Word: petroleum
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...world’s most important commodity, essential to all economies and militaries. U.S. control of Iraqi oil, even if indirect, would provide a major lever of power over Europe, Japan, China, Russia and any future rivals. It would also significantly decrease the power of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to influence oil prices and supplies. As a by-product, Bush, Cheney, other administration members and their cronies involved in the military-industrial complex of defense industry and oil interests would receive a major windfall...
...gasoline prices? To the threat of war in Iraq and this year's cold winter, add another culprit: the Administration's oil policies. That's the charge in a new Senate report produced by Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan. After 9/11, Bush developed a plan to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), a 700 million--bbl. store meant to sustain the U.S. in an emergency. Last year 40 million bbl. were added to the SPR. The report states those purchases drove up prices by adding to the demand for oil. An independent analyst says that had the Administration not acted...
...system works because, under U.N. rules, Baghdad gets to choose which companies are allowed to buy its oil, and it often selects lesser-known brokers or offshore shell companies. These shady middlemen quickly resell the petroleum to more established oil dealers and companies around the world...
...blossom, and their stocks, says Biggs, will outperform "in a big way." The safest direct play is through Hong Kong, where China's big companies trade. Wendell Perkins, who manages the Johnson Family International Value fund, one of the better-performing funds of the past three years, likes China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec), whose stock is up 25% in the past 12 months, and the rapidly growing Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings (down 34%), which sells satellite time for broadcasting and telecom use. Shares of both trade as ADRs on the New York Stock Exchange and have P/Es under 10. Sinopec...
...anytime soon. In the aftermath of war, Iraq could come under U.S. pressure to quit OPEC, but Baghdad is likely to resist because of its continued interest in maintaining higher prices. OPEC's share of world petroleum output has been slipping, however, from more than 50% in 1974 to about 42% today. And if cash-strapped Iraq eventually decides to boost production as high as 6 million bbl. a day, it could push world prices down sharply. So cheap oil may be on the way, but it could be a long time coming. --With reporting by Blaine Greteman/London, Scott MacLeod/Cairo...