A bit more news. OPEC Says It Will Forgo Production Cut from the NY Times today.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I see articles like this.

With prices hovering stubbornly above $60 per barrel -- well over the $40 to $50 range that many OPEC members have called optimal -- Daukoru said the group was ''concerned'' but refused to say what price threshold would trigger action....

''We are concerned that prices don't get out of hand -- that there's some sanity to price levels,'' he [Edmund Daukoru, Nigeria's oil minister and president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] said.

Oil ministers conceded that prices were uncomfortably high, but cautioned against lowering output at a time when extremists are attacking energy installations in Nigeria and the Middle East, the West is confronting Iran and only a comparative dribble of crude is coming out of Iraq.

Prices have hovered at high levels for months. On Wednesday, light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 43 cents to $61.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent on the ICE Futures exchange fell 47 cents to $60.70 a barrel.

It's ironic that we're getting quotes from Edmund Daukoru of Nigeria. Their production is going down and it seems there is little they can do about. MEND is on the move. But beyond that, OPEC can't raise production, they can only lower it to influence prices--which would send them up, not down. All this nonsense from OPEC is meant to give us the impression that they are in control. But if they want oil in the optimal $40 to $50 range, what exactly can they do about? Nothing, nothing at all. I have hardly ever heard such unmitigated bullshit in my life.

"Sheik Ahmed Fahd Al Ahmed Al Sabah, predicted that prices will drop below $60 a barrel by the end of June, but are likely to rebound to the $60 range in the fourth quarter. He said he believes political turmoil and extremism have added $5 to $8 to each barrel....".


He's an future oil price prophet

OPEC leads the charge toward greater price stability!

deffeyes points out how to lose money in the oil market.
Perhaps you would make the effort to expand on this cryptic remark and enlighten us all as to what you mean -- with a link, perhaps?
i scanned deffeyes "beyond oil" book.

at the book end deffeyes comments on how he invests in the oil market.

maybe good advice?

best
http://www.prosefights.org/shattuck/shattuck.htm

Dave said: "Perhaps you would make the effort to expand on this cryptic remark and enlighten us all as to what you mean."

So I guess the answer is no.

I guess the answer is: "sell oil futures at $60/bbl".
Jerome Corsi in "Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil" stated that the futures market takes into account all factors that can affect the market - instantly and efficiently.  IMHO this is yet another of his major BS statements that leads to a greater truth.  In fact the opposite is true:  The short-term futures market is highly manipulated and the "reasons" for price movements are only given by the "experts" AFTER said movements, not before.  

Many of us have guessed at the reasons that PO has been kept secret for so long, and I believe that the trashing of the oil prices (even by OPEC) is along the same lines. When you have trillions of dollars at stake, how much would you spend to plunge oil prices, especially if you know that you will make significant bucks from said plunge?  I have read many times that even the most extreme price movements can be caused by a relatively small amount of money.  All you need is a lack of buyers (bulls warn out by having their stops continually tripped) and a few sellers (the Conspiracy with billions of loose bucks to spend) and you can take the price down to any level you want.  News - spews.  Fundamentals - grundimentals. Peak oil - freak oil.  "They" control the vertical.  Do not try to adjust your dial.  I'm afraid that the natural and positive "Golden Hand of the Marketplace" is being held off by these people.  Just another indicator of how the people will be blindsided by the most nasty energy shock possible (I predict....)

Check this out for an example of how governments can manipulate gold prices to protect their paper currencies http://www.fgmr.com/manipulate.htm while "we the people" get moved further out on the limb that will inevitably break!  Get Ready!!!

I truly believe in the positive power of a truly free marketplace - I just don't believe that this world has ever had such a thing.

Have you heard of this?  If the futures market really took everything into account, what effect would this have?  Another example of how the Main Stream Media works with their Masters to keep oil prices low:

Satellite Data Used To Warn Oil Industry Of Potentially Dangerous Eddy Ocean FOCUS began issuing forecasts on 16 February 2006 - just in time to warn oil production operators of a new warm eddy that has formed in the oil and gas-producing region of the Gulf of Mexico.  
These eddies, similar to underwater hurricanes, spin off the Loop Current - an intrusion of warm surface water that flows northward from the Caribbean Sea through the Yucatan Strait - from the Gulf Stream and can cause extensive and costly damage to underwater equipment due to the extensive deep water oil production activities in the region...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060306094231.htm

News - Spews...

(I'm all for low oil prices, but not at the expense of the natural and proper preparation for Peak Oil.)