Mr. Bush, Your Legacy is Calling
Filed under: Africa ~ US Elections
The blog of attorney Robert Amsterdam, one of the lawyers fighting to free Mikhail Khodorkovsky from the Kremlin's railroad job, is a leader in reporting on developments in the energy sector, where Amsterdam has considerable professional expertise.
In a recent post, one of his contributors, Tom Nicholls, explains how ExxonMobil is poised to bring a huge new supply of oil onto the world market by means of an exploration project off the coast of Angola, the sixth-largest supplier of crude to the U.S. He writes: "The 0.6 billion barrel oil project -- which has the capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of oil a day -- is a milestone for the US supermajor, the operator, and for the country." With this production, Angola will run up against its OPEC-imposed production cap, but a field operated by BP has the potential to bring another 200,000 barrels on line later this year. Within ten years, Angola will have the capacity to produce 2.7 million barrels per day, 800,000 barrels above its current cap.
If Angola's cap isn't increased, then there will be a dramatic disincentive for the oil majors to develop fields like these, and hence to increase world production and reduce prices. American action against Iraq should have secured a major flow of oil, yet we have seen prices skyrocket. Meanwhile, our government seems to be ignoring the need to confront OPEC over issues like Angola. President Bush recently approached the Saudis in this regard, but apparently has little to show for his efforts.
It's presidential election season. Have you heard any candidates talking about the means by which we can increase the world supply of oil and hence lower prices? If not, isn't it time to start demanding it?
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