Iran leader hails rising oil prices as ?very good?

**PVVikeFan** · April 22nd, 2006, 08:15 AM

A bullet to the head might make him see things more clearly.

Iran's president said on Friday the rise in oil price was "very good,"? Iran's Mehr News Agency reported, emphasizing the hawkish position of the world's fourth largest oil exporter as crude prices have hit record levels.

"The increase of the oil price and growth of oil income is very good and we hope that the oil prices reach their real levels,"? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said as he toured an oil exhibition in Tehran, the agency reported.

He did not say what those real levels should be. But these and other earlier remarks suggest he believes crude prices should rise above this week's record high of over $74 a barrel. On Friday, European Brent crude fell below $73.

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on Thursday Iran was happy with surging prices. The minister blamed the price rise on a shortage of gasoline in the United States and not a shortage of crude in world markets.

Most members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries worry that the high prices will hurt world economic growth and Iran had previously shared that view.

OPEC member Venezuela has also taken a hawkish position.

In earlier comments to reporters at the exhibition, Ahmadinejad said Iran was looking at ways to help protect poor states from the impact of rising prices but said rich countries should pay what he called the "real price."?

Iranian lawmakers have previously said that a price of $100 or more for a barrel of oil was an appropriate level.

"There is a fund in OPEC, and the Oil Ministry and Foreign Ministry are in talks to see whether this OPEC fund has the capacity [to support poor countries],"? Ahmadinejad said when asked about his plans to set up an assistance fund.

"But those rich and industrial countries that have billions of dollars in income should pay the real price for their crude oil,"? he said.

He did not give details about the financing mechanism, but the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has a fund to promote development.

In March, OPEC production excluding Iraq was 27.81 million barrels per day, of which Iran's production was 3.85 million bpd

April 22nd, 2006, 10:19 AM

Their real levels. Foolish man. Then people wonder why you have to take their threats so serious.
Reading this and what thetank posted. I think it shows the real situations, we are getting into with Iran, and what we are still dealing with in Iraq
Looking very bleak.

April 22nd, 2006, 12:05 PM

Here is one countries idea of how to deal with their oil problems. Not the demand we have, but at least they are working on their own problems and oil dependency.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, dressed in an orange jump suit, drenched his hand in oil as he flipped the switch Friday on a new oil rig that will usher in overall independence from foreign oil.

The start of production at the P-50 rig off Brazil's south Atlantic coast puts Brazil on track to produce as much oil as it consumes.

Silva showed off his oily hand to a crowd on the rig, a gesture imitating President Getulio Vargas when he created the government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, in the early 1950s.

The production milestone "? coordinated to fall on a national holiday honoring 18th-century independence hero Tiradentes "? marked an end to decades of dependence on foreign oil, and fuel bills that plunged Brazil into debt when oil prices soared in the 1970s.

Petrobras said the huge P-50 rig will boost national oil production to an average of 1.9 million barrels a day this year, more than average consumption of 1.85 million barrels a day.

"It's an important date for the country, and Petrobras has every right to be proud," said Luiz Broad, an oil analyst at the Agora Senior brokerage in Rio de Janeiro.

As more offshore rigs come online, Petrobras expects to join the ranks of the world's net oil exporters, with production exceeding demand by nearly 300,000 barrels a day in 2010.

Brazil still has to import light crude oil for the refined products it needs. The country produces "? and exports "? mostly heavy crude oil, which has to be mixed with the light oil in refineries.

The net-exporter status will boost Brazil's trade surplus and help shield the country from oil-price shocks. Petrobras said it won't pass on the spikes in international oil prices to Brazilian consumers. Oil prices reached a record $73 a barrel on Tuesday

It's quite a change from the 1970s, when Brazil imported 85 percent of the oil it consumed, deepening a foreign debt that raised inflation to four digits and pushed the country to the brink of bankruptcy.

"We have the fastest-growing oil industry in the world," Petrobras Chief Executive Sergio Gabrielli said Thursday.

Brazil still depends on natural gas imported from Bolivia, on its own nuclear power and on hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, and on an abundance of ethanol, an alternative fuel made from Brazilian sugar cane.

Brazil produced only 2,700 barrels of oil a day when Petrobras was founded in 1953, and consumed 137,000 barrels a day. With the slogan "The oil is ours," the company set out to find oil in a country larger than the lower 48 U.S. states.

In 1968, the company began searching offshore in the Campos Basin near Macae, 110 miles east of Rio de Janeiro. The big break came six years later, with the discovery of the Garoupa field.

New discoveries followed, and Macae became an oil boomtown as the Campos Basin grew to become Brazil's top oil producer. Today, more than 80 percent of Brazil's oil comes from offshore fields.

Petrobras also became a world leader in deep-water drilling, developing state-of-the-art equipment and setting world records for deep-water drilling. It is Brazil's biggest and the 14th-largest oil company in the world, with operations in 15 countries.

After the government broke the company's oil monopoly in 1995, Petrobras remained a top player in the market. The company snapped up exploration zones that Brazil put up for auction to international bidders.

"The company did its homework, did what was possible," said Victor Martins, an oil analyst with Safra Bank.

Martins said Petrobras would have to raise oil output to keep pace with demand, which is growing despite the expansion of ethanol, and the rising sales of flex-fuel cars that run on both gasoline and ethanol.

"The important thing is the flexibility we have now," he said. "We can produce here or buy abroad, whichever is cheaper."

April 22nd, 2006, 03:42 PM

Perhaps we should just join Archcoal in getting away from foreign energy(I do like the shoot first idea, do you know that the first tankers of oil from Alaska went to Japan? Gotta take care of our selves first- [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]-"America has more proven coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has oil." This should provide us with cheap energy for generations- open your eyes America The hydrogen tech is really good- just water vapor from a vehicle. the armed forces have some trucks (3/4 ton Chevys)that are trying this stuff and the coal is processed before it is burned, so all the stuff that is objectionable is much easier to remove. (PS, I'm just an ig-ner-ent coal miner so if I miss just a little on some of this, don't hang me-...or at least do it in the sun. )
Vital to Our Energy Future

Coal powers our modern life and will be a vital part of our energy future.

Clean Energy ? Clean coal technologies continue to improve our air quality while providing reliable, affordable electricity to power our modern world.

Low-Sulfur Coal
Arch Coal produces only the cleanest burning, low sulfur coals from its national network of mines.

Clean Coal Technologies
State-of-the-art equipment and new treatments can be used by power plants to further reduce emissions.

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
IGCC technology offers the potential for new coal-fired plants and retrofits to achieve gas-fired emissions with higher efficiency levels.

Coal-Gasification ? Coal can be converted to natural gas or hydrogen to help feed our energy hungry world.

Coal to Natural Gas
In the United States, natural gas reserves are increasingly difficult to reach and coal is plentiful. Converting coal to gas can help alleviate supply constraints and reduce energy costs.

Coal to Hydrogen
The U.S. Department of Energy's hydrogen from coal research plan seeks a pilot plant by 2015 and the technology to alleviate transportation, cost and storage barriers to a hydrogen economy.

Coal-Liquefaction ? Converting coal into liquid fuels, such as diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil, makes good use of our national resources.

Coal to Transportation Fuel
America has more proven coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has oil. Maximizing the use of our vast coal supply means less dependence on foreign fuel.

© 2000-2006 Arch Coal, Inc.(yeah, I pasted this [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img])

**SWVA-Football** · April 22nd, 2006, 07:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
A bullet to the head might make him see things more clearly.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or a total ravaging of his country, which if things don't improve soon (in terms of the nuclear development program), may be the case here pretty shortly.