In Energy News
People are wondering why the price of gas has jumped. Juan Cole notes that WaPo says Gasoline Price Increase Mysterious, Ignores US blockade of Iran Oil!
A rise in prices is always blamed on supply and demand, and sometimes that is the reason. As long as the US continues to block the sale of Iranian oil, the price you pay at pump is not going to come down. Add to that the reality that the increase in oil production in the US is all being exported because prices in Europe and Asia have risen even higher than US prices. The US doesn’t buy Iranian oil, but Europe and Asia do, so those are the markets most affected.
Those are also the markets where the refined products from the Canadian oil sands will be sold, not the US. That’s what TransCanada told its partners in the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The CBC reported yesterday that a John Kerry speech is ominous for the Keystone XL pipeline:
In yet another potentially ominous sign for TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline, John Kerry used his first major address as secretary of state on Wednesday to make an urgent call for comprehensive action on climate change.
Notice the linkage? The CBC notes that oil sands and the pipeline are bad for climate change, which is true if you look at what it takes to extract the bitumen from the oil sand, and what it takes to refine it. I would also note that TransCanada does not have a stellar record on building or maintaining pipelines.
