Does any see the similarity between this shutdown and the russian pipeline shutdown going into Lithuania's Butinge facility?

Interesting, that US and Russia have convenient "accidents" that allow each country to keep it's oil on home turf.

Westexas...take it away...this is your cue.  

For starters the US did not have this accident, British Petroleum had this accident. Second, it wasn't an accident, it was corroded pipes that would have resulted in an accident if they were not repaired.

But I guess if you wish to see some grand conspiracy in any and every major event that happens, even a damded old corroded pipeline will suffice. Yes, it's all those evil-doers in Washington who caused this pipeline shutdown. They have probably been putting salt and water on the pipeline for months just to make it corrode.

I'm just saying that these accidents have the end result of keeping the oil in the ground or the "home" country from which it lies.

Now, put this in the backdrop of Iran saying they will use the "oil weapon" if the security council pushes things and it starts to smell not like a conspiracy theory, but perhaps countries keeping their oil wealth for themselves.

Is that such a HUGE stretch of the imagination.

Well, it would be a huge stretch of the imagination for the US to convince BP to damage their own pipelines. Why the hell would BP go along with that?

Second, everyone is screaming for more production, not less. Sure, it makes perfect sense to produce less, saving oil for when times really get tough. But who in Washington is that smart? They all want to drill more, produce more, get gas prices lower.

What most people fail to realize, especially all those conspiracy theory folks, is that except for one or two, Washington politicians know how to get elected and not much else. They haven't a clue about peak oil. They take the USGSs word for it and think oil will not peak until the mid 30s. And they believe by that time oil will be obsolete, we will be running everything on something much cheaper.

Yes, they really believe that, and so do most Americans. No one in Washington would dream of sabotaging BPs pipeline just to try to cut back on US oil production. Hell, they all want the exact opposite. They want more oil, cheaper gas, fewer pissed off voters.

Well, I have seen quotes from Dick Cheney that say he knows quite a bit about the oil industry, so I will have to disagree with your comments above.