Germany is on the USA's side of the oil business

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

on 10/14/02 7:37 PM, Terrance at lycidas2 at earthlink.net wrote:

> Germany is the world's fifth largest energy consumer. Germany has highly
> developed economy and is dependent on oil to keep it going. Germany is
> over 60% dependent on imported energy. 40% of Germany's imported energy
> consumption is oil (the highest percentage). Moreover, Germany is
> committed to going non-nuke and it is also committed to environmental
> agreements. Like it or not, Germany is in the oil business. And, it's
> likely that  Germany will be more dependent on oil in the next decade
> than it is now. 
> Not only that, Germany is in Europe. It is part of the EU. The EU is
> dependent on oil.
> Much of it is also going non-nuke and will be more dependent on oil in
> the next decade. 
> Weak as it is currently, Europe can not weather a new oil shock, like
> oil above $40. Neither can East Asia where interest rate cuts won't be
> possible in the face of rising prices and inflation. OPEC is weak and
> getting weaker. The USA has warned OPEC not to cut production. So why is
> oil at $35?  W A R Market hate uncertainty. Right now, the world is
> pretty uncertain place. If Bush invades Iraq oil will probably top $40.
> But, if he controls the oil fields, we could see $10 oil. The Russians,
> who are now shipping oil to Texas won't like that. Neither will Saudi
> Arabia. But Germany won't cry. Germany, with no oil, is on the USA's
> side of the oil business. How will Germany pay for its share? Keep an
> eye on those ships and that "war on terrorism."


Full agreement with you on this one Terrance. I would point out that the U.S
has something that Germany does not: massive oil reserves of our own. It's
cheap to import oil to fuel cars; leaving petroleum to fuel tanks, planes,
ships etc. in the control of the U.S. military. It's hard to invade without
diesel fuel.