Oil companies limited refineries to drive up prices

[jjw1965]

Internal memos show oil companies limited refineries to drive up prices

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[Karlin]

HA !! guilty as charged.

From street drugs to 2X4s, restricted supply means higher prices.

This obvious tactic is used everywhere, but it is not legal or moral. Corporate Pathology exxplains it pretty good...

Maybe this "restrict supply-raise prices" is reasonable business practise, but it is surely collusion, conspiracy, and hard on economies of the average person.

Which brings us back to that great idea of a NATIONALISED energy industry!! When we see this supply tinkering going on, it is more than obvious that 'you and I' would be better off if oil were nationalised like in Venzuela.

Global warming would also be less severe if oil were nationalised, because then alternatives would not be pushed off the map so easily.


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Further evidence is here, from 1998 oil supply being tightened:

Monday, March 30, 1998 Published at 18:36 GMT 19:36 UK
Business

OPEC discusses production cuts
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is meeting to discuss moves to cut crude oil production. They want to increases prices that are at a nine-year low.
Some ministers worry the group is not trying hard enough to cure the depressed market that has cost them billions of dollars in lost revenues.
Non-OPEC countries like Norway do not want a large production cut
Sheik Saud Nasser al-Sabah, the new Kuwaiti oil minister, said he backs bigger cutbacks by both Opec and non-Opec producers who teamed up to try to boost crude prices.
"The more pledges we can get in the reduction of the production level, the more it will help the price and serve the best interests of Opec," he said.
But others disagree and as Opec opens an emergency session on Monday, analysts remain sceptical about various individual pledges to stop flooding the market.
After most of the world's top petroleum exporters announced they would pump less oil beginning in April, prices have shown a moderate recovery. But several ministers have remained vague about how much oil they actually will pump - raising more questions about whether the deal can work.
Analysts doubt, for example, that Nigeria will make the cuts it has promised.
Dan Etete, the Nigerian oil minister, has insisted his pledges were real. "I've already given instructions back home to oil companies," Mr Etete said. "They have to cut back by 125,000 barrels per day."

When pressed, however, Mr Etete said he was not sure how much oil Nigeria will produce in April. And Nigeria is far from the only member of Opec whose production-cut promises are failing to impress market watchers who have seen Opec fail too many times in the past to keep its word.
Anticipated cuts from non-Opec members Russia, Angola and Malaysia did not materialise. Norway, a non-Opec producer that is the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia, has said only that it might reduce output.
If Opec members get into a fight over further reductions, top producer Saudi Arabia might face calls to make a bigger sacrifice.
Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi has pledged the biggest cut of all, 300,000 barrels a day. But this amounts to just 3.4% of Saudi Arabia's output, compared with cuts of 5% or more pledged by some of the others.
Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are: Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

and from 2001:

Oil falls as demand goes down and supply rises

Attempts by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to keep oil prices stable appear to be failing after a 10% fall in crude prices over the past fortnight.
But comments from a Saudi official said on Wednesday that Riyadh believed more than 500,000 barrels a day could be withdrawn to keep prices afloat stabilised the market.

So ya. Its true.
And the Fossil Fools are yelling at me:
"So, whadda ya gonna do 'bout it, wimps? "

...and we just sit quietly because "we are all in this together" , we trust them, and my head is allready in the noose so I can't make a lot of noise...