Market Manipulation Muddle

Cairo – (BBP) Members of the OPEC cartel met in Cairo over the weekend and came away suggesting there may be further cuts in production announced at their next meeting in December in Algeria.
If OPEC members pledge to cut production at the Algeria meeting, it would be the third time this year such a step [...]

Clear Message from OPEC

The communications folks over at OPEC have sent a very clear message this week to all non-OPEC member oil producing countries: get on board with production cuts or this whole market manipulation thing isn’t going to work.
OPEC ministers will gather in the Egyptian capital on November 29, 2008 to discuss falling oil prices, which slipped [...]

Saudi King Makes Splash at UN

King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, took some time off from his OPEC interests this week to turn the New York Palace Hotel and the U.N. General Assembly into an extension of his court. Long lines of VIPs formed to congratulate his majesty on hosting a conference on religious tolerance under the auspices of the [...]

Another Tantrum in the Sandbox

 
Wait for it: Oil should be above $70 a barrel to encourage investment in increased production capacity and avoid creating future supply crises, Qatar’s oil minister said on 10 November 2008, according to Reuters. Oil ministers at OPEC have said they will cut production again (they last did so after an “emergency” meeting in October [...]

Price Stabilization or Price Fixing?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided at a meeting in Vienna on 24 October to cut production by 1.5m barrels a day – about five percent - in order to halt the slide in oil prices.
OPEC hopes its production cuts will lead to oil prices stabilizing between $70 and $80 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Russia has [...]

Price Prediction or Price Fixing?

Jim Mulva is chairman and chief executive of Houston-based ConocoPhillips. Mulva says gas prices rose too much too fast over the summer and are now dropping too much. He told the Associated Press a $3 price would balance supply and demand, allow oil companies to fund further research and satisfy drivers weary of high prices. [...]

The Price of a Gallon

Simply thinking out loud about the rising price of a gallon of gas… I am sure it is much more complex than this and that there are a number of geopolitical and business factors that ultimately contribute to the price we pay at the pump, but consider this: the gas you pumped today was probably [...]