It was interesting to hear how some marketers are trying to 'game' the California power markets....
Let's hope they don't play too much and find a way to keep up with demand!!
A Scottish view on OPEC and oil prices:
business.scotsman.com
OPEC to roll out the barrel for
everyone?
THE gaze of the world's media turns out to Vienna on
Sunday, when ministers from the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet to decide
output policy.
Oil prices have tripled since December 1998, and the cartel
is under severe pressure from the United States and
others to boost output. The problem is that OPEC has
already boosted output twice this year, yet a barrel of
Brent is trading at over $32, close to its highest level in
ten years.
OPEC’s power needs to be put in perspective. About 60 per
cent of the 75 million barrels a day of oil produced in the
world comes from non-OPEC sources. The cartel has no
power to manage the demand side of the equation. The
pace of recovery in the Asian economies, together with
faster-than-expected growth in the west, has meant
demand has grown faster than supply.
Nevertheless, it only takes a chance remark by one OPEC
minister to send the oil price up or down.
In an election year in the US, the world’s biggest energy
consumer, politicians want to be seen to be doing
everything they can to exert pressure on OPEC to lower
prices. The price of gasoline has soared to a scandalous
$1.45 (£1) per US gallon, and US consumers are, as you
would expect, furious. That’s about a third as much as we
pay in the UK, where taxes are much higher.
And there’s more bad news to come for American
consumers. During the summer, US refiners have put all
their resources into meeting gasoline demand for the
"driving" season. That’s left them short of heating oil, the
other main product that comes from crude. As winter
approaches, inventories of heating oil are about 40 per
cent below last year. A cold winter could send prices into
orbit.
So why should OPEC care about this?
...... full article at link above |
