A Militarist Manipulates The Oil Market

The top sources of US crude oil imports for February, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, were: "Mexico (1.774 million barrels per day), Canada (1.700 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.418 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1.342 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (1.175 million barrels per day). The rest were Angola (0.464 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.444 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.222 million barrels per day), Brazil (0.164 million barrels per day), and Algeria (0.163 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.860 million barrels per day in February, which is an increase of 0.147 million barrels per day from January 2006. The top five exporting countries accounted for 75 percent of United States crude oil imports in February and the top ten sources accounted for approximately 90 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. Canada was the largest exporter of total petroleum products again this month averaging 2.249 million barrels per day to the United States which is a decrease from last month (2.311 million barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum products again this month was Mexico (1.878 million barrels per day) which was an increase from last month (1.796 million barrels per day). Nigeria had a substantial increase in crude oil and total petroleum exports to the U.S. when compared to last months numbers." If we start at the head of the list, Mexico, a non-OPEC producer, has it's obvious contradictions which could lead Americans to take their oil trade with us for granted. The top three imports from Mexico to the U.S. are transportation equipment, computer and electronic products, and oil. The first two are essentially sustained in the 'maquiladora', U.S.–Mexico trade relationship where unfinished materials are passed to Mexico and returned to the U.S. as 'cheap' finished goods. For example, computer and electronic products were the top U.S. export to Mexico, but also our second-largest import from Mexico. Transportation equipment was the second largest U.S. export to Mexico but also our top U.S. import from them. Canada is pretty cut and dry, in the tank. Canada is the world's largest producer of energy, after the United States, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. Canada's proven reserves have also shown some decline as in Mexico, but they have been able to increase production some through exploration and modifying drilling techniques. The increases have been mostly 'heavy' oil and synthetics. Canada trades with the United States to the level of almost $400b a year. The United States account for about 85% of Canada's exports of everything. The U.S. accounts for 91% of all Canadian oil(67.4% of their energy supply), natural gas, and electricity exports. Heating needs push Canadian's consumption to high levels per person. Oil revenue remains critical to Canada's economy. Higher prices are a critical component in their economy. Indeed, the lower prices in '97 were a cause of Canadian concern about their overall economic health. There may be room to get Canada to increase production and help lower the overall price of oil, but they are subject to the same pressures as Mexico in their vulnerability to revenue changes and the relatively small impact any of their efforts to increase production would have against the major producers' abilities to band together and manipulate the supply. That leaves us with export majors like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Venezuela to service the rest of the United States' fuel needs. Lesser producers that we do business with include countries like Iraq, Angola, Brazil . . . Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Iraq represent the OPEC members in the bunch. OPEC is responsible for 40% of the world’s production of crude oil and holds more than two-thirds of the world’s estimated crude oil reserves. http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_ron_full_060422_a_militarist_manipul.htm

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