OPEC SAYS BLAME REFINERS, NOT US and SUE OPEC?

Following on a story from last week on oil price and refinery bottlenecks.

Energy chief: OPEC’s hands tied; Algerian energy minister Chakib Khelil blames capacity, refining problems for high price of global crude
July 9, 2007 (Reuters via CNN Money)

WHO
Chakib Khelil, Algeria Energy and Mines Minister
OPEC member states (click to enlarge)

WHAT
Khelil added his voice to other OPEC spokesmen who argue that present high oil prices are the product of refinery “throughputs” and not producers’ failure to supply the market.

WHEN
Statement July 9.

WHERE
Statement in Brussels

WHY
Oil prices are once again over $70/barrel, though below last summer’s all time highs in the $78 range. Khelil argued these price levels do not restrain economic activity.

QUOTES
Khelil: "There is plenty of stocks. It's a problem with capacity and refining… Even if it (OPEC) increases production, it's just going to increase stocks and not have any affect because prices are drawn by petroleum product prices."

Oil: A Defining Moment for Our Political Class and the Press
Raymond J. Learsay, July 9, 2007 (The Huffington Post)

WHO
Raymond J.Learsay, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
click to enlarge

WHAT
Oil expert Learsay explains that a provision of the recently passed energy bill allows for suing OPEC over anti-trust practices. He contends the Senate’s sustaining of this provision against President Bush’s veto threat is a test of leadership.

WHEN
Showdown expected this fall.

WHERE
Washington, D.C.

WHY
“…the ability of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to operate freely outside the law, hiding behind our sovereign immunity shield, has made it possible for the cartel to fix pricing in the oil market in a way that the oil companies and oil interests have benefited in the billions if not the trillions at our expense over the past years. This gusher of money has given them enormous wherewithal to influence policy. The oil patch wants no interference with the status quo and will marshal all its ammunition to defeat this bill.”

“In defiance of the oil lobby the Congress and the House of Representatives have overwhelmingly voted for the "NOPEC" bill (70-23 in the Senate and 345-72 in the House) so dubbed because it would allow the international oil cartel, OPEC, to be sued under U.S. anti-trust law as are other cartel/anti-trust violators…Hereby an act of refreshing and courageous leadership by our Congress.”

“The White House Office of Management and Budget has let it be known that it would advise the president to veto the bill because litigating against OPEC could trigger a variety of legal, political and economic headaches. You can bet the farm that the White House will come up with a full agenda of arcanely documented reasons (enthusiastically supplied by the "K" Street oil lobby crowd) to veto the bill.”

QUOTES
“There are of course the warnings by those parties interested in NOPEC's defeat cautioning us that if sued, OPEC might reduce or cut supplies to the United States. Let them! They need us as badly as customers as we have counted on them as suppliers. And for too long it has been a one-way street. We do their bidding while they play us for fools… Bringing OPEC to reasonableness is a beginning step toward energy self-reliance. To show that we are no longer afraid of their threats and that we will work assiduously toward minimizing our dependence on carbon based fuels. That the time is not far away that they will need us more as customer than we need them as supplier.”