Posted on 06/27/2005 9:12:56 AM PDT by BenLurkin
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that oil production and export deals in the world's fourth-largest crude producer needed to be clarified.
The country's biggest capital today is the oil industry and our oil reserves," the ultra-conservative Tehran mayor said in a radio address after winning presidential elections on Friday.
"The atmosphere ruling over our deals, production and exports is not clear. We should clarify it," he added, without elaborating.
Political analysts expect Ahmadinejad to make sweeping changes in the management of the state-run oil industry after repeated comments during the campaign in which he accused powerful "mafias" of monopolizing oil revenues.
"I will cut the hands off the mafias of powers and factions who have a grasp on our oil, I stake my life on this ... People must see their share of oil money in their daily lives," he said during the election race.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, and OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili openly supported Ahmadinejad's rival in the election race, moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and are both expected to be removed when Ahmadinejad takes office in August.
Oil tops $60 on demand, Iran worries
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices hit a new record above $60 a barrel Monday, driven by the resilience of energy demand in the face of high fuel costs and worries about oil policy under Iran's new hardline president.
U.S. crude for August traded as high as $60.65 a barrel and by 1535 GMT was up 71 cents at $60.55. U.S. crude is above $60 for every month until August 2006 with December 2005 setting a peak $61.90 a barrel.
London Brent set a record $59.21 a barrel before easing to $59.12, up 76 cents.
"The market is testing higher to see what price levels this demand can endure," said Naohiro Niimura, vice president at the derivative products division of Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Prices have risen as investors bet refiners and producers will struggle to meet winter demand in the fourth quarter.
While high prices are eroding some strength from the world economy, the overall growth picture remains solid, central bankers meeting in Switzerland said at the weekend.
"There was a general consensus that we will have high oil prices for at least the next two or three years," said Martin Redrado, Argentina's central bank governor.
That economic resilience has encouraged speculators to test consumers' ability to absorb higher costs, with only a significant pull-back in demand from an economic slowdown seen likely to tame prices.
Victory in Iran's presidential election for ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also helped support prices.
Ahmadinejad has vowed to flush out corruption from the country's oil sector and favor domestic investors, although analysts do not expect a big shift in production policy.
"We don't know in practice yet what Ahmadinejad means for foreign oil policy or Iran's role in OPEC but there could well be months of uncertainty which will further delay progress on production capacity," said Iranian consultant Mehdi Varzi.
Held back by U.S. sanctions, Iran has struggled to lift output capacity with foreign investment still severely restricted.
"I think Iran's capacity is actually falling," said Varzi. "It will take time but Ahmadeinejad may be able to streamline policy decisions which would encourage foreign investors."
The president-elect said his nation would press ahead with its controversial nuclear program, which the United States sees as part of an effort to build atomic weapons.
That is likely to stir geopolitical worries on oil markets sensitive to the chance of output disruptions when spare capacity is limited to small unused volumes in Saudi Arabia.
Dealers see tight market conditions running for at least another year, especially for distillate products such as heating oil and diesel.
Over the past four weeks, demand for distillates in the United States has risen nearly 7 percent from last year while gasoline consumption is up 2.5 percent.
The growth in distillate usage reflects strong consumption in the industrial and transport sectors, particularly in the trucking business used to ferry goods around the United States.
Dealers were undeterred by OPEC's largely symbolic output hike earlier this month. Now producers are consulting on another modest increase of 500,000 barrels a day.
Cartel president Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said a decision could come this week.
Saudi Arabia, the only OPEC producer with any spare capacity, says it is already meeting customer demand for crude.
By Richard Mably
28 minutes ago
Iraqi smugglers net oil bonanza
Published: October 3 2000 17:37GMT | Last Updated: October 3 2000 21:52GMT
Begin Excerpt…
The journey for smuggled products starts at the Iraqi ports of Fao and Umm Qasr in the Khawr Az-Zubair channel, where it is loaded into old, small and environmentally hazardous vessels. Smugglers pay Iraqis between $60 and $95 a tonne for all types of oil products.
Once they leave Iraqi ports, the vessels steam into Iranian coastal waters, putting in at Iranian ports where officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) take $50 to $60 per tonne of products in exchange for "authentic" bills of lading. To put pressure on the smugglers for more money, the IRGC occasionally intercepts their ships, while simultaneously demanding financial assistance from the UN to defray the cost of intercepting the smugglers.
If US naval ships, which comprise 95 per cent of UN surveillance forces, are being particularly vigilant, the smugglers avoid making the cross-Gulf journey. Instead they lay up in Iranian ports, including the free zones of Kish, Qeshm and Chah Behar, where additional demurrage and customs "fees" are paid to port officials.
End Excerpt…
It’s a good thing Naval Intelligence has been keeping tabs on Amahdinejad’s corrupt buddies. Amahdinejad said "I will cut the hands off the mafias of powers and factions who have a grasp on our oil, I stake my life on this”. He can start with his own…
Yup!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.