Obama Inserts More Uncertainty Into the Oil Markets

The gas station near my house now has Regular Unleaded for $3.93.  Why?  Middle East uprisings are certainly contributing to some of the uncertainty, but so are actions like this:

The Obama administration late Friday appealed a judge's orders directing the Interior Department to act on several Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling permits.

The appeal is the latest salvo in the ongoing fight over the speed with which Interior is – or isn't – letting oil drillers get back to work after last year's BP oil spill.

Gulf state lawmakers and the oil industry have accused the department of enacting a "de facto" moratorium against new drilling, while Interior says it needs to ensure safety and environmental protections are in place.

Friday's appeal challenges rulings by Judge Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who on Feb. 17 gave Interior 30 days to make a verdict on five pending deepwater drilling permits applications. He later added two additional permits to that order.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had hinted the appeal was coming at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

“The judge in this particular case in my view is wrong," Salazar said. “And we will argue the case because I don’t believe that the court has the jurisdiction to basically tell the Department of Interior what my administrative responsibilities are.”

He added, “the policy we have in mind is unmistakingly clear: We are moving forward with the development of oil and gas” production."

Uh, no you're not. Oil prices are as much about emotion in the trading community as they are about actual supply and demand. If the traders feel that supplies will be limited, oil will trade higher. With gasoline quickly approaching $4 a gallon you'd expect a president and his energy people to be trying to ensure that his country is using every avenue available to secure energy supplies. What Obama and Salazar are telling the world is that as long as they're in power deep water drilling in the Gulf will be off limits...to America. Other nations will exploit it, but we won't go and get the oil we know is there.

That will pretty much guarantee that prices will continue to rise.  Releasing oil from the strategic reserves has been talked about by Obama officials, but all that will do is reduce our reserves while having little if any impact on prices.  If you want to disarm America, that's a good way to do it.

Mitt Romney said in a speech yesterday that "we need a new president".  He's right.