Word: petroleum
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That's also why the monarchy's peripatetic Petroleum Minister, Ali Naimi, was trying last week to broker production cuts among major oil producers to sop up a global glut that has recently pushed prices to a 12-year low, barely higher in real terms than in 1973. After several days of haggling at meetings in Europe and the Persian Gulf, Naimi finally announced a breakthrough: Iran, Algeria, Venezuela, Mexico and the Saudis agreed to press OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC countries for a 2 million- bbl.-a-day reduction in the flow of crude...
...some Americans do pay a huge price for cheap oil. Texas' petroleum industry, for example, loses roughly 10,000 jobs for every $1 drop in the value of crude. Nationwide the price collapse has so far cost 24,000 jobs, with an additional 17,000 at risk in the first half of 1999, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Almost 140,000 domestic oil wells have been abandoned in little over a year, principally in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Louisiana, forcing U.S. daily production down by 360,000 bbl. a day. In Alaska, which depends on tax revenues from...
Even big oil companies are worried about a bleak pricing future, one reason they are merging. British Petroleum and Amoco recently united, hoping to save more than $2 billion annually, with a reduction of 6,000 workers. The new Exxon/Mobil combination is expected to save about $2.8 billion, with 9,000 jobs eliminated. Conoco, Texaco and Chevron are also expected to reduce staff...
...Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Other readers will enjoy deconstructing the great skyscraper, a la David Macaulay's Unbuilding, which tells of the landmark's fictional dismantling by Saudi Prince Ali Smith for transport to the Arabian desert and reassembly as the headquarters of his petroleum empire...
...industry isn't the only one adjusting to the era of plentiful petroleum. As the price of crude oil falls, the prices of lightly taxed American gasoline (and other petrochemicals) follow suit. Car buyers, with the incentive of bottom-dollar gasoline, snatch up large, gasoline-inefficient automobiles-particularly sport utility vehicles-in increasing numbers. John Schutz, Nissan's director of research and development, said on CNN Interactive, "As long as gasoline is cheap, there will be demand for gas guzzlers." This, of course, encourages auto makers to produce SUVs, which they've done in ever-increasing numbers...