If you are so insecure in yourself or so proud that you are insulted by every little slight, then you have bigger problems that need to be addressed. Case in point, a new ad being run in Israel by Nissan touting the fuel efficiency of the Tiida (sold here as the Versa). The ad portrays some men who bear a striking resemblance to Saudis physically assaulting a Tiida in response to learning of its efficiency. While the ad is clearly racially insensitive and perhaps foolish from a marketing perspective, especially considering the region of the world where it is running it is clearly not a big deal. For Saudi officials to call for punishments to be applied to Nissan is idiotic. Being insulted by anyone is not cause for punishment. If you don't like the ad, don't buy the product. Personally I find the ad to be somewhat immature in it stereotypical depiction of Arabs, and it certainly wouldn't sway me toward this car, I wouldn't deny Nissan or any other company the right to air the ad. Hopefully we won't see any violence result from this.

[Source: Jerusalem Post]

Saudi Aramco's core area in Dhahran city

The world's insatiable demand for petroleum is about to cause more drilling and pumping in Saudi Arabia, as the country is set to begin setting up shop on the Khurais oil field. A ten-billion dollar investment will be made which is expected to allow the nation to pump one and a half billion additional barrels of oil per day by the end of next year. The project, which is already expected to begin shipping over a million barrels of oil beginning next June, is a massive undertaking.

Saudi Arabia has, to this point, resisted producing additional oil, as it believes there is no shortage at all. Instead, the country points to the low value of the U.S. dollar and unrealistic speculators are the major driving forces behind the record-high oil prices. Still, the country remains extremely important to major oil-consuming nations such as the United States as it currently produces eleven-percent of the world's daily supply of oil and is the only country left with relatively easy-to-tap oil reserves.

[Source: AP via The Detroit News]

Over at the OilDrum.com there is an interesting and potentially disturbing look at Saudi oil production in 2006. Looking at data from a number or different sources (where the exact numbers vary but the trend is definitely the same), crude oil production in Saudi Arabia dropped eight percent in the past year. Although this is not the first time their output has dipped, one interesting graph shows oil production and the number of drilling rigs operating since 2000. The amount of oil pumped has remained relatively steady and dropped in the past year, while the number of rigs drilling has skyrocketed in the past two years. It's unclear at this point whether they are just drilling dry holes, or the Saudis are just finding the oil and holding it in reserve to bargain with. If this is an irreversible trend, it could have severe political implications. The article is worth checking out at the Read link.

[Source: The Oil Drum, thanks to Ticia for the tip]