Oil Hits New World Record - $80

Oil prices climb on tight supply report
Thu, September 13, 2007

NEW YORK -- Oil futures prices rose sharply yesterday, briefly climbing above a record US$80 a barrel after the government reported a surprisingly large drop in crude inventories and declines in gasoline supplies and refinery activity.

>still being caught out by surprise on this old, old subject?<

The report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration suggested oil supplies are tightening as demand remains strong. That's why oil prices are rising despite OPEC's decision Tuesday to boost crude production by 500,000 barrels a day this fall, analysts said. Despite yesterday's jump, oil is still well below inflation-adjusted highs hit in early 1980.

>Yes, but not for much longer unfortunately.<

The OPEC Con

The reality is that output cannot be raised. World global supplies have been at maximum for some time, and we've seen a gradual downward slide in supply and capacity. Can you imagine the worldwide fallout (and catastrophe) were it to leak out that this was the case? That worldwide demand is now greater than supply (and this trend will worsen over time)?

The result will be runaway prices, or recession, or both.
Opec's saying they will raise output by November is a bit like a weatherman promising cooler temperatures in winter. It's likely to happen anyway (since the global demand curve for fuel is at its lowest in November).

From BBC.com:
Opec agrees to raise oil output

Opec controls more than a third of global oil suppliesOpec members have agreed to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels a day to meet concerns about rising demand.
The 12-nation oil producers' cartel agreed to support a proposal from influential member Saudi Arabia to raise daily production from 1 November.

Oil prices have been touching record highs on fears of a growing imbalance between supply and demand. But despite Opec's decision US light crude settled at a record closing price of $78.23, up 74 cents.

Oops

With our machines and gadgets, it's tempting to think we human beings are highly intelligent people, capable of countless magical innovations. Unfortunately, it's a schizophrenic brilliance, the evidence of which can be seen looking at the local cinema circuit. We entertain ourselves with fantasies of revenge and retribution, or a narcisstic approach to love (some of the most beautiful women acting out 'unlucky-in-love/lost and alone and afraid roles').

It's as a result of many delusions that when someone gets cancer, or dies, or is in a car accident, or gets divorced, falls pregnant unexpectedly etc, the conventional response is: Why? Why did it happen to me? It happened because of a constant disconnect with reality, and the consequences always prevail over the delusion, although possibly the delusional may never get the message or learn the lesson (hence, the perpetual frightened whining reaction when reality manifests: why/how did this happen?)

The test of any creatures success depends on one thing: discipline. Some people have it, the overwhelming majority don't. Even those who are disciplined are not always enlightened for their efforts to make a difference.

One of reasons posited over and over for high oil prices is low refining capacity. Then someone will say: 'it will take refineries x year to build etc.' The reason there is so little refining capacity is because those in the know (in the refining business), know that soon fewer refineries will be needed not more, for lower maximum volumes of oil produced. When we say produced, we simply mean pumped out of somewhere. Obviously oil can't be 'produced', only extracted from limited resources, and refined.

The Number of Refineries is also related to Discovery, and Discovery has been in decline for many years now.
So new refineries are not on the cards, nor are new factories that make cars that run on the fumes of wishful thinking.

Investors in 'fuel-from-algae' scheme left high and dry

By: Helene Le Roux
Published: 8 Jun 07 - 10:19
De Beers Fuel, which had promised South Africa biodiesel produced from algae, to date seems not to have made good on any of its pledges.

Most investors in the company, who invested up to R6-million each in biodiesel plant, in what was trumpeted to be the world’s first fuel-franchising scheme, today have nothing but paper to show for their money.As far as Engineering News can establish, not one plant has been built.

The amount of money lost by investors, and the number of investors who have lost money, could not be determined owing to conflicting information on the value and number of plants sold.De Beers Fuel – which has no connection with diamond-mining giant De Beers – marketed the concept under the Infiniti Biodiesel brand name.Shareholders were promised plants capable of producing tens of thousands of litres of biodiesel every day, and exclusive offset areas.

These plants would initially process conventional vegetable oils, like sunflower oil.