OPEC Pumps Up Output in Bid to Curb Prices

[Eugene]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050807/ap_on_bi_ge/kuwait_opec_oil

OPEC Pumps Up Output in Bid to Curb Prices

1 hour, 38 minutes ago

KUWAIT CITY - OPEC increased oil production by 300,000 barrels a day in
the last two weeks, to around 30.4 million barrels daily, in an attempt
to cool surging oil prices, the cartel's president said.

Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, president of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries, said in remarks carried by the Kuwait
News Agency on Friday that the market had begun returning to normal and
"prices (have) started to fall, especially after the smooth transition
of power," in Saudi Arabia.

more...

Please pay no attention to Friday's record close. :eyes:

[eleny]

1. We've cut back even further on our driving

We've gone from filling the car tank from every 2 weeks to every 3 weeks (we're retired). I'm sure many other Americans have done their version of cutting back. I hope OPEC is feeling the goddamned pinch!

[rman]

2. A slowdown in demand growth, yet production must be increased

to keep up with demand. To me that's an indicator that production is near maximum capacity; they can barely keep up.

We'll see just what that production increase is going to do.

[Delphinus]

6. I know, rman.

That's what it seems to me too. Peak is either at hand or we've already met it.

Sure wish those who had the plans to save us with all this new technology would hurry up and get it into gear.

[Doremus]

14. "New technology" can't help us, even if there were such a thing.

Technology can't create a new energy source -- there is no such thing.

There are existing alternate energy sources that will help us conserve, but they will never replace cheap oil.

Not only that, but the time to have begun developing these alternates was 20 years ago. That is the amount of time the Dept. of Energy itself admits the country needs to transition into a self-sufficient society.

Many reputable scientists believe we are at peak right now. The government's been caught with its pants down and, as usual, it will be us who get spanked. Buckle up -- it's going to be a horrific ride.

[Delphinus]

16. Hi, Doremus.

I agree with you - was kind of being facetious. :) Do you ever check out the Peak Oil group under DU?

The only "way out" is to reduce and learn to live with less - but the government is living what Cheney said "the American way of life will not be compromised" (or something to that effect). Eyes closed to the truth.

[acmejack]

3. That is counter-intuitive

Supply & demand, laissez faire, etc.

Why bow to pressure and increase output of a finite resource?

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. They say this every couple of weeks.

It causes the stock market to go up 100 points, but in a few days the market is back to 10500. The problem seems to be the need for China to fuel the factories making junk for Walmart. Funny how the money people save by shopping at Walmart ends up being spent 2X over at the gas pump.

[NickB79]

5. Too bad its the sour heavy crude no one wants

The light sweet crude that most refineries require is what's in high demand right now. Adding more low-quality oil to the markets doesn't do much to satisfy demand for high-quality oil.

Can you say, scraping the bottom of the barrel?

[cliss]

7. This is probably a foolish move -

it could have been brought on by the "Big Boys" President Cheney and Poppy showing up in Saudi Arabia a few days ago. They may have pressured them to turn up the spigots a few notches.


I've read that the enormous Ghawar Oil field could be running out of oil. Saudi engineers have pumped in tons of salt water to push out the oil, and have damaged the oil field. It could start a precipitous decline soon.


And why would they pump now? The poster above noted it's a finite resource. Why not sit on it for a while, and watch the Western world go crazy. THEN jack up your prices and make more.

And when that day dawns, watch for Oil Wars. The US is playing Oil Monopoly, and it's got Park Place and Boardwalk. But that's not enough.

[pretzel4gore]

8. why? it's a limited resource...

i think most of the financial world news is hokum...in the real world, the price skyrocket when it become known the product running out, or hard to get, or threatened, but in bushworld, the producers increase product to reduce price (that is, until product can't be increased, then price must skyrocket!) so bush economy doesn't tank, the real estate bubble burst and bush's harebrained supporters realize they've been had....all the negatives must be held off until bushinc is outta sight/mind (one day soon, geeb will be diagnised with cancer, or some other crook-allowing the dope to go back to video games, his area o expertise just you watch!) then the gopigs will concede to the dems

[Bushwick Bill]

9. Must-Hear Interview With Matt Simmons

Nick, you are correct that OPEC is producing ever increasing amounts of heavy sour crude. Oil companies aren't building more refineries because the oil will not be there in the future to justify the investment. I believe The Association For the Study of Peak Oil And Gas recently published a paper that the planet's light sweet crude reached peak last year.

Cliss you are right, Saudi Arabia's major fields are likely near peak and maybe even collapse. As some of you may know, Matt Simmons is sort of the rock star of the peak oil movement because he is the one Repug and * supporter who is sounding the bell as to the impending world peak oil production problem we are facing. Here is a recent interview about his book Twilight In The Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. Simmons says that not only will the Saudis be unable to ramp up production to meet world demand in the coming years, considerable production declines are imminent because most of their oil comes from six fields which have been producing at or near capacity for decades. Although some people will take this the wrong way, Simmons believes oil should be $5 to $10 a gallon so people realize how precious the resource is and to spur investment in alternatives. Near the 39 minute mark of the interview he says that this winter there may be a 2-5 million per daiy global shortfall which would send the price through the roof.
http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2005-0806-2.ram
http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2005-0806-2.m3u
http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2005-0806-2.asx
http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2005-0806-2.mp3

[klyon]

11. mean while isn't Europe working hard on alternatives?

We are being left behind when we should be leading the world.

How could anyone think putting oilmen in the White House would be a good move? Eight years with no real policy is the result.

KL

[Joebert]

12. We'll wait for them to develop them.

Why waste R&D money? Companies who don't design crap have their stock climb year after year.

Companies who have R&D are punished by the market for not returning that money to the stockholder.

There is no incentive for a company here to design a future product that would be a good alternative energy source.

Much like there is no profitable way for a company to cure AIDS, cancer, etc. They have the technology, but if it's cured, they're out of business. They have to treat it forever, causing side effects that need other treatments.

It will never happen here. A university might figure something out, but it won't be implemented.

[rman]

20. not really

peakoil is almost completely absent in public- and political debate. Afaik France is the only exception, where the government published a report on the matter. Also France is a little better prepared then most because much of its electricity is generated by nuclear generators.

[earthside]

13. 'Twilight in the Desert'

I just finished reading Matt Simmons' book: 'Twilight in the Desert-The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy'.

Everyone should read this book ... and it is very readable considering it was written by an investment banker.

First, I'm not so sure what the Saudis say is true. I believe Simmons notes that often the Saudis say they are increasing production, but when surveys are done of the actual oil coming into ports, there's not much change.

Second, if it is true ... it is very bad news for the immediate and distant future. Overproduction causes much more rapid depletion of oil fields.

Simmons book ruined my week ... there's not much hope since Bush and Cheney and the radical Republican Congress have committed criminal neglect in not doing anything of substance to reduce our dependence on petroleum -- foreign or domestic.

Hang on, folks. It's going to be a rough ride to the bottom.

[evworldeditor]

19. Simmon's on the Myth of Everlasting Saui Oil

http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=884

[rman]

22. interesting

"The proven reserves, which used to be reported on a detailed, field-by-field basis disappeared, rolled up into just country-by-country. Over the period of the first eight years of the 1980s, all of the Middle East oil producers tripled the amount of proven reserves they said they had. And then, effectively, country-by-country, the number stayed still. It never changed from 1987-88 to 2005; and nobody ever said, What's going on? How do you basically keep producing 15-20 million barrels a day out of the Middle East and the proven reserves never change?"

So either they just keep on discovering oil at the same rate that they are depleting their reserves, or they are lying about their reserves.

[still_one]

10. hey the majority of the people supported this immoral war

This is just a small part of the price you will pay

For those that voted for *, you have no right to complain

[Deja Q]

15. They know it's counter-intuitive.

What's left TO say?

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

17. sooner or later..all that effort isn't going to matter

there's only so much fossil fuel left, and peak oil is probably already nigh if not now.

[wishlist]

18. Every time oil reaches a new record high, we hear about OPEC upping

the output. This is getting to be a familiar pattern. Oil prices reach a new peak, Bush's poll numbers go lower, and then a news story pops up about OPEC pledging to put more oil on the market in order to lower the price. Oil prices drop temporarily before another spike to a new record high.

[pinniped]

21. They always supposedly boost production but the price...

at the pump is always the same, or more a couple days later.