Friday, April 1, 2016

Good morning,

For every paranoid enviro-whacko who thinks peak oil is right around the corner, there is a geologist who claims that there is plenty of oil yet to be exploited to meet demand for the foreseeable future.

But who would really know?

A recent article from www.bloomberg.com sheds some very revealing light on the future of oil.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

Email the Editor

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Saudi Arabia Plans $2 Trillion Megafund for Post-Oil Era

Saudi Arabia is getting ready for the twilight of the oil age by creating the world's largest sovereign wealth fund for the kingdom's most prized assets.

Over a five-hour conversation, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman laid out his vision for the Public Investment Fund, which will eventually control more than $2 trillion and help wean the kingdom off oil. As part of that strategy, the prince said Saudi will sell shares in Aramco's parent company and transform the oil giant into an industrial conglomerate. The initial public offering could happen as soon as next year, with the country currently planning to sell less than 5 percent.

Almost eight decades since the first Saudi oil was discovered, King Salman's 30-year-old son is aiming to transform the world's biggest crude exporter into an economy fit for the next era. As his strategy takes shape, the speed of change may shock a conservative society accustomed to decades of government handouts.

The sale of Aramco, or Saudi Arabian Oil Co., is planned for 2018 or even a year earlier, according to the prince. The fund will then play a major role in the economy, investing at home and abroad. It would be big enough to buy Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. -- the world's four largest publicly traded companies.