Oil Experts Say Third 'Predictable' Personality Could Shape Presidential Election, Send Gas Prices Skyrocketing And Fuel Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Yemen Opens Door for Sadaam to Ignite Energy and Peace Process Crises

HOUSTON, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The depth of Arab animosity toward the West -- and the United States as the clearest target of that animosity -- is exemplified by Thursday's attack on a U.S. warship in Yemen, according to Michael J. Economides and Ronald E. Oligney, professors at the University of Houston and energy advisors to Fortune 500 companies. ``There is a palpable and clearly undesirable sense that Iraq's Saddam Hussein will do something to ignite the situation,'' say the experts.
Over a year ago, when oil was $14 a barrel, Economides and Oligney accurately predicted with much skepticism that oil would be going for $30 a barrel by year's end. The two oil and energy experts now feel the current extraordinarily tight energy situation, presidential politics in the United States, the erupting Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and one crazy but almost predictable Middle East dictator could spell disaster for the United States this fall. His most potent weapon: oil.

According to Economides and Oligney, ``pulling one or two million barrels per day from the world oil supply, even if it would essentially amount to a starvation policy for the hapless Iraqis, would propel the price of oil to $50 per barrel overnight and wreak havoc with the U.S. energy-intensive lifestyle. The U.S. presidential election provides him (Sadaam) with an additional and compelling impetus.'' This, coupled with the fact that, according to the two, ``Saddam Hussein's entire raison d'etre is to appear relevant and powerful both inside his country and in the entire Arab and Moslem worlds'' giving him an even wider agenda of manipulating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The two experts have stated publicly that no action by the U.S. Administration short of a military response can really counteract a sudden cut of oil production by Iraq and the credibility of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be questioned: all shaping factors in the Presidential election.

Economides and Oligney are currently on an OTEK (Australia) sponsored national media tour for their new book The Color of Oil, with expected November reviews in both the journal Energy and Oil Week Magazine, America's and Canada's most prestigious energy periodicals, respectively.