Wednesday, September 21, 2005

9/19/05 - 9/25/05

Has anyone noticed that the U.S. has been weakening and China has been strengthening during the past several years? We need to wake up, this is no longer the 20th century folks. The sleeping giant is a threat to the U.S. ability to dominate the world political stage. The transition has started many years ago, people will realize this when it is too late.

China Preparing For War And Few Notice
By Chuck Baldwin
9-22-5
Ever since President Richard Nixon entered into détente with the communist regime in China, America has doggedly assisted in the commercial and military buildup of the Marxist nation. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have mollycoddled the Red Chinese to the point that now they have grown big enough to cause serious concern.

Both Bill Clinton and G.W. Bush have facilitated the transfers of billions of dollars of commercial assistance to Red China, not to mention vast amounts of technology which China has used to further its military machine. Each president refuses to identify China as an adversary, choosing rather to call it a "trading partner." However, China has not been hesitant to use this assistance to construct a formidable military apparatus. At the same time, the U.S. seems determined to reduce our military, especially our navy, to dangerously low levels.

For example, since Ronald Reagan left office, the United States has reduced its navy from a fleet of 600 ships and submarines to 288 and shrinking. To give the reader an idea of just how small our navy has become, our current navy fleet is equal in size to that when William Howard Taft was in office!

Beyond that, our carrier fleet is on its way to the elephant graveyard. Three of the five in service were built before 1975. Consider, too, that the number of fighter aircraft has dropped to fewer than 3,500 and is expected to fall to under 2,000. However, while the United States continues to mothball its military, Communist China is (with America's help) building its military like there is no tomorrow.

The Washington Times recently reported that "China soon will receive a new Kilo submarine from Russia, part of a naval buildup of modern warships and submarines that has triggered new fears for U.S. military planners.

"It is the first of eight advanced Kilos that China is acquiring, and intelligence officials say the submarine will be outfitted with advanced SS-N-27 cruise missiles, which are capable of attacking U.S. warships. Since 2002, China has built 14 submarines."

The Times report quoted one intelligence official as saying, "China's surface-to-air missile forces also are increasing, including new short- and long-range missiles, along with a new warhead that can maneuver to avoid missile defenses.

"If you take a step back and look at the entire array of Chinese weapons, the Kilos, the Songs, the Yuans, the ballistic missiles, this [maneuverable warhead] capability, more surface ships with anti-ship cruise missiles, these are all things that are going to give you capability to deal with any kind of naval force that comes toward you."

The China Reform Monitor recently ran a report saying, "Experts are warning that China is outpacing the United States in the development of attack submarines and could have as much as a three-to-one advantage over the United States by 2025."

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently warned that "China's investment in missiles and up-to-date military technology posed a risk not only to Taiwan and to American interests, but also to nations across Asia that view themselves as China's trading partners, not rivals."

Most all China experts agree that the Marxist government in Beijing is planning to attack Taiwan and is preparing to take on the United States if we interfere. It has more than doubled its fleet of amphibious landing and troop-carrying ships. It has entered into an agreement with Russia which guarantees Russia will not help the United States should conflict erupt between the U.S. and China. And just weeks ago, China even participated in joint military maneuvers with Russia. But the Chinese threat is actually even more ominous.

Syndicated columnist, Cal Thomas, recently quoted from a new > book written by former special assistant for national security affairs to Ronald Reagan and CIA national intelligence officer, Constantine Menges, entitled, China: The Gathering Threat. Thomas quotes Menges as noting that "China has defined America as its 'main enemy' and can launch nuclear weapons at the U.S. capable of killing 100 million of us.

Thomas continues quoting Menges as saying, "China has threatened to destroy entire American cities if the U.S. helps Taiwan defend itself against a military assault or invasion. China also buys Russian weapons designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers. It controls more than $200 billion in U.S. debt and sells more than 40 percent of its exports to America, using the profits to strengthen its economy and advanced weapons systems aimed at the U.S."

Furthermore, a World Net Daily report dated Tuesday, September 13, 2005, quotes a Chinese dissident as stating unequivocally that Beijing is planning nuclear war. The WND report states, "Wei Jingsheng, who spent 18 years in detention for his pro-democracy activism, told a forum at the National Press Club in Washington that China needs the distraction of a war with Taiwan to turn attention away from the people's frustration with rampant corruption and failed policies at home."

The WND report also quoted Jingsheng as saying, "The Chinese Communist Party is considering nuclear war, because it is not afraid to sacrifice China's people." Jingsheng cited Chinese general Zhu Chenghu's recent public declaration that "we [China] will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all the cities east of Xian" which would include Shanghai and Beijing. When one considers that China could lose the equivalent of the entire U.S. population and still have over 700 million people left, General Chengu's threat cannot be taken lightly.

So, while the United States continues to spend its manpower and monies on a mouse-size threat in Iraq, it is virtually ignoring-no, worse than that, it is commercially aiding and abetting-our most serious threat: Communist China. Just about everything we buy these days is stamped "Made in China," major American corporations have moved and are moving their plants and operations to China, and all of this is being encouraged by our own government in Washington, D.C. Lenin was right: we are purchasing the rope which will be used to hang us!

© Chuck Baldwin




I’ve mentioned in an earlier post that the entire west coast is 30 times more vulnerable to earthquakes until the end of the month for geological reasons. I just hope this isn’t the prelude to a big one or even “The BIG one”.

Quake strikes north of Los Angeles
Friday, September 23, 2005; Posted: 12:16 p.m. EDT (16:16 GMT)
WHEELER RIDGE, California (AP) -- A magnitude 3.6 earthquake shook an area north of Los Angeles early Friday, one day after a series of quakes rumbled through the region.
There were no reports of injuries or damage from Friday's 3:21 a.m. quake, an aftershock to Thursday's temblors in the San Joaquin Valley about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The Thursday quakes began with a magnitude-3.4 jolt, which was quickly followed by a 4.7 quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena.
There were also several lesser aftershocks.
"We felt it pretty good, like someone picked up the store and shook it," said Donald Sullivan, an employee at the Mettler Renegade truck stop and gas station.
The quakes happened near the White Wolf fault. The last time that fault caused a major earthquake was in 1952 when an estimated magnitude-7.5 quake killed 12 people and injured 18.




This may be an interesting winter coming up. We have a threat of a flu epidemic that just does not seem to go away. This, along with a looming energy crisis because of the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast is not a good combination. I believe this is the calm before the storm. There is not much time left within the calm.

September 21, 2005
Massive Animal Deaths in North America as Bird Flu Pandemic Ravages United States, Thousands Begin Dying In India, Complete Military Dictatorship in America Nears Completion
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Russian Subscribers
In reviewing numerous reports circulating among Russian Scientists today, one cannot help seeing that the catastrophic forces currently facing the world today can only be described as being on a scale of Biblical proportions.
Global weather patterns remain in ruins as more Super Storms are being reported breaking out around the world. Tectonic forces within the earth itself continue their unprecedented buildup leading to massive volcanic activity throughout the world, but the greatest danger to all human beings remains the unrelenting march of the Avian Flu Pandemic, and which according to the World Health Organization there is no chance of stopping, and as we can read as reported by the ABC News Service in their article titled "World has slim chance to stop flu pandemic" and which says:
"The initial outbreak of what could explode into a bird flu pandemic may affect only a few people, but the world will have just weeks to contain the deadly virus before it spreads and kills millions. Chances of containment are limited because the potentially catastrophic infection may not be detected until it has already spread to several countries, like the SARS virus in 2003. Avian flu vaccines developed in advance will have little impact on the pandemic virus.
It will take scientists four to six months to develop a vaccine that protects against the pandemic virus, by which time thousands could have died. There is little likelihood a vaccine will even reach the country where the pandemic starts. That is the scenario outlined on Tuesday by Dr Hitoshi Oshitani, the man who was on the frontline in the battle against SARS and now leads the fight against avian flu in Asia.
"SARS in retrospect was an easy virus to contain," said Oshitani, the World Health Organization's Asian communicable diseases expert. "The pandemic virus is much more difficult, maybe impossible, to contain once it starts," he told Reuters at a WHO conference in Noumea, capital of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. "The geographic spread is historically unprecedented."
World Health Organization scientists further report that this ‘slim chance’ is due only to ‘one small genetic link’ that is yet to be made by this virus, and as we can read as reported by the Softpedia News Service in their article titled "Avian Flu - One Step Away From The World's Largest Epidemic" and which says, "As the Western Pacific Regional meeting of the World Health Organization started today in Noumea, public health officials from more than 20 countries gathered to discuss ways to prevent a possible deadly outbreak of bird flu in humans and contain some other possible large epidemics. They all unanimously agree that a recently-evolved avian flu virus, Influenza A (H5N1), has one small genetic adjustment to make before it becomes transmissible between humans."
But according to Russian Intelligence reports this ‘one small genetic link’ has already become a reality in India where multiple thousands of children are being felled everyday and over 1,000 have died in the past week, and as we can read as reported by the Ireland Online News Service in their article titled "Encephalitis death toll nears 1,000 in India and Nepal" and which says:
"An encephalitis outbreak has killed nearly 1,000 people – almost all of them children – in India and neighbouring Nepal, as too few doctors struggle to care for thousands of sick children in outdated hospitals. At the start of the week, the death toll in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state stood at 767. Nepal has logged 204 deaths. Every day, parents from the poorest corners of India’s most populous state pour into the small town of Gorakhpur, some carrying unconscious children whose limp bodies flop from side to side as they’re raced into one of the Japanese encephalitis wards at the BRD Medical College. But by the time many children arrive, there’s little that can be done to even make them more comfortable. The tiny, often bare-chested bodies are placed with oxygen masks taped to their faces – a grim scene stretching across two hospital floors."
To the absurdity, and contradictions, by the Indian government in saying that these mass deaths of children with flu symptoms are due to Japanese Encephalitis is beyond comprehension as it is widely known that this disease is caused by a specific type of mosquito, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, that lives in rural rice-growing and pig-farming regions, and to have a case where children alone are being bitten, and in the tens of thousands, is beyond belief.
To the logic of this outbreak however can be seen in the reports of the World Health Organization scientists who have predicted that children will be the first affected by this Pandemic, and as we can read as reported by the CNN News Service in their article titled “Bird flu (avian influenza)" and which states, "The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a handful of cases of limited human-to-human transmission of bird flu. But unless such transmission becomes more widespread, infected birds or material present the greatest hazard. Even so, the pattern of human transmission remains mysterious. Young children seem especially vulnerable to the virus. Some scientists speculate they may simply be more likely to breathe infected dust or feces.”
Russian Military Analysts are reporting that the United States has exerted pressures on India’s Leaders to ‘blackout’ all news relating to this Pandemic and in exchange for their doing so entered into a secret nuclear agreement with India, who had been under various US and UN sanctions for its unauthorized development of nuclear weapons, and as we can read as reported by India’s Hindustan Times News Service in their article titled "Indo-US N-deal signed in haste and secrecy: Expert" and which says:
"The bold US-India nuclear deal proposed by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was signed too quickly and secretively, a process that embedded major faults in the agreement, says a top US expert. George Perkovich, a nuclear and South Asia expert at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), has released a report that claims the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal exposed important faults in the global non-proliferation regime, in US policy toward India, and in Indian nuclear policy."
It should also be noticed that this secret nuclear deal the United States Military Leaders have made with India, in order to keep their silence, stands in sharp contradiction to their actions against the country of Iran, and who the United States is attempting to bring before the United Nations Security Council. And where Iran is a signatory to the UN Treaties involving nuclear energy and weapons, India is not, and where Iran has not developed nuclear weapons, India has.
But to the contradictions being displayed by the Military Leaders of the United States, in their continuing efforts to re-organize their country into a totalitarian fascist police state, none is more apparent than in what they allow, and do not allow, their own citizens to know, and no greater example is there than the suppressing of the news that throughout their country mass animal deaths have been, and are continuing to occur, and as we can see evidenced by just these few reports:
As reported by the Los Angeles Times News Service in their article titled "West Nile threatens magpie population" and which says, "WEST NILE virus hasn't caused widespread human deaths in California, but it's ravaging wild birds. About 88,000 have been reported dead across the state, though hundreds of thousands have probably died and not been recovered, says Walter Boyce, director of the Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis.The virus is hammering crows, jays and magpies. It has killed two-thirds to three-fourths of the crows in the eastern United States. "There have been a large number of magpies observed dead this year," Boyce says, noting the yellow-billed magpie, unique to California, could go extinct. "Because the magpie is limited in distribution and highly susceptible to the virus, this could push it over the edge."
[Note: This Bird Flu Pandemic has been shown the world over to hit the populations of birds first, and as we can read as reported by the Scotsman News Service in their article titled "More bird flu deaths inevitable" and which says, "The virus has swept through poultry populations in large swathes of Asia since 2003, resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of birds."]
As reported by the Fox News Service in their article titled "Mysterious Cattle Deaths in Orange County" and which says, "More than fifty cows have died on a farm in orange county and the cause of their deaths remains a mystery. Lab tests have ruled out any infectious or contagious diseases, so the good news is there's no danger to people or to other animals. Unfortunately, officials are still not sure what killed the cows."
As reported by the Desert Sun News Service in their article titled "Scientists puzzle over sheep deaths" and which says, "When five members of an endangered species turn up dead in two weeks, the scientific community takes notice. Bighorn Institute researchers in Palm Desert are monitoring the daily habits of local peninsular bighorn sheep to determine what caused five of them to mysteriously die since July 28. "In our 25 years of field work, we had not had an occurrence of so many adult animals" dying, said Bighorn Institute Director Jim DeForge."
As reported by the Billings Gazette News Service in their article titled "Minnesota bird deaths are a mystery for state officials" and which says, "Minnesota has been looking into a bird mystery since the discovery of at least 50 songbirds found floating dead in Lake Superior in early September. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) collected the 50 dead songbirds from 200 to 800 yards off shore in an eight-mile stretch of the Lake Superior between Grand Marais and the Brule River mouth."
As reported by the St. Petersburg Times News Service in their article titled "Golf course bird deaths a mystery" and which says, "Ducks have been dropping like flies at the city golf course at Treasure Bay. City recreation officials believe the ducks were poisoned and they have hired an environmental consulting firm to test the water. About three weeks ago, workers began hauling away the carcasses of ducks, egrets and herons from the two ponds at the city's nine-hole course on Paradise Island. They counted at least 40 dead birds."
As reported by the Brunswick Times News Service in their article titled "Geese deaths still a mystery" and which says, "Nearly three weeks after the first dead goose was found at Cypress Run subdivision on the northern edge of Brunswick, authorities and residents alike remain puzzled – and concerned – about the mysterious, mounting death toll of Canada geese. "It's sad," said Bob Cooper, a retired federal agent who now lives in the subdivision. "We don't know what's going on."
As reported by the CBS National News Service in their article titled "Pelican Mystery Continues" and which says, "Wildlife officials say the number of surviving chicks at the white pelican rookery at Chase Lake National Wildlife refuge is lower than previously thought. Biologists reported a die-off of thousand of chicks at the refuge earlier this month."
To these Western people not being able to discern for themselves the true and devastating effects soon to overwhelm them in regards to this Pandemic is perhaps best explained by Russian Social Scientists who state that these people are not concerned for future events in their lives, and as evidenced by the complete breakdown of their societies ability to save money or to prepare for disasters. With this being so, say these scientists, these people are content to be lied to and deceived by their Government leaders and Media organs.
But while this may be true of the vast majority of these American people, it is not true for their Military Leaders who are in full knowing of the catastrophic changes about to occur in their country, and as we had previously reported on in our September 11th report titled "Global Pandemic Fears Fueled By Reports That United States Virus Weapon Lab Attacked In New Orleans, ‘Total Loss’ of Data and Bird Flu Virus Samples Reported" and wherein we had stated:
“As many have long known, the ritualistic patterns of the behaviors of many of the Leaders of the Western World, particularly those associated with both the British and European Houses of Nobility, provide great insight into their future actions, so it was particularly troubling to read from the Western news sources barely a month ago about the American Presidents selected ‘reading list’ for his summer vacation, and as we can read as reported by the Seattle Times News Service in their article titled "Bush's summer book list: salt, a czar and flu" and which says:
"Gas prices are climbing, motorists are fuming, and President Bush is at his ranch with a book about the history of salt. There could be a connection. According to the White House, one of three books Bush chose to read on his five-week vacation is "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kurlansky, who chronicled the rise and fall of what once was considered the world's most strategic commodity. The other two books he reportedly brought with him to Crawford are "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar" by Edvard Radzinsky and "The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History" by John Barry."
The significance of the American President reading such a book as “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History", and the greater significance lying in the American Military Leadership releasing this information, can be explained by knowing its full subject matter, which is not to the 1918 facts of the last flu pandemic alone, but also in how it shaped not only the United States, but the entire world afterward:
"In 1918, a plague swept across the world virtually without warning, killing healthy young adults as well as vulnerable infants and the elderly. Hospitals and morgues were quickly overwhelmed; in Philadelphia, 4,597 people died in one week alone and bodies piled up on the streets to be carted off to mass graves. But this was not the dreaded Black Death-it was "only influenza." In this sweeping history, Barry (Rising Tide) explores how the deadly confluence of biology (a swiftly mutating flu virus that can pass between animals and humans) and politics (President Wilson's all-out war effort in WWI) created conditions in which the virus thrived, killing more than 50 million worldwide and perhaps as many as 100 million in just a year. Overcrowded military camps and wide-ranging troop deployments allowed the highly contagious flu to spread quickly; transport ships became "floating caskets." Yet the U.S. government refused to shift priorities away from the war and, in effect, ignored the crisis. Shortages of doctors and nurses hurt military and civilian populations alike, and the ineptitude of public health officials exacerbated the death toll."
A further insight can be also be gleaned by the understanding of the American Presidents other book selection for reading, "Alexander II : The Last Great Tsar", and which is about the Russian Leader, who like the American President of today, was faced with the almost impossible task of transforming his entire country against the popular will of its people, and as we can read:
"It's difficult to reform Russia, as popular historian Radzinsky shows in this lively examination of the czar best known for emancipating the serfs in 1861. Viewed as the most liberal of Russia's 19th-century czars, Alexander II (1818–1881) came to power in 1856 with the idea of bringing Russia into the modern age. But as Radzinsky (The Last Tsar) shows, his liberal reforms brought him nothing but trouble. Alexander came under attack from the right for being too liberal, and the left for not going far enough. He also had to curtail his reforms when faced with the need to fight foreign enemies. Radzinsky focuses much of the latter half of the book on the rise of left-wing populist movements—the book covers in depth the intellectual currents that swirled around Russia during Alexander's reign. Some frustrated leftists eventually turned to violence. After many failed attempts to assassinate Alexander, they eventually succeeded in 1881."
These reports further state that Americans have been almost completely rendered ‘mindless’, and are unable to absorb the complex mental patterns needed for the discerning not only what is true, but also what is needed to protect them from the catastrophes soon to face them. But, this is again not true of their Military Leaders, and who have used the events of their last Super Storm to drop the nets of Military Rule around much of their populace, and as we can read as reported by the ABC News Service their article titled “Katrina Emergency Declared in Bulk of U.S." and which says:
"The dire conditions created by Hurricane Katrina may be confined to the Gulf Coast, but on paper the emergency is all over the country. President Bush has declared that Katrina-related emergencies exist in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Some, such as California, Massachusetts and North Dakota, are far removed from Katrina's wrath."
Not being understood by these American people also are the dire consequences facing them as their nation falls into economic ruin and yet will leave them no choices but to become economic slaves because they will no longer be able to declare bankruptcies, and as we can read as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal News Service in their article titled "Deep in debt . . . and deep in trouble" and which says:
"In addition, next month consumers besieged by creditors will find it more difficult to get rid of their debts by filing for protection under bankruptcy law. Under bankruptcy reform that takes effect next month, consumers must meet strict income and expense standards that determine whether they qualify for bankruptcy and how much they can pay toward their debts. The goal is to prevent people from escaping debts by filing for protection under Chapter 7 of bankruptcy law. The effect will be to help credit card issuers collect more from debtors."
To the full extent of the indebtedness of these American people is beyond comprehension, and as we can read as reported by the Associated Press in their article titled "If debt explodes, trouble follows" and which says, "Low interest rates, especially since the end of the 2001 recession, have fed the debt beast at home, allowing American consumers to accumulate nearly $11 trillion in debt as they buy more homes, more cars, more clothes, more dinners out."
The insanity of any government encouraging, or even allowing, such debt among its people to accumulate to this level can only be matched by the insanity of the citizens of such a country as America to have listened to them.
Even more astounding are that these Americans aren’t even comprehending the full implications of how all of the events they are experiencing have been designed for the specific purpose of enslaving them, but to which they will soon know all to well, and as we can read as reported by the Knight Ridder News Service in their article titled "Credit card companies to increase payments" and which says:
"Consumers who make only minimum payments on their credit cards are in for a shock. Spurred by a new federal mandate, card companies over the next three months plan to raise - in some cases double - the amount card holders must pay each month. A consumer carrying a $10,000 balance may see a minimum payment jump from $200 to $400."
For many years now these American people have lived their lives allowing their Military Leaders to enact the laws necessary to accomplish the feat of turning the once great nation of the United States into the most rigidly controlled fascist police state since Hitler’s Nazi Germany of last century. Like the Nazi Germany of the 1930’s, the American people of today have cooperated with their Military Leaders and Propaganda Media Organs to create for themselves the ‘illusion’ that all is good, they are most powerful, and no one can defeat them.
The arrogance of such thought should have been readily apparent to these American’s given the history of the destruction, and defeat, of Nazi Germany, but not only have these people failed to understand the lessons of history, in failing to understand they are repeating it.
Today the cloud of death of hangs over not only the United States, but the entire world as the forces of nature and evil men reign supreme in a world gone totally mad, with the human races only hope resting with God Himself, and may He have Mercy upon us all.
© September 21, 2005, EU and US all rights reserved.




A few days ago, Kim Jong Il agreed to discontinue his nuclear program. Then, a day later, he demanded nuclear reactors from the U.S. So is there, or is there not an agreement here? Don’t believe any of this propaganda. North Korea will play some role in the future in instigating WWIII.

North Korea says US using talks as pretext for attack
Reuters/Jon Herskovitz | September 21 2005
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea accused the United States on Wednesday of using diplomatic talks to try and take away its nuclear arms so that Washington could crush the reclusive state with an atomic weapons strike.
The statement follows another by North Korea on Tuesday which threw into doubt a six-country deal on giving up its nuclear arms, just one day after it was struck.
In that statement the North vowed to keep the weapons until Washington provides it with civilian atomic reactors.
In a commentary on Wednesday in its official communist party newspaper, Pyongyang said Washington is waiting for a chance to attack it.
"Clear is the ulterior intention of the U.S. talking about settlement of the nuclear issue through dialogue under the pretext of the six-party talks. In a word, it is to disarm the DPRK and stifle it with nuke," the paper said, according to a report carried on the official KCNA news agency.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The commentary said the North "will steadily strengthen its war deterrent to defend national sovereignty and security with supreme vigilance".
The six countries agreed to a set of principles on Monday on winding up Pyongyang's nuclear programs in return for economic aid and recognizing its right to a civilian nuclear program.
The six agreed to discuss providing a light-water reactor "at an appropriate time". Washington pledged not to attack the North.
Washington has insisted that North Korea must completely, irreversibly and verifiably end its nuclear programs before consideration of a civilian nuclear program could begin.
North Korea has often said it was forced to develop nuclear weapons to counter what it saw as Washington's hostile policy toward it and has charged many times that Washington was going to attack it.




Are we on the brink of $5 a gallon? So far, the script of the FX TV movie, “Oil Storm” is being played out perfectly. It’s going to be a cooooold and expensive winter with energy costs shooting through the roof. Will the stock market be able to withstand this?

Energy market braces for 'national disaster'
Oil analysts and executives are preparing for Hurricane Rita's impact as energy prices rise across the board. Stocks move lower.


The oil industry is bracing for a disaster as Hurricane Rita hit Category 4, with the potential to reach Category 5, and heads towards energy infrastructure in Texas.

"If (Rita) keeps going on its current path, it's going to basically destroy the rest of the (energy complex Hurricane) Katrina didn't," Matthew Simmons, CEO of independent energy investment bank Simmons & Co.
International, told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
"It's a problem that could easily be as significant in my opinion, and I hope I'm overly exaggerating this, as Pearl Harbor," Simmons said. It could take two or three years to recover from the two storms, he added.

Given than four oil refineries are already down, Rita "really is a national disaster," Valero Energy (VLO, news, msgs) CEO Bill Greehey told Reuters.

Energy prices rose across the board, with natural gas seeing the biggest spike with concerns about damage to pipelines putting further strain on inventories ahead of winter. The higher energy prices pushed stocks lower. The Dow dropped 0.58%, the Nasdaq composite lost 0.69% and the S&P 500 index fell 0.52%.

Natural gas jumped 41.8 cents to $12.91 per million British thermal units.

The U.S. will go into winter with a lot less natural gas in storage than last year, and a colder-than-normal winter could really send prices spiking, Robert Morris, analyst at Banc of America Securities told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

New York light crude futures rose $1 to $67.20 per barrel. Unleaded gasoline for October delivery climbed 7.34 cent to $2.05 per gallon.

"If it hits the refineries, and we're short refining capacity, you're going to see gasoline prices well over $3 a gallon at the pump," Greehey told Reuters.

"People were worried post-Katrina as we have real tight product supply," Jamal Qureshi, analyst at PFC Energy, told Reuters. "Now we have a hurricane heading for the bigger part of the coastal refinery center, threatening to blow a huge hole in products supply."

Texas accounts for a quarter of oil refining capacity in the United States. Rita's winds have reached 140 miles per hour and the storm is expected to reach landfall Saturday morning.

"Some of those refineries in Texas, they're at sea level. It's a table top, it floods every easily," Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC, told Reuters.

1 Comments:

At 12:08 PM, Blogger jay shail said...

Doesn't spam on a blog suck?
It just doesn't seem right.

 

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