Production and Prices
Starting the week at $68 a barrel, oil traded as high as $73 before closing out the week at $72.04. Once again the increase was mostly based on financial developments - a falling dollar, fears of inflation,
Articles by Tom Whipple
Production and Prices
Oil prices hovered around $71 a barrel last week with most movement linked to the climbing or falling dollar. The usual concerns about inflation and hopes for an economic recovery were the major factors in last week’s moves. Even a week of widespread rioting in Iran and three new production-cutting attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta did little to move the markets. The biggest move of the week came on Friday,
Iraq
In the last few months, Iraqi oil exports have been hitting post-invasion highs as oil has begun flowing from northern oil fields to the export terminal
Natural Gas
The US’s supply of natural gas has been much in the news lately as prices have fallen to $4 /mbtu and a steady stream of announcements and articles
Briefs
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta destroyed six more pipelines and pumping stations in the last week. A statement issued by its spokesman,
Quote of the Week
“I’m a free-market guy, but the government must step in to stop the [oilprice] speculators!” [Ed. note: can one make a more oxymoronic
Statistic of the Week
Today more than half the USA’s nitrogen fertilizer is imported, and about 20 percent of the imports are from Russia. The cost of natural gas now
Quote of the Week
“Global oil production peaked in 2008, and I think that as you scale back activity around the world, both because of low prices and the credit crunch,
US Imports
In recent years, the US has been importing roughly 400 million barrels of oil and products each month. The monthly totals have ranged between 450 million
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China
While the OECD’s economies continue to stagnate, the situation in China is less clear. Chinese exports, which had been the mainstay of the economy, are now down by 26 percent from last year. To counter
