To add to that the Chinese want a piece of Yukos..
Energy Review.. Yukos shortfall leads to Chinese lawsuit - Alfean Hardy, Malaysia
Wednesday, November 03, 2004 A report in Interfax indicates China's China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has filed a lawsuit against Russia's Yukos with an "international court" over the matter of non-delivery of crude to China in September.
Citing an anonymous CNPC official, the report stated, "China has been conducting talks with Yukos for a long time. Initially, Yukos warned us that it might suspend oil exports to China and we told Yukos that we would make use of official channels if this happens."
"Since oil exports were suspended in September, we've held a series of talks with Yukos, which, however, have not produced the expected result and we have therefore filed a lawsuit with an international court as the sole fair means of settling the situation. The company has acted in line accord with the terms of its contract with Yukos," added the insider.
As reported earlier in EnergyReview.net, the beleaguered Russian firm was forced to freeze its exports to CNPC when it was unable to pay its freight charges due to the fact its bank accounts had been frozen by the Russian tax authorities.
Huntleys......................
My positive view on oil is simply that we are at a new floor price for oil, US$35 a barrel, from which we will see upward spikes in the years to come, probably more severe towards the end of this decade. T. Boone Pickens, the well known Texas oil man and trader has just made a huge fortune at age 73 on the back of punting the oil price movement over the last year or so. His range for oil is US$40 to 60, with spikes above US$60 regarded as that, spikes, which will reverse. I've obviously had the "spike" zone at above US$50, and have been early. I yet may be right! Hedge funds can rapidly change direction, and add extraordinary volatility to a market - just look at copper several weeks back! Boone also regarded plus US$60 as the point where the price would hurt the US economy to a meaningful degree.
OIL WILL CONTINUE TO GO UP UNTIL IT HURTS. IT'S NOT HURTING THE ECONOMY AT US$50.00 OR US$55.00 A BARREL.
