200. MATT SIMMONS BACKPEDALING

There's a new interview in Barron's with Matt Simmons called "Twilight for Oil" (by Sandra Ward). Unfortunately, I can't link directly to the file because it's behind a subscription wall, but I will paraphrase Simmons' comments from memory. When asked about Jim Jarrell's deconstruction of his book "Twilight in the Desert", Simmons replied that Jarrell's analysis was excellent, but it made one critical error -- namely, Simmons claims he never said that Saudi Arabian production was about to collapse. He merely said that the Saudis would have a hard time boosting production from their current levels.

-- by JD