News Link Needed - Oil Price Agreement

Does anyone have a link to news story concerning Saudi - Bush agreement to lower oil prices before election? Heard a blip on AA and didn't get the rest.

Thank you in advanced.

"Prince Bandar enjoys easy access to the Oval Office. His family and the Bush family are close. And Woodward told 60 Minutes that Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/main612067.shtml

Americans don't care about price fixing as long as the price fixing leads to cheap gas.

Wars, crimes, corporate fraud...none of it matters to them as long as the gas is cheap.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

Kuwait Says May Up Oil Output If Prices Stay High
Wed, Apr 14, 2004 21:32 GMT

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said on Wednesday that his country hasn't yet started implementing the April 1 production cuts agreed by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last month.

Asked if Kuwait has begun cutting production as agreed by OPEC, the minister told Reuters: "As of now, we did not do anything with our production levels. No, not yet."

Sheikh Ahmad, who was attending a dinner function in Kuwait City, said Kuwait "always wants to play a role (to ensure) there is always enough supply in the market with a fair price for everybody."

"Until now the price is over the OPEC basket. As we announced on many occasions, Kuwait will continue to make sure of the stability of the market and to make sure there is no shortage of supply in the market," he said.

http://www.slb.com/news/story.cfm?storyid=616359
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DOE: Oil-Supply Growth Seen Keeping Pace with Demand
Wed, Apr 14, 2004 19:51 GMT

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - Growth in world oil supply will be sufficient to cover demand through 2025, with increases from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and independent producers like Russia offsetting declining output in the U.S. and North Sea, the federal Energy Information Administration said Wednesday.

OPEC is seen covering 60% of the expected increase in world oil demand. The group is expected to raise its production by 29 million barrels a day by 2025, with Saudi Arabia contributing by far the largest share of the increase, said Guy Caruso, administrator of the Energy Information Administration.

The EIA, the statistics branch of the Department of Energy, believes Saudi Arabia could produce 22 million barrels a day of oil by 2025, given the kingdom's 260 billion barrels of reserves.

He emphasized Saudi Arabia's often-repeated statement that it has no plans to imminently boost production significantly. Mr. Caruso also said the EIA hasn't looked at whether Saudi Arabia could achieve the forecast amount of increased production without outside investment.

http://www.slb.com/news/story.cfm?storyid=616350
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Oil Prices Fall On API's Huge US Oil-Inventory Build
Wed, Apr 14, 2004 19:51 GMT

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - Oil prices fell by nearly $1 Wednesday in New York from the previous day's settlement price, following an American Petroleum Institute report showing an unexpectedly large, 10.416-million-barrel build in U.S. commercial oil inventories.

API, an industry group, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration typically release similar U.S. inventory reports simultaneously at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT). Many traders view the government's data as more reliable, but the EIA report was delayed Wednesday until the afternoon, prompting the market to focus on the API data for price direction in the interim.

Analysts had projected a 175,000-barrel build in U.S. oil inventories - a much smaller increase than the API actually reported. Rising by more than 10 million barrels, U.S. oil stocks stood at 302.74 million barrels last week, API said.

Traders initially sent crude prices tumbling on the news. May crude oil futures fell 96 cents from Tuesday's settlement to $36.25 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, then trimmed those losses somewhat as the market awaited the government's inventory data.

http://www.slb.com/news/story.cfm?storyid=616355
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Market Watches As Some OPEC Members Sidestep Output Pledges
Tue, Apr 13, 2004 11:14 GMT

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones) - OPEC's high-profile plan to implement output cuts from April 1 is fast coming loose, as leading members from the Gulf region appear to be sidestepping their agreement to reduce production, as far as supplies to Asia are concerned, traders said Tuesday.

Qatar has become the latest Middle East member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries that won't be fully contributing to a collective 1 million-barrel-a-day output cut agreed on late last month.

Qatar Petroleum, which hasn't cut its crude supply to Asia so far this year, has again pledged full contractual volumes to its term customers in the region, this time for May loadings.

Market sentiment earlier received a bearish shot in the arm as Saudi Arabia notified Asian term lifters that it would roll back a 12%-13% supply cut and allocate full contractual volumes for May.

The decision was attributed to Saudi Arabia's plans to close several domestic refineries for maintenance, rather than an overt production increase, but it made little difference to Asian importers.

http://www.slb.com/news/story.cfm?storyid=616309
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