Edwynn
Posts: 4105
Joined: 10/26/2008 Status: offline
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Whoever else doesn't understand S/D, the oil companies have always understood it very well, and acted accordingly. You can pump or frack all you want, but nobody can use any of it with out a refinery making it into what can actually be used in engines and furnaces. The 300 US refineries that the oil companies shut down from 1980 to 2000 (oftentimes buying them for just that purpose) did not come about for lack of demand, as high enough gas and jet fuel prices proved, but was rather an intentional reduction in supply to insure that prices never fell. [The Tryanny of Oil, Antonia Juhatz] And the US or UK didn't invade or overthrow governments in the ME so they could pump more oil, half the time it was because they were pissed that Iran or Libya (in the '50s) were pumping too much and increasing supply. Tsk tsk. [The Control of Oil, John Malcolm Blair] And the Enron traders didn't order power plants in Cali to shut down because of lack of demand, in the middle of a very hot summer, it was to intentionally reduce supply and rack up the price of both energy spot and futures prices. If demand/supply didn't mean squat, then what the heck is all that about? BTW, only about 2-3% of all futures contracts, whether in oil or other commodities, or currencies, result in actual delivery of product. After the Enron traders got done killing old people in California, they went to oil futures trading, just so you know. And the demand that causes oil futures to rise is from the demand for oil futures contracts, and it is no longer a question that futures prices can affect spot prices. So yeah, they use that S/D thing anywhere and any way they can. Works like a charm for them.
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