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Once marginal, now kings of the oil world |
| Home | (The New York Times) - Oil futures settled above $75 a barrel last week, and analysts blamed the usual cocktail of geopolitics and domestic instability. There was Iran's challenge to the West over its nuclear research program, as well as the seemingly endless conflicts within Nigeria and Iraq. All those countries are major oil exporters, producing some eight million barrels a day. Now, add Chad's problems to the mix. Idriss Déby, the president of Chad, threatened to shut off the country's production of 180,000 barrels of oil a day by May if Exxon Mobil and other oil companies do not pay $100 million in new taxes. The threat was the latest in Chad's attempts to get the World Bank to loosen an agreement limiting how much oil money the corruption-ridden government can spend. |