Word: bbl
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Western energy experts estimated that the latest increases would boost the average cost of OPEC oil nearly a dollar, to just under $32 per bbl. That is nearly double the $18.72-per-bbl. price of last June. Officials of oil importing nations immediately denounced the price rise as extortionate, but one U.S. official conceded that it would add only a penny to the price of a gallon of heating oil or gasoline. Still, the increase could raise the world's oil bill by $40 billion this year...
...Aurassi hotel in Algiers. After lavish feasting on caviar and couscous, the oil ministers argued until 3 a.m. but then reached a compromise that allowed some of them to push the price of oil still higher. The 13 countries decided to set a price ceiling of $32 per bbl. on crude. For certain higher quality grades of oil, the price could go to $37 per bbl. OPEC prices now range from Saudi Arabia's $28 per bbl. to Algeria...
...current miniglut of oil. Greater conservation and the sharp recession in the U.S. have decreased the world's thirst for petroleum. OPEC's economics experts told the ministers at the beginning of the meeting that world oil production is now about 1 million to 2 million bbl. per day greater than demand. The excess output is acting as a restraint on countries wishing to push the price of oil ever higher. Said Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi oil minister, after the meeting: "The agreement does not impose restrictions on others not to raise their prices...
Nevertheless, last week's decision immediately set off some price shifts. While high-price countries like Libya and Algeria did not push theirs higher, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Venezuela announced that they would begin demanding as much as $2 per bbl. more for oil on July 1. Those four countries have been recently charging a basic price of about $30 per bbl. for crude. Saudi Arabia refused to increase its rates for now, but Yamani hinted that he might raise them by $1 per bbl. to $4 per bbl. in order to unify OPEC prices. Some oil experts expect...
...policy. Prior to the Iranian revolution, Saudi Arabia virtually dictated crude prices because it had surplus production and could threaten to drive the cost of crude down if the other countries did not follow its lead. Now the Saudis are pumping oil at the rate of 9.5 million bbl. per day, which is 1 million more than before the fall of the Shah of Iran and near to their current capacity. They have thus lost their leverage over other cartel members. The Saudis could not convince the other OPEC members that they should agree on a lower ceiling price...