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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (65911)	5/2/2006 10:40:55 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 361059

Jubak's Journal The oil world's new bullies There's no reason to feel sorry for the giant oil companies yet. But increasingly, nations like Russia, Iran, Venezuela and even Chad are calling the shots. By Jim Jubak Move over, Exxon Mobil. Step aside, BP (BP, news, msgs). Run away home, Chevron. There's a new set of oil bullies on the block. And they're named Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Chad. No need to feel sorry for the Exxon Mobils of the world while you're filling up your tank with $3-a-gallon gas. Who can feel sorry for a company that earned $36 billion in 2005, more than any U.S. company ever? But as you seethe about $3 gas now and worry about $4 gas next year, remember that big oil isn't calling the shots anymore. Venezuela has forced ExxonMobil (XOM, news, msgs) to slink out of the country and has made Chevron (CVX, news, msgs) and ConocoPhillips (COP, news, msgs) take a 75% hike in royalties and a 50% increase in taxes and say, "Thank you, sir, may I please have another?" See the news that affects your stocks. Russia is blackmailing all of Europe by saying "sell us your natural-gas delivery companies or no natural gas for you." Iran has thumbed its nose at the United States and the United Nations, figuring that the world needs its oil too much to actually do anything about its nuclear weapons program. And Chad got the World Bank, the U.S. government and Exxon Mobil to cough up disputed royalties by threatening to shut its oil pipeline. Boy, you know you're in trouble when Chad, a country of 8.1 million people living on 1.3 million square miles of desert, can push you around. When Exxon Mobil is a small fry How did Russia, Iran and Venezuela get to be the new bullies of oil? It's not simply because they export lots and lots of oil -- although that certainly doesn't hurt. In 2004, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia was the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. Iran was the second-largest oil exporter in OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) after, again, Saudi Arabia and the fourth-largest oil exporter in the world. Venezuela came in at No. 5. (For the record, Norway rounded off the list of the top five exporters at No. 3. It's only the seventh-largest oil producer in the world, but because of its small population, the country exports almost all of what it pumps.) The clout of these new bullies really results from their stranglehold on the world's big pools of discovered and discoverable oil. Let's take the discovered, or proven, reserves first. Of the global oil giants, Exxon Mobil has the biggest proven reserves -- 11.2 billion barrels, according to Energy Intelligence Research. But that makes the company only No. 12 in the world. And every company ahead of it in the rankings is an oil company controlled by a national government. That includes Russia's Gazprom (OGZPY, news, msgs) and Lukoil (LUKOY, news, msgs) at No. 9 and No. 10 with 19 billion and 16 billion barrels, respectively, Venezuela's PDVSA at No. 5 with 77 billion barrels, and Iran's NOIC at No. 2 with 133 billion barrels. (Saudi Arabia's Aramco is No. 1 with 263 billion barrels of proven reserves.) Moving on to undiscovered reserves: It is impossible, of course, to predict where the world's undiscovered reserves are -- that's why they're called "undiscovered," after all. But the oil industry's odds-makers point to the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, areas around the Caspian Sea belonging to Iran, Venezuela's Orinoco River Basin and Russia's Siberian north. Oil-supply optimists such as Daniel Yergin's Cambridge Energy Research Associates, calculate that the world will be able to raise oil production by as much as 15 million barrels a day by 2010. That would be an increase of 18% from 2005 production of 82 million barrels a day. If the International Energy Agency's projection that global oil demand will grow by 1.6% a year during this period is accurate, then that increase in supply would be more than enough to meet global oil demand. Page 1 of 2 Story continues on next page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- moneycentral.msn.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (65911)	5/2/2006 10:42:05 AM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361059

'but we will never see $60 again, until demand collapses. That's called a depression.' 'over shoot .. and collapse.' (population...reduction) Natures way......... of leveling the playing field the question Is.. with a Bang.. or a whimper......?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (65911)	5/2/2006 11:15:24 AM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361059

China and India consume far-far less than our SUV's do, and also, they were growing before Bush-Cheney were nominated, but the oil prices didn't double then, did they? Nope. They didn't double until two oil biz cronies Bush and Cheney were in a position to take over the White House, albiet by cheating to win elections. This was all a big fix. It's called a monopoly, pal, and when the Saudis join with the Texans it's almost a lock. They decide how much it costs, and can make it go up-up-up. They can also make it go down as Prince Bandar offered to do for GW during the election seasons as quoted in Bob Woodward's book. Pity GW didn't take him up on that, huh? If GW really did something about gouging, conservation, price-fixing and windfall profits taxes, the gas prices would plummet 25% almost immediately. Or if and when democrats get back subpeona powers. Just watch it happen. After Jeffords switched parties the "huge energy shortages" on the west coast suddenly turned into a huge energy glut and prices tumbled. DOn't be naive.

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (65911)	5/2/2006 2:38:55 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 361059

the word idiot is totally uncalled for man

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (65911)	5/2/2006 2:54:04 PM
From: Rock_nj	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361059

Mr. Rat, The recent rise in oil has A LOT to do with the fact that our demand for oil is so high, because we have failed to implement the most modern and efficient technologies. Who can we blame for that? Well Bush Senior as VP under Reagan petioned Congress in the late 1980s to end the CAFE fuel economy program, and then finally killed it as President. The CAFE program, while controversial with the business types, has saved our asses, not to mention the American consumer a lot of money at the pump. If we still were driving cars that got 15 MPGs on average, we'd be paying more than $5.00/gallon now. That would be very painful. CAFE was a good thing the government did and it should be implemented again. China, well what can we do about that? Not much, but if we invested in more efficient technologies and other new energy technologies they would eventually find their way to Asia and benefit all. I do agree with you that peak oil is nearing. All the more reason to get serious about efficiency. There would be no crisis for a number of years if we were a lot more efficient in our energy usage, and by then perhaps we'd have a solution. Rock