Crude price rising because market 'spooked' by geopolitics: Bush

New York (Platts)--3Apr2007

The recent rise in world crude prices is due in large part because oil
markets have been "spooked" by tensions between the west and Iran, US
President George W. Bush said Tuesday.

Bush, answering a question about US gasoline prices during a briefing
with reporters, televised live, pegged the rise in pump prices in large part
to the recent hike in crude futures.

"... A lot of the price of gasoline depends on the price of crude oil,"
Bush said. "And the price of crude oil is on the rise. And the price of crude
oil is on the rise because people get spooked, for example, when it looks like
there may be a crisis with a crude oil-producing nation, like Iran."

Though crude futures were down early Tuesday, prices had been on the rise
of late after Iran's March 23 seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in
waters along Iraq and Iran's maritime boundary.

Bush used the opportunity to again cite rising crude and gasoline prices
as a reason to lessen the US' dependence on oil. He called on Congress to
approve his alternative fuel standards and changes in the Corporate Average
Fuel Economy standard that he projects will cut US gasoline demand by 20% over
the next 10 years.

"...The whole point about rising crude oil prices and rising gasoline
prices is that this country ought to work hard to get off our addiction to
oil," Bush said.

In response to a question about how much gasoline prices were in the US,
Bush said be believed the national average was about $2.60/gal. The US Energy
Information Administration on Monday said the national average had risen to
$2.707/gal for the week ended April 2, up 9.7 cents from the week prior.

--Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com