Chavez Calls on OPEC to Lift Oil Price Targets

[CHIMO]

Oil producers should ensure that the price of oil never again falls below $30 per barrel, visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday.

Chavez, a former president of OPEC, urged fellow cartel members to vote in favor of current production quotas at next month's meeting in Cairo and for a higher price target for crude.

"The $22 to $28 barrel price is history now. We should never let oil prices drop sharply," Chavez told an industry conference in Moscow.

But Chavez said it is pointless to talk about a maximum oil price when "one barrel of water is more expensive than a barrel of oil, a barrel of wine is three times as expensive, and a barrel of whisky is even more expensive."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/11/26/042.html

[Wright Patman]

1. The dollars per barrel

figure will be seen as irrelevant in coming years. What the world will ask is how many euros per barrel it costs.

[VivaKerry]

2. Chavez is just cruising for a bruising....

He is just needling the bush admin at every turn.

[bahrbearian]

3. He is starting to get the goods on chimpy, with Spain's

acknowledgment of aiding the coup. Now, he wants to rub it in their faces.He probably feels that if we can give Columbia money for drugs, then we can pony up for our real addiction.

[VivaKerry]

8. Yep. But I worry about pres Chavez' health.

Bush tried to coup him out of office; then rigged an election recall. I just really worry about Chavez.

[CHIMO]

9. Well

If you were looking for help and Bush just pissed off someone, like he is doing in the Ukraine, wouldn't you try and take advantage of it?

Looking out further would one expect that Putin might not try to re-establish relations and oil exploration much closer to Florida?

[AP]

11. Bush wants high prices too -- well, high retail prices, that is.

Bush doesn't want Venezuela to be making the profits from oil.

[Tempest]

4. I hate to say it, but FUCKING A! Good For Chavez.

"Our northern neighbor, the United States, might not like that very much," he said.

The charismatic leader also thanked "President Vladimir Putin, the Russian government and the Russian people" for their support during what he called two years of aggression by the United States, which he accused of trying to overthrow him in 2002.

"They used to hold us by the throat like this, like a rabbit," Chavez said, shaking an imaginary rabbit with his fist. "We are free now, and we will continue to be free," he said to a round of applause.

[Deja Q]

16. Good going *, you petty little bully in the global neighborhood.

Yes, global. Your corporate buddies use "global economy", so I sure as fucking hell will say "global neighborhood" - in which it is clear you're the bully who wants to fortify your own house and create panic rooms within while providing one way doors that allow the corporate element total freedom while we're left in the basement with the cockroaches.

The global neighborhood sees what is going on and you can bet your bippy that they will react to the US tactics.

59 million idiots killed this country. We can only hope that the US pays attention to the accusations of voting system fraud and verify who really won. We might still have a chance if Kerry really did win, though even I must admit that the fear card has been sufficiently used by * to tip it his way regardless.

[htuttle]

5. He's got deals going with both China and Russia now

"Chavez said Russia is a key part of his country's economic and political strategy to diversify its relations with strategic partners."

I think I read nearly the same sentence last week regarding China and Venezuela.

[VirginiaDem]

6. He'll have to get it by the Saudis...

who are oil "doves". They like prices relatively low and that's why the range is set at 22-28 now instead of 42-48 or 112-118. They may raise it but it won't be by much. And if it is by much, the Saudis will just bust the range and crank up production whenever they feel like it, as they've done in the past.

The Saudis have way too much oil in the ground to risk too-high prices that edge users toward reduced consumption via alternative technologies. There is presently a much greater worldwide incentive to invest in hybrids and the like than if oil were 25 a barrel. Just because Bush Company isn't pushing it doesn't mean the Chinese or the Japanese won't. Once hybrids and hydrogen cars hit the market in force, the price of oil plummets and the Saudis are sitting on black ooze instead of black gold.

[Ima]

7. Brave man

[Florida_Geek]

10. Saudi has less oil now than it has ever had

and once it runs out what will they do for $$$... Sure they promised bush to keep oil low BEFORE the election but I would bet all bets are off now.

[VirginiaDem]

13. My understanding is that

the Saudis can't bump up production any more right now because they are already running at almost 100 percent of their excess capactity (or whatever it's called). It's not a matter of having less oil--they're pumping as much as they've ever pumped. It's a matter of temporarily not being able to bump up production further. I could be wrong though...

[CHIMO]

12. They Apparently

Are limited in the amount of sweet crude that they can produce. The bottle neck appears to be in processing sour crude. ie oil containing sulphur.

[Deja Q]

17. Money's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

:shrug:

[PrisonerLazy8]

14. Thanks a lot chavez you greedy moran

If the market lets us have it at $10.00 a barrel then more power to us. We don't need no stinking dictator wannabe screwing around with the oil markets to satisfy his personal dictoral wet dreams.

Cheap oil is the target and we don't need your dicates here in America.

[VegasWolf]

15. If cheap oil is the target how did awol miss it so bad? Speaking

of cheap dictators.

[Deja Q]

18. And if the Saudis wanted the US wiped out, then they WOULD lower

prices.

That would, in turn, encourage the US to use even more oil and dwindle the supply further, thereby continuing our self-inflicted strangulation.