I have previously described my "Iron Triangle" thesis, to-wit, that most housing/auto/finance companies; most media companies and most oil exporters/major oil companies/energy analysts have a vested interest in persuading energy consumers that all is well--just keep buying and financing large homes and autos.

The oil exporters/major oil companies/energy analysts provide the intellectual ammunition for the media to spread the word that Peak Oil is bogus.   Note that the second paragraph of the WSJ article had the following:  "It would also be a blow to so-called peak-oil theorists who have forecast that world oil production is on the brink of peaking."

There is a little bit of unintentional irony in the article, when the authors note that conventional recovery factors are typically about 35%--which is about where Ghawar, the largest producing oil field in the world, is at.   Do you think that there might be a connection between this PR release by the Saudis, on the front page of the WSJ, and collapsing production in the Ghawar Field?