Pentagon worried about spiking oil prices

WASHINGTON (AFP) – After spending 15 billion dollars on oil in 2007, the Pentagon said Tuesday it was concerned over rising prices, since for every dollar oil goes up in price, an extra 130 million has to be added to its budget.

Oil price is “a significant concern for us today,” Undersecretary of Defense Tina Jonas, the Pentagon’s chief financial officer, told a conference organized by Jane’s defense information group.


“Fuel has more than tripled in price over the past four years,” Jonas said, adding that “for every dollar increase in the cost of fuel, we end up increasing by 130 million dollars in terms of operational costs.”

Oil futures Tuesday leapt to a record close of 119.37 dollars a barrel in New York, after briefly skirting the symbolic threshold of 120 dollars.

The spiraling cost of oil is especially troublesome for the Pentagon since the “DoD (Department of Defense) is the largest consumer of oil in the United States,” David Trachtenberg, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, said in his presentation.

AFP