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Asian nations shift policies to offset rising energy prices

The tripling of oil prices over the last three to four years prompted Asian consumer countries to accelerate their domestic oil and gas exploration efforts and promote energy-saving policy changes, energy ministers from those countries said at a meeting with oil producers this month.

With Asia the destination for some 70% of oil exported from Gulf region, and the source of about 70% of the growth in world oil demand, energy changes are being pushed forward at a steady pace.

While the importance of the consuming nations’ energy relationship with the Gulf producers prevents any public expression of discontent, Asian energy officials privately said that high oil prices had contributed to price inflation, damaged their counties’ competitiveness and dampened consumer demand.

South Korea, one of the top four oil importing countries in the world, has developed policies focused on energy saving, efficiency and the maintenance of oil stockpiles to reduce the effect of high oil prices.

Across the region, governments are considering, or have started, the painful process of cutting fuel price subsidies, exposing their people, and businesses, to international prices.

While these policy adjustments are gradual and aim to avoid disruptive shocks, they have the capacity, together and over time, to limit the Asian need for Middle East oil.

International Herald Tribune, May 24th, 2007

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Rising cost of gas raises fears of gouging

The average price of gasoline in the United States set a record last week - $3.10 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration – up five cents from the week before and up 15 cents from the year before.

It goes without saying that gasoline retailers and oil companies will seek to maximize their profit, which usually mean charging the highest price markets can bear. But is the price gouging?

As the demand for gasoline is what economists call inelastic, since people cannot quickly reduce their consumption when prices rise sharply, abrupt shortages lead to steep price surges without an immediate decline in sales.

The most common reason for such increases in gasoline prices is a spike in the price of crude oil. But crude oil prices are set in global markets, and even the biggest U.S or European oil companies are modest players compared with state-controlled oil companies in the Gulf, Russia and Latin America.

Crude oil prices are actually a bit lower now than they were at this time last year. But gasoline prices are slightly higher than they were a year ago.

Industry executives say the anomaly reflects a temporary drop in refinery activity. Refinery capacity has not kept up with U.S. demand for gasoline. Oil companies, caught with vast amounts of excess refining capacity in the early 1980s, systematically reduced capacity during the lean years when energy prices and industry profit margins were the pity of Wall Street.

International Herald Tribune, May 22nd, 2007

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