Opec blames oil price surge on weaker US dollar

Source: Financial Times

Opec blames oil price surge on weaker US dollar
By Javier Blas and Ed Crooks in Vienna

Published: September 14 2007 03:00

Crude oil prices are higher than in the past partly to compensate for a weaker dollar, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said yesterday.

Crude oil prices surged yesterday to an all-time intraday high of $80.20 a barrel while, at the same time, the US dollar fell to a record low of $1.3927 against the euro. The dollar also fell to a 15-year low against a basket of leading currencies. US West Texas Intermediate was later yesterday at $79.80 a barrel.

Hasan Qabazard, head of Opec's research department, said: "The oil prices seem to be adjusting to the decline in the value of the US dollar." He added that the dollar weakness was also hurting Opec's economies. "We have to adjust to that," he said. Since 2003, oil prices have risen 150 per cent in US dollar terms but just 78 per cent in euros and 87 per cent in pounds sterling.

The European Union is a growing trading partner for Opec members, especially those in the Middle East and North Africa, displacing the US. The trend means Opec's revenues are in dollars while a growing share of its spending is in euros.



Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ae27eeaa-625a-11dc-bdf6-0000779fd2ac.html

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We're all paying at the pump for Bush's unwise fiscal policies.

And of course since 2/3 of U.S. oil is domestically produced, our own country's producers (aka Bush's base) are free to mark up their U.S. production prices to match what OPEC sellers are getting.

so the dumb shit will begin to understand the damage he has done to the nations economy.

We cried back then, for years, and for a long while, they did nothing.

Correct me if my history is wrong. Now I have no emotion in this matter, I am merely conjecturing based on previous historical incidents and noting any possible ironies.

That's my take on how a determined America didn't just "cry." A Democratic led Congress following the desires of a pissed-off America got up and did something about it. Then Reagan/Bush/Bush let it all atrophy to this point.

Here's Wikipedia's info about the OPEC "whopper"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis
The 1973 Oil Crisis began in earnest on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC, consisting of the Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) announced, as a result of the ongoing Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship petroleum to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt (i.e., to the United States, its allies in Western Europe, and to Japan).
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From what I understand, we import 60% of our oil from foreign countries. So let's see; we (in the U.S.) burn through 21 million barrels per day (not gallons mind you BARRELS).

That means we guzzle 12.6 million BARRELS per day from foreign countries. Now I know why we're in Iraq.