High gas prices mean less consumption, and more mass transit. They pave the way for the electric car. But the greedy never can see that they pave the way for their own financial deaths.
Saudis say shortage not behind oil price jumpBy ADAM SCHRECK
AP Business Writer
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s oil minister on Tuesday denied the surge in oil prices reflects a shortage of crude on the market but said the kingdom is committed to tapping excess supplies if needed.
The 12-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has so far held its official output quotas unchanged, even as massive protests across the oil-rich Middle East have pushed global oil prices to their highest levels since late 2008. An uprising in OPEC member Libya has stoked supply concerns, increasing pressure on the producer bloc to pump more to ease prices.
The oil minister of OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia, Ali Naimi, said the oil market remains well-supplied. In an interview with the Saudi state news agency, he reiterated the kingdom’s stance that the spike in oil costs stems more from financial speculation and unwarranted investor sentiment than industry fundamentals.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has long been committed to promoting market stability in the interest of both producers and consumers, and in support of global economic growth and development,” Naimi told the Saudi Press Agency.
At the same time, he signaled the kingdom is prepared to act if needed, saying it has 3.5 million barrels a day of spare capacity that could be brought online.
“Time after time we have delivered on that commitment by tapping our additional crude oil production capacity when supply conditions warranted, and Saudi Arabia will continue to reliably meet the world’s petroleum needs,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Naimi’s counterpart in Kuwait told reporters that some OPEC member states, which together produce about 35 percent of the world’s oil, had begun informal talks about how to address the price increase
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They can combat it by getting the US to reimpose regulations prohibiting oil speculation. Christ, it isn’t the 1920s.
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On a totally different topic. Did you know that 74 percent of Americans believe in Climate change? Pretty amazing considering all the money corporate America has spent on deflecting it.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-global-climate.html
Global Warming – The science & impacts of global warming. What can be done? – www.PewTrusts.org
According to a University of Michigan study published in the forthcoming issue of Public Opinion Quarterly, more people believe in “climate change” than in “global warming.”
“Wording matters,” said Jonathon Schuldt, the lead author of the article about the study and a doctoral candidate in the U-M Department of Psychology.
Schuldt co-authored the study with U-M psychologists Sara Konrath and Norbert Schwarz. For the research, they conducted a question wording experiment in the American Life Panel, an online survey conducted by RAND, with a national sample of 2,267 U.S. adults. Participants were asked to report their level of certainty about whether global climate change is a serious problem. In the following question, half the participants heard one version, half heard the other:
“You may have heard about the idea that the world’s temperature may have been going up [changing] over the past 100 years, a phenomenon sometimes called ‘global warming’ [‘climate change’]. What is your personal opinion regarding whether or not this has been happening?
Overall, 74 percent of people thought the problem was real when it was referred to as climate change, while about 68 percent thought it was real when it was referred to as global warming.
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The article completely misses the point of their research. 2/3rds of Americans believe that man made air emissions are destabilizing the atmosphere. That is pretty amazing. More tomorrow.
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