Word: crude
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...made plans for an emergency meeting next week in Geneva, where they hoped to devise a plan for holding the line on prices. But almost immediately after the meeting was announced, a member broke ranks. Nigeria, one of the poorest OPEC countries, cut the price of its Bonny Light crude by $2, to $28, in order to prevent a decline in sales. Nigerian Oil Minister Tarn David-West said the country had to place its own economic health on a higher priority than its loyalty to OPEC...
...ironic reason for the slack demand for so-called sweet crude like Britain's Brent light is that its quality is too high. Traditionally, refiners were willing to pay a premium for light, low-sulfur crude, which is used primarily to make gasoline. But refiners in the past year have improved their technology so that they use more of the less expensive, heavy crude. Thus the so-called sour oil is getting a larger share of the market, and its price has been holding firmer. In the past few weeks Saudi Arabia has boosted its exports of heavy crude...
...pricing problems between light and heavy crude come at a time when the oil industry is just recovering from two years of massive oversupply, caused largely by conservation measures and the global economic slump. Total oil consumption is expected to increase about 3% this year over 1983, thanks partly to strong growth in the U.S. and Japan. But that pace is too slow to satisfy OPEC members, which are currently producing slightly less than their self-imposed quota of 17.5 million bbl. per day, only half their capacity. As a result, OPEC countries such as Libya and Iran have been...
When OPEC ministers meet in Geneva, they will have four basic choices: cut production, cut prices, adjust prices between light and heavy crude, or do nothing while hoping demand will pick up soon. It will be extremely difficult for them to decide which members should cut back output and by how much. All the countries want to keep production up in order to keep money flowing in. Iran and Iraq have a four-year-long war to finance. Venezuela and Nigeria owe large debts to Western bankers. Reducing the official price from $29 to compete with Britain could start...
...would be very good news to homeowners as the weather gets colder. Last winter the price of home heating oil jumped by about 100 per gal. in two months, to $1.17, when a series of cold snaps hit the U.S. But if this winter is normal, a decline in crude prices of $1.50 could bring a 30 drop in heating oil, to $1.02 per gal. Heating-oil users are also benefiting from the fuel's competition with natural gas, which currently is in abundant supply in the U.S. Possibly adding to the gas glut is the Canadian government...