How the U.S. joined OPEC

According to Ed Morse, executive adviser to Amerada Hess Co.'s trading arm, the switch to an OPEC-friendly policy for Iraq was driven by Dick Cheney himself. "The person who is most influential in running American energy policy is the Vice President."

Quotas set by OPEC .... have been key to the 121% rise in oil prices since the beginning of 2002. This rise is estimated to have cost the U.S. economy 1.2% of its GDP, or a fourth of its total growth during that period.

For months the State Department denied the existence of a 323 page plan for Iraq's oil titled 'Options for Developing a Long Term Sustainable Iraqi Oil Industry'.

Given how easily the interests of OPEC and IOC's (International Oil Companies) can be aligned, it is certainly understandable why ... (forcing OPEC to lower prices) ... would not strike oilmen as a good idea. In 2004, with oil approaching $50 a barrel, the major U.S. oil companies posted record or near record profits.

Dick Cheney, far from "putting the squeeze on OPEC", has taken a de facto seat there, allowing the cartel to maintain its suffocating grip on the U.S. economy.

The preceding excerpts were taken from an article by Greg Palast in the April issue of Harper's Magazine.

This really chaps my cheeks! Regular people like you and me are the ones footing the bill for this fiasco, while big oil fat cats line their pockets at our expense! I know it is a complicated situation, but why is the solution so unfair to the average American taxpayer? Not to mention all the proud American and coalition soldiers who are DYING so these jerks can get richer!

See this link for more -

www.gregpalast.com...




[edit on 25-3-2005 by Icarus Rising]

Saw this today from AP via aol news.

Bush Asks Saudis to Pump More Oil
By DEB RIECHMANN, AP

CRAWFORD, Texas (April 25) - President Bush prodded Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday to help curb skyrocketing oil prices, and the White House expressed hope that the kingdom's plans would ease U.S. gasoline prices that have shot above $2.20 a gallon.

Bush Asks Saudis to Pump More Oil

I guess old extra tricky Dicky is squeezing the proverbial lemon just about as hard as he can over there in Iraq, what with a pipeline or production facility going up in flames every other day. Time for The House of Saud to kick it up a notch, to try and keep the wheels from coming off altogether.

I thought that Adel al-Jubeir's remarks were interesting. He is the crown prince's foreign affairs adviser. The media quoted him as saying in on-air remarks that pumping more oil into the US won't help much unless US refining capacity is improved.

news.yahoo.com.../ap/20050426/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices_36
news.ft.com...

Excellent point. Refining capacity is a major choke-point on the domestic side of the process. How much damage to production capacity did that problem at the BP plant near Texas city do for instance, and how much did we lose to the pipeline break in the Arizona desert?

Phoenix Tempers Fray in the Quest for Gasoline

Explosion at Refinery in Texas City Leaves Plant Still Operating at Reduced Rates

Like ol' Brer Rabbit in Uncle Tom's Cabin, we done got all tangled up with that tar baby that is our dependence on oil to fuel our way of life, and please, please don't throw me in that there briar patch when we run out.




[edit on 26-4-2005 by Icarus Rising]