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The pound could soon dive to barely more than a dollar and a half while gold prices plunge to $650, experts predicted yesterday amid fresh evidence that the commodity boom is ending and the dollar's resurgence is under way. Michael Saunders, head of European economics at Citigroup, said it "would not be a surprise" if sterling fell to levels last seen in 2002 - around $1.55 - despite sitting above two dollars as recently as mid-July. His comments came as sterling dropped to a fresh two-year low against the dollar, down over a cent at $1.8632. Its recent series...

Russia has approved a plan intended to end fighting with Georgia, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, is now in Tbilisi trying to persuade Georgians to accept the deal. Under the plan, both sides would agree not to use force, and all troops would return to the positions they were in before the conflict began last week. Earlier, Russia announced its military activity in the area was completed and witnesses reported troops pulling back. But despite the diplomacy and apparent withdrawal, rhetoric on both sides has remained fiery and analysts predicted a...

Remember all those times OPEC tried to tell us that they didn't want high oil prices and we didn't believe them? Well, they meant it. They knew that technology was available to crush oil demand but they hoped that the low price of oil would keep the technology buried. The cat's now out of the bag. The commodity run is over. The talking heads are trying to temper the recent selloff in oil by saying that it will settle around $100 a barrel but that is not what happens when a bubble bursts. Oil is headed back down to historical...

Opec last month pushed its production to the highest level in its 48-year history even as demand was slipping in the US and Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. The combination of surplus supply and weaker demand has pushed oil prices to $113.50 a barrel, down 24 per cent in the past month and the lowest level since late April. The effort was led by Saudi Arabia, which had come under increasing pressure for doing too little to compensate for lower supplies from countries outside Opec, where growth has been lacklustre as fields have aged in countries...

Opec has called for its members to honour their production quotas in what amounts to a warning to key oil producers to cut output. “Except for Iraq and new members who are outside the Opec quota, the rest of the members should produce in the framework of their committed quota,” Chakib Khelil, the Opec president, was quoted as saying today in Tehran by the Iranian state news agency, Shana. His comments followed an oil price decline to below US$115 (about Dh422) a barrel during weekend trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after peaking at $147.27 a barrel a month...

EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned $671 billion in net oil export revenues in 2007, a 10 percent increase from 2006. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $194 billion, representing 29 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-capita basis, OPEC net oil export earning reached $1,137, a 8 percent increase from 2006. Through July, OPEC had earned an estimated $642 billion in net oil export earnings in 2008. Based on projections from the EIA August 2008 Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), OPEC net oil export revenues could be...

OPEC should consider an output cut at its upcoming meeting, if it were warranted by market circumstances, Venezuela Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Friday, adding Venezuela could back such a cut. "If a production cut were needed to stabilize the market, it would have to be considered," he told reporters. When asked if Venezuela would support a cut he said "we would be willing to do that." Ramirez said member nations in the upcoming OPEC meeting would discuss oil's slump in recent weeks that has pushed prices from near $150 per barrel last month to around $115 in afternoon...

LONDON (AFP) - Crude prices continued their dizzying spiral down on Friday, shedding nearly four dollars to trade below 114 dollars a barrel as the US currency strengthened amid concerns about energy demand, dealers said. Brent North Sea crude for September delivery hit an intra-day low of 113.55 dollars a barrel. It recovered slightly to stand at 114.06 dollars, down 3.80 dollars, at about 1420 GMT New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September stood at 116.28 dollars a barrel, down 3.74. Oil futures have shed more than 20 percent in value since hitting record highs above 147 dollars...

OPEC production reached its highest level so far this year in July on increased barrels from Saudi Arabia and Iraq and a recovery in Nigerian output, a Dow Jones Newswires survey released Friday said. The 13 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.675 million barrels a day on average last month, up 1.1%, or 366,000 barrels, from 32.309 million barrels a day in June. After easing in April, OPEC production is up for a third straight month with much of the increase driven by Saudi Arabia following its two pledges to boost output by a total of...

Oil prices fell below $120 a barrel Monday, touching levels last seen in May, as investors began to rethink the idea that crude is on an inevitable march to $200. Light sweet crude oil fell as low as $119.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange amid increasing evidence of falling U.S. demand and ample worldwide supplies. That helped drag down the shares of energy firms like Exxon, which fell 3% to near its 52-week low of $77.26 and oil-services giant Schlumberger, down almost 5% to $95. The pullback is vindication for analysts who for months have been saying that oil...

Iran, the number two oil producer in OPEC, expects the cartel to discuss ways of controlling the quotas of member countries at its next meeting in September, the official news agency IRNA said. ADVERTISEMENT "In case of the continuation of a downward trend in oil price, one of the serious discussions in the next OPEC meeting will be definitely the quotas," IRNA quoted Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari as saying. The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries is scheduled to hold its next regular meeting on September 9 in Vienna. "OPEC, as the responsible body to control the market, should be...

Iran's OPEC governor said world oil prices could reach as high as $500 per barrel in a few years' time if the dollar falls further and political tension worsens, an Iranian weekly said.

The Disinformation Age: OPEC lies, the SUV dies By Clifford D. May The Disinformation Age: OPEC lies, the SUV dies 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% 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?...

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? If we roasted the corn and put the sugar in coffee — instead of making it into alcohol fuels...

ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Alaska | This place is a Zen thing. The only way to tell you’ve wandered in is the absence of anything saying so. No signs. No road to get here. No advice from government stewards about what to seek out or what to avoid. No entrance fees and no officially licensed T-shirt. This isn’t just wilderness, contend those who want to keep it pristine, but a sanctuary for wildness. It is also oil country. With just the last half of the last year of the petroleum-friendly Bush administration remaining, the window for opening the land to...

Disinformation Age OPEC lies, the SUV dies. By Clifford D. May 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? If we roasted the corn and put the...

Exclusive: OPEC: A Recurring Nightmare Family Security Matters, NJ - Jun 23, 2008 OPEC, acronym for The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, was founded in Baghdad on September 14th, 1960, ostensibly to bargain and negotiate the sale of oil to the West by Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.... They sound just like another commercial fraternal organization, but with the exception of Venezuela and a bizarre on again/off again romance with Ecuador, all member states are Muslim and the bulk of the oil reserves, estimated to be more than three quarters...

OPEC's policies spurring price hike Dailyrecord.com, NJ - Jul 5, 2008 While it is true that the United States gets most of its oil from non-Arab countries, it is in fact the Arab oil-producing nations that are driving up the price. He states that the "price of oil is dictated to a large extent by U.S. oil companies." That is not the case. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a cartel of 12 member nations, with all but one, Venezuela, a Middle Eastern country. A cartel is, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, a combination of independent business...

A simple question, What if it was not the Arabs, not the Muslims (OPEC) that control the world's energy? What if the oil tycoons were of a different background, say Irish Catholic or Jewish? Could you imagine how they would be lynched [in the media and all tools of public opinion]? But it's "only" Arabs, Muslims, and they can do whatever they want, limit or extend production of oil. Worst is of course the immense unlimited power they enjoy in being permitted to continue "business" as usual... in the "field" of crimes against humanity... No one ever dares speaks out...

OPEC is a cartel that rigs the market to extort money from the rest. Isn't it about time that the Cartel was outlawed and dismantled? It's not in the world interest to have vast summs of money transferred to people who have done nothing to deserve it, and do nothing good with the proceeds. Dismantle the cartel. Use force if necessary.

The head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries warned on Thursday that oil prices would experience an “unlimited” increase in the event of a military conflict involving Iran because the group’s members would be unable to make up the lost production. Skip to next paragraph “We really cannot replace Iran’s production — it’s not feasible to replace it,” Abdalla Salem el-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said in an interview.

VIENNA (AFP) - OPEC on Thursday cut its long-term estimate for world oil demand, saying consumption by 2030 would be 3.7 percent lower than previously forecast as soaring prices drive efforts to save energy.

Drastic times may call for drastic actions according to Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). DeMint told participants in a “national Tele Town Hall meeting” on July 9 there was a movement among senators to shut down the Senate floor if an up-or-down vote was not held on the offshore exploration for oil and natural gas. The senator maintained the added energy was an issue of national security to prevent the nation from being held “hostage” by OPEC. “One of the things that we’re looking at here – a few of us have been meeting about ways that we might just close...

Americans are worried. Americans are angry. Soaring gas prices are seriously crippling our economy and hitting us where it hurts the most – in our pockets. We have a right to be angry, but anger is no longer enough. It’s time for rage – good, old American rage aimed at those elitist Democrats who prefer to see the folks beggared by soaring fuel prices rather than take the action this very real economic crisis demands. Drill!

How often have you heard Democrat politicians and liberal environmentalists argue that it makes no sense to drill for oil domestically because it will take at least ten years before we will see any of that oil? Let's put that old canard permanently to rest, shall we? According to a report from APRN, Alaska's Public Radio Network, it's been done in just half that time: Pioneer Natural Resources Company has brought a near-shore oil production unit on line. Pioneer spokesman Tadd Owens says the first barrel from the Oooguruk facility was sold yesterday. The unit lies northwest of the Kuparuk...

ALGIERS (AFP) - OPEC president Chakib Khelil warned Sunday that oil prices will continue to rise because of the falling dollar, in an interview in the Algeria-News. "The price of oil will rise again in the coming weeks. We have to follow the evolution of the dollar, because a one percent fall in the dollar means four dollars more on the price of oil," Khelil, who is Algeria's minister of energy and mines, told the independent daily. < > "I believe that 60 percent of the rise is due to the fall in the exchange rate of the dollar and...

A senior Arab official warned that oil prices would jump to more than 200 U.S. dollars a barrel if Iran was militarily attacked, the Egyptian state MENA news agency reported on Sunday. Secretary General of the Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) Ahmed Guwaili made the remarks in an interview with Egypt's Arabicdaily Al Gomhuria published on Sunday. Guwaili said the Arab world and all the countries in the world would be affected if Tehran is attacked by military actions.

Five Republican congressional candidates will travel to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to promote drilling there to reduce the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. “With gas prices at an all-time high, we need to take steps now to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said trip participant Craig Williams, who is challenging Joe Sestak (D-Pa.). “We have energy resources available to us domestically that can cut our dependence on foreign oil and provide a bridge to tomorrow when we can more heavily rely on renewable energy resources such as hydro-electric, solar and wind power.” Due to accompany Williams...

MADRID: The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Tuesday set the steadying the US dollar and the easing of tensions between the West and Iran as key conditions for stabilizing oil prices

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whose nation is the world's number one oil exporter, called on consumer countries to get used to high prices in comments published on Tuesday. "Consumer countries have to adapt to the prices and the mechanisms of the market," the king said in an interview published by the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassah. "

As Robert Zubrin, author of the best-selling Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil, puts it: “OPEC will clear $1.5 trillion in net export profits this year. The entire worth of the US Fortune 500 is $18 trillion. So at their current rate of looting, OPEC will accumulate enough cash to buy majority control of the entire Fortune 500 within 6 years.” As outrageous as the present pass may seem with the price of oil at over $140 per barrel, U.S. and foreign capital markets are being rocked by the prospect that there is –...

OTTAWA -- U.S. presidential candidates are increasingly demonizing OPEC and vowing to reduce dependency on foreign oil, as record gasoline pump prices have become a major concern among U.S. voters in the run-up to the fall election. But the rhetoric could well backfire, as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries say that efforts to wean consuming countries off oil could cause them to back off investment plans that would bring new supplies to tight markets. While U.S. politicians bemoan OPEC's stranglehold on their economy, the oil cartel is expressing its own concerns about "security of demand" - whether...

Brazil will at least triple its oil reserves by exploring the new Tupi offshore area, and will use the future revenues on healthcare and education for the country, according to Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. "This is very promising for Brazil. We have to take advantage of this oil to develop the country," Lula told Bloomberg Television. "It's a chance for the Brazilian poor to use this money as opposed to having people with a lot of oil and three or four watches and a Rolex in their pockets. We want to take advantage of these riches to...

Having their S.U.V.'s and converting them, too by Fara Warner New York Times, 4/11/04 ------------------------------ KEVIN RICHARDSON, who at 32 is the oldest member of the Backstreet Boys, took delivery last week of his 2004 GMC Yukon sport utility vehicle. He raves about its "F.B.I. look" - all black and chromeless, with lacquered wheel rims - and the 5.3-liter V-8 engine that puts close to 300 horsepower under the hood. And he dreams of ordering a customized license plate for this, his perfect Hollywood ride. It would read "CLEAN." That may sound as contradictory as Mr. Richardson himself - an...

Oil price could hit $150-170 in coming months: Opec (AFP) 27 June 2008 PARIS — The president of Opec, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, forecast yesterday that oil prices could rise to $150-170 a barrel during the northern hemisphere summer. If there were real demand for extra oil, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would do what was needed to satisfy it, he said, affirming that there was enough oil in the world for about the next 50 years. “I predict probably prices of $150 to 170 this summer. It (the market) will probably fall a bit towards the end...

OPEC President Chakib Khelil says he expects oil prices to rise to $150-170 over the summer, but not to hit the $200 mark. He cited the continued weakness of the US dollar and international pressure on Iran.The president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Chakib Khelil, said he expects oil prices to reach between 150 and 170 dollars per barrel this summer. “I predict prices will probably hit 150 to 170 dollars this summer,” he said in an interview with FRANCE 24’s Ulysse Gosset and Raphaël Kahane, adding: “Prices will maybe fall towards the end of this year.”...

It is becoming more evident every day that the left-wing of the Democratic Party is delighted that the price of gasoline and diesel fuel is now between $4.00 and $5.00 per gallon. According to Barack Obama, high gas prices don’t really constitute a problem for Americans. He stated recently that the reason for our anger is “the rapid increase in prices, not the prices themselves”. Obama claimed that Americans would have accepted a “gradual adjustment” to the current cost. For years now, in response to the demands of environmental extremists, liberal Democrats like Obama and some RINO’s have pursued policies...

Crude prices jumped over USD 3 to hit a fresh all time high of USD142 per barrel in intra-day trade. The surge comes after OPEC President said he expects prices to be between USD150-170 per barrel in a few months. However, he added that USD200 per barrel might not become a reality anytime soon. A weakening dollar is also giving support. Prices retreated a bit after the US House of Representatives approved a Bill aimed at curbing excessive energy-market speculation but continued above USD139 per barrel. What has caused the sudden jump in prices? Manisha Gupta, CNBC-TV18 It was really...

In recent days I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lexington Project named for the town where Americans asserted their independence once before. And let it begin today with this commitment: In a world of hostile and unstable suppliers of oil, this nation will achieve strategic independence by 2025. This pledge is addressed to all concerned -- to those abroad whose power flows from an accident of geology, and to you, my fellow Americans, whose strength proceeds from unity of purpose. Together, we will break the power of OPEC over the United States. And never again...

Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday. Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135. Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis...

ALGIERS (Agencies): Opec president Chakib Khelil said on Friday it was illogical and irrational to ask the oil group to increase output so as to take the pressure off soaring prices, the Algerie Presse Service (APS) news agency reported. “To ask the oil producers to increase their output is illogical and irrational,” Khelil was quoted by APS as saying ahead of a meeting Sunday in Jeddah of oil producers and consumers to discuss record high prices. Khelil noted that he was invited to the Saudi Arabian summit in his position as Algerian energy minister and not as Opec president, and...

Look what your petrodollars helped finance: *“The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its people.” *“In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam…Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose.” *God “prohibits killing the soul...unless for just cause…unbelief after belief, adultery, and killing an inviolable believer intentionally.” These quotes are from Arabic language, secondary-school textbooks at northern Virginia’s Islamic Saudi Academy. As the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported June 11, “The Commission’s review of these textbooks found that they did contain passages justifying...

THE president of the United States has the power to attack, and perhaps destroy, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the illegal cartel that has driven the price of oil over $130 per barrel. This can be accomplished without invasion or bombing. No special legislation is needed. The president need simply allow the states to seek relief in the Supreme Court under our antitrust laws. The oil ministers of the OPEC countries meet periodically to set production quotas for the cartel’s members and in the process establish an artificially high price for crude oil. Under our antitrust laws, this...

KINDA MAKES YOU WONDER... John H. at Powerline writes: For several decades, the Democratic Party has pursued policies designed to drive up the cost of petroleum, and therefore gas at the pump. Remarkably, the Democrats don't seem to have taken much of a political hit from the current spike in gas prices. Probably that's because most people don't realize how different the two parties' energy policies have been. Congressman Roy Blunt put together these data to highlight the differences between House Republicans and House Democrats on energy policy: ANWR Exploration House Republicans: 91% SupportedHouse Democrats: 86% Opposed Coal-to-LiquidHouse Republicans: 97%...

LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC's Secretary General on Tuesday appealed for calm, saying the record-high crude oil price was unbearable and did not reflect any shortage of supply in the market. Abdullah al-Badri also called for measures to curb market speculation, a factor OPEC says is sending prices to unjustified levels. Oil hit a record $139.12 a barrel on Friday and was trading near $136 on Tuesday.

Senate Republicans today successfully blocked a vote on a Democratic-written energy package intended to slap the major oil companies with a new windfall profits tax and roll back other tax breaks the industry now enjoys. While motorists may be clamoring for relief from gasoline prices now topping $4 a gallon nationwide, Senate Democrats were unable to muster enough votes to move forward with debate on an energy package that contained a number of provisions that already have received veto threats from President Bush. With the White House threatening a veto of the bill, the Senate voted 51-43 to close debate,...

If shallow talk could solve America’s energy crisis, politicians in Washington would have all the answers. But Americans are still carrying a crushing burden while little changes. Fortunately, there are many real solutions available for the U.S. economy even if the politicians don’t seem to know it. America’s dependence on foreign oil is more than a threat to our economy. It has become a threat to America’s national security. American money is being funneled to America’s enemies around the world and is strengthening our enemies while weakening America. The Mid-West hides the largest untapped oil reserve in the world —...

CONFER: Oil made in the USA The United States twice suffered through oil crises in the 1970s. The 1973 installment was caused by the OAPEC and OPEC cartels cutting-off and manipulating supplies to nations like ours that had supported Israel. This event proved frightening to the American economy, with price controls and rationing being called in to play. The 1979 crisis, a relatively brief affair, was caused by striking oil workers in Iran who made Iranian output plummet and global prices rise, much to the benefit of OPEC. You would have thought that our federal government would have learned from...

ALGIERS — The weak U.S. dollar, speculation and the subprime crisis are the causes for the spiraling price of oil, OPEC's current president said Saturday. Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil told reporters the cartel will make no new decision on production levels until its Sept. 9 meeting in Vienna. He notes that OPEC controls only 40 percent of world oil production, and says the high prices do not reflect market conditions but rather other factors linked to the weakening dollar, market speculation and the U.S. subprime mortgage market turmoil. Oil prices recently reached $135 a barrel before falling to less...

GOTEBORG, Sweden: Taking a road trip? Remember to visit the toilet first. This city is among dozens of municipalities in Sweden with facilities that transform sewage waste into enough biogas to run thousands of cars and buses. Cars using biogas created a stir when they began to be rolled out on a large scale at the start of the decade. The tailpipe emissions are virtually odorless, the fuel is cheaper than gasoline and diesel, and the idea of recovering energy from toilet waste appealed to green-minded Swedes. "When you're in the bathroom in the morning and you can see something...