GEAB 193

Water… let there be soil!

In 2019, Saudi Arabia’s proven oil reserves were estimated at 263.1 billion barrels[1]. At the rate of production at the time, this was equivalent to around 70 years of production, which takes us to 2089.

The oil-producing countries are all aiming to diversify, because the oil bonanza won’t last more than thirty years or so: after that, the prospect of depleting resources will have had its effect on energy diversification, and no one will pay much for the remaining oil.

All oil-producing countries, within their means, are therefore implementing economic diversification policies. And Saudi Arabia, with the help of its oil giant ARAMCO[2], combines immense financial resources with a real capacity for action and vision.

This vision is clearly explained in the document Vision 2030[3] published in 2016 by Saudi Arabia (currently being updated to 2035[4]). After a careful study of this document, various interviews with Saudi officials and a tour of the country’s infrastructure, the Terra Cognita 2089 correspondents came to the conclusion that the heart of Mohamed Ben Salman’s Vision is the transmutation of oil into water.

We like the alchemical reference[5] and, paradoxically, also the Christ-like[6] expression, which gives the project’s ambition a particularly relevant symbolic charge.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia is also in the process of summoning up the broad history of the Arab world, including its relations with other cultures and religions in the region[7], even including the pre-Islamic period[8], which until recently was considered “haram” (“illicit”).[9]

Fig. 1: Al Ula, Hejaz region, Saudi Arabia – Source: diyumrahtrip.com

Happy Arabia[10] dreams in green