ISSUES....
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The Count

Who Produces the Most Oil? Not Who You Think

If someone says “oil producer,” what country pops to mind? Chances are, the answer will be Saudi Arabia. It’s a common assumption in any discussion of the great global oil game that Americans drive around with abandon — through swamps, across fields of boulders, up dizzying cliffs — in their mighty sport utility vehicles and that the Saudis, above all others, just keep stuffing oil cash into their pockets.

There has generally been a lot of truth in that perception, as Saudi Arabia has for years topped the list of the world’s oil producers. But those not attuned to the finer points of the oil market may have missed a shift in the rankings over the summer, as Russia sneaked past the Saudis to top the list, with a six-month average of 9.37 million barrels a day, compared with 9.32 million for the ex-champ. (OPEC over all, of course, still dominates, with 29.5 million of the world’s 73.5 million barrels.)

If you ask for the top “oil consumer,” of course, there will never be hesitation: Now and for the foreseeable future, it will be ... guess who.

- Hunert B. Herring/ NYT / September 17, 2006

Petroleumworld 09 26 06

ISSUES....

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