William Ramsay, deputy director of the International Energy Agency, which represents the world's biggest oil consuming countries, agreed, warning: "Potential to expand production within OPEC: there is none, except in Saudi Arabia. So we put on Saudi Arabia the sole responsibility."

He said many other countries could contribute to growth in oil supplies if they did more to encourage investment in their industries and gave oil companies greater access to their reserves. "The burden doesn't have to be on the Saudis. There is plenty of oil in so many places if those places will allow it to be developed."

Together with the IEA, Mr. Naimi and other OPEC ministers have long argued that the need is for more investment in refineries, most of which are located within oil consuming countries. But in yesterday's speech Mr. Naimi included the need for more investment in oilfields.

He said to overcome the current bottleneck "we must create an environment that encourages investment in energy infrastructure along the entire value chain."

Saudi Arabia has been aggressively investing in its oilfields, with the help of international service companies, although the country has kept the exploitation of its oilfields in the hands of Saudi Aramco, the national oil company.

Mr. Ramsay said: "National oil companies are a varied lot. There are some that are national piggy banks and cannot invest. Others, Saudi Aramco in particular, are very competent and can respond in a very short period of time to capacity requirements."

But even Saudi Aramco has struggled with delays and some analysts have warned the country may not have enough easily accessible oil to meet demand, especially as it is called upon to make up the shortfalls caused by oil rich producers such as Nigeria, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq, where politics has stymied production growth.

Mr. Naimi said producers were "working hard" to add capacity, while Abdalla Salem el-Badri, OPEC's secretary general, reiterated that the group planned to spend $160bn over the next four years to increase oil production capacity by 5m b/d.

But the fact that Mr. Naimi had to emphasize there was no need to panic about high oil prices was a clear sign to many just how uncertain the future looked.