Saudi oil "ramping up"

Saudi Arabia's oil production appears to be "ramping up" and can fill some of the demand shortfalls caused by sanctions on Iranian exports, WorldWatch Director JC said on Tuesday.
Sanctions on Iran oil imports appear to be biting much more in recent weeks.
China has reduced its imports of Iranian oil and "it remains to be seen whether that continues.
It appears that Saudi Arabian production is ramping up and can fill some of the demand that might have been met by Iranian exports now that there are the sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran.
The United States imposed the harshest sanctions so far on Iran due to concerns over its nuclear program. The West worries that the program is for developing nuclear weapons, but Iran says it is for peaceful purposes.
The sanctions were having an impact. The sanctions have been biting much, much more literally in recent weeks than they have until this time, what we have to see now is how does that play out, what is the level of popular discontent inside Iran, does that influence the strategic decision making of the Supreme Leader and the regime, keeping in mind that the regime's paramount goal in all that they do is their regime survival.

Strait of Hormuz

The US Navy announced it led a rescue operation to assist the crew of an Iranian fishing vessel in distress in the Gulf of Oman, the third in 10 days in an area marked by tension between Washington and Tehran.

A Seahawk helicopter from the guided missile destroyer USS Dewey spotted an Iranian fishing boat sinking early Wednesday while two other vessels tried to tow it to safety, according to a Navy press release.
One sailor remained on board the sinking boat, called the Al Mamsoor, while two other crew members took refuge on the vessels that came to help.
The helicopter stayed overhead while the USS Dewey joined the rescue operation.
"Once we talked with their captain, it was clear that they needed food and water," said Navy Lieutenant Jason Dawson, the leader of the rescue team.

The Al Mamsoor crew had fought flooding for three days before abandoning their vessel, the Navy statement said.
The rescue team gave the crew about 150 pounds of food, water and other supplies before returning to the Dewey.
On January 7, a Navy destroyer rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who were being held hostage by Somali pirates.
The guided missile destroyer USS Kidd made the rescue after one of the kidnapped fishermen revealed in a radio communication that pirates held his vessel's crew captive.

The destroyer is one of the US warships the Iranian government has warned to stay out of the Strait of Hormuz, which is used by ships that carry about one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

On January 11, the US Navy rescued six Iranian merchant marines from a sinking cargo ship in the North Persian Gulf.
Despite Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has pledged to maintain its warships in the area. The Dewey is an aircraft carrier escort ship that Tehran has threatened with reprisals.
The Iranian government threatened to close the Strait in retaliation for economic sanctions by Western nations against Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

The Scheme

WorldWatch chief analyst reports that once more Portugal places its bail-out plan in serious danger of not being able to carry out the austerity plan, Portugal continue to have one of the most expensive final consumer prices for the motorist at the filing station.
This attitude by the petrol companies Galp, BP, Repsol and Cepsa will affect Portugals austerity plan, as consumer demand will continue to drop as well as Tax revenue derived from petrol products.
This year (2012) prices have increased twice, and a announcement has been issued by the press that next week consumer prices will increase by another staggering three cents per liter.
The new elected government seems to be as arrogant as the last socialist government regarding this issue as there is no control as to the steps taken by these energy companies.

All these companies have a monopoly in price fixing as can be seen, this price fixing is not allowed by E.U. law, however Brussels nothing does to avoid such situations allowing less honest companies and governments to run free.
Portugal is in a recession that will be aggravated even further by rising prices which include, coffee, soft drinks, electricity, water and the announced increase in the price of VAT to 23%.