Saudi and other Gulf Arab businessmen Friday scoffed at Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's pledge to end US dependence on Middle East oil within 10 years if elected president. “For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” Obama had declared in his speech to the Democratic convention in Denver, Thursday. In the Gulf, where many people stayed awake after the morning Fajr prayer to watch live TV coverage of Obama's historic acceptance speech as the first-ever African-American presidential nominee, the pledge sounded more like political grandstanding. “It's easier said than done,” said Abdullah S. Al-Ghamdi, chief finance officer of a Saudi contracting company. “If Obama ends buying oil from the Middle East, that will not hurt because we have other markets,” added Dr. Said Al-Qahtani, president of a large Saudi mining company, referring to the growing energy needs of fast growth countries like China and India. Ghamdi, Qahtani and others say the US economy is too oil-centric to be weaned away to alternatives within a decade. Last year, the US imported about 10 million barrels of oil a day, of which about 20 percent came from the Gulf states — principally Saudi Arabia which is among the top 15 oil exporters to the US, along with Kuwait and Iraq. Saudi Arabia is the overall No. 2 oil exporter to the US at 1.5 million barrels a day, exceeded only by Canada. Iraq exported 583,000 barrels a day and Kuwait 219,000 barrels a day during the first six months of the year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. Even if US oil demand were to decline significantly over the next decade with more fuel-efficient automobiles and greater use of biofuels such as ethanol, the US, which domestically pumps 5.6 million barrels of oil a day, will continue to rely heavily on imports for decades to come, most energy experts acknowledge. The US uses about 21 million barrels of oil products a day. Even if it cuts oil demand by about 10 percent, equivalent to Gulf oil imports, it is likely to continue to rely on oil imports and make no distinction as to where it is pumped, energy experts say. Farkhanda Syed Bukhari, a professor at the AMA International University in Bahrain, found it hard to believe Obama's statement. “It is a big statement,” Bukhari said. “It has not been done in the past, and it will not work now.” Obama had also said in his speech that his administration would invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy, wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels. However, Gulf observers say that with the US economy – the world's biggest – currently tottering on the brink of life-support, realpolitik would make it very hard to bring about any major transformation in America's energy supply infrastructure any time soon. Kamil Hassan, a Saudi government engineer, said the alternative energy sources envisioned would “never be sufficient to compensate for America's huge appetite for oil for a long, long time simply because imported oil is an all-so-essential commodity supporting the US economy.” “It would take at least 50 years to implement, Hassan said. “It has not been done in the past, and will not work now.” Mahmood Assad Mohammad Ali, director of Follow-Up at the University of Bahrain, said he would be delighted if the US stopped buying Middle East oil. “America has been depending on Arab oil for many years, paying most often at predetermined rates,” he said. “The US went to Iraq because of oil, it forged special ties with the Gulf countries because of oil, and it will make no difference if US ends its dependence on Middle East oil.” __
