"SAUDI ARABIA IS WORRIED ABOUT THE BOOM IN THE AMERICA'S DOMESTIC OIL PRODUCTION"

Outspoken Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is worried that the Persian Gulf state, which is the world's largest oil exporter, is too dependent on petroleum and that it needs to take the threat posed by the boom in U.S. production seriously.

According to Reuters, Alwaleed, who's a major investor in U.S. stocks, voiced his concerns in an open letter to Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi that he published via his Twitter account. Saudi Arabia's heavy dependence on oil has "become a source of worry to many," the news service quotes his letter as saying.

It's easy to understand why.

Although the Saudi government is trying to diversify the kingdom's economy, its dependence on oil is near absolute. The CIA's World Factbookestimates that the country's petroleum sector accounts for roughly 80% of budget revenues, 45% of GDP and 90% of export earnings. Saudi Arabia should boost development of solar and nuclear energy so it can reduce its domestic use of oil, Alwaleed said.

He warned that because of the growth in U.S. supply, the kingdom won't be able to raise its production capacity as planned to 15 million barrels of oil per day. Earlier efforts to increase capacity were delayed by the worldwide economic crisis.

Companies have been able to recover much more oil in the U.S. than experts had expected just a few years ago, thanks to the controversial practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The results have been remarkable.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said monthly domestic oil production is forecast to exceed 8 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2014, its highest level since 1988. Net crude oil imports are expected to fall below 7 million barrels during that period, the first time that has happened since 1995.

International Energy Agency executive director Maria van der Hoeven told National Public Radio that the boom in North American production is sending ripples "throughout the world." She said this output has set off a "supply shock," and the U.S. should scrap the Export Administration Act of 1979 which restricts the sale of U.S. crude to Canada and Mexico. 

OPEC has begun studying the impact of the growth in U.S. oil supplies on its member states. The cartel might want to pick up the pace on that work, with or without Prince Alwaleed's urging - From the MSN Money.