Re: Hope this is true

Just received this...... granted this publication is focused on
> investors, but we could sure use some good news.... > > Dear MoneyNews Reader, > Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi is warning that oil price > hikes and global oil demand could soon disappear. > >

Wow... rocket science.. though I'm sure that many DO think OPEC -or Dubya- had something to do with the price per bbl, the TRUTH for anyone who'd bother to think is that the price is pure speculation driven. The days of OPEC being able to directly drive the price are long gone... the short term money dealers have usurped them. Though the Saud's certainly have the means to influence it by playing the market through front-men.

Hell, the President of Iran has more influence on it, right now, than everyone else combined, if you just pay attention.

Demand, though is NOT going to disappear... just the RATE of Demand increase will slow. And I think you'd see the floor drop out quick if China announced they were within 5 years of switching to new-tech nukes for power generation.

Back a few years, when gas was bouncing between 1.25 and 1.50, I thought it was stupid of the OPEC states to allow it. Thought oil should have been a stable 40-45 per bbl, though it was dropping under 20 for brief periods.

Thought i had seen all the conspiracy stories until a nationally syndicated tv show had a guest on who claims that no planes hit the WTO or Pentagon, and that Osama is an actor hired by the Administration.....

OPEC still continues to set the price, but that price falls within a range which the commodities speculators control, along with competition, because it's still going to be based on the laws of supply and demand. OPEC knows they can't charge too much, or buyers turn to other sources, as well as oil producers investing more into exploration and recovery; or worse, to alternatives. But, they also know at what point their greatest profit margin is.

So do the terrorists who might successfully interrupt the flow of oil (just as Katrina did with damage to off shore rigs).... which is what speculators are betting for or against.

If, the price reaches a critical stage, it may force a change in lifestyles, which could force a switch to alternatives, enforcement of mpg advances, location and extraction from new fields, etc, reducing the dependence on middle eastern oil. With the completion of the Three Gorges Hydro plant, China may see a change in the near future. They are already beginning to install air standards (most cities today are reminders of the eastern European nations).