George Bush to Middle East : You are running out of oil

peakoil.com -> thescotsman.scotsman.com :

US President George Bush yesterday [18 May 2008] told leaders of the oil-rich states of the Middle East that they must face up to a future without their precious hydrocarbons. In a stark warning, he said their supplies were running out and urged them to reform and diversify their economies. The outgoing United States president told the World Economic Forum, meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, that it was time to "prepare for the economic changes ahead". Mr Bush's family name is inextricably linked to the oil industry, and this was his strongest statement yet on the future of global supplies.

The president's speech was made only days after he urged Saudi Arabia to increase oil production to ease prices at the pumps, as millions around the globe face increasing costs of filling up and even more grapple with rising food bills. Analysts warned last night that few in the Middle East, which has two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, are likely to heed Mr Bush. Many have already started diversifying their economies and do not like being preached to by someone so unpopular in the region.

- It's funny how George Bush is starting to talk about the issues surrounding peak oil nowadays. This is probably the second most useful thing he said, from a peakoiler's point of view, after the addicted to oil speech. It would have helped a lot more if he had said these things like a couple of years earlier, don't you think? Still, I'd suppose, better late than never. The next US president is going to be leading America into very interesting times.

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