Posted on 01/28/2016 1:08:17 PM PST by Citizen Zed
In November 2014 the OPEC countries met in Vienna and agreed to keep pumping oil to maintain their market share rather than cut production to support the oil price. In a post written a month later I addressed the question of how these countries were positioned to withstand an extended period of low oil prices and high budget deficits. More than a year has now passed, so it's time to take a look at how they have done so far and to see what their actions presage for the future.
Results to date:
OPEC is known to have suffered economic damage as a result of low oil prices, but exactly how much? I made the following estimates from the October 2015 IMF World Economic Outlook Database. They include all the OPEC countries except war-torn Libya, where the data is not particularly meaningful. All the figures given in this post are in (or estimated from) US dollars unless otherwise specified
(Excerpt) Read more at oilprice.com ...
No water in the mid east. They can drink the oil.
Filled up my (compact) pickup for 20 bucks.
$1.39/gal
Build a pipeline from Flint
So, with ISIS running amok, Afghanistan about to be lost based on testimony this week, Iraq in chaos, Syria...well ya’ know that story...and Iran now sending oil to market...
What exactly does happen when the OPEC economy collapses in the Middle East?
Gee...anybody want to hazard a guess as these closed kingdoms begin to fall?
Here’s what we do: Let the Chinese take over the WHOLE Middle East including their oil. When the suicide bombs go off you won’t hear about it. What’s a million Chinese casualties? They keep the oil and the Sunni/Shite wars come to an end. Ruthlessness has a place there. We have our own oil and could supply Europe. Russia? They compete with the Chinese and their differences will surface(again).
I believe you are correct.
That wonderful country with mafia business practices and 1.5 billion expendable people to enforce them.
Don’t think the next 10 years go well for the sheiks.
We’re seeing it already. All the men who are economic deadwood are being sent to Europe.
world wars have alway s been the same, economy and religion..
when a mass of peopleor a strong military society sees itself collapsing, they do not lay down and say oh well..they attack anyone they can to survive, man has lost the vision that we need each other to survive,as Christ said we cannot hate our brothers and love God, but all our ways as we practice them now are based on hate because of the fear of death,therefore man kills the world we are on trying to stay alive in a world we are dying in..., Islam is a lie as it does not represent God’s nature. ie we cannot concrete the earth and say it is good,
the day is coming when some fool will decide it’s now or never and start the war of the end times..as the world hates Israel more, the world becomes darker, having lost the moral compass God gave the world and the denial of the salvation being offered in Christ as well, the stage is set for final guidance to the from Christ for a better pasture, frankly a better us..
Reality belongs to the one who creates it..
Now their only options are to try and remain solvent by selling more oil (lowering prices even more, and continuing the spiral), or cutting production to raise prices. US oil companies will then resume fracking, and everything will be back to square one, minus wrecked Middle Eastern domestic economies.
For decades we have tried to destroy OPEC, reduce oil consumption and achieve energy independence. Now that all of this is very much in reach, the stock market dives when the price of oil drops. Manipulation?
I think it is fear. Fear of what already is happening in the Middle East and fear of a total collapse of the kingdoms too.
Markets hate uncertainty. Several weeks ago I was reading about the Saudi royalty “running out of money” and having to recalibrate the economy. Odd that information even leaked out of the closed kingdom, really.
Ambitious Saudi reforms may not avert looming economic slump
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-economy-insight-idUSKCN0V61GB
There is much more going on globally than is ever being reported.
Can’t make sammiches outa crude?
The OPEC countries imagined that they could get by just creating oil, and not having to produce anything else for GDP. And they thought that this would get them import luxury items forever.
Worked for a while.
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