Is Oil the "Devil's Brew" ???

If you believe in a God, and in a Devil, would oil, aka petro, be considered a gift from God, or a "gift" from the devil?

I vote for a gift from the devil. Check this out

Bush's Plea

If a heroin addict desires more heroin, we generally frown on that. If anything, society requests that the heroin addict learn to exist on less heroin, not more.

Unless it's oil, and it's the United States, and our president asking that the Middle East produce more oil.

Did you hear that the biggest oil field in the Middle East requires water to be injected into the soil to push out the last remaining morsels? Kind of scary, isn't it, that our whole existence revolves around oil.

And nary once does the president ever demand, coerce, or encourage the planet to do more with less oil.

Does the devil have a second in command masquerading as a religious fellow who runs a very powerful country??? [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]

I wanted to comment on what George Bush actually said.

Oh my God. Saudi Arabia will damage their own market if the price for oil is too high? Did George Bush actually say this?

It sounds like it will be up to George to save Saudi Arabia from itself. Hey, lets round up some jet fighters, tanks and soldiers and liberate Saudi Arabia from higher oil prices! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

(this message brought to you by electricity generated from oil) [img]redface.gif[/img]

Quote:

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Originally posted by Alex:
If you believe in a God, and in a Devil, would oil, aka petro, be considered a gift from God, or a "gift" from the devil?

I vote for a gift from the devil. Check this out

Bush's Plea

If a heroin addict desires more heroin, we generally frown on that. If anything, society requests that the heroin addict learn to exist on less heroin, not more.

Unless it's oil, and it's the United States, and our president asking that the Middle East produce more oil.

Did you hear that the biggest oil field in the Middle East requires water to be injected into the soil to push out the last remaining morsels? Kind of scary, isn't it, that our whole existence revolves around oil.

And nary once does the president ever demand, coerce, or encourage the planet to do more with less oil.

Does the devil have a second in command masquerading as a religious fellow who runs a very powerful country??? [img]graemlins/devil.gif[/img]

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Boo hoo to yahoo, the link is dead and I can't remember the exact title to try and do a google search.

But here is another link

Bush urges Saudi's to increase oil production

and here is the article before it magically disappears...

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Bush urges Saudis to increase oil production
No promises from Riyadh on short-term output


Saudi Arabia's impact on world oil prices and U.S. gas prices.
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Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
Saudi Arabia
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CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- With gas prices soaring at the pump, President Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday to discuss oil output and a host of other issues, but officials said the meeting ended with no promises from Riyadh to increase its short-term oil production, as the White House had hoped.

National Security Adviser Steve Hadley told reporters that Abdullah and his delegation did present a long-term plan to increase production by the end of the decade to 12.5 million barrels per day, up from its current output of 9.5 million barrels a day.

Saudi Arabia also hopes to increase production to 15 million barrels daily in the next decade, he said.

Bush had said prior to the meeting that he would seek to "get a straight answer" from Saudi Arabia about its immediate production capacity.

Senior administration officials, however, would not say whether Bush specifically pressed Abdullah to increase Saudi production in the short term.

"I'm not going to get into the specifics of the conversations the two leaders had," Hadley said.

But Hadley said the president "made that request last week in his public statements very clearly."

Asked if the Saudi long-term plan would have any immediate effect on gas prices, Hadley said it should be "good news for the markets," but the verdict is still out.

"We would hope that and other factors would result in some positive news in terms of the price fronts. But, as you know, these markets are complicated business," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Bush is trying to put together a "long-term sustainable answer" to the energy problem.

"What he got from the Saudis today was an important step forward that said they also understand that there is a structural problem here that needs to be dealt with," she said. "He very much welcomed the careful planning that they had done, their desire to increase their capacity in a sustainable way and their willingness to make investment to do that."

Bush and Abdullah released a joint written statement at the end of their talks, which included a tour of the Texas ranch, lunch and meetings.

"Both nations pledge to continue their cooperation, so that the oil supply from Saudi Arabia will be available and secure," it said. "The United States appreciates Saudi Arabia's strong commitment to accelerating investment and expanding its production capacity to help provide stability and adequately supply the market."

Heading into the meeting, Bush said Abdullah understands it is "very important ... to make sure the prices are reasonable. A high oil price will damage markets."

"He knows that," Bush said. "I look forward to talking to him about that, as well, as, you know, we'll talk about his country's capacity. It's an important subject."

Bush told the business news channel CNBC last week he would seek "to get a straight answer from the government as to what they think their excess capacity is."

U.S. gasoline prices now average $2.24 a gallon for self-serve regular, according to a nationwide survey published Sunday -- down almost a nickel over the past two weeks after weeks of increases.

Several senior administration officials have acknowledged that prices at the pump could pose a political problem for the president, and a Gallup poll released Sunday showed Americans were equally divided over whether they approved or disapproved of Bush's job performance.

The Energy Department predicts that as the summer driving season nears gas prices will peak in May at an average of $2.35 a gallon.

The series of meetings between U.S. and Saudi officials began Sunday with Vice President Dick Cheney and Abdullah meeting. Rice met Monday morning with Abdullah and the Saudi delegation, which included Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi.

Hadley described the series of meetings as "very intensive and extensive consultations between the two sides," touching on a range of issues, including oil production, Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war on terror.

Hadley said Bush and Abdullah had "a very good set of consultations, a very good spirit in the room."

"The relationship between the two men is a very positive, very strong personal relationship which they were able to reaffirm. And also I think the consultations between the two delegations strengthened the relations between the two government down the line," he said.

The joint statement between the two leaders said they "renewed our personal friendship and that between our nations."

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux contributed to this report.

Here is a very powerful excerpt from another article about oil.

The condition of Saudi fields, and those of other OPEC nations, is a closely guarded secret. That's largely because OPEC quotas, which were first imposed in 1983 to limit the output of member countries, were based on overall reserves; the higher an OPEC member's reserves, the higher its quota. It is widely believed that most, if not all, OPEC members exaggerated the sizes of their reserves in order to have the largest possible quota -- and thus the largest possible revenue stream.

Here is the link to the whole article. It's very well done.Oil:The Breaking Point Part 1 & 2 by Peter Maass

The following comfirms what I have been saying for the past few years...

Saudi Retains Oil Power as Bush Tries to Break Free

Saudi retains oil power as Bush tries to break free

Reuters
Date: 02-08-06

By Barbara Lewis and Peg Mackey - Analysis

Wed Feb 8, 9:37 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush should be careful about wishing to kick America's addiction to Middle East oil because he might just lose a trusted supplier.

Oil superpower Saudi Arabia could be very happy to redirect barrels unwelcome in the United States into energy-hungry Asia, where Riyadh has made no secret of its drive to expand.

"It really doesn't matter to us," said Nawaf Obaid, a Saudi oil adviser. "We can sell our oil anywhere."

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi chose his moment carefully to respond to Bush's State of the Union pledge last week to cut U.S. dependency on Middle East oil by 75 percent by 2025.

"What concerns us is all the talk about not wanting our oil," Naimi told a high-profile energy conference in Houston, on the doorstep of the headquarters of the U.S. arm of Saudi government-owned Saudi Aramco.

"It's not a major bump; it's something to take into consideration."

Saudi officials have expressed surprise, but not concern, at the turnaround in former oilman Bush's attitude toward the Kingdom, which for half a century has been a strategic partner.

"Bush was playing to a very, very domestic agenda," said Valerie Marcel, energy expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. "It's just rhetoric."

Bush faces pressure at home from a public increasingly unnerved by high petrol pump prices, huge profits for big oil firms, environmental concerns, and U.S. reliance on a region perceived as unstable.

"The timing was linked more to the trouble the U.S. administration is having with the domestic impact of high oil prices and the situation in Iraq rather than a deterioration of ties between Washington and the Arab World," said Jonathan Lindley of London's Royal United Services Institute.

MENDED TIES

Political ties between Riyadh and Washington were badly damaged by the September 11, 2001 attacks carried out mainly by Saudis, but they have since recovered.

Until last week, the U.S. government had been urging Riyadh to pump more oil to try to bring down crude prices from near record levels.

And less than a year ago, Bush pleaded with then Crown Prince Abdullah to expand production and refining operations.

In response, Saudi Arabia presented a $50 billion blueprint to boost its oil production and increase refining capacity across the world.

At the same time, it has subtly shifted its commercial focus to Asia, where explosive growth in China and India was largely responsible for last year's record highs on the oil market.

Now Saudi Arabia's number one customer, Asia imports some 60 percent of its oil from the kingdom, while for the United States Mexico and Canada have taken over as lead suppliers, knocking Saudi into third place.

Saudi King Abdullah and Naimi have just wrapped up a tour of Asia, after which Naimi said he secured contracts to supply more crude to the region.

Imported crude commands a premium on Asian markets, where refiners have historically been willing to pay extra to lock in supplies.

"If we just sell oil to Asia, we would be able to sell at a higher price," said Obaid.

Regardless of where Saudi delivers its oil, it will always be the major influence on world markets because it is the only producer with significant spare capacity.

"Obviously Saudi will still have a huge effect on the global price of oil. Saudi is the ultimate guarantor of prices," he said.

Saudi Arabia has further reason not to feel threatened by the U.S. comments because most believe Bush's 2025 goals are unachievable.

"Realistically, it is simply not feasible in any time period relevant to our discussion today," said Stuart McGill, senior vice president at Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly-listed oil company.

"Americans depend upon imports to fill the gap," McGill said on Tuesday, dismissing the idea the United States could ever be self-sufficient.

Source

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