Donald Trump's pledge that the US "won't put up with high oil prices for much longer" has led to speculation about how he may try to force OPEC's hand. Skepticism abounds over whether the price of gasoline will fall.
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Accusing the OPEC oil cartel of "ripping off" the world, US President Donald Trump warned in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly this week that Washington wouldn't stand idly by as fuel prices continued to rise.
"We defend many of these nations for nothing and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good," he declared, referring to OPEC's mainly Middle Eastern members, and how the price of oil is at a four-year high.
Hinting that his administration would take action to halt further price increases, Trump said the US was "ready to export our abundant, affordable supply of oil, clean coal, and natural gas."
OPEC has been limiting output for the past 18 months following a steep price downturn when the global economy recovered from the 2008/09 financial crisis. Stabilization measures have seen prices rise to between $70 (€59.9) and $80 per barrel, leading the cartel to agree in June to raise production by 1 million barrels per day.
Trump's comments to the UN forced oil prices even higher, to more than $82 per barrel, as speculation grew over what measures the US president was considering.
"Instead of bullying OPEC to raise output, he could decide to release the Strategic Petroleum Reserves to bridge a short-term supply deficit," Carsten Fritsch, Commerzbank's Senior Commodity Analyst, told DW.
The US's Strategic Petroleum Reserves are the largest emergency supply of oil in the world. Some 660 million barrels of oil are currently stored underground in the states of Texas and Louisiana.
Established in 1975 after the Middle East oil embargo, the reserves have been tapped several times, including during one particularly cold US winter in 2000, and after Hurricane Katrina shut down 95 percent of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006.
Germany's second-biggest lender, Commerzbank, argued in a research report to investors this week that the reserves were "Trump's only real option ... to drive prices down."
Several energy analysts think the US leader is preparing to act just two months ahead of midterm elections for the US Congress, in an attempt to quell voter frustration over rising prices for gasoline.
The White House and US energy secretary Rick Perry quickly ruled out the reserves option, but that hasn't stopped speculation over how many barrels may be released and what impact it would have on prices.
Some analysts think the subsequent price fall would only benefit US consumers, and not for long.
Mike Muller, an executive at Vitol Group, told news agency Bloomberg the measure could even be counter-productive, as it would leave the US vulnerable to other oil shocks, and may cause further price spikes.
Crude oil comes from an oxygen-free conversion by way of algae and seabed microorganisms. The hydrocarbons are found in gas, heating oil and all sorts of common products these days.
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Cleaning products
Containers for cleaning products are made with oil-based plastics. They are fairly stable, light and cheap. Their contents are also by and large oil based. Surfactants are detergent substances that remove grease and water-based stains and are poisonous for aquatic organisms. People with allergies can break out in rashes and acne from them, too.
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'C' is for citrus — and clean
Lemons were long used as cleaning agents before the industrial cleaning revolution. Citric acid has similar scrubbing abilities as vinegar and sodium bicarbonate — without the dangerous side affects. Citrus cleans grills and combats germs on cutting boards. The organic solutions are plentiful, biodegradable, affordable and can come free of packaging.
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(Literally) tons of plastic
About 380 million tons of plastics are produced every year worldwide, but only 9 percent of that is recycled, according to a University of California study. The rest is burned, dumped or sent to a landfill. Even recycled material gets quickly trashed again. Researchers estimate that 34 billion tons of plastic will have been produced by 2050.
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Straws going au naturel
The flood of plastic won't stop if people don't change their ways. That's what the European Commission has concluded, and it wants to ban sales of plastic cutlery and straws. These are items that are quickly produced, used and thrown away, only to then burden the planet for centuries to come. One major packaging producer, Tetra Pak, has since announced it will change over to making paper straws.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/J. Hayward
Image cleanup
Germany is Europe's top producer of plastic waste, according to the Federal Environment Agency. Single-family homes purchase items in smaller and individually wrapped quantities. Plastic and styrofoam packaging is generated by online shopping and used for coffee and food on the go. The city of Hanover has taken the lead by introducing a 2-euro ($2.32) deposit scheme for reusable cups.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H.-C. Dittrich
Desperate fight against plastic buildup
India has a major problem with plastic waste. New Delhi, the capital, has banned single-use plastic, but it is just a drop in the bucket. About 1.5 million Indians earn a living collecting plastic; there is no functioning disposal system. Trash is often burned, which releases poisonous fumes.
Image: Jasvinder Sehgal
Like the good ol' days
Containers can be more ecologically friendly, too. Before the era of plastic, dairy products came in glass. Packaging for drinks can be made out of renewable materials like wood from sustainable sources. Consumer choices can be decisive in the potential reduction of materials based on fossil fuels.
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Oily discs
Every CD and DVD contains about 30 grams of crude oil, and 40 billion discs are produced every year around the world, each one made of polycarbonate, aluminum and lacquer. Many of these get thrown away. Germany's recycling rate is about 5 percent, according to the Federal Environment Agency, though the waste gets turned into eyeglass frames, computer monitor housings and vehicle bumpers.
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Perched on high with liquid wood
Who says high-end consumers don't care about their ecological footprint? Gucci customers take pumps made from bioplastics in stride. Former researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute took lignin, plant fibers and wax and liquefied the compounds together. Injecting the mixture into molds allows the malleable material to be turned into other products.
Image: Fraunhofer Institut
Fan and eco-friendly?
This soccer top is made from recycled plastic waste — polyester and polyamide, which are derived from increasingly scarce oil resources. It takes 28 plastic bottles to make one jersey, but that can also be made from natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen, hemp and silk.
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Brush well
It's never too early to learn proper oral hygiene — not just how to brush, but also which brush to use. Common toothbrushes are made of polyamide, a product based on mineral oil. Stabilizers, softening agents and dye are in the mix, too.
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Natural oral hygiene
Back to basics: Toothbrushes can be made of beech wood with pigs' bristles. Tooth powder from sodium bicarbonate, coconut oil, charcoal, and a mix of turmeric, mint, clove, sage, ginger and healing clay can be just as effective as traditional toothpaste, making use of microorganisms, chalk and fennel oil. Yet much of the packaging is still plastic. Some toothpastes contain small, plastic beads.
Image: DW/K. Jäger
A clean night's sleep
In the market for a new mattress? Sleeping habits, orthopedic conditions, weight, allergies and material preference (spring, latex, natural rubber or foam) all play a role. Most mattresses are made from oil-based products. Eco-mattresses contain bioplastics made from sunflower oil and castor oil.
Image: Colourbox/Maxx-Studio
The natural toilet
Interior designers say that the bathroom is the new living room. Many people are after something special: Toilet covers that lower automatically to reduce noise, automatic toilet seat cleaning, integrated music systems. Most bathroom items contain plastic. The eco-toilet is instead made of wood. No plastic bin required.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas/
Oil-free cars: just a fantasy?
Biodiesel from canola oil only works with old, smelly diesel motors. Biogas only works as a small component in fuel. The auto industry is looking for energy alternatives to oil, but we are still a ways off from going completely without black gold. Even batteries need oil in their production. One bright spot: hydrogen. Regardless, the car itself contains a lot of crude oil.
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Trump's policies to blame
Other industry analysts said Trump was simply trying to dodge the blame for his administration's decision to renew sanctions on Iran, which began to take effect in August, and which will hit the petroleum sector in November.
The US sanctions, which followed Washington's decision to pull out of the 2016 nuclear deal, could remove up to 1.5 billion barrels per day of crude from Iran, the Reuters news agency reported, citing several traders.
Some financial institutions, including JP Morgan Chase, think oil could rise to $90 a barrel as a result.
"The Iran sanctions will come into force two days before the elections. It is thus perfectly possible that oil prices — and by extension gasoline prices — will continue to rise until election day," Commerzbank warned in its research report.
On the other hand, Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports, while widely pereceived as threatening the global economy, could indirectly help to achieve lower prices, British oil giant BP noted.
Trump scolds Germany for agreeing to an oil pipeline with Russia
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Unintended consequences
The US-China trade spat is already weakening economic growth, which could mean a fall in demand for oil next year, and therefore prices, Janet Kong, the head of BP's trading business in Asia, told Bloomberg.
As far as taming OPEC, Commerzbank's Fritsch thinks Trump is powerless in the short-term, and that his rhetoric is likely to strengthen the oil cartel's resolve. "It would be difficult for OPEC to raise output as it would risk losing its independence and be seen as Trump's puppets."
He also noted that the US president's latest threat had probably contributed to OPEC members pushing back plans to raise output until their next meeting in December.
However Saudi Arabia, OPEC's largest member, admitted it would quietly add extra oil to the market to offset the drop in Iranian production, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Saudi oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, meanwhile, said at the weekend the country had spare capacity which could be brought online at short notice.
