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Old 20th May 2008, 23:49
  #170 (permalink)  
Caudillo
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
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This is starting to read like a copy of the daily mail.

Boycotting the forecourts of BP and whoever else is going to do sweet FA. Supplying petrol to ego-centric right-wing reactionaries in middle England is a sideline of a highly diversified global business - It's a bit like boycotting the prawn sandwiches in M&S. BP right now has a market capitalisation of £118 billion, are you honestly childish enough to believe that this is a result of shafting you at the pump?

For what it's worth, oil is doing what it's doing because of a few factors.

Currency and Speculation are the two main drivers. The market is delinquent right now, and overblown (think perhaps of the last 10 years of the national obsession: house prices). Like house price rises, it is less to do with hard and fast supply and demand, but more about availability of money and the goal of profit. The delinquency comes from the fact that catalysts for price rises in the price of oil, once removed, seem not to affect the price in the opposite way. They remain in the price. Now, if you were OPEC what's the incentive to flood the market? They can't either, believe it or not, those evil guardians of our birthright can't just open the taps (remembeer Grangemouth) because aside from Saudi, there's not ever so much spare capacity. They're making great money and good for them.

What I do know is that it's better to be able to see beyond the end of ones own nose. It's not the end of the world and neither will it prove to be, once the price has fallen and the dust has settled, you'll have forgotten it. As you've already forgotten the huge gains in the price of domestic property over the last decade and are now overeacting towards current trends. As Grangemouth was going to throttle Scotland and northern England.

Finally, there is lots and lots and lots and lots or oil left. Lots. As we go forward it'll get harder and more costly to extract - because it will be deeper (Tupi or Namibia) more distant (potentially the Falklands) and heavier (our own backyard). I'll happily take bets from anyone at whatever price that nobody here is going to outlive internal combustion.
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