T. Boone Pickens was the guest host on CNBC’s popular business program “Squawk Box” this morning.
Among the items Boone discussed was the Pickens Plan, our vast domestic supplies of natural gas, and the introduction of the NAT GAS Act (S. 1863) in the Senate this week.
At the conclusion of the hour, Boone was asked to sum up his thinking about oil and natural gas.
Speaking about OPEC oil supplies he pointed out that King Abdullah of Sauda Arabia is in his late 80’s and not in good health. The Saudis produce 9.7 million barrels of oil per day and if “Saudi production starts to get squishy, the price of oil will shoot up and we may be looking at $300 to $500 a barrel.”
Boone also pointed out the amount of money it costs Americans to protect OPEC oil – the Fifth Fleet and divisions of ground troops should be added into the total cost which, “If you go back and look at all the costs for the last ten years, it’s more like 7 trillion counting army, navy, marines and everything else.”
He concluded by saying the “Pickens Plan is just one small step to energy security and energy independence. It isn’t going to solve the problem, but you have got to start in the direction of a solution, not just sit here and import more and more OPEC oil.”
“You could solve the problem. You could do it in five years and jobs would be a big part of it,” Pickens said.