Iran calls for new cut in OPEC oil output

Iran's OPEC envoy Hossein Kazempour Ardebili called on the oil cartel to agree a new oil output cut at its next meeting to counter an oversupply of crude, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"Some factors like the decrease of world economic growth and accumulation of oil and stockpiles of its by-products indicate that the market needs a cut in OPEC oil output again," Kazempour Ardebili said.

"There is still oversupply in the market beyond the oil demand and with OPEC's output cut (agreed in October) all the global market demands have been covered," he added.

The 11 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries are to hold a ministerial meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja on December 14 to decide on a probable output cut in a bid to stabilise oil prices.

Kazempour Ardebili, the representative of OPEC's number two producer, predicted a new possible output cut would be "between 500,000 and one million barrels per day" of crude oil.

"We should wait and see the developments of the crude oil market by the December 14 meeting of OPEC in Abuja," Kazempour Ardebili said.

Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah meanwhile said during a visit to Abu Dhabi that Qatar would back an output cut in Abuja "if the ministers reach a consensus on it", the official Emirati WAM news agency reported.

"If we find that there is a need to reduce (production), we will do so," he said.

Attiyah said an output cut would be linked to market supplies rather than falling oil prices.

"Oil prices are not the problem and don't give a full picture of the situation on the market. What matters to us is the balance between supply and demand and market stability," he was quoted as saying.

Nigerian Oil Minister and OPEC president Edmund Daukoru said Friday that he expected OPEC to cut its output quota by at least half a million barrels per day when it meets on December 14.

"When we meet, we will look at the data and the trend and I do not expect anything less at this meeting," Daukoru told reporters.

At its most recent meeting in Qatar in October, OPEC approved a cut in its output quota of 1.2 million barrels a day to stem falling prices, which have dropped from above 78 dollars in July.

When does this new OPEC gouge become extortion?

Isn't it interesting that any group of companies doing the same thing within the US would be charged with antitrust laws, and that, in the new free world trade rules, this OPEC org is free to extort the rest of the world?

Bottom line though is that Iran, and a couple of other OPEC countries all have a choice to make! They either sell their oil at a reasonable price or they eat their sand........

Oh, please. We need petroleum independence; our national security depends on it. We pay a cartel of America-hating tyrannies to feed our present addiction to foreign oil, and we must stop it. Your solution has some problems: the tariff applies to Norway and Britain, it's proportionate, and it's temporary.

I propose a permanent tariff, beginning a zero and incremented monthly as follows:

$0.60/barrel for petroleum originating in or transiting through any terrorist-supporting regime or member of Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC)

no tariff for petroleum exclusive to the United States and its major allies (excluding France and any country without freedom: Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Qatar)

$0.30/barrel for petroleum originating in or transiting through any other country

This tariff would provide a predictable price floor for American oil producers and dramatically weaken such OPEC countries as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The privatization of much of the land in the American West and consequently opening the region to unrestricted petroleum extraction and the opening of offshore drilling regions could supplant the imported petroleum. States still could regulate drilling, but petrol prices and shortages will compel many to partake in the potential royalties and extraction taxes. A shift to other fuels also would reduce petroleum demand.

Any other purported energy crisis in this country pales in comparison to our addiction to petroleum from our enemies and their financiers. Petroleum independence would strengthen our hand considerably against our enemies, especially when they cease living high on petroleum royalties and must begin to produce economically valuable goods and services to obtain necessary food. And contrary to popular belief, nobody pays to receive terrorists not bearing gifts of petrol.

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