'Bankers hid oil at sea' claim

Originally posted by JB1234
reply to post by libertytoall

 

Because an Investment Bank exists to make money...

ie... they buy barrels of oil at $75 a barrel.... hold millions of barrels offshore in a tanker...withdraw that supply from the market... the price inevitably goes up.

Hey Ho sell at $95 dollars a barrel... You've made a whopping profit..

Exactly! And as someone else mentioned before you the investment bankers that are closely tied to wall street get to increase the debt and ultimately help make the nation default in its "obligations" one day sooner, thus one world currency..one day earlier.

Its not rocket science for those that understand capitalism and bourgeiosm. And OPEC gets to make a few bucks more on all this artificial price manipulation thus the dictators/monarchs of the region get to hide more in offshore bank accounts.

Hence the conspiracy lives on and "everyone" except the commoner is happy continuing to believe the corporate media telling them price goes up to "uncontrollable demand and lack of supply" or "middle eastern violence has caused panicked concerns of gas/oil disruption". The global "elite" will use any excuse under the sun to profit and control the sheep. They are "elite" because we allow them to be through our collective ignorance brought on by our collective lack of time to do real research!

Look yes the oil market is not a 100% free market so there is manipulation on supply and price. This however is not even close to that. this is an investment strategy. The only issue is the oil was from the strategic reserve and was meant to go right to market. Holding a product until demand increases is not illegal and should not be its good practice. No government should be able to force a businessman to sell all of his supply as soon as it hits his warehouse.

I have mixed feelings on commodities speculation. I have no problems when companies with legitimate needs to enter into the commodities market to hedge against near term fluctuations that affect their bottom line (Southwest Airlines executed a very successful strategy a couple of years ago that left them with fixed fuel costs while their competitors nearly folded due to increases in costs). I don't consider an oil company in the futures market to be manipulation either. Every time BP, Exxon, or Shell sells a barrel of oil they have effectively "shorted" that barrel. Unlike other participants oil companies have the ability to actually deliver the commodity tied to the contract. I have serious problems with JPMorgan buying up oil holding it offshore in a tanker waiting for the price to rise. I know that supposedly institutions that are "systemically important" are no longer supposed to engage in "prop trading", but they still have clients that don't care what the effects of their manipulation have on the rest of humanity.

I've hear nearly no one on the MSM mention the relationship of basic commodity prices like wheat, rice, and other staples to the uprisings that compromise the "Arab Spring" (not to mention the distortions in food prices that really hammered places like Egypt who were pegged to the dollar).

Sometimes it's hard not to think that the entire world is being primed for something. If it is, I have no doubt that it will be detrimental to the vast majority of the human race.

Originally posted by libertytoall
It just doesn't make sense. If bankers wanted to hoard oil and keep it offshore they certainly wouldn't be buying the oil in the USA. Plenty of other countries sell oil MUCH cheaper.

To believe this story you would have to believe banker elites are stupid and willing to spend four times as much on something then they could elsewhere. I don't buy it.. Elite bankers don't make bad investments..

It would make more sense for $100 million to be spent in another country and then brought to the US to be sold at 400% profit.

edit on 17-9-2011 by libertytoall because: (no reason given)

Well take a look into the actual oil markets lately if you don't believe it.

There definitely has been a disconnect between NA prices and EU prices for oil for some months now, roughly coinciding with the Libya situation and 'Arab spring' in general.

While there are countries with cheap oil that would make a better arbitrage situation, you just can't do it. Those countries have a subsidized domestic prices and generally have an export market. Libya was even one of those countries with rock bottom subsidized oil prices for the domestic market and market prices for the export market. Oil tankers are not exactly ideal smuggling vessels either.

edit: of course the whole reason there has been a disconnect developing is that there is less real connection between the markets than in other parts of the world, i.e. no pipelines, and so it should be very hard to hold onto an amount of oil at sea that was significant enough to move prices enough to close the divide given the situation with Libya and other Arab countries, as well as the broader issue of Eurasia being increasingly connected by pipelines.

Originally posted by 11andrew34

While there are countries with cheap oil that would make a better arbitrage situation, you just can't do it.

In a free market you should be able to sell anything at any agreed price. I see no reason for commodity speculators to manipulate the price with questionable analysis and reports. If iran wants to sell oil to north korea at $50 a barrel because they like each other, and then turn around and sell oil to britain for $200 a barrel then I see no problem.

Those countries have a subsidized domestic prices and generally have an export market. Libya was even one of those countries with rock bottom subsidized oil prices for the domestic market and market prices for the export market.

And how is this rellevant to anything?

Oil tankers are not exactly ideal smuggling vessels either.

You would probably be suprised to see what some super tankers can carry. These ships cannot go through the panama canal or even the suez canal due to their enormous size. Since banks can engage in any investment they want and since they have the most money of all, all they have to do is buy up as much oil as they can and choke the supply, therefore prices inevitably go up.