Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Pay Less at the Pump?

OPEC Speaks
Even though the United States does not get the majority of its crude oil from the Middle East (only about 15% comes from Saudi Arabia), The USA does receive more than 50% of its crude oil imports from OPEC. With imports that high, its not hard to see why the US oil market is still has an indurate link to the OPEC cartel. It just a fact of life. The USA's largest crude importers are Canada and Mexico (both whom are non-OPEC countries), but they are followed closely by Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Logistically, this makes sense, it is easier to ship form Canada then it is from Kuwait.

However, good news from from the sandy pond region today; Kuwait's Oil Minister, acting Spokesman for OPEC, announced today that OPEC would increase crude production by 500,000 barrels per day. This should ease oil futures and loosen up prices in about 30 days.

Another falsehood that many American's believe is that OPEC is made up of only Middle Eastern countries, this simply is not true. The countries that comprise OPEC: Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, The United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.

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