>As world oil supplies meet ever increasing world demand, both the price
>and the environmental consequences of continued carbon based fuel
>burning will create a need for clean, non-nuclear alternatives. All of
>which doesn't mean that existing petroleum cannot or would not be
>useful to market for purposes other than mere burning. Marketing these
>technologies, while creating an efficient transportation
>infrastructure, (and the "how-to" knowledge which could in turn be sold
>on the world market) would provide Russia with the much needed,
>developmental cutting edge in the years to come.
Yeah, all that's true, but given a choice between a sure thing in the ground and some pie-in-the-sky technologies, which is any rational profit-maximizer going to choose?
Doug