Monday, June 16, 2008
Saudis To Pump Record Oil Output
Saudi Arabia has agreed to increase its oil output to record levels "to avert an escalation of social and political unrest around the world." The Saudis and OPEC have blamed the record high oil prices at $135 a barrel on speculators in the market as much as overall demand. The Saudis are also urging Western European countries to reduce taxes on fuel to help bring down gas prices. The question is whether this latest move will be enough to bring down gas prices at the pump appreciably before this November's election? Probably not.
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4 comments:
It's funny....the Saudis export the oil as well as the virulent brand of Islam that helps drive up the price. Joseph Heller couldn't have thought up a more perfect conundrum.
There's something of a bubble element to oil prices (or any commodity, really). I feel pretty confident it'll freefall one of these days to the $80 a barrel range. Bush leaving the White House will probably drop the price $20 overnight ;) .
Our leaders have admitted we are addicted to oil. When someone is addicted, the answer isn't to give them more of what they're addicted to for a cheaper price. Any reduction in oil/gas prices is merely temporary because we're almost out. Sure we can drill more now, but what about tomorrow when our stash runs out? We need to start addressing the addiction by going through the painful withdrawal symptoms now. Ethanol is no more than Methodone, a way to ease ourselves off the smack. The ultimate goal MUST be to get off the junk(carbon fuels) altogether if we want to curb the addiction.
This will only over-tax our refineries and pipelines - which will result in at least one of them shutting down - thus causing a spike in consumer pricing to a point above where it is now.
Well, bart lies, we could build more refineries which we should have done long ago.
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