Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision [to] get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years…
Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, 30, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia laid out his vision [to] get Saudi Arabia off its oil dependence in only 4 years…
Hey, if Saudi Arabia can diversity its economy from oil in only four years, then there must be hope for the Notley plan to diversify Alberta’s economy.
After all, it’s never been tried before … as long as you don’t read the Don Getty chapter of Alberta history.
First off, a slight understanding of the Saudi mindset is in order – I recall sitting in Riyadh airport on one particular occasion and watching the Arrivals/Departures Boards – no matter what time a flight landed or took off, the boards showed it as “On Time”.
So, when they say “Four years”, it’ll BE four years…..even if it never happens.
I should have specified that the above applied to Saudia flights only.
They don’t need Amy Schumer or Chris Rock when they have this home grown comedy to hear.
Four years is absurd, but the article doesn’t actually quote him as claiming this as being achieved in such a short time period. What he said was, if you go to the actual interview text, a 15-year development program would be rolled out to diversify the Saudi economy.
Most of the interview is actually devoted to the restructuring of Aramco, converting it into a holding company, and selling %5 of Aramco to investors. That alone is huge news, which Oil Price largely ignores.
In part, the beginnings of diversification have already started. SA is following the lead of its neighbours UAE and Iran in looking at building nuclear generation to replace its oil and gas-fired electricity production. Their announced development is at least as large as the UAE, a dozen reactors over the next two decades.
Maybe, just maybe, Oil Price should stop following the lead of Lefties and start reporting what is actually said rather than what they wish to hear. Does the Prince say that diversification means independence from oil? No, he says diversification will reduce dependence on oil. The two things are entirely different.
The Great Leap Forward of Klein-Lewis calls for 100% electricity from renewable sources in a mere 2 decades and electric trains on freight and passenger routes. Seems they are on the same page as the Saudis.
And here I was, thinking all along that turdo la doo and Charles were the only ones who graduated from Economics for Vacant Little Princes studies…
The author makes some valid points, but then destroys his predictive credibility with comments like,
“As the electric car and better public transport replace gasoline-driven automobiles and trucks, the demand for petroleum will collapse over the next 20 years.”
and,
“A really big extreme global warming event, like a glacier plopping into the ocean and suddenly raising sea level by a foot, e.g., would spread panic and accelerate the abandonment of oil. Saudi Arabia probably cannot replace the money it will lose if oil goes out of style and so is doomed to downward mobility and very possibly significant instability.”
He also mentions “Dutch Disease”, revealing his worship at the altar of Keynesianism.
He also seems woefully unaware of the strong and obvious ties between the Houthis and Iran.
Four years is child’s play, it took Notley and Turdeau less than 3 months to create state
dependents. It looks like a Saudi bait and switch again.
Its about time
Do you realize how incredibly awesome this is?
Forget Nemo2’s temporal distortion around Riyadh. Lets encourage them to do this. Push them to go faster! harder! further! Now! Now! Now!
As they beggar themselves chasing the Green rainbow (hmm, maybe a better phrase is needed), hopefully the “freedom fighters” (or what ever name people are giving them these days) will find their source of funding dry up.
I hear nonsense like this more and more from Journalists, even on BNN: “They may eventually not be worth anything if hydrocarbons are replaced by green energy or even outlawed.” Unless we are talking about a significant increase in nuclear power or going back to the stone age, there is no chance of getting away from fossil fuels for the foreseeable future.
It’s quite simple.
Just buy even more of U.S., European and Canadian businesses
This government likely doesn’t survive 4 years. The USA is slowly cutting their ties and when the ’28 Pages’ are released that will accelerate. The Saudis are the funders and promoters of radical world Islam. Time to cut them off and let the Persians take over. Better yet let them continue their fighting and simply disassociate from the ME.
A strong ME is not in Canadian national interest.
Juan Cole, Juan Cole…. I thought that name sounded familiar.
There is only one problem (one you say?) with this thesis. You cannot divert your oil revenue into other sectors AND spend that revenue on the people at the same time. This explains why rich oil countries (or socialist states like Alberta) are unable to diversify their economies. Greed 101.
Ah, yes, the attempts by the Getty PCs to diversify the Alberta economy.
I remember that during the early days of post-Lougheed Alberta, the provincial government published a book that listed various companies or organizations that were part of that diversification. Many of them turned out to be financial sinkholes, though I won’t mention any names. When I was out of work in the mid- to late 1980s, I contacted several of them for a job, but many were either barely solvent or had gone out of business.
During the 1980s, I worked for 2 different companies that received a lot of provincial government funding. Typically, neither of them knew how to make a profit, but the management always managed to have nice plush offices and drove fancy company-financed vehicles. Meanwhile, the rest of us got up each working day morning wondering if we still had a job at quitting time.
One managed to stay afloat because its founder had close ties with key members of the Alberta civil service. Whenever it got into trouble, which was often, it always managed to get another bailout. (One time, our paycheques were delayed a few days. It wasn’t until several days later that I read about yet another cash infusion and I made the connection.) That continued until someone higher in the pecking order wised up and cut off its government funding.
It was eventually sold to a private owner and I think he sold it to someone else. That firm went out of business about 20 years ago and, as far as I know, the building it was in, which was already old and in rough shape, remains abandoned with few windows, if any, left intact.
But, nothing like what I described would ever happen if Red Rachel decided to “diversify” the Alberta economy, now would it?
By the way, the federal government’s attempts to do that sort of thing didn’t do much better. Remember the Scientific Research Tax Credit program started under Pierre “The Smart One” Trudeau? That turned into a sham as many companies made all sorts of bogus claims and managed to bilk the government for money. There was a similar program about 15 years ago (Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentives), started under either Chretien or Martin, and I don’t believe that was much different.
The fastest way for the Saudi’s to retool their economy is to partner with the Chinese and take over the West. Conquer the US … and … divide the kingdom between Communist States and Sharia Islamo-land.
Simple.
Agree with Watto and John Chittick. The article is mendacious nonsense from a known source of Iranian propaganda.
Not that the Saudis are likely to be able to diversify, but not for the reasons cited.
Sure, sell off 5% of shares of Armamco, to be later rendered worthless by the “non-dependency” plan.
Was Justin consulted on this? I know, neither prince has a calculator.
It sounds more like the let’s sell the s**t out of our oil while pretending to diversify our economy plan.
Ah yes, greening the desert.
Like our cabin boy, the kid prince needs more credits from the school of life.
I still cannot understand why the Saudi’s haven’t been nuked to hell and back. Oh wait. They pay the Yanks. Forgot that minor part. You can destroy EVERY oil/natgas/etc well in the the goat screwers kingdom,and there would still be a glut. Follow the money.
Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, wasn’t he in a three stooges skit ?
Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss,
They stuck it in us for 40 years, Make them drink oil.
Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss, Frack his @ss…
Well done. You have the only answer to this premised Saudi economic “diversification” that makes sense, gord.
can you run an economy on camel dung?