I have had several people sending me PMs about gas prices...wondering if they are going down, going up, will OPEC cut production, etc. I have no clue. However, I know that OPEC is in a very delicate position. If prices get much higher, they will drive competition (as in Brazil as mentioned below) while slowing the development of China and India which are their two fastest growing customers. If they lower prices, Americans - US and Canada - will drive more and lift demand. However, there are a few members of OPEC that are power-hungry and greedy - Chavez being the main one.
The article below was posted this week. While it is only one man's opinion, he has a better understanding of OPEC than others - certainly me. Is this the end of OPEC? I doubt it, but we are entering into interesting times where Russia is developing alliances that are, once again, directly opposed to the freedoms and liberties we have long stood for. Those alliances have me more concerned than any others at this time.
My stand remains firm...the sooner we end our dependency on terrorist oil, the better the world will be.
Click here for full article.
The death of OPECPosted Sep 11 2008, 07:01 AM by Douglas McIntyre
Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday, saying it would not honor the cartel's production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran. As the world's largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home. As the Saudis left the building, the message was shockingly clear. “Saudi Arabia will meet the market’s demand,” a senior OPEC delegate told the New York Times. “We will see what the market requires and we will not leave a customer without oil." OPEC will still have lavish meetings and a nifty headquarters in Vienna, Austria, but the Saudis have made certain the the organization has lost its teeth. Even though the cartel argued that the sudden drop in crude was due to "oversupply", OPEC's most powerful member knows that the drop may only be temporary. Cold weather later this year could put pressure on prices. So could a decision by Russia that it wants to "punish" the U.S. and European Union for a time. That political battle is only at its beginning. The downward pressure on oil got a second hand. Brazil has confirmedanother huge oil deposit to add to one it discovered off-shore earlier this year. The first field uncovered by Petrobras has the promise of being one of the largest in the world. The breadth of that deposit has now expanded. |
Follow this blog
