Yesterday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) called an emergency press conference to announce that the US and its partners will release 60 million barrels of oil in the next 30 days to offset the disruption of the flow stoppage from Libya. The US will “dump” (my words) a million barrels a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) into the Texas and Oklahoma markets to help alleviate global shortages.As you can see by the chart below (from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), US domestic crude oil stocks have been consistently below historical averages for the past year, well before the shutdown of Libyan oil. As we head into the summer driving season, the release of an extra million barrels a week from the SPR should help relieve any spot shortages, and minimize any price spikes this summer .... Read More at http://www.minyanville.com
"I think the most logical answer is the final statement, though the president had no problem with the benefits from the first five possibilities. All of this understates the real issue. The loss of 1.6 million barrels a day of sweet crude called the Saudi bluff that they could increase production enough to negate that loss. They clearly haven’t/couldn’t and Europe blinked. In my opinion, this is the first test that Peak Oil (the world will be unable to produce enough oil to meet demand) is right around the corner."
