By Eric Bolling
Co-Host, “Happy Hour,” FOX Business Network/Host, “The Strategy Room,” FOXNews.com

They are thugs — let’s not forget that –or President-elect Obama, you should be filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right now!

As a 23-year veteran of oil, gas and gasoline trading and analysis, you realize how fast the world of oil changes.

We are being given a great opportunity to put several millions of barrels into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at rock bottom prices. Buying $36, $40, $44 oil would be like rolling back the clock ten years. … Add 200-300 million barrels to the inventory at a $8 -$12 billion cost and relax a bit.

One day in July oil was at $147 and gasoline was squeezing American consumers at the pump to the tune of $4.11. It seemed for a time that the prices paid at the pump were going to drive buyers into poverty. The economy was suffering for it, big time! Five months later, gas was cheaper than it had been in five years. In a few weeks, we went from abstract fear about our next barrel of oil to hearing that there was so much of the stuff that they were putting it on ships and floating storage barges just to find a place for it.

While the price of oil was sitting above $100/barrel many new production fields were opened. It seemed that everyone was getting in on the oil boom. “Wildcatters” were everywhere. I recall interviewing a pastor from a church out West who was selling oil and gas from the church’s parking lot rig.

(AP)

And people were also drilling in their back yards in Los Angeles looking for that slippery hydrocarbon material that was soooo valuable! How times have changed.

Now, a gallon of gasoline costs less than a candy bar in some counties. If someone told you, six months ago, that gas would be at $1.60 you would have said they were crazy.

Now, drilling exploratory wells is a big risk, with $40 oil being the small payoff. We should also note that President-elect Barack Obama ran a campaign promising to tax oil companies aggressively during his historic run for the White House. Believe me, that sits front and center on the minds of the board members of all the major oil producers in this country. Why spend big money exploring for oil when the returns are relatively low AND they might be taxed extra under the Obama administration? Let’s be forward thinking for a moment. Fast forward to late 2009: the stimulus packages needs to be paid for…the likely revenue targe? Big oil. It is very possible that the integrated oil companies may slow down exploration in such an environment or go overseas. Either of those options will hurt the U.S.

As oil goes, the world changes fast but as oil dictators go, it does not!

For 23 of the 23 years I have traded in and analyzed oil markets and policy, there has been one constant: The three oil dictatorships will stop at nothing to prop up the price of a barrel of oil. Their economies and their continued chokehold on their own people depends on it. The big three (in oil dictators, of course) that I am talking about are Iran, Venezuela and Russia. I recall countless occasions over the years of hearing incendiary remarks coming from the governments of Iran and Venezuela. Hugo Chavez, thug Numero Uno, even used the podium at the U.N. to call President Bush “El Diablo” — the devil. I recall Chavez promising to divert much needed oil from the U.S. to China even though it would cost Venezuela much more to ship there.

Although toned down as his economy suffers under the weight of low oil prices, history tells us that Ahmadinejad (thug number two) is just itching to reiterate his defiance of U.N. sanctions on uranium enrichment. Is anyone curious about why one of the world’s most prolific oil producers needs nuclear power? With renewed fighting between Israel and Hamas, expect that commentary any day now.

And thug three, Mr. Putin has, for years, used oil revenue to finance his meteoric rise from KGB high school to dictator. Recall that under his watch, oil giant Yukos was liquidated (for “tax reasons,” hmm…). Major production from Yukos oil fields was sold for a song to her prime competitor Gazprom. Guess who had a financial and political interest in Gazprom? Hint: he loves caviar and vodka and is rumored to be an expert martial atrist. Also, guess where current Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev (a Putinista) came from? Gazprom. The liquidation of Yukos in 2004, in my opinion, marked the beginning of the most recent oil shock, driving barrel prices over $50 for the first time ever.

Strategic Petroleum Reserve

We have been given a “gift”. An oil gift. I am going on record recommending the following: The U.S. should buy every spare barrel of oil it can right now. We are being given a great opportunity to put several millions of barrels into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at rock bottom prices. Buying $36, $40, $44 oil would be like rolling back the clock ten years. Our SPR purchases were stopped (wisely) in the run up to record high gas prices but they should now resume. Add 200-300 million barrels to the inventory at a $8 -$12 billion cost and relax a bit. We are spending $1,000,000,000,000 on stimulus –Nothing in my mind would stimulate the U.S. economy like not having to worry about $4 gasoline for the foreseeable future. It matters little how many pot holes we fill in Des Moines if gas is $4.50 and no one can afford to drive again.

It is only a matter of time before one (or more) of the “three Amigos” starts up again. After all, they need oil prices higher. Their futures as a dictator, or Czar, or whatever, depend on it. Adding 200 or 300 million barrels would be a drop in the bucket compared to the massive amounts of money that will be thrown at our economy in the coming years. The security provided by those additional barrels will be worth their weight in gold –or oil, which ever ends up being more valuable.