Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
OPEC ministers said yesterday that they will increase oil production, allowing members to pump at will and bypass the quota system that has governed supplies for most of the past two decades.
Peak oil on Democracy Now
Investors face a turbulent new era in which oil prices will soar and the economy will face a severe energy crisis according to Stephen Leeb.
‘Running out of oil isn’t something we need to worry about,’ writes Joe Kaplinksy.
Saudi Arabia is the linchpin for world crude supplies, a key to setting prices and yet sitting on a political tinderbox due to internal dissent and having trouble securing itself against terrorism.
Russian oil major LUKoil announced reserves in Russia’s sector of the Caspian Sea may compose total 33 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
Bush’s energy bill, written by Vice President Dick Cheney’s secret energy task force with the help of oil industry executives – including former Enron executive Ken Lay – was a subsidy-laden giveaway which would have done little to promote conservation or alternative fuels.
Leading oil exporters outside the Middle East have pledged to boost production to offset soaring oil prices, but it could be years before Russia, Nigeria and Mexico manage to open their taps.
Oil analysts are reporting that some airlines are shopping around for hedging insurance as far forward as 2007 — a recognition that the high price is here to stay.
U.K. Conservative Party Leader Michael Howard encouraged motorists to protest rising fuel prices and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s plan to boost taxes on gasoline.
Even those who believe that this is the decade that oil will peak and decline had thought that the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia in particular, would be immune for at least another ten to fifteen years. Now it seems even that shard of confidence might be misplaced.
Oil prices are back in the headlines and likely to stay there, as the world’s global energy crosses new thresholds of increased demand, clashing politics and threats of terrorism.
