Кстати, нафига они именно счас закачивают нефть в резерв по столь высокой цене? Уж не воевать ли собрались опять? Еще одна победная война к выборам?
Time to Burst OPEC's Bubble
Tuesday, February 24, 2004; Page A20
Robert J. Samuelson gives OPEC too much credit for maintaining oil price stability [op-ed, Feb. 18]. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries repeatedly has misjudged global demand, leading to the oil price crash of 1998, and stifled global economic growth by maintaining prices above $30 a barrel in 2000, 2002, 2003 and again this year. With U.S. inventories of oil and gasoline at record lows and oil prices high, OPEC's production and quota cuts are an affront to the U.S. economy.
Oil analyst Adam Sieminski says OPEC has trapped the United States in a "low-inventory price loop," whereby prices stay high enough to deter replenishment of U.S. inventories and those low inventories sustain high oil prices. The United States should burst OPEC's artificially high price bubble by suspending its purchases for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, counteracting nearly a quarter of OPEC's action. It could offer a time exchange, allowing U.S. refiners to access supplies from the reserve in exchange for repayment in oil at a future date, filling the reserve at no cost to taxpayers. We continue to rely on OPEC to save us from our own consumption at our peril.
DAVID GOLDWYN
Washington
The writer was assistant energy secretary for international affairs in the Clinton administration.