Saudi Arabia claims 100 years supply

An announcement from the oil minister of Saudi Arabia claimed that Saudi oil reserves could well last for over 100 years.

He presented figures that said the Saudis have 261 billion barrels of proven reserves as well as 100 billion barrels of reserves he characterized as probably and possible.

This announcement, coupled with the news from the United States Department of Energy that stockpiles of oil and gasoline had fallen by 1.8 million barrels since its previous report last week led to a decrease in crude oil prices on Thursday after three straight days of price rises.

By late morning in London, Nymex deliveries for June had lost 53 cents, to fall to $53.50 per barrel and Brent June deliveries were down to $53.59 per barrel, a loss of 39 cents per barrel.

The decline in U.S. oil stockpiles was explained in part by lower imports and higher refinery runs. Another influence of crude prices were unfavorable reports out of some top oil companies and fears that high energy prices have been doing damage to global economic growth.