PetroChina is now worth more than the U.S. Banking System!

[DavidS]

PetroChina, largest company in emerging markets, is worth more to stock investors than the biggest U.S. banks combined.

The Bloomberg chart below shows the market value of the KBW Bank Index, which tracks 24 of the largest American lenders, plunging to $272.4 billion last week from a peak of $1.36 trillion two years ago. The gauge tumbled 51 percent in 2009 to the lowest level since October 1992. Citigroup and Bank of America lost more than 70% of their value on concern the U.S. government will nationalize the lenders and wipe out stockholders.

While PetroChina's shares have dropped 71%from an all-time high in November 2007, they rallied 35% since 27 Oct 2008. That pushed the oil producer’s market value to $285.1 billion, surpassing the U.S. bank index for the first time.

China's Shanghai Composite Index rallied 24% this year for the top performance among stock benchmarks worldwide while the S&P500 Index retreated 15%.

 

[editec]

And yet they were masters of our universe just six months ago.

And yet many of us still wonder why allowing supply sider economist like these guys so obviously were to set the source of the ship of state has been disasterous for the American people?

And, just in case you think this was a stab at the Republicans, I note that Obama's chums in power are mostly WALL STREET MAVENS, too.

Richard Reicht, a person I held in rather high regard for his position regarding the economy generally, was, I am informed an officer of Citibank who realized $110,000,000 in salary last year.

When you society is run by a kleptocracy, finding heros among the leaders is a mighty daunting task, isn't it?

 

[waltky]

China goin' after Iraqi oil...

China goes after big stake in Iraq's oil
Oct. 11,`12 (UPI) -- Chinese oil companies are showing a growing interest in Iraq's oil industry.

Chinese oil companies are showing a growing interest in Iraq's oil industry, which the International Energy Agency expects to more than double production by the end of the decade to 6.1 million barrels per day. Beijing is widening its global hunt for mineral resources to fuel China's burgeoning economy that has largely concentrated on Africa, from where oil and raw materials can be exported directly east across the Indian Ocean. The IEA, which made the forecast in a report issued Tuesday, estimated that by 2030 Iraq will be the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. "If the IAE is right, Iraq's supply surge could have far-reaching consequences for the geopolitics of oil and dramatically change the balance of power within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries," the Financial Times observed.

Iraq's oil production reached 2.6 million bpd in September, the highest in more than three decades. One of the key beneficiaries of the Iraqi surge in oil flows from Iraq will be China, the IEA said. "There's a new trade axis being formed between Baghdad and Beijing ... the B&B link," observed the agency's chief economist, Fatih Birol, and the main author of the study. By 2020, the IEA report noted, 80 percent of Iraq's oil will be going to Asia, including 1.5 million bpd to China, rising to nearly 2 million bpd by 2035. "In effect," the Financial Times said, "China will be replicating in Iraq what it's done in several African nations," most prominently in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. "The 'B&B' oil link would not only be the key for the oil market but could also force a bigger political and military involvement of China in Iraq and the broader Middle East."

Already, state-owned Chinese outfits such as PetroChina, China National Petroleum Corp. and China National Offshore Oil Corp. are either partners or operators in several major Iraqi oil fields. With U.S. influence in the Middle East ebbing after the messy war in Iraq, and the U.S. military withdrawal in December, China and Russia have been seeking to boost their influence in the region of late, and Iraq, with its energy riches, is a magnet. Both powers have stakes in Iraq's resurgent oil industry and are looking for more to extend their clout across the region. These days, even the Saudis, long an important source of oil for the Americans, are shipping more oil to Asia than they are to the United States.

A significant Chinese entry into Iraq, which the IEA says could produce up to 8.3 million bpd by 2035, nudging Saudi Arabia's output of around 10 million bpd, could give Beijing immense power in the Middle East. Further, an analysis by Citigroup released in September raised the alarming possibility that Saudi Arabia, for 60 years the world's paramount oil producer, could become a net importer by 2030 as the kingdom consumes more and more of its oil itself to meet the demands of a swelling population and economic growth, thus reducing petroleum exports. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, increasingly irked by U.S. policy, this week signed a $4.2 billion arms deal with Moscow during a visit to Russia. That was a slap in the face for the United States, Baghdad's main arms supplier but which seems reluctant to provide Iraq with advanced weapons systems.

Read more: China goes after big stake in Iraq's oil - UPI.com

See also:

Mideast cyber war widens, oil targets hit
Oct. 11, 2012 - The Middle East's cyberwar with Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other is steadily escalating.

The Middle East's cyberwar with Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other is steadily escalating, with increasingly sophisticated cyber weapons being used against a growing array of military and economic targets. The region has become a hot cyber battleground, a testing ground for a new form of warfare that in its most strategic form can knock out a country's economic system without firing a shot. The United States, Britain and Israel have been zapping Iran's nuclear installations, and more recently its oil industry, for three years. Tehran claims these powers are preparing a "massive cyberattack" against it as Iran is locked in an increasingly tense confrontation with the United States in the Persian Gulf.

In June, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak publicly acknowledged the Jewish state was conducting a cyber offensive against Iran aimed at crippling Tehran's contentious nuclear program. "We're preparing to be at the front line of the worldwide cyber battle, both in civil and security systems," he told a Tel Aviv conference. Iran has been the target of several cyberattacks by the United States and Israel since 2009. Particularly Iran's uranium enrichment program, the core of the nuclear militarization process, was affected. It was the primary target of the so-called Stuxnet computer virus first used in 2009 and again in 2010. Those attacks sabotaged the enrichment process but Iran was able to restore it. Computer experts say Stuxnet was created by the Americans and Israelis.

Iran's nuclear program came under cyberattack in June, this time from an even more virulent cyber weapon identified as W32.Flame. This one not only penetrates a system but can steal sensitive data and turn on cameras and computer microphones to obtain additional data or change settings on computer systems. The day Flame was discovered, Israel's deputy premier, Moshe Yaalon, dropped broad hints the Jewish state's intelligence services were behind the cyberattack. "These achievements of ours open all kinds of possibilities for us," he said. The Iranians have not been idle and are no doubt striving to develop countermeasures or offensive malware to retaliate against the West.

Indeed, in recent weeks there have been clear indications they've struck back. Israeli defense sources say the military's communications network has been attacked. On Aug. 15, a mystery virus infected 30,000 desktop computers at the headquarters of Saudi Arabia's state oil company, Aramco, the world's largest oil company and the principal source of revenue for the Saudi monarchy. The attack on the world's leading oil producer, which provides about 1-10th of the world's oil supplies, was claimed by a group calling itself "the Cutting Sword of Justice." Iran and Saudi Arabia are old rivals engaged in an escalating intelligence war.

Read more: Mideast cyber war widens, oil targets hit - UPI.com