[Dog Gone]

Some of them might be trying to pace themselves, some are already producing much less than they would wish.

I am so tired of this conspiracy theory mindset at this forum.

People, especially those in charge of huge businesses, are not total idiots.

They are producing as fast as they possibly can at these record prices. Why wouldn't they? So their competition can?

It is really time to get a grip around here.

[bjs1779]

They are producing as fast as they possibly can at these record prices. Why wouldn't they?

Is that why Saudi Arabia declined to increase production this week dispute our begging?

[LeGrande]

The problem is lag time and expense. No one can predict the price of oil in 10 to twenty years, which is about the amount of time that it takes for new sources to hit the market.

The only thing that matters is who can produce the oil the cheapest and the last 10% of demand. The only thing that we know for certain is that we don’t know.

[R W Reactionairy]

Dog Gone, I usually agree with you, but the objectives of a Government that has full mineral rights in perpetuity, a rapidly growing population and not much other than oil and a very nasty desert to work with should have a longer time horizon.

The Saudis [and to a lesser extent the Kuwaitis and maybe others] may be playing a waiting game.

I hope so, as that would tell me there is still something more to come. Since most of the mainstream supply / demand models show the Persian Gulf region production as the plug number to balance supply and demand this is a critical question.