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Title: OPEC chief warns of 'unlimited' oil prices if Iran is attacked
Source:
International herald Tribune
URL Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/10/business/opec.php
Published: Jul 10, 2008
Author: By James Kanter
Post Date: 2008-07-10 12:39:57 by TwentyTwelve
Keywords: Iran
Views: 151
Comments: 8
OPEC chief warns of 'unlimited' oil prices if Iran is attacked By James Kanter Published: July 10, 2008 VIENNA: The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries warned Thursday that oil prices would see an "unlimited" increase in the case of a military conflict involving Iran, because the group's members would be unable to make up the lost production. "We really cannot replace Iran's production - it's not feasible to replace it," Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said in an interview. Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about four million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels. The country has been locked in a lengthy dispute with Western nations over its nuclear ambitions. In recent weeks, the price of oil has risen higher on speculation that Israel could be preparing to mount an attack on the country's nuclear facilities. The saber-rattling intensified this week with missile tests by Iran. That has further rattled oil markets because of concerns that any conflict with Iran could disrupt oil shipments from the Gulf. "The prices would go unlimited," Badri said during the interview, referring to the impact of a military conflict. "I can't give you a number." Tehran has insisted that its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes. Badri, a former oil executive who has headed the oil industry in Libya and served as deputy prime minister of that country, called for a peaceful solution, and he hinted that an additional conflict in the Middle East besides the ongoing conflict in Iraq would be severe and long-lasting. "If something happened there, nobody would be able to solve it," he said, referring to a war involving Iran. He said that current geopolitical tensions were among the principal reasons why oil prices were so high. He said that a shortfall in refining capacity and a weak dollar were other factors but reiterated OPEC's position that speculation on oil markets probably was the most important. He insisted that reserves of oil were plentiful and that worries about scarcity were misplaced. Supplies from Russia and Norway and other non-OPEC nations outside the 13-member OPEC would keep growing, helped by technologies like turning gas and coal into liquid fuel and extracting oil from tar sands and shale. Even so, he also sought to assuage concerns about a supply shock, saying that OPEC members already were investing $160 billion in new production capacity up to 2012. But he said additional investment in future production capacity could be frozen, potentially sharpening a dispute with consuming nations about whether sufficient steps are being taken to meet demand over the next decade. Steps taken by the European Union and in the United States to cut dependence on fossil fuels meant that OPEC had no alternative but to take a cautious approach before going ahead with plans to invest up to $540 billion in oil production up to 2020. "If we don't see the demand, we are not going to invest," said Badri, adding that there was real doubt over what amount of money OPEC nations would invest after 2012. OPEC nations "don't want to spend their money on something they cannot use," he said. OPEC nations contribute about 40 percent of daily worldwide production.
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#1. To: wudidiz, Original_Intent (#0)
Abdalla Salem El-Badri, left, the OPEC secretary general, met in April with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. (Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters)
Price of gas has doubled since I quit driving about 3 years ago. Buck fifty a litre for regular or something obscene like that. No insurance, no gas, no oil, no maintenance, no road rage. I'll support the mass murdering profiteers as little as I can. **** 'em.
You know...I like the sound of that.
#8. To: who knows what evil (#7)
:-) Where there's a will, there's a way.
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#6. To: TwentyTwelve, Original_Intent, all (#1)
#7. To: wudidiz (#6)
No insurance, no gas, no oil, no maintenance, no road rage.
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