As oil soared to a record-high $127 a barrel on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s leader rebuffed appeals by President Bush to increase oil production, saying they did not see enough demand to warrant increased output.
“The Saudi government has reiterated their policy that Saudi Arabia is willing to put on the oil market whatever oil is necessary to meet the demand of Saudi Arabia’s customers,” said Bush’s National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.
Bush made the plea as U.S. motorists suffer rapidly rising prices at the pump, soaring to a record average of $3.787 for a gallon of regular gas, according to AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. The average a year ago was $3.114. Bush made a similar unsuccessful appeal to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in January.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil producer and a member of OPEC, the Organization of the Oil Exporting Countries, which controls more than 40 percent of the world’s crude oil supply. Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi said in South Korea on Thursday that the record oil prices are a result of turmoil in financial markets, not from a shortage in supply.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Congress passed legislation to block President Bush from adding more oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the price falls below $75 a gallon. The Department of Energy said Friday that it would cancel planned oil shipments to the reserve beginning in July and would not sign contracts with oil companies for up to 13 million barrels of crude oil. As of May 16, the reserve held 702.7 million barrels, according to the department’s Web site.
That’s a risky move.
I’m not sure why people believe that Saudi Arabia has additional capacity. There have been reports that they’ve been running the taps wide open for a while now.
There was even an article claiming that the Saudi’s are having to use water extraction technology. If that’s true it would indicate that some of their wells are coming to the end of their productive life. Which would be a bad sign for their oil fields.
I understand that the Mr. Bush has committed the United States to the defense of the Saudi oil fields. What is particularly disturbing is that there is no quid pro quo for this arrangement. American lives have already been lost to protect the obscene wealth of the Saudi Royal Family and the particular form of Islamofascism that the Saudis spread throughout the Arab world. Yet we demand nothing in return. Why?
I find it incredible to witness the spectacle of a US President going to Saudi Arabia with hat in hand asking, for the second time this year, for the Kingdom to increase production of oil, when he has done nothing to increase fuel economy or fuel conservation here at home. Hybrid automobile technology has been available for his entire presidency. Plug-in hybrid technology has been available for the last three years. These technologies could have been accelerated with a little help from the Administration. President Bush’s appeals to Saudi Arabia looks like nothing more than a poor attempt to make like he’s doing something meaningful to cover a lack of any real energy policy. As my mother-in-law once said; “Practice was yesterday!â€
Now that the price of gasoline has skyrocketed, and there’s no end in sight, and now that auto manufacturers have finally gotten serious about building fuel-efficient hybrids that people want…..like hybrid minivans which are far better than hybrid SUVs in my opinion, maybe it’s time we looked to our own oilfields…..ANWR and offshore oil…..for the gasoline we need……and tell OPEC to drink their oil!
#5: Agreed. More refineries, more nuclear, Alberta oil sands, ANWR – do it! Stop being blackmailed by the sheikh of Araby, that stinking cesspit of oppression, greed and exported jihadism.
If I see Bush holding hands with that man again, I think I’ll hurl.
I think the news is wonderful. Perhaps this will finally penetrate the granite-like obtuseness of the eco-wackos and gaia worshipers so that America will once again build new nuclear power plants and oil refineries, develop the vast oil fields in Alaska and the Dakotas, and use our vast coal resources [with appropriate smoke stack scrubber technology].
We might also consider a temporary national speed limit of 60 mph to mitigate the current price shocks until we can get our energy feet under us. I also sincerely hope that we push bio-diesel production hard and make use of hybrid technologies and battery improvements for commuter cars. Perhaps we can develop two classes of vehicles, one for short commutes and one for distance travel.
Maybe we will, at long last, embrace the geothermal technologies that could save us about 40% on all our heating and cooling energy use. Maybe we will, at long last, commercially develop Stirling engine generators with their amazing 30+ percent efficiency and combine that technology with geothermal technology to reduce our energy production losses from 50-70%. Imagine an America where the power plants use ½ the resources to produce the same amount of energy…all using existing technology.
Perhaps, with a new administration, the direction of our country will change. I live in hope.
And if speculation is what’s running up the price, additional supply is not likely to help.
The Arab monarchy smiles and makes nice to President Bush all the while funding extremist Islam around the world – including the United States. They are anything but our friends. They have thier own extreme religious self interests at heart. And the sooner we wake up to that fact and set aside the garden tea party form of diplomacy we have had with them the better.
A report today says Saudis are increasing production, but there are questions about the true amount of their reserves.