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Thai govt vows ‘No oil shortage’
TNA, Bangkok Post
The government and oil firms are jointly taking prompt measures to cope with possible shortages of fuel, but while oil prices are speculated to fall later this week, so far, falling consumption is due to cost rather than supply.
The public, especially motorists, are advised to not panic over predicted oil shortages in Thailand because, said Energy Policy and Planning Office director general Metta Banturngsuk, the government will find ways to preclude such an event.
All local oil traders except PTT Plc, the state-owned petroleum giant, decided on Tuesday to raise the pump prices of gasoline, gasohol and diesel by yet another 40 satang, effective Wednesday morning.
Mr Metta announced on Tuesday that the authorities, oil refineries and trading firms are taking steps together to assure petrol will be sufficiently supplied to domestic markets nationwide, though oil prices had climbed sharply since earlier this month.
Nonetheless, Mr. Metta commented, the world oil prices would fall as early as Friday if the United Nations adopted a resolution to contain Iran’s nuclear threat.
Oil reserves in Thailand are currently sufficient for 40-days, the chief of the Energy Policy and Planning Office said.
(April 2006? – no date)
Kuwait MPs call for cap on oil production
B Izzak, Kuwait Times
KUWAIT: Five lawmakers yesterday filed a draft law calling on the government to limit oil production in line with actual proven reserves, which have been claimed to be lower than the officially stated figure of 100 billion barrels. The four-article bill stipulates that the new production figure should not exceed the percentage of actual output in the past two fiscal years divided by proven reserves. The bill was signed by MPs Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Mussallam Al-Barrak, Mohammad Al-Khalifa, Hassan Jowhar and Waleed Al-Jari, all members of the Popular Action Bloc.
The draft law was filed in light of the controversy raised recently on the actual size of proven Kuwaiti oil reserves after the Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW) reported in January that Kuwaiti reserves were only half of the announced figure of 100 billion barrels. PIW also claimed that proven reserves amounted only to 24.2 billion barrels, citing internal Kuwaiti records it claimed it had seen. Kuwaiti oil authorities have denied the report, with Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd Al-Sabah saying that the report spoke only about 31 reservoirs which were being used by Kuwait while ignoring 74 other untapped reservoirs. MP Saadoun had sent a lengthy question to Sheikh Ahmad inquiring about the report but the question has not yet been answered.
(26 April 2006)
Japan: A delicate balance
Christian Caryl, Newsweek International
With the price of oil skyrocketing, Tokyo may have to make friends with some of Washington’s enemies.
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For most of the past century or so, Japan has enjoyed remarkable popularity within the Muslim world. In stark contrast to European countries or the United States, Japan has no burdensome history of colonial-style intervention in the region’s affairs (with the possible exception of Tokyo’s brief wartime occupations of Malaysia and Indonesia). And if there was ever a time when Japan needed to maintain that good will, it’s now, when spiking oil prices are threatening to undermine its economic recovery.
Japan needs lots of oil—it’s the world’s second largest importer of petroleum. But much of the increasingly costly commodity—which hit a high of $75 a barrel last week—comes from countries that have poor relations with America, which just happens to be Japan’s foreign-policy mentor, protector and chief ally. That’s creating problems for Tokyo, which may soon find itself forced to decide which is more important—its energy security or its relationship with the United States. “Until now, Japan’s energy diplomacy has never been independent of U.S. policy,” says Koichi Iwama, a professor and energy policy expert at Wako University. But it may become so as Japan seeks to adapt to an era of tight energy supplies—especially at a time when archrival China is cutting deals with resource-rich countries around the world, no matter what their political orientation may be.
(1 May 2006 issue)
Bush’s proposals viewed as a drop in the oil bucket
Peter Wallsten and Richard Simon, LA Times
WASHINGTON — Under intense political pressure, President Bush on Tuesday pledged new government action to root out any gasoline price gouging and announced a series of measures designed to encourage conservation and foster energy alternatives. But White House officials acknowledged that the steps were not likely to bring immediate relief.
One of the president’s proposals — using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a lever against higher prices — has been tried repeatedly by Bush and several of his predecessors, with little if any effect.
Tacitly acknowledging the modest scope of the president’s proposals, Allan B. Hubbard, a top Bush economic advisor, said, “It took us a long time to get into this situation, and it’s going to take us a long time to get out.” Still, he insisted in a conference call with reporters, “The bottom line is, every little bit helps.”
With pump prices for self-serve regular gasoline hitting record-high averages in California this week, Democrats and other critics chided Bush for failing to do more. They suggested he had been slow to grasp the seriousness of the price increases for ordinary Americans, and they blamed his longtime closeness to the oil industry and its influence over administration energy policy for the problem.
(26 April 2006)
Related: How not to cure an addiction (NY Times editorial).
