How close to the edge of the abyss do you go before you back away?
olive | 20.04.2006 14:11 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Globalisation | World
Crude oil prices jumped to a new all time record high of over $74 a barrel today as the market responded to a faster than expected decline in U.S. gasoline stocks and growing unease over the situation of U.S. led action against Iran.
The price of oil at the pump has jumped 10 cents in the USA as crude oil prices rose sharply for the third day to reach a new all-time high. The rises follow a U.S. government report of a faster-than-expected decline in gasoline stocks.
The stocks have dropped rapidly despite a fairly easy winter as available imports have fallen in line with predications about the approach of peak oil while the US thirst for oil has continued unabaited. Demand for motor gasoline averaged over 9.1 million barrels per day, up almost 1 percent on last year. Total US consumption is around 20 million barrels per day.
Oil prices have tripled since 2002 and there is no serious chance the the trend will be reversed. Tensions over a possible US military strike on Iran by the US on the pretense Iran's nuclear ambitions has kept the market jumpy. Analysts fear disruption of oil shipments from Iran which is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter.
"Losing Iran supplies will have a massive impact on the market, and there is no way that other Middle East producers are going to be able to make up for that loss," said Hiroyuki Kitakata, director of commodities business at Barclays Capital Japan.
Earlier is the week, leader of the U.S. right wing christian fundimentalist regime, George W. Bush, told a press conference that he refused to rule out ordering a nuclear strikes against Iran if mere threats failed to deliver obedience to his demands.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's popular president Hugo Chavez warned that the country's oilfields would be mined and crippled should the U.S. attempt to wrestle control of the countries resources away from the people.
The stocks have dropped rapidly despite a fairly easy winter as available imports have fallen in line with predications about the approach of peak oil while the US thirst for oil has continued unabaited. Demand for motor gasoline averaged over 9.1 million barrels per day, up almost 1 percent on last year. Total US consumption is around 20 million barrels per day.
Oil prices have tripled since 2002 and there is no serious chance the the trend will be reversed. Tensions over a possible US military strike on Iran by the US on the pretense Iran's nuclear ambitions has kept the market jumpy. Analysts fear disruption of oil shipments from Iran which is the world's fourth-largest oil exporter.
"Losing Iran supplies will have a massive impact on the market, and there is no way that other Middle East producers are going to be able to make up for that loss," said Hiroyuki Kitakata, director of commodities business at Barclays Capital Japan.
Earlier is the week, leader of the U.S. right wing christian fundimentalist regime, George W. Bush, told a press conference that he refused to rule out ordering a nuclear strikes against Iran if mere threats failed to deliver obedience to his demands.
Meanwhile, Venezuela's popular president Hugo Chavez warned that the country's oilfields would be mined and crippled should the U.S. attempt to wrestle control of the countries resources away from the people.
olive
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It's not about Nukes
20.04.2006 23:41
Don't believe the hype:
"April 20, 2006 -- According to U.S. government insiders and foreign intelligence sources, a high-level Iranian government delegation arrived in the United States last week for negotiations on Iran's nuclear program and other matters of mutual interest. The delegation included Iranian nuclear program officials and leaders close to President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. The presence of the Iranian delegation was confirmed by the presence in Washington of Mohammed Nahavandian, a senior aide to chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. The sighting of Nahavandian in Washington was a clear embarrassment for the Bush administration since the Iranian visit has been held in great secrecy amid saber rattling over the Iranian nuclear issue from both the neo-cons in the Bush administration and the hardliners in the Iranian government. Informed sources speculate that the U.S.-Iranian talks may have taken place at the Aspen Institute's Wye River Conference Center on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where access is limited and security is tight. Since Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld maintain residences near the Wye River Center, there is a continued federal security presence in the area. Nahavandian likely entered the United States as secretly as his colleagues until his presence in Washington was noticed. Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani tipped his hand when he revealed that Nahavandian, who is the president of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce and an Iranian international policy think tank, was in the United States to attend a "conference." On April 12, a large motorcade consisting of federal law enforcement vehicles and a bus with blacked out windows was seen traveling at a high rate of speed on US Route 50 towards the Wye River Center from Washington DC. The Wye River center was the site of October 1998 talks between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yassir Arafat."
anon