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2004-04-01 International-UN-NGOs

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Posted by Steve White 2004-04-01 2:00:22 AM|| || Front Page|| [11127 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I think there's a pretty good chance that the Saudis, who are really the only stand-alone force within OPEC - the big dog, are doing 3 things:
1) Punishing the US / West for interference in ME.
2) Grabbing as much as they can as fast as they can while they can cuz the gig won't last forever.
3) Trying to guarantee a Bush defeat.

I would not be at all surprised to learn of large contributions 3rd or 4th hand to Skeery campaign coffers or closely aligned "soft money" groups. The joke will be, however, that even if Skeery wins, they'll keep the prices up - won't matter by then cuz he'll be toothless to stop them and, in fact, will prolly owe them for his win.

When this breaks the back of any recovery in Europe and threatens to do the same to the US, will we finally shake off the blinders?

Posted by .com 2004-04-01 2:56:21 AM|| 2004-04-01 2:56:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 It might be because of what they see of Iraqi production numbers, how Iraq will now be able to sell oil on the open market, without sanctions or bribery, and how that will hurt their bottom line.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia are, I think, the only two countries with excess oil production capability. Which means these two countries are the ones that set the price of oil. Iraq is in US hands for now, and Saudi Arabia knows what we really think about them and how easy it would be for us to bankrupt the kingdom by increasing production and pushing the price of oil down very low.

They are scared, and grabbing as much as they can before it comes crashing down around them.

Posted by Ben 2004-04-01 3:43:24 AM|| 2004-04-01 3:43:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 [Troll droppings deleted]

Posted by Murray TROLL 2004-04-01 7:56:47 AM|| 2004-04-01 7:56:47 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Ben,
I don't think Iraq can quickly increase oil production. The pipeline in the North isn't that big and the pipeline and port infrastructure in the south isn't that robust.

A missing thought here is that the biggest victims of high oil prices are the world's poor countries. If the left is 'routing' for high oil prices to hurt Bush (which they probably are), they should realize that people in Africa and Asia will starve as a byproduct.

Posted by mhw 2004-04-01 8:20:16 AM|| 2004-04-01 8:20:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Petro-economics and a little downtime fine tuning is behind this. Hard to maintain output on a 24/7 basis without wear and tear on facilities and support logistics. Also, oil is too damn cheap versus its potential reserves. Needs to balance out. USA has always been in denial over the "real" cost of petro on a life-cycle costing basis. We are probably too elastic in terms of our cost structure. Gas is actually cheaper on price elasticity basis since the early 60's yet reserves have depleted not grown. This even counts the finds in Caspian and Sakhalin which had always been in the computations as unrealized reserves. In long run, this is good for us but politically dangerous for Bush.

Posted by Jack is Back! 2004-04-01 9:12:09 AM|| 2004-04-01 9:12:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 "OPEC" - I.E., the Saudis - have decided to cut production. We'll have to wait and see if the members actually follow through. We're currently seeing OPEC production about a million barrels a day above "target" figures. More than half the world's petroleum is produced by non-OPEC members, and the US gets almost 2/3 of its petroleum from non-OPEC members. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out, long-term. Sooner or later, though, the United States is going to HAVE to deal with Saudi Arabia, and I do mean crush the HE$$ out of that pretentious bunch of camel jockeys and their state-sponsored terrorism known as Wahabbi Islam. The sooner, the better, IMHO.

Posted by Old Patriot 2004-04-01 10:03:01 AM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2004-04-01 10:03:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 "....they should realize that people in Africa and Asia will starve as a byproduct."
mhw my friend the American left cares not one tiny bit. They would whore their own mothers to get back into power at this point.

Posted by Secret Master 2004-04-01 11:08:28 AM|| [www.budgetwarrior.com] 2004-04-01 11:08:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 The joke will be, however, that even if Skeery wins, they'll keep the prices up - won't matter by then cuz he'll be toothless to stop them and, in fact, will prolly owe them for his win.

Kerry has indicated that he'd "pressure" OPEC (read: BEG) to increase production. Comforting thought, that. The only sensible proposal he made was to scale back all those specialized fuels for geography-specific locations. That probably would do wonders here in CA.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-04-01 11:23:00 AM|| 2004-04-01 11:23:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 "....they should realize that people in Africa and Asia will starve as a byproduct."

If people are starving in Africa, they should move to France!

( * Bonus for anyone who can ID the comic strip for that quote * )

Posted by Raj 2004-04-01 1:17:24 PM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com] 2004-04-01 1:17:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 yes the dollar value is part of the problem - but the real problem is the sods - they want Bush out so the heat is off on reforms. just look at when oil cuts started qtr 4 of 03 and since we have heard nothing but cuts, cuts, cuts. they want to spoke the oil markets and make pay more..thus hoping to influence the election. it is to bad we americans are naive and do not see the sods for who they are -An Enemy-

sooner or later we will need to deal with the sods

Posted by Dan 2004-04-01 4:36:19 PM|| 2004-04-01 4:36:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Caught part of comment on the radio today that the Gov of Alaska, ticked off that Congress won't permit drilling in the Refuge, wants to open up ocean drilling along the Alaska coastline! Believes Alaska can use the money and the US can use the oil. AP, can you confirm?

Posted by OldeForce 2004-04-01 8:14:28 PM|| 2004-04-01 8:14:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]

Posted by Opec TROLL 2004-04-01 7:56:47 AM|| 2004-04-01 7:56:47 AM|| Front Page Top

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