Talk of $200 oil casts shadow over G8 summit

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) – Italy on Monday proposed increasing margin requirements on futures markets to deter speculative buying of oil, which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said could reach $200 a barrel.

“There are fears oil prices could increase further. Some people fear they could reach $200,” Berlusconi told reporters on the sidelines of the annual summit of the Group of Eight rich nations on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. [More]

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — With $100-a-barrel here for now, Goldman Sachs says $200 a barrel could be a reality in the not-too-distant future in the case of a “major disruption.”

With the dollar’s fall continuing and financial markets roiled by the credit crunch, commodities like oil have been drawing the fancy of increasing numbers of investors. Accordingly, Wall Street firms have been eager to adjust forecasts to incorporate fresh data on the global economy and energy supplies.

Production quotas are unable to keep pace with world demand of 82-million barrels a day, which is increasing as China’s and India’s economies grow.

The era of cheap oil is at an end, experts and the industry are warning. A diverse range of oil industry insiders — like Ali Bakhtiari, head of strategic planning at Iran’s National Oil Company; Dr Colin Campbell; a former executive vice-president of Total-Fina; and Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker and energy adviser to the Bush administration — are united in their belief that global oil production is about to peak, which will signal the permanent end of cheap oil.

Dust off your bicycles …

$200 Oil and $6 Gas Just Months Away

We can argue about whether high oil is a bubble or not and who the villians are, but $200 oil is now a real possibility. WSJ:

Oil’s historic ascent from $100 to nearly $150 a barrel in just six months is lending weight to a far grimmer prediction: Crude could reach $200 a barrel by the end of the year.

Oil at that price would wreak deeper havoc on the world’s airlines and automobile industries.

In the U.S., $200 crude would push the price of gasoline to well over $6 a gallon, causing commuters to alter their driving habits more sharply than they have already, while putting extreme strains on large sectors of the U.S. economy.

The good news, such as it is, is that such theories no longer seem crazy. And the more that talk of an “oil bubble” is replaced by a sullen consensus that prices are headed straight to the moon, the more likely it is we’ll get a major correction. Unfortunately, the main catalyst for this drop will likely be global economic collapse.

Why oil costs over $140 per barrel: the failure of leadership

The speed of living is about to slow down. We are experiencing a global shift in how humans do business. This shift is already becoming traumatic for most. Accustomed to solve personal shortages by jumping into a car, people have major adaptations to make. Abandoning frivolous reasons for practical reasons, about using personal transportation, is currently the largest test for western society. Multi-tasking will become a way of life … lower income families are already doing this. There is much still to learn and much adaptation to embrace if we are to survive. Learning to entertain ourselves constructively, instead of seeking mind numbing video or computer games, will be a BIG challenge for western youths.

Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets:

• Implications for Health Coverage – Report
• How Low-Income Households Allocate Their Food Budget
• Michigan Budget Crunch Forces Cancellation of Federal Family Education Loan Program
• Budget crunch hits kids in the belly
• Latest Victim Of California Budget Crunch: Foster Homes

• * Obama wants $50 billion stimulus package
• * McCain has support of 300 economists
• * Trade, health care differences

ST. LOUIS, July 7 (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama on Monday called for a second stimulus package to boost the ailing U.S. economy, while Republican John McCain tried to paint his presidential rival as a tax-and-spend liberal in a battle over who can best handle voters’ No. 1 concern.

With Americans returning to work after the Independence Day holiday weekend, both candidates turned to the economy in a bid to win over voters wrestling with home foreclosures, job losses and the soaring cost of gasoline.

USD stronger on lower oil prices as G8 summit begins

This is what I have been waiting for …

Toyota to equip Prius with solar panels: report

Now, all I have to do is organize my green living efforts. Separating garbage will be one of my biggest challenges because my garbage company is not cooperating. I have managed to separate wet garbage and have a working mulch pile. I am gently nudging my lifestyle toward sustainability and low impact. There is no switch to flip, unless it is OFF!

Japan has an admirable mission called mottainai: It means “don’t waste”