Water and oil don

Fears that the massive Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia may have passed its prime have been the stuff of speculation for many years. Ghawar has underpinned Saudi Arabia

However, the problem for the Ghawar field may go deeper. Matthew Simmons, an advisor on energy policy for the Bush administration, has speculated that the over-exploitation of the field in the past has caused damage to its geological structure. Large amounts of oil may now have become unreachable with present oil extraction technology. The Saudis contest this, saying that only 48 per cent of the Ghawar