Sweet Crude (now with unborked comments)
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I know this makes me a bad capitalist, but I’m struggling to dredge up any concern over the ongoing oil glut. I read passages such as this:
Just a couple of years ago, producers and petro-states were making vast fortunes drilling and pumping relentlessly to fuel expanding middle classes in Asia, Latin America and Africa. But suddenly they are producing more than anyone needs at a time when China and other rapidly growing economies, once hungry for energy, are pulling back.
The extra oil has sent the price of crude into a tailspin, down more than 70 percent over the last 18 months.
That, in turn, has helped depress stock markets around the world, as investors worry about global growth. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index is off around 8 percent in just the first two weeks of the year; European shares are down even more. Chinese stocks have dropped 20 percent from their December peak, putting the market in bear territory.
“What was once viewed as a gift is now viewed similarly to the gift of the monkey’s paw,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for Oil Price Information Service. “Global financial damages trump the benefits of cheap oil at anything under $30 a barrel.”
I see the words. I understand what they’re supposed to mean, but for some reason I keep interpreting them as “Oh woe! A fucked up system that is based on the exploitation of the planet and people and helps further concentrate wealth into the mitts of a dwindling number of plutocrats is in peril!! Everybody panic!!!”
No. I can’t. Not just like that. Especially since the solutions appear to be increased demand for the stuff or … unpleasantness.
On the supply side, if tensions erupting between Saudi Arabia and Iran lead to armed conflict or an insurrection, the excess production could quickly disappear.
Oh, I’m sorry. My placard reads “War is NOT the answer,” I’ll make a correction.
The boom in Iraqi oil production faces multiple threats, including Islamic State terrorism. The government is falling behind in its payments to international oil companies, water is running low for pumping to revive aging oil fields, and northern Kurdish fields are short on pipelines.
Ha, yes. Because if I were going to draw up a list of 10 countries that haven’t been made to suffer enough due to violence and greed for oil, Iraq would be in the top five.
Freak.
Maybe it’s a good thing that I’m not able to care.
