Iran Nuclear Watch: U.S. Energy Secretary Bodman on Possible Iran Disruption of Persian Gulf Oil Supplies – “We Can Handle it For a While”

(L-R) US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and BP PLC Chief Executive John Brown attend an inauguration ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC). The long-awaited first shipment of Caspian oil from the BTC pipeline got on its way from a Turkish port.

ASSociated Press: Bodman: U.S. Can Handle Oil Disruption

Consumers wouldn’t suffer undue hardships in the event Iran disrupts Persian Gulf oil supplies because the Bush administration has a plan “if push were to come to shove,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday.

Bodman told reporters that in such a scenario, the government would tap its emergency oil reserve. He said he doesn’t anticipate an oil supply disruption and said he was speaking hypothetically.

As to any sharp reduction of Iran oil or a disruption in the supply line, Bodman said, “We certainly can handle it for a while. … There is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and we have other approaches.”

This was an off-hand yet orchestrated response to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s bloviation about disrupting the Persian Gulf.

Has the United States planned contingencies should Iran resort to a military response to the world communities insistence that they stand down their uranium enrichment program?

You bet.

Bodman, meeting with reporters after a speech at an electricity forum, suggested that there seems to be plenty of oil available.

He said Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi told him that Saudi Arabia recently cut back production by 100,000 barrel a day “because he isn’t finding customers.”

Bodman said he is convinced oil producers want “to keep the market well supplied. It’s in their interest as well as the interest of consumers.”

Oil industry analysts also have said the market remains well-supplied and that there are signs global demand growth is weakening.

“What I’ve been hearing from traders is that there is oil available in the market that is not being bought,” said Ann-Louise Huttle, head oil analyst for Wood Mackenzie.

Iran is not the only oil supplier on the block and they need refined oil for their own internal needs since they lack adequate refining capacity.

The United States just called Iran’s BLUFF.

Stay tuned…..