"some sectors of the economy benefit when oil prices are high"

[Cocoa]

isn't that a great sentence? So understated and yet so true. Says something so obvious and yet so rarely heard. And then to have Halliburton appear in the next sentence.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.newgas09mar09,1,3429774.story?coll=bal-business-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

<snip>

Some sectors of the economy benefit when oil prices are high.

Yesterday, Standard & Poor's, the credit-rating agency, spoke favorably of the outlook for Halliburton Co., the Houston oil industry services company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The oil services industry picks up when crude prices are high and companies are eager to explore for potential petroleum fields.

"The stable outlook reflects Standard & Poor's expectation that solid financial and operating performance in oil field services will improve," S&P said.

More…

[Career Prole]

1. And such a stroke of good fortune that they have

such good friends with the power to affect oil prices.

[WMliberal]

2. The black market benefits when crack sales are high.

:silly:

Neither statement is untrue. Both just ignore the damage one sector can do to another.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Well, Duh!

What geniuses came up with this. Obviously the people selling fuel benefit because the oil biz has been operating on a fixed margin basis for about 75 years! They always get the same superior percentage apropos the cost of a gallon of crude. Since the refining costs don't go up when crude price jump, the operating costs stay constant, the raw material prices go up, and their prices go up proporationally to the raw costs.

Hence, when oil is expensive they make more money. It's been this way since about 1930. Someone needed to write this article?
The Professor

[Javaman]

4. hmmm, maybe the fucking rich?????????

God-damn these morons, must they insult us time and time again by one, pointing out the obvious and two making me feel that much more shitty with the crappy pay I make?

Fuck these people, They should be called the dept of understated habris aka DUH!!!

Assholes, the whole bunch of them.

[bigtree]

5. And production is up, apparently having no measurable effect on the price

LONDON, March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Oil cartel OPEC took advantage of
continuing high oil prices in February to boost crude production, ignoring a December pledge to remove overproduction beyond the official 27 million barrel per day (mil b/d) output ceiling, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed March 8.

Total OPEC output averaged 29.58-mil b/d in February, an increase of
290,000 b/d from January's 29.29-mil b/d. Excluding Iraq, whose output was unchanged from January at 1.85-mil b/d, the ten members with quotas pumped an average 27.73-mil b/d in February, up 290,000 b/d from January's 27.44-mil b/d.

"Higher prices inevitably lead to higher production, no matter what the official line on restraint might be," said John Kingston, global director of oil at Platts. "It is considered all but an impossibility that OPEC will cut production at its meeting next week in Iran, and it may be that market conditions by themselves are taking care of the consuming nations' need for more supply. That's what these numbers seem to show."

The biggest single increase came from Saudi Arabia, which raised
production by 150,000 b/d to 9.25-mil b/d despite having previously announced that it was producing around 9-mil b/d in line with its December pledge.

Other smaller increases totaling 160,000 b/d came from Iran, Kuwait,
Nigeria and the UAE. Only one country reduced output, Venezuelan production slipping to 2.68-mil b/d in February from 2.7-mil b/d in January.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-08-2005/0003157388&EDATE=

After a 25% drop in oil prices over previous weeks, the producers agreed to try to reign in the oil market oversupply, but no one, save Venezuela has reduced output. And still the price is rising. What other explanation is there except some sort of price gouging by the oil giants?

[ryan_cats]

6. Would some of those sector's names begin with Hall

Would some of those sector's names begin with Hal and end with iburton?