Other proposals target speculators and the OPEC cartel.
ECONOMIST: Finding more oil has become the first issue of the campaign
Long before vast numbers of such Flexible Fuel Vehicles are on the roads, the OPEC cartel-induced speculative bubble that has contributed to the recent run-up in the price per barrel of oil will be lanced.
The path to energy self sufficiency would require less dependence on the OPEC cartel and fewer dollars being spent protecting supplies in risky areas like the Middle East, thus lowering our defense budget and improving our budget deficit situation.
Saudi Arabia is one of the key members of the OPEC oil cartel.
Mirkazemi argued that since the OPEC oil cartel has not discussed increasing supplies, Saudi Arabia had no right to increase its oil output.
Oil markets have been rattled by an escalation of hostilities between the OPEC oil cartel and the IEA, oil watchdog for rich western nations.
FORBES: Oil On The Verge Of A 4-Day Rally As OPEC-IEA Conflict Escalates
The populous nation, a member of the OPEC oil cartel, possesses vast oil resources and is active in regional affairs -- most notably in its newly democratic government's efforts to battle HIV and AIDS and its regional peacekeeping missions.
The talks were chaired by Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, a former head of the oil cartel Opec.
Members of OPEC, the cartel of oil rich nations are in Venezuela for a one day meeting.
Oil cartel OPEC on Tuesday cut its global demand forecast for 2008 for the fourth time this year, adding consumption would continue to slow in 2009.
Energy prices, led by a 13% rise this year in the price of oil, have hit new post-recession highs, also driven by the global recovery, as well as the oil cartel Opec's apparent unwillingness to increase supply.
Both the oil cartel Opec and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have raised their forecasts for oil demand next year, but they say economic growth and hence demand for oil is set to remain relatively subdued in the developed world.
Such gratitude is not, of course, due the Saudis - who, we are endlessly told, are among our most reliable "friends" in the Middle East - because they are working to drive down the price of oil set by the OPEC racketeers' cartel.
OPEC, as the cartel never knows how much Iraqi oil to expect.
Thailand has even flirted with the idea of an OPEC-style rice cartel.
More likely, say others close to Opec, the oil cartel is a differently composed, more economically sophisticated organisation than it was 25 years ago.
OPEC, the oil producers' cartel, gathered in Beirut this week under pressure from Saudi Arabia, its dominant force, to raise production quotas.
ECONOMIST: Markets fret about supplies from Saudi Arabia. Rightly so
However, he contradicted that statement the next day (most likely after coming under pressure from Saudi Arabia, the leading member of OPEC), claiming that the cartel has around 1m to 1.5m barrels per day (bpd) of spare capacity that it could tap immediately.
Libya's fate is hard to predict but the economic uncertainties boil down to a hoary question: how much is Saudi Arabia, the linchpin of OPEC, the oil-exporters' cartel, able and willing to pump?
The president of OPEC, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, told the Wall Street Journal that the cartel would not cut production below 24m bpd unless big oil exporters outside OPEC, including Mexico and Norway as well as Russia, were prepared to cut production too.
OPEC's new president, then the cartel will cut production by 500, 000 barrels a day.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the oil-producers' cartel, estimates that SARS has reduced Asian oil demand by 300, 000 barrels per day.
This global tax cartel will be akin to an OPEC for politicians, and the impact on taxpayers will be quite similar to the impact of the real OPEC on motorists.
Long forgotten now, it was only in September 2008 when Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Sechin was dispatched to OPEC meetings to try and strike bilateral agreements with cartel members when prices plummeted.
It stands to reason that replacing OPEC's monopoly with fuel competition will force the cartel and commodities speculators to drop the price of oil.
For those who take OPEC's optimistic view of Iraqi production at face value, the cartel's move should not have come as a surprise.
OPEC's power has been on the wane since the oil crises of the 1970s, when the cartel was able to triple prices almost overnight by restricting supply to western consumers.
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