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What a bunch of scumbags Opec is! They say that if prices continue to fall they are going to stop producing so much oil to try to influence the prices to stay where they are. However lucky for us competition and a newly discovered reserve in the gulf could help to make our prices go back to where they belong.
This is where we wait and pray........
Here's the story.............
OPEC unlikely to change production quota By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 28 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria - OPEC is not inclined to tinker with production, oil ministers signaled Sunday on the eve of a key cartel meeting, contending there is plenty of crude to satisfy world demand.
But with prices tumbling to five-month lows, the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will take a hard look at what its chief, Edmund Daukoru, calls "the fear factors": pipeline problems and political unrest that give global markets the jitters.
Daukoru told reporters that OPEC, which was not expected to change its current production target of 28 million barrels a day at a meeting Monday, nonetheless was determined to break out of what he called "autopilot" mode and get a better feel for whether prices will stabilize or keep on falling.
On Friday, crude dipped below $67 a barrel as traders focused on slackening demand and rising supplies.
Although prices are still stubbornly high, they have dropped by more than $10 since light sweet crude hit a record $78.40 on July 14, two days after fighting erupted in Lebanon.
Analysts say a $10 drop in the price translates into a 25-cent drop in prices at the gas pump.
"It's time to see whether we need a good, fresh outlook," Daukoru, who doubles as Nigeria's oil minister, told reporters Sunday. "We have to look very, very carefully at what's going on with prices."
OPEC, which meets about 40 percent of the world's demand for crude, wants to see whether prices are in a free fall or are merely reacting to the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and reported progress in talks between Iran and Western powers trying to contain its suspect nuclear program.
Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said he doesn't expect a reduction in output, but he added that OPEC members won't hesitate to curb production "if we feel the market needs a cut."
Unofficially, there was talk of drawing up an action plan if prices dip below $60 a barrel — a level which could prompt the cartel, now pumping at close to capacity, to start tightening its taps.
Supplies remain ample despite concerns over Iran, losses from BP's leak-prone Alaskan oil pipelines, chronic outages in Iraq and attacks on oil infrastructure by militants in Nigeria — Africa's biggest producer.
Mohamed Bin Dhaen al-Hamli, the United Arab Emirates' energy minister, said OPEC maintains about 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity, and the U.S. Department of Energy reported last week that U.S. inventories are at their highest levels since 1998.
Shukri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., characterized the recent drop in prices as just a blip on the screen.
"This is a correction," he said Sunday. "We are working in a free market, and we expect prices to go up and down."
Jason Schenker, an analyst with U.S.-based Wachovia Corp., said he predicts that global demand for crude will slacken as economic growth slows, pushing prices down even further — especially if the United States, as some economists forecast, slips into recession next year.
"I think there's still room for crude to fall," he said. "There's no shortage of oil anywhere. Right now, this is a fundamentally well-supplied market."
Iran's influence on prices has eased, Schenker said, because Tehran has said it would not cut off oil supplies and there is little expectation that the U.N. Security Council could overcome resistance from Russia and China and impose significant economic sanctions.
Eshan Ul-Haq, chief analyst at PVM Oil Associates in Vienna, said prices could face further pressure in 2007 if production from non-OPEC nations such as Angola, Brazil and Caspian Sea countries like Azerbaijan rises significantly as expected.
Analysts said it was probably too early to gauge the impact of a newly discovered petroleum pool beneath the Gulf of Mexico, which experts say eventually could yield anywhere from 3 billion to 15 billion barrels.
Matthew Cordaro, an energy specialist and business professor at Long Island University in New York, said the discovery "may put a little damper on all the talk about the need for renewable energy sources and conservation."
This is where we wait and pray........
Here's the story.............
OPEC unlikely to change production quota By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 28 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria - OPEC is not inclined to tinker with production, oil ministers signaled Sunday on the eve of a key cartel meeting, contending there is plenty of crude to satisfy world demand.
But with prices tumbling to five-month lows, the 11-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will take a hard look at what its chief, Edmund Daukoru, calls "the fear factors": pipeline problems and political unrest that give global markets the jitters.
Daukoru told reporters that OPEC, which was not expected to change its current production target of 28 million barrels a day at a meeting Monday, nonetheless was determined to break out of what he called "autopilot" mode and get a better feel for whether prices will stabilize or keep on falling.
On Friday, crude dipped below $67 a barrel as traders focused on slackening demand and rising supplies.
Although prices are still stubbornly high, they have dropped by more than $10 since light sweet crude hit a record $78.40 on July 14, two days after fighting erupted in Lebanon.
Analysts say a $10 drop in the price translates into a 25-cent drop in prices at the gas pump.
"It's time to see whether we need a good, fresh outlook," Daukoru, who doubles as Nigeria's oil minister, told reporters Sunday. "We have to look very, very carefully at what's going on with prices."
OPEC, which meets about 40 percent of the world's demand for crude, wants to see whether prices are in a free fall or are merely reacting to the cessation of hostilities in Lebanon and reported progress in talks between Iran and Western powers trying to contain its suspect nuclear program.
Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said he doesn't expect a reduction in output, but he added that OPEC members won't hesitate to curb production "if we feel the market needs a cut."
Unofficially, there was talk of drawing up an action plan if prices dip below $60 a barrel — a level which could prompt the cartel, now pumping at close to capacity, to start tightening its taps.
Supplies remain ample despite concerns over Iran, losses from BP's leak-prone Alaskan oil pipelines, chronic outages in Iraq and attacks on oil infrastructure by militants in Nigeria — Africa's biggest producer.
Mohamed Bin Dhaen al-Hamli, the United Arab Emirates' energy minister, said OPEC maintains about 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity, and the U.S. Department of Energy reported last week that U.S. inventories are at their highest levels since 1998.
Shukri Ghanem, the chairman of Libya's National Oil Corp., characterized the recent drop in prices as just a blip on the screen.
"This is a correction," he said Sunday. "We are working in a free market, and we expect prices to go up and down."
Jason Schenker, an analyst with U.S.-based Wachovia Corp., said he predicts that global demand for crude will slacken as economic growth slows, pushing prices down even further — especially if the United States, as some economists forecast, slips into recession next year.
"I think there's still room for crude to fall," he said. "There's no shortage of oil anywhere. Right now, this is a fundamentally well-supplied market."
Iran's influence on prices has eased, Schenker said, because Tehran has said it would not cut off oil supplies and there is little expectation that the U.N. Security Council could overcome resistance from Russia and China and impose significant economic sanctions.
Eshan Ul-Haq, chief analyst at PVM Oil Associates in Vienna, said prices could face further pressure in 2007 if production from non-OPEC nations such as Angola, Brazil and Caspian Sea countries like Azerbaijan rises significantly as expected.
Analysts said it was probably too early to gauge the impact of a newly discovered petroleum pool beneath the Gulf of Mexico, which experts say eventually could yield anywhere from 3 billion to 15 billion barrels.
Matthew Cordaro, an energy specialist and business professor at Long Island University in New York, said the discovery "may put a little damper on all the talk about the need for renewable energy sources and conservation."
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