The stores of sweet light crude that keep America’s wheels running, are running dangerously low. If you’re worried about the price at the pump, you should also know that America’s oil supplies are at levels last visited when Pintos were still on the road and Ford was in the White House.
The shrinking stores represent the collision of a number of forces: uncertainty over a war with Iraq, Venezuela’s ongoing oil strike, a harsh winter’s higher heating demands. And as dollar prices per barrel inch into the red zone of the high ’30s, the pain is being passed along to you. Relief, so far, is elusive. War with Iraq could drive prices even higher, or bring new oil onstream. It’s a gamble where market forces and geopolitics get equal play. Speculating and the prospects for America’s oil economy.
Guests:
Youssef Michel Ibrahim, editor in chief, Energy Intelligence Group and senior fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Larry Goldstein, president, Petroleum Industry Research Foundation