Petróleo saudita - auto-destrutivel?

Há uma teoria de que a industria petrolifera saudita está preparada para se auto-destruir (ou ser hetero-destruida com apenas um clique no botão) em caso de invasão externa ou de uma mudança de regime:

The dust jacket of Gerald Posner's Secrets of the Kingdom calls it an "explosive study" of Saudi Arabia. In 14 of its 15 chapters that's not true, but in chapter 10 it is -- literally.

There Posner reports that Saudi Arabia has wired all of its major oil facilities with interlocking Semtex explosive charges that can be detonated from a single control point. Moreover, he says, the Saudis have blended radioactive materials into the Semtex so that detonation would not only destroy the facilities but also contaminate them beyond repair.

Why would the Saudis set off what's essentially a networked dirty bomb over their oil infrastructure? Because, according to Posner, they want to make certain that nobody could benefit from invading their country or taking down the ruling House of Saud. If the al Saud family goes, Posner writes, the world's petroleum-based economy goes with it.

Essa teoria é bastante duvidosa, mas se for verdade, temos que nos preparar para uma catastrofe ambiental e um salto nos preços do petróleo no caso dos protestos no mundo árabe chegarem à Arábia Saudita.