Free Republic

Saudi Arabia wants to pour $200 billion into solar to build the world’s largest solar project. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund and SoftBank Group Corp. of Japan jointly announced plans to build a solar project that is staggering in size – 200 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. That would be about 100 times larger than some of the largest projects in the world right now. “It’s by far the biggest solar project ever,” Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank said at a news conference Tuesday in New York after signing a nonbinding agreement with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS). The...

Russian Oil Output Hits Post-Soviet High, Bests Saudi Arabia November 03, 2015 Russian oil production rose to a post-Soviet record of 10.78 million barrels a day last month, besting Saudi Arabia's output of 10.1 million and contributing to a renewed slump in oil prices. The increase in production reported November 2 reflects Russia's strategy of defending its market share as the Saudis and other rivals from the Gulf have started offering alternative supplies to Moscow's traditional markets. Russian production has withstood a collapse in oil prices and a global supply glut, while output by contrast has plummeted 5 percent since...

As the global energy industry stares transfixed at a spectacular drop in U.S. rigs, Saudi Arabia is ramping up the number of machines drilling for oil and gas despite a sharp fall in the price of crude. Industry sources and analysts say the OPEC kingpin is looking beyond the halving of global oil prices since June 2014 to a time when crude could again be in short supply. Riyadh is therefore keen to preserve what is known as its spare capacity - the kingdom's unique ability to raise oil output quickly at any given moment. But to achieve that, Saudi...