VZCZCXRO4464
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHROV
DE RUEHRH #1068/01 2291633
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 171633Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1402
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHHH/OPEC COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0384
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 RIYADH 001068 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, EEB/ESC/IEC(SULLIVAN), INR/EC(WOOD) 
DOE FOR DAS HEGBURG AND JIM HART 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/17/2019 
TAGS: EPET ENRG PREL ECON KAUST OPEC SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI OIL MINISTER REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO OIL 
PRICE/PRODUCTION STABILITY, NO EASY WAY TO ELIMINATE 
SPECULATION 
 
REF: A. DHAHRAN 150 
     ¶B. RIYADH 271 
 
Classified By: CDA Ambassador Richard Erdman per 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) In an August 12 meeting with Charge, Saudi Oil 
Minister Ali Al-Naimi underlined the key role his government 
played within OPEC moderating the positions of less 
responsible members wanting to maximize the price of oil at 
the expense of the international economy.  He said the 
Kingdom welcomed oil in the $70/barrel range, as a fair and 
sustainable price for both producers and consumers.  He 
blamed speculation for recent record oil prices, as well as 
current prices, but offered few solutions on how to bring the 
market back to levels reflecting "fundamentals."  Naimi said 
Saudi Arabia would not move away from deep domestic discounts 
on oil and gas prices anytime soon; underscored the Kingdom's 
serious intention to develop solar and nuclear energy; and 
estimated that the Kingdom's fossil fuels will "last 50 more 
years or so."  The Minister was clearly focused on KAUST, the 
new Saudi university/research center set to open September 
23, a legacy project of King Abdullah that Saudi Aramco and 
the Energy Ministry has been tasked with realizing and which 
they hope will be a world-class facility.  End summary. 
 
CONTINUED SAUDI COMMITMENT TO OIL PRICE 
AND PRODUCTION STABILITY 
--------------------------------------- 
 
2 (C) During an August 12 meeting with Minister of Petroleum 
and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi, Charge expressed U.S. 
appreciation for the moderating role Saudi Arabia played 
within OPEC, and more generally for the stabilizing role it 
played in international energy markets.  We had a mutual 
interest in stable oil prices that were high enough to 
sustain investment but not so high as to kill demand.  Charge 
asked how Naimi viewed current energy developments given that 
oil prices had risen back into the $70/barrel range -- high 
in historical terms -- even while the global recession has 
dampened global oil demand.  Naimi replied that playing a 
moderating role within OPEC long had been a key part of the 
Kingdom's energy policy, which he said often meant working in 
and around OPEC meetings to "keep tempers down." 
 
¶3. (C) Despite the recession, Naimi said, Saudi Arabia was in 
a "good place" on energy.  Saudi Aramco has brought online 
the large Khurais field, and this has raised the Kingdom's 
production capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day (mbd). 
(Note:  Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President for Exploration 
and Producing told Post as recently as three weeks ago that 
current production capacity was only at 12 mbd.  End note.) 
Given current production levels, he continued, this gave 
Saudi Arabia an unprecedented 4 to 4.5 mbd excess production 
capacity.  Noting the excess capacity was equal to the 
Kingdom's total production just a few years ago, Naimi said 
this level was "very comfortable for us... and for the world 
as well."  He described the price of oil today as "fairly 
good" for "us" and for the petroleum industry as a whole. 
 
"YOU DON'T WANT OUR OIL" 
------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) Charge asked for Naimi's views on trends in oil sales. 
 The Minister joked, "You don't want our oil!," alluding to 
U.S. policy statements about reducing dependence on foreign 
oil.  Although last year Saudi Arabia sold an average 1.5 mbd 
to the United States, he explained, because of the recession, 
U.S. imports from the Kingdom might not even average 1 mbd 
this year.  Charge responded that the United States of course 
wanted Saudi oil -- evidenced by the fact that in spite of 
the recession we remained the Kingdom's biggest customer and 
trading partner.  But just as producers wanted to diversify 
their customers, consumers needed to diversify their 
suppliers. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) Charge asked about pressure to produce beyond 
levels agreed to in OPEC meetings, pointing out that 
countries with excess production capacity and revenue needs 
must be especially tempted to produce more.  Naimi 
acknowledged this was the case with some OPEC members.  But 
the Kingdom had such large production to begin with, it 
didn't feel that kind of pressure.  In any case, he said, 
suppressing a smile, production decisions were of course the 
sovereign right of each country. 
 
SAUDI OIL SALES TO CHINA INCREASING 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Charge asked about oil sales to China, noting we 
wouldn't mind seeing Saudi sales replacing some of Iran's oil 
exports to China.  This would have the welcome side impact of 
reducing Iranian leverage over China.  Naimi remarked that 
Saudi Arabia has been selling it approximately 700K barrels 
per day.  This figure trailed Angola, currently China's 
largest single supplier at 770K.  However, Angola's sales to 
China were "a blip that will not be repeated in future 
years," he said, implying that Saudi Arabia might soon be 
China's largest foreign supplier of oil.  The Minister said 
that Saudi oil sales to China were growing in response to 
increasing Chinese demand, and the Kingdom wanted to 
diversify customers just as China and many other countries 
wanted to diversify energy supplies and suppliers. 
 
OIL FUNDAMENTALS GOOD BUT SPECULATION PERSISTS 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7. (C) With oil prices rebounding while the global economy 
remained relatively weak, Charge asked what this meant for 
the future.  Wouldn't thre be strong upward pressure on 
prices as recovery progressed?  Naimi felt the current $70 
price had a speculative component given the relative weakness 
of the recovery to date.  It did not reflect "fundamentals" 
and there was thus some room for increased demand without 
pushing prices up.  The "fundamentals," in fact, remained 
very "healthy" -- there were no supply shortages, demand was 
manageable, and with oil at $70/barrel, investment in the oil 
sector "will be at a good level." 
 
NO EASY WAY TO ELIMINATE SPECULATION 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (C) Asked what could be done to eliminate speculative 
activity, Naimi said he did not know.  With oil as an 
investment and not simply a commodity, managing "futures, 
swaps, etc." was extremely difficult, he lamented.  Charge 
noted that Treasury Secretary Geithner, during his recent 
visit, had told the Saudi leadership we ourselves had not 
found a fully effective mechanism for controlling 
speculation-driven price volatility.  In any case, Naimi 
continued, oil producers' primary responsibility was to 
ensure that "market fundamentals" remained healthy.  They 
needed to make investments and not create artificial 
shortages, he explained.  Saudi Arabia was also contributing 
via a moderating message on energy publicly, abroad, and to 
producing countries.  While it might not be easy to convince 
some producing countries wedded to mercantilist energy 
policies, Saudi Arabia's spare production capacity gave it a 
good "club." 
 
PLENTY OF GAS RESERVES, TOO MUCH 
DEMAND, NO PLANS TO EXPORT 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) Charge asked about natural gas pricing.  Whereas 
historically gas and oil prices moved in parallel, they now 
were diverging.  Was this temporary or a new and more 
permanent phenomenon?  Naimi replied that oil and gas had 
increasingly become two distinct markets, with greatly 
reduced linkages.  This divergence would continue, so those 
prices would no longer track together.  Despite the media's 
tendency to link the two, each energy source had different 
uses, with oil predominantly used for transportation, and gas 
used for "power, heating, and petrochemicals," inter alia. 
Each was shaped by supply and demand curves that differed 
from other energy products.  Further contributing to 
diverging prices, Naimi observed, was that the downward 
pressure on gas prices stemming from the increased 
availability of gas from shale and other sources. 
 
¶10. (C) Charge asked about gas production in the Kingdom, 
noting that historically most of the gas produced was 
associated gas and was consumed domestically.  Saudi Arabia 
now "has plenty of gas," including offshore, Naimi claimed. 
"Most of the gas produced in the Kingdom has been associated 
gas, but with recent discoveries, the ratio of associated to 
non-associated gas has been increasing and will soon be 
almost 50/50.  Many fields were coming online between now and 
2013, he said, citing the Karan, Hasba, Arabiya, and Rabi 
fields.  Charge asked how Saudi Arabia viewed efforts to 
establish an OPEC-like recognition of gas suppliers.  "We're 
not interested," Naimi said emphatically.  "Saudi Arabia is 
not a gas exporter, nor will we be.  Our gas, including 
offshore supplies, will be for domestic use." 
 
SAUDI GAS PRICES WILL REMAIN ARTIFICIALLY 
LOW FOR SOCIAL WELFARE REASONS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) Charge asked whether there were plans to price Saudi 
gas, currently around $.75/million BTUs, closer to real 
market price levels.  Artificially low prices encouraged 
consumption and inefficient use of resources.  This, plus 
energy-intensive industries such as aluminum smelters, would 
put pressure on gas supplies.  Naimi concurred but said 
changing "feedstock" prices was a political decision.  Energy 
policy decisions were based on maximizing the welfare of the 
Saudi people, who viewed cheap energy as their birthright. 
 
¶12. (C) Not much will happen "today," Naimi continued, but as 
the "lot of man" in the Kingdom improved, there would be 
opportunities to allow market signals to penetrate more 
deeply into the local economy.  Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia had a 
huge liquid base of petroleum that it could tap into for 
domestic energy needs when/if gas stocks proved insufficient. 
 Unfortunately, he agreed, local price mechanisms severely 
undercut attempts to improve energy efficiency.  (Comment: 
Naimi's cautious tone on the sensitive subject of raising 
discounted gas prices contrasts with recent comments made by 
senior Aramco executives, who believed a price increase was 
imminent.  In addition, some well-placed observers, including 
in the energy and power sectors, are not convinced that the 
gas sector is not in trouble since, they argue, the Saudis 
already cannot keep up with existing demand for methane gas 
feedstock, not to mention the fact that the non-associated 
gas Naimi was talking about is ethane-poor, which makes it 
largely useless to the petrochemical industry.  End comment.) 
 
FOCUS NOW SHOULD BE ON WATER AND 
CREATING EXPANDED "ENERGY MIX" 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (C) Although foreigners focused on Saudi Arabia's oil and 
gas, Naimi argued, the Kingdom's own attention should be on 
water since the supply of the latter is much more acute.  The 
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST, 
intended to be a world class research center and scheduled to 
open September 23 north of Jeddah) was researching water 
conservation technologies and desalination.  Current 
technology in this area was not sufficient for the Kingdom's 
needs, he emphasized, "We really need a breakthrough." (Note: 
 For more on Saudi water issues, see ref A.  End note.) 
 
¶14. (C) Naimi dismissed the widespread idea that Saudi Arabia 
was "worried" about energy alternatives as a threat to the 
predominance of oil and gas.  Demand for oil was not going to 
go away anytime soon, and KAUST would be involved in a wide 
range of alternative energy technologies and research 
projects -- e.g., energy efficiency, biofuels, wind, solar, 
and nuclear.  There was room -- and a real need -- for all of 
these in the energy mix because worldwide energy demand was 
increasing significantly.  "Maybe not in some countries in 
Western Europe, but certainly in China, India, etc." 
 
¶15. (C) Charge asked about Saudi plans for nuclear energy. 
Naimi said the Saudi government was focused on both solar and 
nuclear power, but his ministry was focusing on solar since 
the de facto science ministry KACST (King Abdulaziz City of 
Science and Technology) holds the nuclear portfolio.  Saudi 
Arabia was particularly committed to getting involved in 
solar, Naimi said, noting that a University of Arizona expert 
on solar energy would be heading up KAUST's solar research 
department.  (Note:  King Fahd University of Petroleum and 
Minerals, the Kingdom's flagship engineering school, recently 
signed a $50 million agreement with MIT to collaborate on 
water conservation and solar technology research (ref B). 
End note.)  He estimated that the Kingdom's fossil fuels 
"will last 50 more years or so."  Saudi Arabia is beginning 
to look at what our alternatives are, he said, and was even 
interested in biofuels. 

¶16. (C) Naimi said he had given three main challenges to 
KAUST researchers: 
 
¶A. SOLAR ENERGY:  Naimi said he had set the goal of creating 
solar power production capacity in 10 years equivalent to 
Kingdom's domestic power consumption.  This would in turn 
give the country enough electricity capacity to export power. 
 
¶B. AGRICULTURE:  A Stanford University researcher and expert 
on genomics who will be working for KAUST has been tasked 
with growing wheat in seawater.  The researcher had been 
aiming at producing crops in brackish water with 7-10k parts 
per million (ppm) of salt.  However, Naimi challenged him to 
come up with wheat that could be grown using water taken 
directly from the Red Sea, which is 35k ppm. 
 
¶C. BIOFUELS:  Naimi said KAUST had hired a French researcher 
in chemistry who is working on ways to transform algae into 
ethanol.  The Minister said he wanted this project located 
right next to KAUST.  The French academic said he needed 
outside expertise/partners, so KAUST has invited DOW to do a 
joint venture on this. 
 
STANDING INVITATION TO ENERGY SECRETARY CHU 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶17. (C) Naimi said he hoped Energy Secretary Chu would be 
able to visit the Kingdom, noting he had a standing 
invitation including for the September 23 inauguration of 
KAUST.  In addition, he said he hoped DOE would be interested 
in spending research money at KAUST.  Emphasizing the 
importance of KAUST to Saudi leaders, Naimi himself a 
graduate of Lehigh and Stanford, said there would be students 
and faculty from 58 countries, including many from the United 
States.  KAUST had been modeled after U.S. educational 
institutions with the help of two prominent American 
researchers -- Frank Press from the National Science 
Foundation and Frank Rhodes from Cornell.  Though both were 
in their late 80s, they had the minds and energy of 
20-yearolds, he enthused. 
 
ERDMAN