Time magazone: "OPEC [is] a criminal conspiracy."

NoWorries · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 73

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1818193,00.html

"King Abdullah just summoned everybody to Saudi Arabia to sort out the whole oil business, and the first humiliation for the U.S. is that we came running. Then again, this is old news. For 35 years, since the first oil crisis, we've been treating OPEC, and especially the Saudis, like friendly members of the Society of Important Countries rather than the criminal conspiracy they are. The second humiliation is that the meeting didn't work. The small gratuity offered by the Saudis of a modest increase in pumping had virtually no effect on the price of oil, which remained above $130 per bbl. The third humiliation is that by going to this meeting and begging the Saudis to increase production, the U.S. revealed its complete ignorance of basic economics. ..."

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Ouch. Shoot the Messenger time, is it?

hiperhiper · Tar Sands Joined: Aug 16, 2007 Posts: 44

Nothing surprising here. This article only reveals standard US hypocrisy and sheer stupidity and incompetence by its author.

It amounts to backdoor price discrimination: charging different customers different amounts to extract the maximum from each.

When OPEC does this it is called criminal conspiracy when Microsoft is doing it it is called market segmenting Smile

.

pukable

hironegro · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2008 Posts: 270

So what's the World Bank and International Monetary Fund?

Dezakin · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Feb 09, 2005 Posts: 1347

aahala2 · Tar Sands Joined: Mar 25, 2008 Posts: 65

MyOldTDiIsStillGoing

Ah, let us go back to the origin post and examine OPEC. A little history, as WWII was ending, FDR set to establish a relationship with the saudi's by offering military presents to keep the region stable while they offer us oil in return. It was under the guidelines of "national security". This was the lessons learned as Japan Empire tried to control the Pacific region and Nazi Germany invaded USSR (even when they said they wouldn't) to try to get east of Ural Mountains. In both cases, both those countries needed to do it since then they now could of have the resources to fuel their empires, that is oil. We saw the need for oil to keep things fueling economically here, so it was time to align to survive. Take a look at all the activities the US (and others) in this region since then, and it helps to explain the reasoning. Doesn't matter who is in the White House, or what party is running the congress, they all know the issue. It is that unspoken truth of the matter.

We did it in a more diplomatic way than the others who tried but got bombed out of the picture at the time. Since then the resources were became more demanding worldwide, so OPEC was a way to pool these countries together to create a better leverage to set the price and output for their sale-able resource. Now that there are other non-OPEC countries in the playing field, the field is is bigger and more interesting to say the least.

Some below the radar playing field events going on today is the example of Russia threating the little country of Georgia over the pipeline to the sea. It is all about the world scrambling to keep their economies fueled with the resource that is needed to fuel it, i.e. oil.
It will be some interesting times as everyone is scrambling. No conspiracy, just survival. Let the show begin.
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Ardalla

For decades KSA has been a reliable producer of oil. Sure they lie about their reserves and laugh at PO -- they laughed in Simmons face -- but I would use the term 'criminal' only in a very select few cases.

At the top of my list is the USGS. For years they have provided cover for the cornucopians and a smoke screen for politicians and economists to mislead the public about the consequences of our continuing dependence on fossil fuels. They have and continue to prevent our addressing the issues that must be addressed. They have lured us to the edge of the precipice.

What is especially galling to me is the USGS is a purported scientific organization. The Saudis and Exxon are trying to make a buck; people should take what they say with a grain of salt. I would not call either of them criminal organizations.

The USGS, otoh, will be directly responsible for the deaths of billions of people. I'd like to think they will eventually be brought to justice, but, down the road, we may well have more pressing concerns.

Serial_Worrier · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 224

MrBean · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 26, 2004 Posts: 1048

MikeInHouston · Coal Joined: Jun 29, 2008 Posts: 16

The Saudis probally know more about peak oil than all of us. Since the early 80's they have been purchasing the most powerfull Supercomputer the US will allow for export. They use them to analyize their oilfields. Since they keep their data secret (only prudent) they KNOW more than outsiders who can only guess.

They are letting oil run up for a reason either.
1) They don't have the extra capacity
2) They understand the concept of Peak Oil and are trying to ease us into an era of higher and higher prices.

I think it is the latter. When the Saudis start buying pumpjacks it will be the former

BTW, the CIA has assets in place to keep tabs on all the pertinet data

Kingcoal

If OPEC were a US organization, it would be subject to anti-trust laws. However, it isn't.
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"That's the problem with mercy, kid... It just ain't professional" - Fast Eddie, The Color of Money

hironegro · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 08, 2008 Posts: 270

AgentR

The thing that worries me the most about all these "blame OPEC" ramblings, is that if push comes to shove, and the shove is hard enough, the world might come to learn that OPEC is running open throttle on their output and there is no higher flow rate currently available at any price.

Wonder how the markets might react to hearing that even if they did offer $250 for another barrel; the answer from the potential seller would be, "sorry, no thanks.".

OPEC playing the market segment game to keep the ball rolling for as long as possible is not a bad thing.
_________________
Yes, we are. As we are.
And so shall we remain; Until the end.

Kristen · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 238

I doubt they are holding off oil to raise prices. Why would they wait until now to devise such a scheme? People aren't more greedy then they were thirty years ago.

mistel · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 20, 2005 Posts: 139