Please don't blame us for $93 oil: OPEC

[Robbien]

Source: Reuters

London, October 30: OPEC has no power over many of the factors buffeting oil markets and the group is worried by record high prices that are threatening the world economy and future demand growth, OPEC ministers said.

"Please don't blame us for $93 oil," Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told reporters on the fringes of an international energy conference.

"The market is out of control."

OPEC President Mohammed bin Dhaen al-Hamli reiterated OPEC would always step in to meet supply shortfalls, but a 34 percent surge in the oil price since mid-August was driven by a flood of speculative investment and international political tensions.

"The market is increasingly driven by forces beyond OPEC's control, by geopolitical events and the growing influence of financial investors," said Hamli, who is also UAE oil minister.

Read more: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Please-dont-blame-us-for-93-oil-OPEC/234065/

---

After listening to all the chatter on CNBC, it appears Wall Street options speculators have been having a gay old time playing around with hedging bets on the price of oil.

[Deja Q]

1. Can we still blame them for the crisis of 1973?

:popcorn:

[Robbien]

2. Who? the hedge fund guys or OPEC

Hard for one to imagine back in 1973 that there would come a day when there would be a more eviler force than OPEC playing games with our motoring ability.

[sam sarrha]

3. speculation costs us at the pump about 24 cents on the dollar and the speculators are not taxed on

on their profits...little if anything

warren buffet said that he pays 1/2 the taxes his secretary pays..

and that that is only because he doesn't take advantage of tax loop holes and shelters.. or he would most likely pay nothing

[Greyhound]

15. @ least. Clinton built the gallows, shrub dropped the lever. We've passed the point

of no return, economically. Nothing short of a world-wide revolt against the central banking system will stop the progression.

Welcome to the future.

[Xipe Totec]

4. We can blame bush for this one

The Coming Energy Crisis? (Oil Industry warned of Iraq war consequences)

As submitted to Oil & Gas Journal for publication February 3, 2003

All warning signs that existed prior to the energy crises of 1973 and 1979 exist today. Various energy security measures indicate that the potential for an energy shortage is high.


Various measures of US energy security indicate that the US might be heading for an energy crisis. Many of the warning signs that existed before the energy crises of 1973 and 1979 exist today and they indicate that the current situation could be even worse. US dependence on petroleum imports has grown steadily for over a decade and has been at record levels for several years. Petroleum inventories are low and the ability of Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and commercial petroleum stocks to cope with an interruption in imports matches the historic lows preceding the 1973 and 1979 energy crises.

The potential for an energy crisis has never been higher. Oil prices have recently exceeded $30 per barrel and they may continue to increase. The disruption of Venezuelan oil supplies has increased the US dependence on Middle Eastern oil and made the US more susceptible to supply interruption. With the crisis in Venezuela, the capacity of OPEC to meet any additional supply interruption is limited and a war with Iraq would put OPEC at its limit. Any energy crisis in the near future will hinder President Bush’s efforts to stimulate the economy through tax cuts and other fiscal measures. An energy crisis could cause a recession, inflation, and higher unemployment.

http://www.wtrg.com/EnergyCrisis/index.html

Did somebody clue in pResident Chimpy, the oil expert?


Originally posted on DU Oct 5, 2004

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x77290

[Gman]

5. Another problem is that oil is priced in dollars

the dollar is little more than trash now. Oil still has the same value it always had. The problem is it's priced in a currency that has declining value. Therefore, in devalued dollars, oil costs more.

As soon as the Fed cuts interest rates some more, the dollar will be worth even less. Something of lower value brings returns of lower value.

[ohio2007]

6. ...maybe if the dollar wasn't at an all time LOW,... oil wouldn't be so HIGH

nt

[Orsino]

18. Bingo. n/t

[Strelnikov_]

7. If they can't supply enough Spice, why are they worried about crimping 'demand growth'?

Are they afraid the addicts may start fighting over what remains of the stash?

[JCMach1]

8. China and India are eating the supply...

[progressivebydesign]

14. Yep, and every time we buy crap made in China.. we feed them.

The energy demands of the industrial revolution in China and India (to keep up with America's insatiable demand for cheap crap) is strangling our economy and our planet. Shop local.. eat local.. read labels, it's all we can do. :(

[JCMach1]

16. If China had the same number of cars per person as US, the entire

world oil supply would be gone in 10 years. Add India to that equation and you would have less than 5 years.

[sendero]

9. I agree with him...

... OPEC no longer controls the price of oil, and is not likely to ever do so again. Production cannot be ramped up dramatically like it could before. And the markets know that long term, oil is a better bet than the dollar.

I'm betting on $100 a barrel oil in less than a year.

[tom_paine]

10. The simple fact is: OPEC's liars are equally as trustworthy as Bushie Liars.

It's tough to know which murdering theives are telling the truth, but the truth is they are probably working quite closely together.

[libodem]

11. Something is very fishy

about the way oil futures are sold on 'peak oil' projections. It's all smoke and mirrors. Fuzzy math as they like to say.

[ohio2007]

12. China fuel crisis spreads

China fuel crisis spreads
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's worst fuel crisis in two years spread to the capital and other inland areas by Wednesday, and one man was killed in a brawl at a petrol station queue, upping pressure on the government to intervene.

Diesel shortages in China's political heart, which escaped previous supply crunches unscathed, highlight tensions between the government and its increasingly independent oil firms about who should pay for the country's generous fuel subsidies.

Top refiner Sinopec on Wednesday pledged more supplies and bought additional diesel fuel abroad, but it may fall to Beijing to end the stand-off by raising domestic prices, easing taxes, promising another year-end pay-off -- or simply strong-arming suppliers into selling more fuel at a loss.

-snip

SOCIETY VERSUS MARKET

Beijing worries that more costly energy could push up already-high inflation or spark unrest, and effectively forces its refiners and retailers to subsidize state-set prices.

Diesel costs about 64 cents a liter at the pump in Beijing, versus around $1 in Singapore and $2 in Britain.

But a recent rally in global crude prices to above $90 a barrel has deepened large firms' losses and made them ever more reluctant to keep markets supplied.

A source at PetroChina said the company would lose 1,500 yuan ($200) a tonne by selling imported diesel at Chinese pumps.

"The crux of the problem is the state-owned enterprises... you see the remaining contradictions of the state sector in the market economy," said Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong.


snip
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071031/ts_nm/china_oil_shortages_dc_1

The world isn't being subsidized by the oil producer countries. Somebody has to pay and if the Chinese govt demand the suppliers go out of buisness when they can't meet payroll and basic daily infrastructure repairs....... gonna be big trouble when the rank and file start to face shortages.

Kinda like Burma today.

[progressivebydesign]

13. The oil traders are increasingly to blame for this...

their power over the past 7 years has increased a hundred-fold. No coincidence that Bush is in the white house at the same time. The reason the prices go up is NOT any tangible cause and effect, it's TRADING... i really hate capitalism sometimes. sigh..

[ohio2007]

17. China Hikes Fuel Prices Amid Shortages

'Commies' suffer the same oil addiction;

China Hikes Fuel Prices As Long Lines Form at Gas Pumps and Shortages Disrupt Trucking

BEIJING (AP) -- China raised gasoline and diesel prices Thursday by about 10 percent to curb demand amid shortages that have caused long lines at filling stations and disrupted trucking in key export areas.
Oil companies have blamed the shortages, which began last week, on a lack of refining capacity. Government controls have forced refiners to pay the difference between soaring market prices for crude and lower retail prices at the pump. Some refiners responded by cutting output.


snip

Government oil companies have spent billions of dollars to secure access to foreign oil and gas, leading to criticism of their willingness to deal with such isolated governments as Iran and Sudan.

Sinopec acknowledged that refiners that have suspended operations due to rising costs were partly to blame for the shortages. But it said they also were caused by mounting demand.


http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071101/china_fuel_prices.html?.v=9

and the oil producers charge more per bbl bc the value of $ drops.

China should not keep their currency fixed. They should "float" their currency to see just what value it actually holds.
...of course, that could lead to fighting in the streets.

[Javaman]

19. And so here we are: the new era of finger pointing has begun.

yeah, can't blame the saudi pricks for lying to the world for decades about how much oil they have left. Nope can't do that. fucking bastards.

they knew years and years ago, how much they had left but these greedy SOB's chose to continue the big smoke screen so they can have their gold plated faucets.

now they are trying to play innocent, "oh don't blame us, you guys use it, you should cut back". Yeah we should cut back, but like everything in the history of the world, humans only react when backed into a corner and these saudi fucks know that perfectly well.

perhaps, they should have told us when Carter was in office and trying to cut back on energy, but no, back then they did everything they could to dump Jimmy in favor of ray-gun oil sucking pig.

we as a world have painted ourselves into a corner. A corner in a warehouse filled with explosives during a forest fire.