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Blackmail? OPEC Says Investing In Biofuels May Raise Gas Prices Even More

Agent009 submitted on 6/6/2007 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 12:40:39 PM

31 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: news.bbc.co.uk

The chief of the Opec oil cartel has warned that investing in biofuels could push oil prices "through the roof", the Financial Times has reported.



Opec secretary general Abdalla El-Badri said moves to use biofuels would make his members consider cutting investment in new oil production, the FT said.

President Bush says the US will cut petrol use by 20% in 10 years, partly through increased use of biofuels.



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Blackmail? OPEC Says Investing In Biofuels May Raise Gas Prices Even More

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Agent009

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

— Agent009 (View Profile)


User Comments

Brembo

A-hole!

— Brembo (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 12:58:14 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 7   

CrunkieBrewster

I second that.

— CrunkieBrewster (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 1:11:37 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 6   

Brembo

They'll have all the worlds money to buy the biodiesel manufacturing plants.

— Brembo (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 1:23:33 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

Auto_expert

I have a different take on this. I say, fine. Go ahead and raise the price. Give us all the more reason to look to other energy sources, like Ethanol, electricity, and others. This should be the LAST thing you want (competition). No need to spur it on. Will you then raise your prices even more when demand is even lower (much lower), thereby killing your business? What a genius move. You guys should work for the 'Big Three'.

— Auto_expert (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 1:49:42 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

neutral

bimmermike,

Problem with America is that everything is so spread out. Try to convince John-Q-Suburbs to walk 10 blocks to the nearest bus station and wait another half hour for the bus. If American cities were like European or Asian cities, there wouldn't be a problem.

Since the american dream usually consists of a big house, a big garage, lots of land, and a picture perfect sub-division, mass transit isn't always plausible.

On the other hand, there are many days when I see gas at some ridiculous price and I wish there was a monorail or something of the sort!

— neutral (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 2:35:40 PM | | Votes: 5   

speedracer

Auto Expert/Bimmermike, read this:

June 06, 2007
Why Is Profit a Dirty Word?
By John Stossel

At a recent press conference Sen. John Kerry was upset as he snarled, "Oil companies in America are reporting record profits. Record profits."

When did profit become a dirty word?"

I wish the oil executives would face the media. They could say something like:

"What are you complaining about? What do you think we do with our profits? Buy fancy cars and homes? Well, we do, actually, but nearly all the money goes to looking for more oil and following environmental rules that you want us to follow. You should want us to make more profit. Anyway, we make less profit per gallon than your beloved government takes in taxes."

But Big Oil never shouts back at the reporters. I guess I can't blame them, given the hostility of the economically ignorant media.
This month the media claimed that gasoline prices had reached a "new record."

"Filling up is more expensive now than it's ever been." That's Julie Chen of CBS.

"A record high." -- Brian Williams, NBC

"Another record high." -- Charlie Gibson, ABC

" ... [R]ecord high of, get this: [ka-ching] $3.18 a gallon." -- Jon Scott, Fox

No, Jon, get this: It's not a record high. It only looks that way if you don't adjust for inflation. And that's just silly. It's like saying the movie "Rush Hour II" out-earned "Gone with the Wind." The media should quote prices in real dollars, but when they get excited, they don't. As the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) acknowledges, once you adjust for inflation, it turns out that gasoline cost more 25 years ago, in 1981. When the 1981 price is converted to 2007 prices (not 2006 prices, as originally used at the EIA website), last week's average price of $3.22 was seven cents below the record, $3.29, which, by the way, was a monthly average.

Even if gasoline prices set no record, Congress surely set a record for inanity. What else are we to say about an anti-"gouging" bill passed last month by the House that would make it a crime to charge "unconscionably excessive" prices, "tak[e] unfair advantage of unusual market conditions," and "increase prices unreasonably" during an emergency?

Please. Lawyers will get rich debating vague words like those. Laws are supposed to be clear so we'll know in advance what's legal and what's not. But there's nothing clear about those "crimes."

That's not legislation. It's legislative posturing. Considering the perverse incentives of electoral politics, I'm amazed this bill got only 284 votes.

And Congress should know better. After Hurricane Katrina, Congress had the Federal Trade Commission investigate price gouging, and so the FTC studied price spikes going back years. But it found "no instances of illegal manipulation."

If the politicians do enforce anti-"gouging" rules, it will be akin to capping prices, and we tried that before. It was a disaster. Drivers had to wait in long lines, and some

— speedracer (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 4:41:39 PM | | Votes: -1   

Brembo

Isn't gas price in the Mid-Eastern country are like $0.45 a gallon?

— Brembo (View Profile)

Posted on 6/7/2007 11:53:25 AM | | Votes: 2   

answer

You'd think people with custom Ferraris and 100+ room palaces would be a little nicer.

— answer (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 2:06:01 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

neutral

F*** this asswipe. He's just trying to scare the world. Bullshit that the prices of oil will go up. Supply and demand dictate that more supply, cheaper prices. C'mon now, we've been eating all the B.S. from the major oil companies about "gas is expensive b/c of supply and demand", "blah blah blah, we're stealing from the world". It's about time we took action and stop getting robbed.


Hopefully, we can completely cutoff our need of external oil and put these terrorist supporting, women-abusing jackasses in their places. Go Algae-to-Biodiesel!!

— neutral (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 2:24:54 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

Brembo

Damn! Someone is really upset. Let calm down a bit.

— Brembo (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 2:35:54 PM | | Votes: 1   

M53R

"Hopefully, we can completely cutoff our need of external oil and put these terrorist supporting, women-abusing jackasses in their places. Go Algae-to-Biodiesel!!"

Respect yourself.
I know that Abdalla El-Badri is an idiot but that doesnt give you the right to bash all of us because of him. I can say the same about the cold blood killing, war waging, women raping country you are living in.


— M53R (View Profile)

Posted on 6/8/2007 12:51:01 PM | | Votes: 0   

neutral

Hey,

You can't tell me you aren't upset when these jerkoff royal family guys are rolling around in billion dollar yachts while everyone else has to scrap a living. Makes me absolutely sick to see these companies take on pakistani or other foreign workers, treat them like crap, and half the time not pay them.

By the way, America has screwed up royally with the Iraq thing, no questions asked. Last time I checked though, it isn't Americans blowing up crowded markets or cutting people's heads off.

— neutral (View Profile)

Posted on 6/8/2007 10:20:33 PM | | Votes: 1   

speedracer

Once again people decide to ignore the laws of economics and decide to use racial insults because they don't understand the realities of the oil industry.

Now pretend you own a business and demand is strong, so you invest in a new plant to keep up with demand and make sure you have enough supply for today and the future. NOW, all of a sudden forecasts show that demand could eventually fall since your customers could be looking at alternative products. DO you invest in more plants that could end up losing you money in the future? Based on what I learned in junior high, I don't think that would be a good idea.

People are so convinced that OPEC is involved in a giant conspiracy with other oil companies to rob the consumer. But oil isn't just used for fuel, what about plastics? Lubricants and the other hundreds of products that rely on petroleum? Have you looked at our economy? What about China and India? Demand has sky rocketed in the last decade because most of us are making more money! Just read about the daily stock market records around the world and you'll get a better idea.

If you are so pissed about the price of fuel at the gas pump then don't complain about the price of a barrel of oil, complain why a new refinery hasn't been built in the last 20 years. THAT IS THE REASON PRICES AT THE PUMP KEEP GOING UP even when oil has settled between $65-70/barrel.

Why doesn't OPEC and other oil companies have the right to profit? When did profit become a bad word?

One more fact! If you combine the production of oil from the USA, Canada, Mexico and Russia, they greatly exceed what comes from Middle East. Maybe the "rag heads" are the only ones that don't deserve to make money.

Now if only 99.99999% can apply a bit of logic and think before they turn into a angry mob with baseless facts.

— speedracer (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 2:41:56 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: -3   

speedracer

Bimmermike:

The secretary didn't blackmail anybody. He just pointed out a fact. Also, refineries and OPEC go hand in hand. OPEC is also a servant to supply and demand. Despite the fact they have increased supply, demand is simply too great.

In case anyone is wondering. I DO NOT WORK FOR OPEC. I am simply trying to convince people to be logical and not make stupid statements based ignorance.

— speedracer (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 4:38:52 PM | | Votes: -2   

Auto_expert

Wanting to make a profit is different from wanting to make an exorbitant profit. They want to maintain their STRANGLEHOLD on the oil market, so the head of OPEC comes out and makes an arrogant statement about how they will cut production to keep prices high. I see this as a good thing. Arrogance doesn't make for a good business plan. Just ask Ford and GM. I think this will only embolden the rest of the world to look for alternative energy sources and leave OPEC high and dry. It doesn't matter how much oil you have if the demand isn't there to keep profits up. So, move ahead backwards business logic. The market will win out. No need for tariffs.

BTW, what's with these rollover links (like stealing, Ferraris, gas, car, sedans, audi, etc.) in the member comments??? Could you autospies come up with a more annoying way of blitzing us with ads??? I think not. It's bad enough to have the "Discount Tire" ad covering up the photos (no close box on it either). Someone should make a list of the words so none of us use them in our comments.

— Auto_expert (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 3:04:09 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 5   

speedracer

Auto expert:

Good point. At the same time let's stop buying gas from Exxon, Chevron and other major US gas retailer. Don't stop there! Don't buy anything from Microsoft or Apple either, have you seen their profit margins? I'm going to stop buying a major designer labels too! Did you know there is a 1000% mark up in clothing. That's too much profit for me to afford.

People need to admit that racism drives these opinions because of idea of someone outside of America making more money than us drives us crazy!

OR we could re-educate our business grads to show them that having a successful business should not make too much profit in their business.

As logical as supply and demand rules seem to be, the minute oil comes into play, emotions take over.

Let them charge whatever the want, if they over charge then demand will fall one day, that their choice and their oil, they can sell it to whomever is willing to pay for it.

Think people, think!

— speedracer (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 3:29:09 PM | | Votes: 0   

dsch_iter

This is exactly why I want a alternative fuel automobile now. I definetly do not want to make some middle eastern sheikh rich. Oil & religon are the things that kept middle eastern economy going.

When will there be a nice, relatively affordable sport car for the common people like you & me?

— dsch_iter (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 3:08:54 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 4   

huu76

OPEC knows that it's nicer and more profitable when America is around to protect theirs and Europe's interests.

You think oil is expensive now, try imagining Russia (cut production to boost their own exports) or China (who'll syphon exports to themselves) running the Middle East.

— huu76 (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 6:43:05 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 3   

EnnNorak

It's a challenge to find a good mechanism to do this but we should hike the price of food we export to some of these countries and see what that will do to oil prices.

— EnnNorak (View Profile)

Posted on 6/6/2007 11:51:54 PM | reply to this comment | Votes: 1   

theman

Or they can ban all oil from your shitty country and lets see how you will survive without it...On another note, GET THE FU** OUT OF IRAQ!!!

— theman (View Profile)

Posted on 6/10/2007 9:34:10 PM | | Votes: 1   

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