Articles of Interest: Taxes and Oil

On one side of the coin the Saudi's suggest the West lowers taxes on oil consumption, others say a say the so-called gas tax would actually force people to be responsible with how they manage oil and gas. The latter being posited at The Oil Drum in this article titled "The Speech I'd Like to Hear from a Presidential Candidate on Energy and Climate Change" by Eugene Linden

Here are some excerpts of what the Saudi's argue in the article from The Independent:

"Next month, the Saudis will be pumping an extra half-a-million barrels of oil a day compared to last month, bringing total Saudi production to 9.7 million barrels a day, their highest ever level. But the world's biggest oil exporters are coupling the increase with an appeal to western Europe to cut fuel taxes to lower the price of petrol to consumers."

And:

"But the Saudis argue that although the barrel has jumped as high as $140 recently, they are earning less in real terms owing to the decline in the value of the dollar. Until now they have hesitated to announce a large increase over a sustained period, sticking to the Opec line which blames Western speculators for the increase."

And:

"The Saudi monarch shared his concern that the oil price was "abnormally high" although he blamed "national policies" in the West, Mr Ban told The Independent yesterday. "He was also suggesting that consumers should play their own role..."

And pragmatically:

"But it appears the Saudis are just as worried that record prices – on Friday oil was being priced at just under $135 a barrel – could dampen growth in the industrialised West and lower demand, which would in turn hurt the kingdom."