Posted on 03/10/2008 8:33:35 AM PDT by Froufrou
Oil prices will stay at current high levels for the rest of this year due to speculation and geopolitical tensions, Algerian state media on Monday reported OPEC President Chakib Khelil as saying.
Prices could retreat in 2009 with a recovery of the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets following the election of a new U.S. president, and as fundamentals reassert themselves as major market forces, he was reported as saying by government newspaper El Moudjahid and state news agency APS.
"Just like the current surge in oil markets, the (world economic) crisis, will last until the end of the year," he was quoted as saying by El Moudjahid.
"The oil market will stay above $100 during the current financial year, according to the assessment of Mr Khelil," APS said in a report on his remarks to Algerian reporters on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear which fiscal year APS was referring to.
Khelil, who is also Algerian Energy and Mines Minister, said the factors driving the market at present included "speculation, geopolitical tensions, particularly due to the Iranian nuclear affair and the crisis between Venezuela and ExxonMobil," APS reported.
The world economy could get some help with the arrival of a new U.S. president, and possibly a new economic policy, "and with this new situation it is very probable that the dollar will start to recover and thus permit a readjustment of the (oil) market," El Moudjahid quoted him as saying.
OPEC members meeting in Vienna last week decided to hold production flat, insisting markets were well supplied and blaming record prices on factors outside the group's control, including speculators and what Khelil called the "mismanagement" of the U.S. economy.
Speculators have piled into oil and other commodities as a hedge against the weaker dollar and inflation as the U.S. economy slows due to a credit crunch, the mortgage crisis and high energy costs.
Khelil said OPEC had left output unchanged because it wanted to assist global economic growth, El Moudjahid and APS reported.
The group made its decision in the knowledge that demand was expected to dip by 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter of the year and that stocks in consuming countries were at comfortable levels, Khelil said.
"If we had increased our production given all these factors, you wouldn't have been able to miss the impact on prices," he said, suggesting prices would have slid.
"We left our output unchanged so as not to disturb the market further and to help the world economy resume its momentum of growth," El Moudhajid quoted him as saying.
It will last as long as the oil companies do not increase drilling and the number of refineries. The “Earth” has a glut of oil, and it is making more every minute. Hell, the gold is leaking into the sea.
That is unless you can wait for alternative fuels for the car.
First they want your money, then your women.
DRILL NOW!!!!!
It is the politicians and oil companies “choice” to be led around. America can’t afford to wait for alternatives.
US and World Drilling activity hasn't been this high in two decades. However, in the US, we continue to deny access to our most promising new areas of petroleum supply.
Rig Counts
http://investor.shareholder.com/bhi/rig_counts/rc_index.cfm
Very good, thank you. Agreed. Get this drilling into hyper mode. Only problem is, oil companies like to make a profit. So as production increases, there will be a time when they will want to decrease supply.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve:
History, Perspectives, and Issues
http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/permalink/meta-crs-9965:1
Prior to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act Amendments of 1990, oil could not be withdrawn from the SPR without a severe energy supply interruption.
ahhhh..yes. May I say Teapot Dome?
Yes, but the blip is a about $600 B of non-collectable debt and pissing off the entire global investment community in the process.
Nobody says Teapot Dome anymore and that is a good thing. Some of us don’t like to hear that mentioned. NYMEX crude oil 108.10
One oh eight.
Why would oil from the SPR produce debt and create angst amongst investors globally? But drilling in Alaska and bringing in 6 or 7 billion barrels oil would be of a different nature? Please explain.
SPR wouldn’t go far, and it would be tragic if something happened later and that wasn’t available. A National emergency could come along at any time and it wouldn’t be prudent, might endanger the existence of the country to fail to look ahead even that little bit.
It’s not about oil. The U.S. banking system has a $600 B in liabilities on their balance sheets. The second part was about global confidence in our fiat currency (almost none). This hurts us now and much more later. My energy policy if POTUS: Nuke plants, biodiesel, SKIP ethanol NOW, yes ANWR and lots of offshore drilling, solar and then hydrogen in that order.
Apparently, I got under yer skin. Let me help you out, here. During the faux oil embargo of the 80s, my dad was an investigator for the Federal Trade Commission and was assigned to investigate the “oil embargo”. What he discovered was that it was a phony “shortage” and that Reagan fought back by authorizing oil from the SPR to be used to “offset” the alleged shortage.
I also remember that Bush I or Clinton decided that the oil that had been taken from the SPR had to be replenished. I don’t know why your information fails to mention this, but I remember it pretty well.
To ensure national security we will facilitate drilling for oil, mining of coal, and construction of coal and nuclear plants wherever it makes sense, even if -- as FDR threatened -- we have to pack the Supreme Court. We cannot allow our country to be under the thumb of foreign dictators.
Great book. I have come to the conclusion that it will be 2012 when we elect responsible leadership and this will only come reactively due to immense, collective pain. However, I am an optimist about our species as a whole. Those of us with some learned wisdom and insights must begin to encourage and help our countrymen. We can start by serving our neighbors and local communities. I have a ton of political connections and my business stint will be finished by 2010. I will run for Congress.
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