one should consider saudi arabia's case in particular: they are one of the few places that derives a tremendous amount of their electricity generation from the

one should consider saudi arabia's case in particular: they are one of the few places that derives a tremendous amount of their electricity generation from the direct burning of crude oil (almost 1 million barrels per day). each barrel that they don't burn is one they can sell instead, and this is a situation that makes economic sense for them now, regardless of future tech improvements.