[MD]

A few quick points on the Saudi Oil Summit:

Yahoo News

Divisions within OPEC were exposed as Saudi Arabia was to increase production by 200,000 barrels a day and Kuwait said it was ready to follow, but the cartel's president insisted that opening the taps further is not the answer to the price crisis.

On cable:
CNN international this morning reports calls for OPEC to bring significant investments to alternative energy markets.

Also:
Calls are being made on Saudi Arabia to provide significant aid to emerging markets.

My take on all this:

-OPEC can't produce much more, and they'll cover this fact with squabbling, for the moment.

-So much capital is flooding into OPEC that the west of the world wants a say in how it's spent. What they are calling for speaks volumes.

-The United States is about to exit the international aid business. We can't afford it.

[Alanintx]

I think this is the ballgame. The Saudi's said they had increased production by 700,000 bl/d since May, but did not announce any further increases. I think that is it; the Saudi's can run at about 10 mbd.

I agree that finger point and squabling is the order of the day for OPEC. I wonder how long it will take for the real story to dawn on the world that there is any further production increases to be had, and the decline is upon us?

[Homesteader]

Thanks for posting the link.

The article was a compilation of quotes which indicate the meeting was little more than a cross between everyone covering their collective asses for the folks back home with a sound-bite and a clusterfark.

OPEC's gesture of investment in alternatives for developing countries was nice though. Six billion for citibank, 1 billion for the starving masses in developing countries. Anybody not think these guys now how it is going to play out?

[mark]

It's not what he says, it's the way he says it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNpnNRQtMQU

Seems to me he's exhausted with the effort to inform people. Those who won't get it aren't worth the effort anymore - we'll reap what we sowed.

[Cashmere]

It seems that all of the announcements and meetings always occur on the weekend.

May just be coincidence, but it seems to me that all the major players understand that the risk of having a 20 dollar week increase is high right about now, and starting the week off with a nice 4 or 6 dollar dip after such and such announcement is a good way to prevent that.

Like others have said - at some point the crying wolf doesn't work anymore.

[Homesteader]

It seems that all of the announcements and meetings always occur on the weekend.

FWIW, in the ME Sunday is their Monday, Friday is their holy day. I'm not saying the westerners weren't quick to agree to a Sunday meeting, I'm just saying.

[Plantagenet]

It seems that all of the announcements and meetings always occur on the weekend.

FWIW, in the ME Sunday is their Monday, Friday is their holy day.

We'll meet anytime and anyplace the Saudis want us to. We'll pay any price for their oil. We'll fight wars for them. If they say jump, we say how high?

After all, they've got the oil.

[Homesteader]

It seems that all of the announcements and meetings always occur on the weekend.

FWIW, in the ME Sunday is their Monday, Friday is their holy day.

We'll meet anytime and anyplace the Saudis want us to. We'll pay any price for their oil. We'll fight wars for them. If they say jump, we say how high?

After all, they've got the oil.

Simply acknowledging their culture and meeting on the first day of their work week would have nothing to do with it.

<sarcasm off>

[Kristen]

Is the United States really canning international aid?

[Peleg]

A few quick points on the Saudi Oil Summit:

Yahoo News

Divisions within OPEC were exposed as Saudi Arabia was to increase production by 200,000 barrels a day and Kuwait said it was ready to follow, but the cartel's president insisted that opening the taps further is not the answer to the price crisis.

On cable:
CNN international this morning reports calls for OPEC to bring significant investments to alternative energy markets.

Also:
Calls are being made on Saudi Arabia to provide significant aid to emerging markets.

My take on all this:

-OPEC can't produce much more, and they'll cover this fact with squabbling, for the moment.

-So much capital is flooding into OPEC that the west of the world wants a say in how it's spent. What they are calling for speaks volumes.

-The United States is about to exit the international aid business. We can't afford it.

You see what we need is a UN Resolution that will bind the producers to an audit so that we can find

a) how much oil they actually have
b) how much they do produce
c) how much they can produce
d) why they think we are stupid enough to believe anything they say

It is as clear as the nose on Lincoln's statue that we invaded Iraq to gain a strategic position in the middle of the most lucrative oil reserves on the planet.

Why politicians think they can go on forever lying to the American people for their own good I do not get. Have these people no fear of God whatsoever, no concern for their fellow humans at all, no internal compass toward morality and honesty?

[alokin]

There was no real outcome of the whole summit. I don't understand why they did it. At least no news for the public.
I read a Spiegel article they said first they cited the Koran (to show who rules here). Midday they went away for praying.

These guys are talking in symbols and I guess they're pretty smart.

[SchroedingersCat]

I'd like to know what didn't make the news. You don't call all these people together just to do a little posturing and make some meaningless production noise. There had to be something more substantial that was discussed.

My $.02 is Iran.

[yull]

It is best to completely ignore Saudi statements, and OPEC ones, and instead look at the hard data. They have all the incentive in the world to put out constant optimism - they're hardly going to admit they can't pump any more oil are they?

[DantesPeak]

It is best to completely ignore Saudi statements, and OPEC ones, and instead look at the hard data. They have all the incentive in the world to put out constant optimism - they're hardly going to admit they can't pump any more oil are they?

There's actually no way to know if the Saudis are lying about output. They have even admitted earlier this year as counting oil from storage as output.