Bush's oil move backfires

[Nambe]

Guardian Newspapers Limited

In a dream ending for the chapter of history being written now in Iraq, neo-conservatives fantasised before the war about a privatised, pro-American Iraqi oil industry. This would have access to the world's second largest hydrocarbon reserves and produce so much oil that Saudi Arabia, in charge of Opec, would lose its grip on petrol prices.

The world would then be swimming in inexpensive petrol - the cost of which would be dictated by the market, not by an anti- American price-fixing club run by Riyadh. Low prices would also mean falling revenues for oil-producers, which in the Middle East might precipitate the collapse of regimes hostile to the US. These hopes are now being dissipated like sand before the desert wind.

Oil is dribbling, rather than pumping, from Iraq's bomb-blasted oil industry. Sabotage and theft mean Iraq's oil production remains at a fraction of the levels achieved under Saddam. With reconstruction failing to take off, there is little sign of a post- Ba'athist dividend in the form of low oil prices. The result is that US action in Iraq has not weakened Opec, and hence Saudi Arabia, but strengthened it.

Last week's meeting of Opec ministers confirmed that with supplies being disrupted by political unrest in Venezuela and Nigeria, oil prices would remain where the Saudis want them to be - high. This is bad news for any putative global recovery and the US economy. ---

Ride Don’t Drive It’s Global Cool

[goforit]

1. Now tell me again.......Where does the buck stop?

Could the village idiot and his followers be wrong?

[aquart]

2. They've never been right, merely rightwing.

[Gin]

3. We the people are still paying the tab...oil or no oil....Haliburton is

making a killing while shrub picks our pockets.

[w4rma]

7. Yup, Halburton's mark-up goes up as oil prices go up

Saudi Arabia AND Halburton profit from high prices.

It seems to me that maybe some price regulations on gas need to be put on Halburton and other oil companies in the U.S.

[SpiralHawk]

4. But just wait till Bush's tax-cut for the wealthy kicks in

we will all be swimming in so much prosperity that we won't care a hoot about high oil prices.

Remember, a rising tide lifts all yachts.

[Booberdawg]

5. Who is that butt head going to blame it on this time??

Disgusted. Utterly disgusted.

[pfitz59]

6. Clinton...of course!

or Howard Dean. Shrub will complain he ate some bad maple syrup or something!

[0007]

8. Don Evans & John Snow and junior

Don't see it that way. They believe the US economy is on the road again for good times. LOL!!

[Frances]

9. The Saudis can blackmail Bush

According to the article, they could cause a recession just before the election:

<<Oil ministers are already talking of cutting production, with the implicit, Exocet-shaped threat of rising petrol costs. Every major economic recession in the past 40 years has been preceded by a jump in the oil price.

The Saudi foreign minister's fury last week over a Congressional report that implicated his nation in terrorism will not have gone unnoticed.>>

[annagull]

11. I think they already are

in the form of a black felt pen blocking out all Saudi royals from 9-11.

[Peace_2_Everyone]

10. Thanks for the info

I was wondering what was going on.
Last night gas was $1.41
this morning it was $1.43
and tonight it is up to $1.47.

+6 cents in 24 hours!

I purpose a new law that would make it mandatory for gas stations to post the true price of today’s crude.

250 brave Americans + over $72,270,500,000 and skyrocketing in tax dollar$ + $1.47 a gallon


http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

http://www.costofwar.com

[tnlefty]

12. Chavez had better have his back covered!

They'll be after him again!

[John_H]

13. The Guardian is giving Chimpy WAY too much credit

He can't even spell geopolitical. This invasion had nothing to do with world oil supplies--it was about taking care of the people that paid for his "election," pure and simple. Everyone knew going in that OPEC wasn't going to let new Iraqi oil cost them a dime for the obvious reason that they control so much of the supply. But, hey, if the boys down in Texas make a few bucks, Chimpu sees the whole thing as an unqualified success.

[KittyWampus]

14. My Hunch-Iraq Has Less Reserves Than Anticipated

My own theory, with no facts to back me up, is that when the U.S. got to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and went throught the papers they found that the Petroleum Reserves in Iraq are far less than anticipated.

[DeathvadeR]

15. It's just a matter of time.......

They will have the Oil gushing soon.

Why haven't I seen anything about the Iraqie people or even politicians here, demanding to see some sort of compensation or proof that the oil is being sold for the benefit of the Iraqie people?

O, I bet that the first things they spend the money on is some sort of military(american built of course) in order to protect them...