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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (6529)	10/13/2007 10:33:37 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24225

US Energy Secy: Oil Supply Unable to Keep Up with Demand by Siobhan Hughes Fri, Oct 12, 2007 19:17 GMT WASHINGTON - U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Friday that high crude prices are being driven by fundamentals, not speculators. "It's clear we've got suppliers unable to keep up with demand," Bodman said, in an interview on CNBC. "That's what's driving prices." Bodman added that tight oil output capacity means producers don't have the flexibility to easily increase supplies as they had in the past. He was speaking as benchmark crude prices hit fresh records, buoyed by shrinking global inventories, the weak dollar and anticipation of a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq. The front-month light, sweet crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit a record intraday high of $84 a barrel, before slipping back to trade at $83.90, up 82 cents. Speaking earlier to reporters, Bodman said he was concerned about the impact of high oil prices on economic growth, even though he noted that the U.S. economy was "remarkably resilient." "I'm concerned about any impact on economic activity," Bodman told reporters. "It remains to be seen how long these oil prices will last." Bodman said the 500,000 barrels a day increase in global oil supply from OPEC producers was a welcome development but questioned whether it would be sufficient to temper high prices. The suppliers of energy have "lost control" over how prices are set, he said. "Prices are now set in trading rooms of New York and London and Frankfurt and Tokyo." Bodman told CNBC also that rising global demand shows other countries are "as addicted" to crude oil as the U.S. is. Bodman was speaking at solar energy event and said the U.S. goal is to make solar power price competitive with other sources by 2015. He said current costs of solar-produced power is 20 cents per kilowatt hour and that needs to be cut in half to be competitive. © 2007 Dow Jones Newswires. realtimenews.slb.com