While traveling in the Middle East today, President George Bush made his case to OPEC nations for an increase in global oil supplies. Bush stated that current high oil prices could create an economic slowdown in America and that all consuming economies could feel the pain of recent record high prices.The statement came during the President's first visit to OPEC powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and he argued that a slowdown by consuming economies, such as the United States, would lead to less oil and gas purchases which will in turn hurt OPEC nations. Bush has also visited Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates and is doing his best to spread his view that "oil prices are very high, which is tough on our economy".
OPEC will next meet on February 1 to discuss the possibility of increasing supplies. Bush is not the only one in the Middle East pleading their case for OPEC's lifting of their quotas. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman headed to the Middle East yesterday to push for increased output from the cartel.
Oil was not the only thing on Bush's mind today, with the President issuing a harsh warning to Iran over last week's incident between Iranian speedboats and three U.S. Navy warships. According to American officials, five Iranian speedboats made aggressive maneuvers on its warships, but Iranian officials have denied that anything out of the ordinary took place, and said that the United States had fabricated video and audio regarding the incident.
In a stern warning to Iran, Bush stated that any attack on any American vessels by an Iranian ship would lead to "serious consequences." There is definitely no love lost between Iran and the United States, with Bush just as recently as Sunday told listeners in a speech in Abu Dhabi that Iran still remains the world's top sponsor of terrorism.
Oil prices, that were testing $100 a barrel not too long ago, have cooled off a bit lately and are currently trading right at $94 a barrel.
Let's close by taking a look at a current chart of oil:
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer
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