25 in the E.U. !

Now, if Bush and the US are successful with "regime change" the
subsequent reconstruction of Iraq would inevitably and significantly
transform the current global petroleum market. In a post-Saddam Iraq,
the United States (and our genuine allies) would surely help modernize
that country's oil fields and exploration capabilities. In other
words, President George W. Bush's "belligerent" foreign policy
promises sharply to boost future Iraqi oil production, which will
depress world oil prices, which will leave the Norwegian economy . . .
well, totally screwed.

Still think the

So you can say that Eurpope is experience an opposite economical effect than the US have had. I hope it wasnt so caus ethe US economy still has a lot of influence over the rest of the world, the € and the strength it has today might alter that a bit, so that if the marked crash in the States the effect wont be as devastating here, it will be very bad indeed but most of Europe will cope. Norway will be hit bad though since we are very much depended on our oil.....yet

Of major importance to the ultimate success of the euro, in terms
of the oil pricing, will be if Europe's two major oil producers â¤" the
United Kingdom and Norway join the single currency. Naturally, the future
integration of these two countries into the Euro-zone and Europe will be
important considering they are the region's two major oil producers in the
North Sea, which is home to the international crude oil benchmark, Brent.
This might create a momentum to shift the oil pricing system to euros."

And the US is oil hungry????

"The pivotal vote will probably be Sweden, where approval this next
autumn of adopting the euro also would give momentum to the Danish
government's strong desire to follow suit. Polls in Denmark now indicate
that the euro would pass with a comfortable margin and Norwegian polls show
a growing majority in favor of EU membership. Indeed, with Norway having
already integrated most EU economic directives through the EEA partnership
and with their strongly appreciated currency, their accession to the euro
would not only be effortless, but of great economic benefit.

And the US is money hungry??

this discussion how interesting as it might be is getting off topic tho

As go the Swedes, so probably will go the Danes & Norwegians. It's
the British who are the real obstacle to building momentum for the euro as
international transaction & reserve currency. So long as the United Kingdom
remains apart from the euro, reducing exchange rate costs between the euro
and the British pound remains their obvious priority. British adoption (a
near-given in the long run) would mount significant pressure toward
repegging the Brent crude benchmark - which is traded on the International
Petroleum Exchange in London - and the Norwegians would certainly have no
objection whatsoever that I can think of, whether or not they join the
European Union."

Did you know that Norway is the world's third largest oil exporter.

Did you know that the Norwegian government forecasts
rising unemployment and only modest total GDP growth from now through
the end of 2004. Can you add 2 + 2 and realize that even these
not-especially-cheerful forecasts depend for their fulfillment on
world oil prices remaining at current levels.

President George W. Bush's "belligerent" foreign policy
promises sharply to boost future Iraqi oil production, which will
depress world oil prices, which will leave the Norwegian economy . . .
well, totally screwed.

Finally, the maneuvers toward reducing the global dominance of the
dollar are already well underway and have only reason to accelerate so far
as I can see. An OPEC pricing shift would seem rather unlikely prior 2004 -
barring political motivations (ie. motivations of OPEC members) or a
disorderly collapse of the dollar (ie. prolonged high oil prices due to Iraq
war causes Japanese bank collapse)- but appears quite viable to take place
before the end of the decade."

Shall I go on????

well you can but dont do it in this thread, since this has nothing to do wiv the joining of the 10 new member states

In otherwords, around 2005, from an economic and monetary
perspectivem, it will be logical for OPEC to switch to the euro for oil
pricing. Of course that will devalue the dollar, and hurt the US economy
unless it begins making some structual changes - or use its massive military
power to force events upon the OPEC states...

And has it begun? Like I stated earlier ALL oil is now traded in the US dollar!!!!!!!! Which decreases the Euro

United Kingdom and Norway join the single currency

margin and Norwegian polls show
a growing majority in favor of EU membership. Indeed, with Norway having already integrated most EU economic directives through the EEA partnership and with their strongly appreciated currency, their accession to the eurowould not only be effortless, but of great economic benefit.

IM not on either side. What I state are the facts!!!!

The Bush junta will undertake the necessary steps to rapidly
increase production of Iraq oil, quintupling Iraq's current output - and
well beyond OPEC's 2 million barrel per day quota.

THe Us is not winning????

Despite this vast pool of oil, Iraq has never produced at a level
proportionate to the reserve base. Since the Gulf War, Iraq's production has
been limited by sanctions and allowed sales under the oil for food program
(by which Iraq has sold 60 billion dollars worth of oil over the last 5
years) and what else can be smuggled out. This amounts to less than 1
billion barrels per year. If Iraq were reintegrated into the world economy,
it could allow massive investment in its oil sector and boost output to 2.5
billion barrels per year, or about 7 million barrels a day.

Smuggled ie: Loss on the Iraqi foor for oil

lol when ush says this things aint over yet

What I state are the facts!!!!

it will be logical for OPEC to switch to the euro for oil

First would be the collapse of OPEC, whose strategy of limiting
production to maximize price will have finally reached its limit. An Iraq
that can produce that much oil will want to do so, and will not allow OPEC
to limit it to 2 million barrels per day. If Iraq busts its quota, then who
in OPEC will give up 5 million barrels of production? No one could afford
to, and OPEC would die. This would lead to the second major consequence,
which is a collapse in the price of oil to the 10-dollar range per barrel.
The world currently uses 25 billion barrels per year, so a 15-dollar drop
will save oil-consuming nations 375 billion dollars in crude oil costs every
year."

Currently the US uses 25million barrels a day\

The Iraq war is not a moneymaker. But it could be an OPEC breaker.
That however is a long-term outcome that will require Iraq to be
successfully reconstituted into a functioning state in which massive oil
sector investment can take place."