In the past I was asked where I had got the information that Ghawar actually peaked at 6.5 mbd, and I had to confess to not being able to either remember, or find, the reference. Well I have now found it, and thought I would pass it on. It is from page 20 of Matt Simmons White Paper on Giant Oilfields (a pdf file).

In 1970, Saudi's giant Ghawar field, which still ranks as the world's largest oilfield ever discovered, was producing just over 2 million barrels a day. This field finally peaked in 1990 when it briefly produced in excess of 6.5 million barrels per day. This production rate resulted in some damage to the reservoir and the field was never again produced at such a rate.

And as a continuing comment from a "stupid person" about temperatures in the Mid-West, as I noted in the lead below, I was motivated to go look by the comment that we were now reaching the temperatures of the Dust Bowl years in those states. This is likely to impact crop production (another area where I can be defined as stupid), and I would have thought it would be universally negatively, but in discussing this with a friend that has a family farm, she said that the corn crop so far this year, for them, was better than in a long time. So what else don't I know?