Saudis reject Bush's appeal to ease oil prices

[Sweetpea]

Saudi Arabia today rebuffed George Bush's appeal to increase production and help cut record oil prices, the White House said.
It was the second time this year that the pleas of the US president, who is visiting King Abdullah, have fallen on deaf ears.
Bush's latest request came as the price of crude oil hit a new high of more than $127 (£65) a barrel.
"What they're saying to us is ... Saudi Arabia does not have customers that are making requests for oil that they are not able to satisfy," the US national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, told reporters.
High petrol prices are a potential issue in November's US presidential election. When Bush made his first appeal in January the Saudi oil minister said that oil production was at normal levels and the kingdom would raise production only when the market justified it.
Bush has conceded that raising output is difficult because the demand for oil — particularly from China and India — is stretching supplies.
The price of crude oil has consistently traded at new highs this year since hitting $100 a barrel at the beginning of January.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/16/oil.saudiarabia


We really MUST either find an alternative source or an alternative fuel.

There are simpler and more effective short term solutions. The main reason for high oil prices is the weak dollar, this article is an example of how misleading Bush can be. If we raised interest rates here, the pounds' value would increase against the dollar and allow for cheaper purchases, both for the consumer and oil dependent industry. A tax cut of fuel levies would also ease a lot of this burden. This is also good for savers and would ease inflation.

Both Labour and Bush wont contemplate this is they are both looking forward to the next election when these unpopular decisions will have to be made by their expected incumbents from the opposition.

Its just high politics in play. We already have alternatives that could be marketed tomorrow, but the reason we don't have access to them as consumers is for political/economic reasons as opposed to green/consumer friendly ones.

(There are capped wells all over the US which they don't touch, so quite why this is a Saudi problem I don't know).

[poppy]

Good Bush is an Idiot, yanks guzzle up all the oil driving pointless huge trucks just to round town. They had masses and masses of the stuff now they have wasted it all, and do nothing to conserve fuel or stop polluting the planet.
Let their lights go out, their tanks run dry.
Maybe then the arrogant sods will see what they have been doing.
All the thousands of dollars they haves pent over the years fighting illegal wars all around he world, could have gone into developing an eco friendly fuel cell.
He calls himself leader of the free world, well look and learn GW you aint mate, and no one gives a monkeys.
My Rant for the day

[terrywit]

Originally Posted by poppy

My Rant for the day

but do you fell any better?

[Sweetpea]

Depends if was on something soft......





Sorry, on my 3rd wine!!

[Bruv]

...............but do you fell any better?........................ Depends if...it....was on something soft....

Sorry, on my 3rd wine!!

Third bottle ?

[Sweetpea]

Fourth now (glass), but it still makes sense to me. Bit like your stuff does to you, even when sober. No requirement for an 'it'.

raising output is difficult because the demand for oil — particularly from China and India — is stretching supplies.

Ahhh. Surely then, it is the IDEAL time to raise output, and sell it to the Chinese at the inflated price it is now, before cutting off the supplies again when the price goes down.

[poppy]

China are busy sucking Burma oil dy as well.
It is time to spend all the money spent on stupid wars over oil into developing a fuel cell so we don't need the stuff.