OPEC Faults U.S. As Oil Hits New High

[sabra]

Source: CBS/AP

Cartel Blames U.S. Economic "Mismanagement," Not Lack Of Supply, For Pushing Crude Past $104 A Barrel

(CBS/AP) OPEC on Wednesday accused the U.S. of economic "mismanagement" it said is pushing oil prices to new record highs, rebuffing calls to boost output and laying the blame at the feet of the Bush administration.

Oil prices surged past $104 a barrel for the first time after the OPEC announcement and the release of a U.S. government report showing a surprise drop in crude oil stockpiles.

The 13-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would maintain current production levels because crude supplies are plentiful and demand is expected to weaken in the second quarter.

OPEC President Chakib Khelil told reporters the global market is being affected by what he called "the mismanagement of the U.S. economy," and that America's problems were a key factor in the cartel's decision to hold off on any action.

"If the prices are high, definitely they are not due to a lack of crude. They are due to what's happening in the U.S.," Khelil said. "There is sufficient supply. There's plenty of oil there."


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/05/business/main3907823.shtml

[razors edge]

1. Oil and gold are flat

over the last 45 years, the dollar has gone to hell and its dragging other currencies along with it.

[lonestarnot]

2. Then how does he explain this?

Oil Jumps on Surprise Supply Drop
By JOHN WILEN – 5 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil surged Wednesday, rising a remarkable $5 a barrel to a new record over $104 after the government reported a surprise drop in crude oil stockpiles and OPEC held production levels steady.

Most analysts had expected the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration to report oil supplies rose last week for the eighth straight time. Instead, they fell by 3.1 million barrels.

In Vienna, meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said it would hold production levels steady, at least for now.


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5TtajgUpSm7KY5jf-lCJGHBB-tAD8V7G1L80


Somebody is not telling the troof! :P

[lakeguy]

8. and it rose for the last 7 weeks previous to that...

your point?

[lonestarnot]

10. See Capt. Angry's post here.

[Captain Angry]

3. Hmm... According to the EIA...

The Energy Information Administration within the Dept. of Energy shows that the USA had 1.7 BILLION barrels of oil in stock piles. The articles being presented today in the press are showing a decline of 3 million barrels as opposed to an expected 2 million barrel rise.

Seems to me that we're on the sensational side of the news cycle now. Less than one tenth of a percent difference is making a whole lot of noise in the news.

The US government has 694 million barrels in its control, and US companies hold 1.012 BILLION barrels in their stockpiles.

Source: http://www.eia.doe.gov/

I downloaded their spreadsheets for February 2008, which is January data. The next set of sheets should be up next week.

[lonestarnot]

9. Finally a reasonable supply of information! Thank you!

[lonestarnot]

11. Wonder if they will demonstrate the decline, or U.S. media sensationalism?

Someone is not telling the truth.

[Captain Angry]

13. It's been my exeperience that the evidence can be on the table.

How many times have we heard "Well, it was all available if you had just applied for the data you didn't know we'd made available..."

This is probably one of those cases where real data is sitting there, and some guy with an agenda tells the media what he thinks it means. They take it, don't actually read it or understand it, and go bananas. Now, if there were a white girl missing again, they wouldn't be talking about it at all.

[lonestarnot]

14. I confess ignorance and unfortunately must rely on sources that report, but since

two conflicting reports are presented, one must ask who's lying no?

[Captain Angry]

15. I think they're both right.

One side says oil stocks are dropping. Another says they're not. The measurement or lagtime to aggregate the data, or the rounding, etc... I don't think either side is lying, I do think that the media reporting something that they haven't investigated on their own though. I think they're taking one source and running with it.

I'd probably believe OPEC when they say there are refining issues, not supply issues. They represent quite a few countries, and all that oil has to go to a very limited number of refiners. That number of refiners changes since they get to turn on/off their sites as they see fit, further distorting available resources.

Bush has said continuously that we're not in a recession. And by the definition of the term, he's right. By the experience of the average citizen of the US, not so much. Probably the same thing here. By the definitions each side is choosing to use, they're both right. If there were a way to accurately measure 4+ billion barrels of oil in a timely way, we might know better.

[lonestarnot]

16. Not to mention the refineries that seem to be blowing up every other week w/o explanation.

[Captain Angry]

17. There are explanations.

Just not widely reported ones.

Question: If you are a for-profit organization, and your compensation package as an executive is directly tied to the profits returned to investors, what do you do?

1: Spend money to head off potential disasters by proactively repairing and upgrading safety equipment and reducing pollution?

2: Let it ride, hoping that nothing goes wrong. You spend much less, and profit is that much higher. When the refinery breaks, demand skyrockets, so your product is now even more profitable.

So, in condition 2, what do you do next?

a: fix it?

b: wait for a government handout to pay for everything as you can wait longer than the screaming public?


I think we're both going to come to the same conclusion.

[lonestarnot]

18. Well that is an empirical explanation, I was thinking more of the CSI forensic explanation.

I understand there has been a delay of the investigation of the one from 2 to 3 weeks ago due to staff working the sugar refinery explosion. CEO Redux! Isn't it grand... Ack! :puke:

[roamer65]

4. It's the 17% growth in our M3 money supply that's the problem.

[unkachuck]

5. "There's plenty of oil there."

....if it isn't the lack of supply driving up oil prices, and it isn't demand, then what could it be? Hmmmm....

...."the mismanagement of the U.S. economy,..." how could this be? Aren't we the leading global capitalist economic power with all the latest high-tech gadgetry, with a very big military and wall-street?....

....don't we have more highly educated economic and business professionals per square foot than anywhere else on the planet?....we must, we preach the benefits of capitalism and democracy all over the world using America as the model....surely, we must know what we're doing, then, why?

....please don't tell me I'm wrong....tell me that my economic well-being and my beloved economic system isn't in the hands of 'professional' cum-sucking, jag-off, chicken-fuckin' criminals who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground....please, I can't bear to think otherwise....

[defendandprotect]

6. OPEC can be amazingly frank at times ---

The comment by them I really love was made probably at least ten years ago . . .

They more or less said that "when the times comes that we have to STOP selling oil or reduce
our output because of Global Warming, we would hope to be susidized."

They were on the one hand confirming the Global Warming which oil use has caused --
while on the other asserting their elitist right to receive welfare!!!

[lonestarnot]

12. And free or subsidized wheat imports next.

[spag68]

7. oil prices

The very minute that it is apparent that we are serious about alt. energy and conservation, the price of oil will plummet.

[buzzard]

19. Only if there are real alternate sources which I don't see as yet. What are these sources?

[defendandprotect]

20. As long as the oil elites have control of our natural resources, you're not

going to see any alternative fuels ---

We should have electric cars on the roads NOW ---

See: "Who Killed The Electric Car?"

great movie ---

[SpiralHawk]

21. Take that, you corrupt republicon homelander cronies, you...

Commander AWOL Bush epitomizes republicon delusion, corruption, and incompetence...

http://mchughwatch.com/Supporting%20documents/Images/Blood,%20Oil,%20Fears%20and%20Debt.jpg