Iraq, a member of OPEC, is sending as many as 10 tankers contains 19 million barrels of crude to the USA to challenge USA shale oil producers (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...le-afresh-as-iraq-crude-floods-gulf-of-mexico). Oil prices will undoubtedly drop as the glut of oil hits the market. US production has declined as pricing pressure shutters higher prodiction-cost wells. Saudi Arabia continues to ferment discontent, if not revolution, among OPEC members by holding oil under under $50 a barrel and resists calls to curtail oil production ĺhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...roying-Opec-and-feeding-the-Isis-monster.html). The Saudis are carrying on the battle to force US oil producers out of business, and are beginning to wage war against solar and wind power. Lower oil (and gasoline) prices may be good news for the US consumer in the coming months, but the good is countered by the bad news for states' economies dependent upon oil production. Revenues will drop, business tax revenue will decline, and unemployment will increase. I haven't seen any discussions about what might be a reasonable balance.
I agree. Oil this cheap for this long isn't good on the whole for the country. If we had a president with balls who wasn't a radical leftist tree-hugger, we wouldn't have made that deal with Iran, and we'd have had a little chat with the Saudis long ago.
The OPEC web site ( http://www.opec.org/ ) may be interesting as the turmoil among members continues. On my no-Flash Android tablet, I found this modified URL ( http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/index.htm ) to produce better displaying pages. HTH. YMMV.
Look at the MOMR ( http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/publications/338.htm ) for an interesting read on the world oil production, global economy and other commodities. It is a tome and as a new find it will have me taking a deeper dive into it after scanning it tonight. I assume the report is skewed somewhat by OPEC directives but at first glance it isn't obvious. Statistians and econmists have applied a seemgly evenhandedness to the writing style. This November report came out yesterday; the December report will be out on the 12th. HTH. YMMV.
