OPEC and other external influences on the price of oil
Iran wants OPEC to cut 1.5 million
barrels. Iran called on OPEC Saturday [11/15/2008] to cut production by a further 1 million
to 1.5 million barrels per day when it meets in Cairo later this month, state television's Web site reported
Saturday. Iran's OPEC governor, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, said the cartel needs to act to slash output because
demand for oil has declined due to the global financial meltdown.
OPEC May
Cut 1 Million Barrels in Cairo, Survey Shows. OPEC, supplier of more than 40 percent of
the world's oil, will probably announce plans to lower supply for the third time in as many months to
prevent prices plunging toward $50 a barrel, a Bloomberg survey showed.
OPEC's Heavy Hand: Though we have
to conclude that while it is due largely to both Wall Street's corruption and politicians' abuse of the
system handed the tools of doom to the middle class, Main Street's rapid disenfranchisement was manufactured
overseas, thousands of miles away, at the hands of many of the members of OPEC, the oil-producing Cartel.
The Death Of OPEC. Saudi Arabia
walked out on OPEC yesterday [9/10/2008]. It said it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was
tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran. As the world's
largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.
Skyrocketing Oil Prices
Stump Experts. Executives from the giant oil companies say it's partly the fault of "speculators" or financial
players. Key financial players say it's really a question of limited supply and expanding global demand. Some
members of Congress accuse the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries for bottling up some of its production
capacity. And OPEC blames speculators, wasteful U.S. consumers and feckless U.S. policy. Almost everyone points
at China's growing appetite for fuel.
The disinformation age:
The folks over at OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, must think we're pretty stupid.
The other day, Chakib Khelil, the current OPEC president, asserted that "the intrusion of bioethanol on the
market" is responsible for 40 percent of recent increases in the price of oil. Now how exactly would
that work? How does growing sugarcane in Brazil or corn in Iowa push up the price of oil sucked from
holes in the ground in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela?
OPEC wants substantial cut in oil output.
OPEC will need to order a "substantial" cut in oil output at next week's emergency meeting in Vienna, Algerian Energy
Minister and current OPEC chief Chakib Khelil said. "There will be a reduction in production at the next
extraordinary meeting of OPEC, and it will have to be a substantial one to get the balance right between supply
and demand," he told reporters on Saturday [10/18/2008].
Oil bets pushed 2008
prices. Speculation by large investors — not supply and demand for oil — was
a primary reason for the surge in oil prices during the first half of the year and the more
recent price declines, an independent study concluded Wednesday [9/10/2008]. The report by
Masters Capital Management said investors poured $60 billion into oil futures markets during
the first five months of the year as oil prices soared from $95 a barrel in January to $145 a
barrel by July.
Is oil going back
under $100 a barrel? Not if OPEC can help it. It is true that the price of oil is
down. In early July, the price peaked at $147 a barrel. Yesterday [9/5/2008] it hit
$106. A fall of almost 30% in two months suggests the old rule that "nothing cures high prices
like high prices" may finally be working in the oil market.
Giant Saudi Field is Key to Boosting Oil Output.
What happens over the next year at Khurais, one of Saudi Arabia's last undeveloped giant oil fields, could hold
the key to what drivers will pay at the pump for years to come. Under way at Khurais and two other
smaller fields nearby is what Saudi Arabia calls the single largest expansion of oil production capacity
in history.
Energy's Prevailing Winds: An
interview with T. Boone Pickens. "According to the crude oil report, as of today [March 12]
we have imported crude oil at the cost for $1.4 billion for the week. Multiply 52 weeks
times $1.4 billion. You'll get right at $600 billion a year you're paying for imported crude
oil. We can't keep doing that. It's the greatest transfer of wealth ever recorded in the history
of the world."
OPEC chief: Oil prices would go
higher regardless of supply. OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah el al-Badri said Sunday [4/20/2008] oil prices
would likely go higher and that the group was ready to raise production if the price pressure was due to a shortage of
supply — something he doubted. "Oil prices, there is a common understanding that has nothing to do with supply and
demand," al-Badri said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Rome.
Going After OPEC: Hillary
Clinton says she wants to dismantle OPEC if she becomes president. ... But Clinton's plan to go after OPEC is a slick
PR exercise, and her recent threats against U.S. oil companies are downright dangerous. "(Oil companies) have record
profits," she said, "that they frankly are just sitting there counting because they are not doing anything new to earn it;
they are just taking advantage of what's going on." This is patently false.
Hugo Chavez Cuts His Own Throat.
Venezuela president Hugo Chavez says he will not send anymore crude to Exxon. … Exxon can get oil elsewhere,
at least for the time being. It is likely to be supported in its fight by other large oil companies who
have also been bullied by Chavez.
The choice is ours: Big
Oil or Chavez? Political spin has little basis in energy reality; talk about energy independence
is misleading and naive. America is energy interdependent for the foreseeable future and policies should
be made accordingly. … Big Oil companies combined control less than 10 percent of the world's conventional
oil reserves. So "Big Oil" cannot control gasoline prices.
Over
70 firms bid for Iraq oil contracts. More than 70 international firms have registered to compete
for tenders to help develop Iraq's oil reserves, seen as vital to providing the funds to rebuild the shattered
country, Iraq's oil ministry said on Monday [2/18/2008]. Iraq currently produces only a fraction of its
vast reserves, the third-largest in the world and among the cheapest to produce, and international oil firms
have been positioning for years to gain access.
Iraq
could have largest oil reserves in the world. Iraq dramatically increased the official size of its
oil reserves yesterday [5/19/2008] after new data suggested that they could exceed Saudi Arabia's and be the
largest in the world. The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister told The Times that new exploration showed that
his country has the world's largest proven oil reserves, with as much as 350 billion barrels. The
figure is triple the country's present proven reserves and exceeds that of Saudi Arabia's estimated
264 billion barrels of oil.
Iraq's Oil Surge:
For some American pols, everything that happens in Iraq is bad news, especially when it's good news for the U.S. Iraq
announced this week that it is inviting global competition to develop its major oil reserves, with 35 oil companies invited
to bid. By tapping outside capital and expertise, Iraq hopes to increase production by 60%, providing a much-needed
boost to its own coffers and the world's tight oil supply.
The Triumph of OPEC:
For much of its 47-year existence, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been a cartel
in name only. It could not control oil prices because many of its members regularly breached the
production quotas that were intended to regulate the market. … But now OPEC may be the real deal: a
cartel that works. If so, that's bad news for the rest of the world.
Iraq's revival boosted as oil
production rises to 2.4m barrels a day. Oil production in Iraq is at its highest level since the
US-led invasion of 2003, reaching 2.4 million barrels a day, thanks largely to improved security measures
in the north. The country's Oil Ministry will shortly invite international oil companies to bid for
contracts to help Iraq to boost output at its investment-starved "super-giant" oilfields. Production is
expected to pass the prewar level of 2.6 million barrels by the end of the year, and Hussain
al-Shahristani, the Iraqi Oil Minister, told The Times that he expected production to reach six
million barrels a day within four years.
Oil Dependency is
America's Ruin. For the U.S. economy, oil dependence is a double whammy. While it contributes to
our economic decline, it allows OPEC governments, many of which do not have our best interests in mind, not only to
laugh all the way to the bank but to literally own the bank.
Iraqi oil exceeds pre-war output.
Iraqi oil production is above the levels seen before the US-led invasion of the country in 2003,
according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA said Iraqi crude production is now running at
2.3 million barrels per day, compared with 1.9 million barrels at the start of this year.
Crude
Oil Declines to Five-Week Low Before OPEC Output Meeting. Crude oil futures declined
to their lowest in more than five weeks before an OPEC production meeting and amid signs of an
economic slowdown in the U.S., the world's largest energy user.
Oil Falls a
Third Day on Speculation OPEC May Raise Production. OPEC currently has no plan to raise oil
output when it meets next week in Abu Dhabi because the market is well supplied, Qatar's oil minister said
today [11/28/2007]. Libya's top oil official said the group is unable to increase production any
further.
Iran,
Russia and Venezuela Feel the Benefits of Oil Price Rise. High oil prices are fueling one of the
biggest transfers of wealth in history. Oil consumers are paying $4 billion to $5 billion more
for crude oil every day than they did just five years ago, pumping more than $2 trillion into the coffers
of oil companies and oil-producing nations this year alone.
Time for Congress to Lift OPEC's
Immunity. Since its inception in 1960, OPEC, which is dominated by Persian Gulf producers, has
successfully restricted its member states' petroleum production, artificially distorting the world's oil supply
to line its members' pockets. Member states' production quotas are determined at semi-annual meetings
of members' petroleum ministers and are at times changed through telephone consultations.
All About Oil:
Oil — the huge profits it provides and the insidious influence it gives those selling it — explains most
of the world's worries over the Middle East. No, that does not mean the United States is fighting in Iraq to get
control of its petroleum. For all the charges of "No blood for oil," the American occupation has neither been able to
reverse a decline in oil production in Iraq nor alleviate skyrocketing oil prices worldwide. And, recently, the first
new contracts of the now-transparent Iraqi oil ministry went to non-American companies.
Oil Is Not Well. Who are the
major producers of oil in the world? The unsettling answer is Saudi Arabia and Russia. They produce
about 9 million barrels of oil a day. And who are the world's major producers of natural gas. Again
the answer is unsettling, Iran and Russia. There are students of geopolitics with a special knowledge of
energy resources who worry about this.
OPEC set to
cut output amid carping over quotas. Ministers from the 11-member Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries are likely to decide on a further cut in OPEC oil output when they gather Thursday
[12/14/2006] in Abuja, Nigeria, analysts say. The cartel, which regulates its oil supply to maximise
export revenues and control prices, is eager to keep crude around 60 dollars per barrel and a further
cut would support the market heading into the northern hemisphere winter.
Oil,
Terror and Environmental Pipedreams: Granted, there's no joy in knowing that a portion of our
oil dollars is going to a handful of nations in the Middle East, but that is where, like Russia, a lot of oil
exists. However, the U.S. purchases quite a bit of its oil from Canada and Venezuela, and secures a
significant portion from national reserves in the Gulf of Mexico. No matter with which Middle East oil
potentates we must make deals, the oil — a global commodity — is going to flow.
Venezuelan
Oil Losing Share of Key U.S. Market. A new study of trade and oil consumption data shows that Venezuela
appears ever more dependent on selling its oil to the country Chávez calls "the cruelest, most terrible, most
cynical, most murderous empire that has existed." And U.S. government energy trade data show the United
States is slightly less dependent on Venezuela, which at one time challenged Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia
as the No. 1 provider of foreign oil but now tussles with up-and-coming Nigeria for the fourth spot.
U.S. Oil Imports: Do
you think all the oil we use comes from the Middle East? You might be surprised. See the list of
countries from which the U.S. imports oil. [PDF]
Venezuela to join Nigeria in
production cut as prices skid. OPEC producer Venezuela plans to make a voluntary cut in
supply along with fellow member Nigeria to boost sharply falling prices and counter slowing demand,
an industry source said on Friday [9/29/2006].
Iraq Oil Output
Highest Since Invasion. Iraq is producing an average of 2.5 million barrels of oil a
day, its highest level since the war began in 2003, an oil ministry spokesman said Wednesday
[6/28/2006]. Assem Jihad said 1.6 million barrels are being exported daily from the
southern port of Basra, while 300,000 are being pumped from the northern city of Kirkuk to the
Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Billions
in Oil Missing in Iraq, U.S. Study Says. Between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq's declared
oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and could have been siphoned off through corruption or
smuggling, according to a draft American government report. … The report also covered alternative
explanations for the billions of dollars worth of discrepancies, including the possibility that Iraq has
been consistently overstating its oil production.
Russia's oil boom may be running on empty.
The Russian oil boom, which has produced a gusher of cash, political power and an opulent elite — and has
helped fuel the country's renewed assertiveness in Georgia and elsewhere — is on shakier ground than
officials in Moscow would like to admit. Most of the oil produced after the country's 1998 financial collapse
has come from drilling and re-drilling old Soviet oil fields with more advanced equipment — squeezing more
black gold out of the same ground — and efforts to develop new fields have been slow or non-existent.
Eucador moves against
US oil giant. Ecuador began today [5/17/2006] to take over operations of US oil giant Occidental
Petroleum Corp, the latest move in Latin America against foreign energy producers after nationalization in
Bolivia and growing state intervention in Venezuela.
The Glories of
Socialism. Nancy Pelosi said a few weeks ago that we should nationalize the oil
companies. Well, Hugo Chavez has already done that and perhaps we should examine the results.
U.S., Future Tense.
Buried in last week's news, the CIA director warned that the next president's top national security problem is
the Axis of Oil. With campaigns focused on wars all but won, will our next leader be ready?
OPEC ministers cut output at
meeting. The OPEC cartel on Friday [10/24/2008] decided to slash oil production by
1.5 million barrels a day as of next month in an attempt to stem plunging prices for crude.
OPEC Pushing to Cut Production, Drive Up Oil and
Gasoline Prices. Just as Americans are finally beginning to reap the benefits of plunging gasoline
prices — including more money in their pockets — OPEC is getting ready to squeeze them
once again by cutting oil production and driving up prices to refineries.
Terrorism, accidents, and military intervention drive up the price
Oil Surges After
Enbridge Pipeline Blast Cuts Supply. Oil surged more than $4 a barrel, the most in a month,
after an explosion cut Canadian oil shipments through Enbridge Inc. pipelines that typically provide about
15 percent of U.S. crude imports.
The True Price Of
Gas: [It appears that] Mexican oil exports will stop seven years from now. Latin America's
biggest company is so undercapitalized that it has ceased deep-sea exploration, its only potential source of
new crude. The government that Mexican statists love so much depends on Pemex for almost 40 percent
of its revenue, which means that by the time the populists get back into power they will not have funds left
for their populist extravaganzas.
Output falling in oil-rich Mexico, and
politics gets the blame. Pemex is in trouble. Its production and proven reserves are falling,
and it has no money to reverse the slide. Mexico is the second-largest supplier of imported oil to the
United States, after Canada, but its total exports are slipping. If the company continues on its current
course, Mexico may one day have trouble just keeping up with rising demand at home.
Oil Spikes on U.S. Plan to Double Strategic Reserves.
Oil extended today's rally [1/23/2007] after the White House said President Bush will seek a doubling of the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve to 1.5 billion barrels in tonight's State of the Union address. Energy
Secretary Sam Bodman said the government will start buying oil for the reserve in about two months.
Most oil is in the hands of
governments. National oil companies control the vast majority of the world's oil and natural
gas reserves, but that doesn't mean bringing it to the surface is the host government's top priority, according
to a massive study to be released today [3/1/2007] by Rice University.
Drilling for the Future: Americans are
paying more because the global price of a barrel of oil has been increased by fears of military
conflict in the Middle East, probably initiated by Iran. Americans are paying more because, in 2005,
Hurricane Katrina and other hurricanes destroyed 115 oil platforms and damaged another 50, along with
183 pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico and refineries in Louisiana. Despite this, the U.S. Mineral
Management Service reported that there were no significant oil spills from offshore platforms and no
oil reached the coastline.
Bolivia Military Told to Occupy Gas
Fields. President Evo Morales ordered soldiers to occupy Bolivia's natural gas fields Monday
[5/1/2006] and threatened to evict foreign companies unless they give Bolivia control over the entire chain of
production.
The
Politics of Hurricanes. One of the unremarked successes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in
2005 was how quickly the nation's oil and gasoline markets returned to normal. This was in part because
Washington didn't try to control prices, and because the Bush Administration temporarily suspended
environmental rules on reformulated gasoline. It also released oil from the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve to ease supply shortages.
Citgo requests 1 million barrels of
SPR crude. Citgo Petroleum said on Sunday it requested 1 million barrels of crude oil from
the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve for its 430,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana,
due to supply disruptions caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.
