Surprise! OPEC Hates Biofuels
Posted: July 11, 2008
Is it a good or bad thing that OPEC (the cartel of Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries) hates biofuels?
On July 6, OPEC president Chakib Khelil of Algeria was quoted saying that “the intrusion of bioethanol on the market” was responsible for 40 percent of the incrrease in oil prices. The weak U.S. dollar and “geopolitical worries” were responsible for the other 60 percent.
Now, in its World Oil Outlook, OPEC is concerned about “moves in Europe and the United States to cut oil dependence and promote alternatives,” according to a Reuters story.
“Without the confidence that additional demand for oil will emerge, and without reliable market signals, the incentive to invest can be affected,” OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri wrote in the report. “Just like anyone else, oil producers do not want to invest in a product that will not be used.”
Well, perhaps energy independence and variety in energy sources are a little more important than OPEC’s bottom line and the tendency of some OPEC oil barons to live a little high on the hog.
B NOEL Said,
July 12, 2008 @ 8:39 am
WOW,
Reality checks hurt. They are facing the end of their “era” and all that is left is an unstable, undemocratic countryside with tracts of sand with environmental clean up headaches. Renewables by definition are what the world clamors for because they offer hope and that constant interaction with a “living world”. BN