Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that oil prices could more than double to $200 per barrel if the United States attacked Iran over a standoff about Tehran's nuclear program.
"If the United States is crazy enough to attack Iran or commit aggression against Venezuela ... Oil would not be $100 but $200," Chavez told an OPEC summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh. His remarks were translated into Arabic.
Chavez also said $100 per barrel was a "fair" price for oil.
Oil has lapped against the $100-mark this month, prompting consumer nations to call on the exporter group to help ease price pressure by providing the market with more crude.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia objected to an attempt by Iran and Venezuela to highlight concern over the dollar's weakness in the summit communique and the group voted the proposal out.
Venezuela is a price hawk and holds some of the largest reserves outside the Middle East and is the no. 4 US supplier.
2007-11-17 09:26:15 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in News & Events ➔ Current Events
chavez is a small dog who tires hard to be like the big dogs,on the world stage he is a joke,he has no clue about the real world,a puppet like the iraninan president who has no power yet loves to babble and babble,chavez goes to these meetings and talks for long nonsnse hours and bores eveyone,he is a nobody trying to be somebody,paranoid child
2007-11-17 09:40:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Without another superpower to make Chavez a puppet, he and Venezuela are no more then a side show to the USA. If he refuses to sell oil to the USA, total oil supply will not change - we will get it elsewhere and he will sell elsewhere. As for Iran, they have a large WWI-style cannon fodder military - a type that can stop invasion but is unable to project power. The Arabs hate them. They will have little long-term affect on oil supply or costs in the unlikely event of a war with them. In the even more unlikely event of intervention in Venezuela by the USA, it would only be at the behest of a second, opposition government and the first thing to happen before Chavez even knew what was happening would be special forces securing the oil platforms.
Chavez is a fascist but in a small, weak country. He can be annoying and I feel for the people of Venezuela who have a long history of capitalism, but they can be no more then an irritation to the USA for the foreseeable future.
2007-11-17 19:45:15 · answer #2 · answered by Caninelegion 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I take it seriously because I think almost the same thing. Would the price of oil double if the US attacked Iran? Previous spikes were caused by the Arab oil embargo in 1973 ($2.50 to $12 dollars per barrel), and the Iranian revolution in 1979 ($15 to $39 dollars per barrel). The 1991 Gulf War caused a short spike. If the US attacked Iran and Iran managed to shut off Saudi Arabia's output, it would cause a major spike. Prices at least doubling would not surprise me at all. Attacking Venezuela would shut off a major source for the US, but would cause less of a spike. See what happened when Katrina shut off Gulf of Mexico production. Whether $100 a barrel is "fair" or not is an opinion, market forces are temporarily balanced near that price.
2007-11-17 18:13:49 · answer #3 · answered by Eric 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
he might be right the oil price seems to go up every-time something happens in the middle east . and Chavez is crazy enough to try and drive the price of oil up.
2007-11-17 18:01:34 · answer #4 · answered by dan m 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Chavez was just taking the opportunity to say as much as HRH Juan Carlos of Spain didn't let him to say. Chavez is an illiterate with delusions of grandeur,.........nothing else!!!!
2007-11-17 18:48:48 · answer #5 · answered by Millie 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
yawn
2007-11-17 17:38:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋