by Rick Lowe
We received an e-mail today with a PowerPoint presentation that was said to be the house of Sheik Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, former president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu-Dhabi.
The point of the presentation was to suggest that his opulent home was the result of the world paying $2.75 for a gallon of gasoline.
The opulence was truly astounding and one is left wondering if his people had the opportunity to achieve the same wealth and status as he did, if they worked hard enough.
Of course, it may well not have been his house, but as we have been privately debating with members of the Petroleum Usage Review Committee, they should not only be concerned if the oil companies are ripping people off, how about what the leaders of these oil rich countries could be up to?
However, it is nice to see the price of fuel declining in the US and we would expect the Minister of Trade and Industry to hold press conferences to announce when the price of fuel is dropping here as well in the not too distant future.
