Saudi Energy Conference

It appears that the Saudis promised no new oil in the short term (just the 200,000 barrels a day promised last week) but have made some ambitious claims about increases in the long term. This is the kind of thing that would seem to require major new oil finds.

"I am afraid that we are going to see the big fields [now in production] top off at 12 million barrels a day or so," said Edward Price, a former president of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, who keeps up with developments there. "Even in Saudi Arabia, there are resource limits."