"Commodity speculators are exploiting geopolitical tensions to put a "fear factor premium" "

[Flabbergasted]

The part this guy is leaving out is: The speculators routinely work with the suppliers and are near the same thing. OPEC is making a preemptive attack on a "blame the ME for high oil prices" fervor that may start before too long. Gas is bound to break records before.


Oil Prices: Don't Blame OPEC
Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2007
By SCOTT MACLEOD/DOHA


Commodity speculators are exploiting geopolitical tensions to put a "fear factor premium" on oil prices, says Qatar's Energy and Oil Minister Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiya in an interview with TIME. The blame for high prices — a record $93.53 a barrel on Monday — should not fall on petroleum producers, he says. "How do you blame us?" asked Attiya, who also serves as deputy prime minister of Qatar, a small country of nearly one million people whose per capita income of $66,000 is the world's fifth-highest. "I am an oil producer and cannot tell you the oil price. I have to check with Reuters or Platts to tell you my oil price. I cannot fix my oil price. The international market will tell me.

Attiya says that rising prices are the end result of crises in places like Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Nigeria, which "create more fears, and speculators are very smart. They jump into the market and take this factor and create it as fear. They try to frighten the world. 'Oh, maybe the oil will be disappear. Oh, maybe there will be a war.' But with all the fears of the world, still the supply is very efficient."

Attiya told TIME that prices would rise further if the Bush Administration ever carries out a military strike on Iran, his Persian Gulf neighbor. "I hope and am confident that we will not see any war between America and Iran, and that all these negotiations will settle things amicably," Attiya said. But in the event of further conflict in the region, such as a threatened U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Attiya said, "I think there will be a big jump ." War would cause an actual drop in global oil supplies which, he explained, "will create a panic, a shortage in the market."

But that is only in the event of a real war and a cut-off of Iran's and the region's spigots. Right now, says Attiya, there is no actual shortage of fuel. "Why is the price of oil very high? I can confirm to you that there is no relation demand and supply. We don't believe there is any shortage of supply in the whole world. I never saw a long queue in any gas station in the world. If you take the inventories, they are the highest in five years.

"Our main ," he adds, "is not to have any shortage of supply. This is our job. Back in 1997, the oil price dropped very dramatically in dollars. We never complained. It hurt us very bad. It hurt the industry. The industry also went into bankruptcy. We believed at the time it was market driven."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1677664,00.html

[Joanne98]

1. They deliberately keep the supply line tight, then exploit every little non-crisis!

Today was a good example. Oil prices go up because of storm in Mexico!
This shit happens everyday day now! God I hate speculators. They should all be hanged!