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Oil Price Manipulation as Part of GOP Election Strategy?

Energy Industry Today Offers Extended News Coverage of Bush Administration & Energy Prices


WASHINGTON, Oct 05, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- According to Bob Woodward, in 2004 Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar Bin Sultan promised George Bush that the Saudis would help bring oil prices down before the election by increasing the country's crude oil production.
Just weeks before this year's elections, oil prices have been falling fast and several reports suggest that this time, too, it is partly the result of a deliberate strategy aimed at helping the Republicans at the polls.
Goldman Sachs, formerly run by Bush's Treasury Secretary Paulson, announced in July that it had changed the unleaded gasoline component of its widely used commodity index from 8.45% to 2.30%, forcing investors to dump speculative positions in gasoline and consequently pushing down prices.
In another development, the Bush administration changed its original plan to postpone oil deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the fall, announcing recently that it will hold off purchases of oil for the government's emergency reserve through the upcoming winter, so until after the elections.
While arguably not the primary force behind the falling oil prices, the foregoing moves do raise questions about whether the Bush administration is using energy policy for strictly political purposes again.