"The International Energy Agency yesterday revised its 2010 world oil demand forecast slightly higher, but warned that rising crude prices, if sustained, risk smothering the fragile economic recovery under way.
The Paris-based agency said it expects global oil demand to rise to 86.2 million barrels a day next year, representing an upward revision of 140,000 barrels a day from its previous monthly oil market report in October" Vanguard, Nov. 6, 2009
The primary reason for insisting on deregulation and free market economy in the oil sector is to protect the energy sector in developed countries. The OPEC countries and independent producers must taste their own pills for contributing to the surging aggregate demand and increase in crude oil price. Increasing pump price is designed to force elasticity on the demand for local consumption. If local consumption drops at the expense of local productivity dependent on favourable energy cost, the local economy goes into recession. That is not the business of IEA. Afterall, when we suffer, they gain by our expanded dependence on them and brain-drain into their thriving economies. And Mr President has said Nigerians need to suffer as if that is the reason we voted for him. WE MUST define our interests from our needs for sustainable development. Anything that allows price of fuel to freely rise under greedy cabals supervised by weak government infrastructure, is dangerous to the Nigerian economy.
If rising oil price is harmful to the developed economies, it is dangerous to emerging economies without any internal protection. This is very obvious to me, but is it obvious to the Federal Government of Nigeria?
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