Subject: iraq and crude output
an interesting piece of information from the oil markets .
iraq is trying to extract concessions from the us and threatens to shut down
production as of oct 1 ( just in time for the us elections ) .
the source of this info is phil verlaeger ( an oil analyst ) .
he is very good but excessively concerned with iraqi machinations .
he is the source of news ( reported by friedman of the new york times in
his op - ed columns ) about massive iraqi trading in the
oil futures markets . i personally discount this info : the volume and
transparency of
the oil markets would not support this type of huge scale operations by
saddam ' s
government . there may be some trading by iraqi officials on the side .
vince