Oil

[ibslick50]

For decades in this country, the oil companies and the auto makers worked together to keep standards on fuel economy LOW, and further, the OIL companies would buy up all the small start up companies who invented alternative fuel vehicles and then killed those companies.

That action is coming back to haunt us today. Why have the japanese progressed so far with fuel mileage and alternative fuel cars and we havent?

Oh, thats right, they dont have any BIG OIL interference.

Here, the almighty dollar means more to BIG OIL than the american citizen. They dont care if we all go broke buying gas, they could care less. The first week of april, you will see the profit report for BIG OIL and those numbers will be staggering.

There will be new record for windfall profits in the first quarter.

Ask yourself this question, why when BUSH was in office oil hit 150 a barrel yet prices at the pump were this high (4.50), and early in obamas term oil hit 115 a barrel and prices were at (4.00) and today at 106 a barrel prices are at (4.50)

How does this make sense? There is more oil today in the United States than ever and yet prices are through the roof? Where is the consumer outrage? Dont get mad at OBAMA, this is price fixing by big oil and the speculators.

Peace

TOS

TOS, Thats a great point you brought up. I was pondering that question myself this week.

Can anyone shed any light on it? During the Bush administration, theyre answer was "supply and demand" and the president has no control over pricing.

So, I dont wanna hear "its Obamas " fault.

 

[Just_another_day_at_work]

TOS, Thats a great point you brought up. I was pondering that question myself this week.

Can anyone shed any light on it? During the Bush administration, theyre answer was "supply and demand" and the president has no control over pricing.

So, I dont wanna hear "its Obamas " fault.

What is weird about the oil pricing for me: the last time it was around $ 150 for a barrel, the pump price was about $ 4-4.5 per gallon(here in VA). Now it's close to $ 4 with $ 100-110 per barrel.

 

[Babagounj]

simple, count the number of refineries still working.
You will see some will be off-line due to switching blends, but most of the decrease will be from ones that are shut down .
Thus less supply = higher prices.

 

[The Other Side]

simple, count the number of refineries still working.
You will see some will be off-line due to switching blends, but most of the decrease will be from ones that are shut down .
Thus less supply = higher prices.

YOU ARE FULL OF BALONEY. There is NO shortage of refined blends of anything. The problem lies with the way OIL is traded. NO MONEY needs to be put down and nobody actually has to take possession of the oil. They run the price upwards on pure speculation not SUPPLY and DEMAND.

There is more oil today in the UNITED STATES than ever. The word is GLUT. The cause is PROFIT. The culprit is the OIL COMPANIES.

PRices at the pump should not be this high with the levels of inventory, demand shrinking and the exportation of crude oil to china.

We should be paying 1.50 a gallon.

Peace

TOS

 

[bbsam]

simple, count the number of refineries still working.
You will see some will be off-line due to switching blends, but most of the decrease will be from ones that are shut down .
Thus less supply = higher prices.

Go on with that thinking Baba. Why are they shutting down? It's because conservation is actually working and US consumption is down. Guess what that means? Refineries are shutting down because they are not making money.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Go on with that thinking Baba. Why are they shutting down? It's because conservation is actually working and US consumption is down. Guess what that means? Refineries are shutting down because they are not making money.

This is not limited to oil refineries. We have a co-generation plant here which burns wood chips to produce electricity that has been forced to lay off employees as the price for electricity produced does not allow them to make money. Windmills are being shut down for the same reason. The ideal would be to build storage facilites for surplus electricity but that technology does not exist.

 

[moreluck]

..............."There is more oil today in the United States than ever and yet prices are through the roof? Where is the consumer outrage? ..............." (TOS)

Just because there is more oil today.................. doesn't mean a thing unless you actually drill for it! The outrage has been there and we've been yelling "Drill, baby, drill!" for and entire administration. The consumer outrage is there, the decisive leadership is missing!!!!

 

[bbsam]

..............."There is more oil today in the United States than ever and yet prices are through the roof? Where is the consumer outrage? ..............." (TOS)

Just because there is more oil today.................. doesn't mean a thing unless you actually drill for it! The outrage has been there and we've been yelling "Drill, baby, drill!" for and entire admonistration. The consumer outrage is there, the decisive leadership is missing!!!!

You are missing the point entirely...again. Demand is down. Suppliers hold back to cause the price to go up. It's not that we need to drill for it. It's that we need the demand to keep prices up WHERE OIL COMPANIES WANT THEM. In fact, drilling for more would only make the problem WORSE.

 

[moreluck]

 

[bbsam]

If you drill more while continuing to reduce demand, it will back up in the pipeline because refineries still can't make money.

 

[moreluck]

If you drill more while continuing to reduce demand, it will back up in the pipeline because refineries still can't make money.

The pres., with his pen, could order "one blend" (at least temporarily) and the prices at the pump would reduce some quickly. He would rather pooh-pooh all ideas and go diving for pond scum.

He's got an idea in his head that the entire country can go elec cars right now. We need the gasoline for now and he wants the prices to go sky high.....as does Chu.

Think of all the coal smoke pollution from tons more elec. plants needed for all that electric motoring. I'd rather have a horse cart!! At least I'd get fertilizer for the garden!

 

[bbsam]

I'd rather have 4wheelers built and made street legal.

 

[Babagounj]

So that only logical solution would be to stop all oil production today, let the gasoline pumps run dry and see what new society results.

 

[bbsam]

So that only logical solution would be to stop all oil production today, let the gasoline pumps run dry and see what new society results.

No. It is about maximizing the profit. You can't view this as as a "free market". Oil companies have a consumer that can be tapped for several more decades, but it takes market manipulation. They only let demand drop to the level where maximum profits are obtained. Demand drops below that, cut back on profuction but always keep them coming back. Economy stalls? Drop the price. Simple.

 

[wkmac]

You are missing the point entirely...again. Demand is down. Suppliers hold back to cause the price to go up. It's not that we need to drill for it. It's that we need the demand to keep prices up WHERE OIL COMPANIES WANT THEM. In fact, drilling for more would only make the problem WORSE.

You are right about demand being down and I ran across something that seems to support that position. The last year of data shown is 2006' but it does seem to suggest a trend in the down direction.

Motor Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Travel in the U.S., 1960–2006


I found several statistics at this link very interesting and I'm betting there has been even more improvement since 2006' if one is willing to search and find them. I did see one more link to national data through 2007' and it showed a decline in fuel consumption even below 2006' levels so the trend was building even before the economy turned south in 2008'. May explain why we were net exporting gasoline but begs the question about Keystone. I think the intent all along was to sell to the Chinese but I can't prove it. YET!

​

 

[moreluck]

Carney: Newt Gingrich “Lying” About $2.50 Gas | The Blog on Obama: White House Dossier

 

[bbsam]

$2.50/gal gasoline is easily achievable...if you are willing to destroy the rest of the economy. Do you really want 2008 fuel prices if you have to take the rest of the 2008 economy aith it?

 

[Babagounj]

White House: Hiking Taxes on Oil Companies Won’t Cut Gas Prices--But Will Increase ‘Fairness’
White House: Hiking Taxes on Oil Companies Won’t Cut Gas Prices--But Will Increase ‘Fairness’ | CNSNews.com

 

[moreluck]

A Flip Flop Chu !!!

(The Hill) — Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday disavowed his 2008 comments about increasing gas prices to European levels, remarks that Republicans have pounced on in recent weeks.

“I no longer share that view,” Chu said during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, adding that he wants to lower gas prices.

Chu, who just four years ago talked of boosting the price of gasoline to the levels of Europe, on Tuesday said higher gas prices could slow the economic recovery.
“Right now there is real hardship that Americans are suffering at the gasoline pump. We have gone through a terrible recession and a worldwide recovery, but the recovery is fragile and so, as I’ve said, another spike in gasoline prices could put that recovery in jeopardy,” he told reporters after the hearing.

“There are many, many reasons why we do not want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down.”
Chu’s disavowal of his earlier comments is the latest sign of concern from the Obama administration over how rising gas prices could hurt the president’s reelection changes.
​

 

[klein]

America, as an exporting oil country now, should actually be happy about higher oil prices.
Alberta is ! (even though we pay more at the pump), but it does us all good.