Okee, I continue to hope we all will be able to figure out why you are hanging onto those shares. One thing that might help is higher oil prices.
Speculative optimism also ruled the oil markets again Wednesday as traders ignored signals that
Venezuela, an aggressive seller within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
group, would not cut back exports.
Oil prices have climbed this week with buyers citing optimism that major players within OPEC,
such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, would work hard to reach a deal to pledge lower exports this
year in the hopes of lifting depressed prices.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for April delivery closed 84 cents higher at
$14.69 a barrel. April gasoline rose 1.90 cents a gallon to 44.80 cents and April heating oil
2.65 cents a gallon at 38.66 cents.
OPEC oil ministers meet in Vienna on March 23 for talks.
''Talk that Saudi Arabia is willing to make a cut proportionally bigger than other producers is
what has made this market move up the way it has today,'' said Northville Industries petroleum
trader Michael Busby.
Optimism was fueled by news that oil officials from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Algeria, Venezuela and
Mexico would meet in Amsterdam Thursday for talks ahead of the Vienna meeting.
dailynews.yahoo.com
Thursday March 11 6:34 AM ET
Key Oil Powers Discuss Output Cuts
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Key oil producers began a meeting in the Netherlands Thursday
seeking to hammer out a new output cut package to revive depressed world oil prices,
eyewitnesses said.
The surprise talks between oil ministers of OPEC powers Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Algeria and
Iran as well as top officials from non-OPEC Mexico, began around 11:30 a.m. local time (1030
GMT) at a location outside Amsterdam.
The meeting is expected to discuss a proposal from major Gulf Arab exporters for a total OPEC
and non-OPEC oil production cut of about 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd).
That plan emerged from a meeting of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministers in Saudi
Arabia Wednesday, a delegate close to those talks said.
But other OPEC delegates added that other options -- such as a total one million bpd cut -- were
not ruled out.
And a new deal will have to overcome resistance from Venezuela which has said it will not cut
back more even if other producers agree on new curbs.
Any new measures will be on top of last year's three million cutback deal between OPEC and
non-OPEC producers which failed to prevent oil prices sagging to their lowest level for a
quarter of a century.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi was quoted Thursday as saying that he was ''very optimistic''
that major production cuts would be secured before OPEC holds its crucial ministerial meeting
in Vienna on March 23.
Oil prices have already got a lift from the signs of renewed producer action, shooting up nearly
a dollar Wednesday to four month highs above $12.50 a barrel.
Venezuela's position is crucial because it competes head-on with Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC
Mexico to supply the pivotal United States market.
''Even if (other producers cut) I don't think we are in a position to cut any more,'' said a
Venezuelan government source familiar with oil policy Wednesday.
Caracas argues that it made the biggest percentage cuts last year and other producers should
now match it before Venezuela cuts more. Most OPEC producers have only cut eight or nine
percent of total output so far, against Venezuela's 15 percent sacrifice.
Analysts say producers must remove at least a million bpd of supply to make up for
disappointing world demand growth and a chronic surplus of spare stored oil.
The GCC plan includes a proposal for Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, non-Arab Iran and
non-OPEC Oman to make way for wider cuts by sharing a 300,000 bpd sacrifice to resolve a
long dispute with Tehran over its formal output allocation.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/bs/story.html?s=v/nm/19990311/bs/oil_5.html
Crude oil is now higher than it has been since early October.
oilworld.com
Venezuela claims it has cut 15% while others have cut less. Saudi Arabia has been complaining that Venezuela has been cheating on its promised cuts in order to compete for the US market. If Saudi Arabia is right, maybe S. A. and the rest of OPEC may turn a blind eye to whatever Venezuela has done as long as it lives up to its claim that it will no longer compete with S. A. for the US market. What also could be happening is that OPEC has decided to allocate Venezuela to the category of what I call "oil exporting countries that are very badly governed." Examples of that are Russia, Iraq, and Indonesia.
Another key compromise could be the splitting up of the 300,000 barrel cut that Iran refused to make. Iran may share that cut with other OPEC countries which will be another major breakthrough.
I am sure they are taking into account the fact that Iraq will still continue to increase its exports, even though the price of oil is rising. Iraq has not been able to export at the rate allowed by the UN.
Charles |
