Your Gas Tank and the GOP

As you fill up your gas tank for the weekend think about the strong probability that recent low prices are part of the GOP election strategy. In Norman last night at a Shell station the price was $2.09 a gallon. At the same station a couple of weeks ago it was nearly $3.00. (To track OKC gas prices go to http://www.oklahomacitygasprices.com/.

Read the following from Bob Woodward about oil price manipulation, the GOP, and elections.

Oil Price Manipulation as Part of GOP Election Strategy? Energy Industry
Today Offers Extended News Coverage of Bush Administration & Energy Prices

WASHINGTON, October 5 -- According to Bob Woodward, in 2004 Saudi
Ambassador Prince Bandar Bin Sultan promised George Bush that the Saudis
would help bring oil prices down before the election by increasing the
country's crude oil production.

Just weeks before this year's elections, oil prices have been falling fast
and several reports suggest that this time, too, it is partly the result of
a deliberate strategy aimed at helping the Republicans at the polls.

Goldman Sachs, formerly run by Bush's Treasury Secretary Paulson,
announced in July that it had changed the unleaded gasoline component of its
widely used commodity index from 8.45% to 2.30%, forcing investors to dump
speculative positions in gasoline and consequently pushing down prices.

In another development, the Bush administration changed its original plan
to postpone oil deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the fall,
announcing recently that it will hold off purchases of oil for the
government's emergency reserve through the upcoming winter, so until after
the elections.

While arguably not the primary force behind the falling oil prices, the
foregoing moves do raise questions about whether the Bush administration is
using energy policy for strictly political purposes again.

Being one of the most comprehensive news websites on energy issues, Energy
Industry Today offers its readers in-depth news coverage of the Bush
administration and energy prices. See:

http://energy.einnews.com/news/bush-administration-strategic-petroleum-reserve
http://energy.einnews.com/news/bush-administration-oil-price
http://energy.einnews.com/news/bush-administration-energy-prices
http://energy.einnews.com/news/commodity-index