Kuwait Times

Published Date: June 16, 2008
By Badrya Darwish

Where does the truth lie about our oil reserves? How much black gold is beneath our sands? The news we receive is very scary. Four MPs - Ahmed Al-Saadoun, Hassan Jowhar, Musallem Al-Barrak and Marzouq Al-Hubaini - are already questioning the government again over the issue of Kuwait's oil reserves. The same bunch asked in 2006 and they based their questioning on an alleged 2001 confidential report by Kuwait Oil Company stating that Kuwait has only about 24 billion of proven oil reserves. This amount is a
quarter of what Kuwait officially announces, which is 100 billion barrels. The 100 billion barrel figures allows Kuwait to produce about 1 percent of this per year and the reserve will be enough for 100 years.

Just imagine the chaos that would take place if the reserves were really 24 billion and not 100 billion! That means we are producing four times more than we should annually. If that's the case and true, all our funds, reserves, investments, life etc will be affected. In the norm, no government releases these secrets to MPs or the press or anybody outside a handful of top executives in a closed circle responsible for the national security of the country. Veteran MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun and his colleagues shoul
d know better than to open this topic. Because they will never get an answer. They will only stoke suspicion, which is not for the interest of Kuwait investments all over the world.

The only advantage I can see in this is it would force us to change the way we think and the way we live. It would mean that we would have to become like Dubai - creative and innovative and willing to work hard for our money and development. We would have to open our country for investments. We would have to stop sleeping and living a leisurely life without a sense of responsibility toward Kuwait, beside reciting poetry and praising Kuwait and not working for it.

It might motivate us to become more responsible citizens and more willing to take care of our home.

The truth is something that most us will likely never know. A friend of mine asked me, why are you bothered? You're not gonna live for 100 years. I'm not gonna live for 100 years. Everyone that is alive now will be dead by then. I told him yeah, you're right. But usually countries plan for many years to come. They plan for future generations and we have to be concerned about that.
Maybe shocking news will make better people out of us.