Is this guy the only person in the world that doesnt know that they are doing it to put more dollars in consumers hands to try to grow the worlds economy?  Apparently, the loss of 1.5 MM barrels of oil from Libya did not cause supply shortages…..Even my second grader could tell you that this means there is enough production capacity at this time to meet demand

Regarding triple digit oil prices, people have pointed to peak oil, QE and the speculators. Quite likely some combination of all 3 factors contribute but it would be interesting to know how much of this is caused solely by peak oil.

Lots of people, like Propensity6 for example, say there’s plenty of production to meet demand, however if this is true why aren’t we paying $10/barrel anymore like what the “business as usual” economy desperately needs and why are we tapping the tar sands/deep ocean/shale?

The Obama administration and the IEA aren’t nearly clever enough to sell oil now so they can buy it back later at lower prices.  Whats more likely is that someone in the Obama administration finally figured out that high oil prices are hurting the US recovery and the world economy, and decided to dump oil into the oil market to drive prices down.  The SPR release did drive down the price of oil—-for about two days—-but it has already recovered.  

This is likely partly about trying to buffer an anticipated mid-summer spike in oil (akin to that back in 2008) to avoid another oil-induced recession when Greece is about to default, and partly a last-ditch effort to satisfy the ‘Goldilocks’ syndrome that the current global oil industry needs, also to ward off the above-mentioned threat of recession.

Regarding the ‘Goldilocks’ phenomenon, apparently, oil prices need to be held within a narrow (and increasingly more narrow) price margin.  If oil prices become too low, it becomes less feasible or non-feasible to extract the less accessible oil (e.g., tar sands), which can quickly reduce supply and cause price spikes.  If oil prices climb too high, it kills demand and drives prices through the floor incucing what’s described above.  Or, more simply, things need to be kept ‘not too hot, not too cold, but just right’.

Peak oil brings stochasticity that can and will lead to chaos in the economy and everything else that’s so dependent on it.  And this is probably what the IEA knows and is partly trying to address in thier recent injection from reserves.  The 60 million barrels is to be released over a three month span, adding some 650,000-700,000 bpd to world production.

Nations with mature economies have the opportunity to wean themselves from oil, but it will require major lifestyle changes, and that won’t happen until the Baby Boomers are worked out of the demographics.  Chindia will continue to play things out but will crash-and-burn at a very high pace because their development is happening at a much higher rate for many obvious reasons. 

…but there is some hope, as even the U.S. military is investing very heavily into use of renewable alternative energies to maintain its ‘king of the castle’ world military presence, as we’ve seen recently with one of their new naval ships.  Hopefully that will spur many others to follow.  It needs to, and hopefully will, happen quick.

But it would happen a lot quicker if the IEA would quit interfering and let things play out as they should so that more people would open their eyes to do what inevitably has to happen if humanity hopes to persist.

Jeff, a mild inducement for the summer driving season gas prices.If Lybya is thought as an impairment towards world oil prices, I would hate to see what happens when , not if, there is instability elsewhere that crude is involved.As I have said before,natural gas to liquids will be a  bridge fuel in the market as supplies of crude become less available,mabey this will be good here in north america for a whole host of reasons. The clock is ticking and the world is still getting smaller.Unc ft st john bc canada

If the Saudis have extra spare capacity, why are they spending billions on steam injection (and seeking the technological expertise of Chevron) at the Wafra oil field? With subsidies rising to keep a restive population from revolting, why wouldn’t the Saudis tap the easy to produce oil that  it claims to have? Desperation is evident as mighty Ghawar receives CO2 injections. Matt Simmons and Jeff Rubin are correct; Twilight is setting is the Kingdom but it’s not comforting to note that Russia is heading to the arctic to increase supply. Where has all the cheap, easy to find oil gone?

The IEA can cite Libya, and Obama’s opponents can think it’s a stunt to make gas a little cheaper for poor folks on a summer driving trip.  Personally, I think it’s just a pissing contest with Iran.  And, given Iran’s vehement reaction, perhaps some satisfaction was obtained.  Iran has to figure out how not to become the next Iraq or Afghanistan.  Getting nukes, helping Iraq and Afghanistan to be even less susceptible to US military goals, and keeping the price of oil high to keep the US economy depressed, seem like strategies that are thus far working.

I don’t think that strategic reserves have been used for other purposes than to fill a required lack of global supply.  They well know that using strategic reserves for anything else would be a waste of ressources and would not really impact oil price or other measures very temporarily.