Energy kingdom

The first draft of this paper was prepared in 1998 when oil prices were at their lower rate. Within a period of 2 years, some major developments have occurred internationally and locally, i.e. oil prices have been trebled, Saudi Arabia has formed a supreme council for petroleum and minerals to determine polices and oversee operations of the Kingdom's oil and gas industries, a General Investment Authority to facilitate and attract foreign investment and a mining governmental company. Also, for the first time, Saudi Arabia has called on the world's leading oil companies for investing mainly in natural gas upstream. These developments support and crystallize the authors' basic vision (idea) that Saudi Arabia with its infrastructure, experience and natural resources could become an "Energy Kingdom" rather than an "Oil Kingdom", even in the transition toward clean energy technologies. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.