[FlingWingFlyer]

Oh crap. I smell another Jackson Browne lawsuit.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Any truth to this report?

[NormsRevenge]

Ruh roh..
Big Red may get hungry
or are their recent actions
just a precursor?

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Most of the oil produced after the country's 1998 financial collapse has come from drilling and re-drilling old Soviet oil fields with more advanced equipment...

So let's revive Operation Exodus and ban the export of oil drilling, recovery and refining technology to Russia.

[Pantera]

Red Storm Rising 2008?

[syriacus]

Maybe the Russians knew this a few years back, and were hoping Saddam would help them.

[Need4Truth]

“Under Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008 and now the prime minister, the Russian government dismantled the nation’s largest oil firm, Yukos, and imprisoned its founder.”

Central planning Russian style.

Our curse is central planners trying to “save the planet”.

[Smokin' Joe]

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia's president from 2000 to 2008 and now the prime minister, the Russian government dismantled the nation's largest oil firm, Yukos, and imprisoned its founder.

The government declared oil to be part of a "strategic sector" in which foreign investors need permission from the government before they can buy a significant stake in companies. Foreigners have been steadily shoved out, including a recent incident in which the head of the joint Russia-UK company TNK-BP, one of the country's leading oil concerns, and 148 specialists left the country after their visa status was called into question.

Now tell me, would you like to be a Russian good at running an oil company?

Would you want to invest billions in capital only to be shoved out (like Chavez did too)?

It is no wonder that few want to work there.

When Russian leaders get done being drunk on power, there will be a powerful hangover. If you do not know what you are doing, you can mess up a good well, or an entire field, and their arrogance will be writ large in their production decline curves.

[rfp1234]

That's why Tsar Vlad is sending dozens of scientists to the Arctic Ocean and preparing to "claim" the entire Arctic continental shelf for himself.

It's no coincidence that "Arctic" comes from the Greek word for BEAR.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ping!

[tx_eggman]

"If the situation which exists now stays the same, oil production will start to decline seriously in two years,"

Give the way Putin screwed Royal Dutch Shell after the billions were spent on the development of the Sakhalin field, I'd say new foreign investment is going to be hard to come by

[TigersEye]

Maybe that’s why they’re making a move to take control of supplies from the Caspian? ??

[moose2004]

The Russians are spending their new oil wealth like drunken sailors, I also understand the political elite, headed by Putin, has stashed and continues to stash billions in oil revenue in Swiss banks, as opposed to re-investing in their economy. When the wells slow down or the price of oil drops to $60 - $70 a barrel the Russians will be left with no new infrastructure desperately needed to further develop their macro economy. In other words, they’re screwing themselves.

[RayChuang88]

There's only one problem with this story: the premise bases itself on the fact Russia won't exploit new oilfields within their own country. There's this place called Siberia where there are potentially HUGE amounts of oil and natural gas undiscovered, but the only reason why they haven't discovered them is the complete lack of any decent ground access to much of Siberia.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

The Russian power play on oil, natural gas reserves
Boston Globe | August 23, 2008 | Marshall I. Goldman
Posted on 08/24/2008 11:00:04 AM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067200/posts

Pelosi says case needed for U.S. offshore drilling
Reuters on Yahoo | 8/24/08 | David Morgan
Posted on 08/24/2008 10:25:13 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067188/posts