Been spending the weekend at Colonial Williamsburg and thinking about an earlier age and an earlier King who much like our President ruled the world. Why else would an oil man invade a country that produced 3.5 million barrels of oil a day. Now that same country only produces 2 million barrels of oil a day. If you want to drive up the price of crude oil and in so doing maximize your profits and those of your prime contributors you might do just that. The War in Iraq has not brought democracy to Iraq nor stability and safety to the region. It has raised the price of oil from $40 a barrel to $135 a barrel. That would seem to benefit big oil producers and also Mr. Bush.
The invasion of Iraq by Britain and the US has trebled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices alone…..
The world’s biggest oil well, it is said, lies beneath Detroit. US vehicles get an average of only 25 miles per gallon. Dramatically improving this would do more to ease the oil crunch than any likely new discovery. But new measures recently approved by Congress would increase the average only to the 35mpg already being achieved by China. Europe does better, if not well enough, at 44mpg.
Rising fuel prices are already beginning to drive change. Sales of 4×4s are plummeting in both the US and Britain, and those of hybrids – which do 60mpg are soaring. As the price climbs further, manufacturers will unlock long-prepared plans for much more efficient vehicles. “Plug-in” hybrids, charged up with electricity overnight, save another 45 per cent in petrol consumption. Further down the line is the “hypercar” – made of tough, light plastic – which could cross the US on a single tankful…