ALL of the rationale behind this price jump is purely speculative, corporate, and organized manipulation of the commodity.
an earlier post referred to the refining variables. this was an interesting post, but the petroleum ‘cracking’ process turns crude oil into around 9 different oils, gas and gasses. starting from the lowest quality to the highest (asphalt to natural gas.) the refining process does not make (for instance) just super unleaded from a barrel of crude. the refiners do not decide one day to only create diesel from crude. they do not decide the next day to make only gasoline from crude. they churn out each and every type of petroleum products EACH and EVERY day!
how much they churn out ultimately controls the price we pay. (and their profit)
i have seen times when we could not get enough diesel to fuel our tugboats (and we DELIVER the oil and gas) when there have been 400,000 bbl tankerS (plural) anchored offshore (ostensibly waiting for clearance to enter port) however, when the price went up a day of two later viola, the tankers somehow have ‘clearance’ to enter the port!
sounds sort of suspicious to me! and the week i observed this the ceo of exxon mobil was testifying before congress about how his company (and the industry) was not really profiting too much, but was simply a corporation doing business as usual!
No it doesn’t. In the early 80’s before this horse hocky came into existance in a big way 350 chevy pickups got 20 mpg. The same truck today with a smaller v8 probably gets around 15 or 16 mpg. My Dodge Cummins gets around 20 on average.
Trucks have been EXEMPT from the Cafe’ numbers for YEARS. It’s only until very very recently that trucks must meet certain Cafe’ numbers.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but diesel, home heating oil and jet fuel have just taken their rightful place as the primary product of processed crude.
Drilling rights as a panacea for the high oil prices are likewise bogus. Oil companies presently have drilling rights in millions of oil rich acreage on solid ground (next to ANWR by the way) and off shore that they have delayed drilling on for many years. There are very sound business reasons for their decisions, few of which have anything to do with our convenience. If you can make the same profit for less product, what would make you provide more ? Dah.
Oil companies are well run businesses. They own the rights to the nickel hydride battery (big solution to high capacity, cheap EVs) and are presently sliding into control of solar power technology and scaring us into providing drilling and mineral rights to billions of acres of land. They have the solutions to oil consumption in THEIR hands now.
Don’t complain…invest in them if you haven’t already.
Isn’t the governmental / EPA controls preventing permits for new refineries an issue separate from technical / financial feasibility of building refineries? A few issues might have shared conflicts, but, if Europeans can thrive in their market with their notoriously bureaucratic red tapes, I’m not convinced that our situation is all about the EPA and the technical difficulties. In fact, for so long I’ve been hearing that it’s the basic market forces (mostly described as supply and demand) that’s at the root cause for rising fuel prices, yet, I’ve really not seen any physical evidence of “shortages”, such as in the mid seventies, I’m everyday more convinced that the consumers are being played by the Big Oil conglomerates. Correct me if I’m wrong, but, don’t the large oil companies indulge in everything from finding, drilling, extracting, refining, distributing, and, ultimately, price setting at the pump? If a baker turns out to have his own field of wheat, his own mill, his own transport truck, I’d be puzzled when he tells me that the price of his bread is higher today because he paid himself more for his wheat - all the while he’s traded in his Chevy for a Caddy. On the other hand, I’m genuinely uninterested in how much profit margin the oil companies enjoy. More power to them. I’ll find a way to conserve and be frugal.
Speak for yourself about company drivers not caring about the cost of fuel.It realy grinds my gears to hear some of you say we,the company drivers,do not care.I am a company driver and it bugs me about the high cost.First of all it cuts down on how much we make because the companies do not want to pay enough to servive.As far as the comfort of living in the truck,companies are making the drivers cut down on idleing time to save fuel and giving penalties to drivers who idle to much.State laws are making us shut our trucks off also.So don’t say company drivers don’t care.
A report I heard just last week says the oil companies have drilling rights to 64 million acres that according to many geologists are very very rich in oil. Some of the richest ever found. But they don’t want to drill there right now. Instead they want to open new fields.
I say…they should drill there first…then when those fields are tapped out open up the other areas if need be.
That’s why I wrote “Company trucks drivers only care about the price of fuel when it gets high enough to slow the trucking industry.” I never said they don’t care. Thank you for responding, but next time you should try reading first.
A report I heard just last week says the oil companies have drilling rights to 64 million acres…
It’s true. The oil companies hold drilling leases on 64 million acres of federal land, which doesn’t explain why they would need to drill offshore or in ANWAR. It is like my parents always said, “Clean your plate first, then you can have seconds.”
its not about needing more crude. they are not refining enough. does any one really know if the claim that there is not enough refining capacity is true? who do you believe? the oil companies themselves? (i dont)
Statisics speak for themselves. The US imports 13% of its gasoline and 9% of its diesel requirements. Due to low refinery margins in the past and rapid tecnological change required by Ultra Low Sulphur diesel, refining capacity is constrained at present. Luckily, many refineries are now expaniding and modernizing now since they have to process more and more heavy crude oil from Canada and overseas. This, together with the new fuel spec requirements, dictates major expansions and modernization.
Americans are their own worst enemies; a refinery modernization and expansion is ususally met with the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome. The EPA makes it difficult as well, but those standards are in force in the whole developed world. As a result, refineries in Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore are all more modern by and large than those in the US.
Since I don’t work for an oil company, or the US goverment or an environmental group, you will have to believe me.
Do you realize or care that the Gore mansion burns more electricity in one day then we do in an entire month?
You mean “…burned more electricity…” That is yesterday’s news. The Gore estate has been retrofitted with equipment that has significantly decreased energy consumption. Try reading a newspaper once a month.
You know, the “narrow visioned hippie politicians” were in their places for eight years. Republicans controlled Congress for 12 years and the Whitehouse for 8 years. If there is any inconvenient truth, it is that this is what happens when you put a retarded Texan in the Whitehouse and put his fellow Republicans in charge. One of the first things Bush did when he got into the Whitehouse was to remove environmental protection laws. That was almost 8 years ago, Mr. Magoo.
I gurantee [sic.] that this time next year the prices of fuel will be close to pre-panic prices.
I’ll take that bet. Fuel prices have nowhere to go but up. It is basic Macroeconomics.
Jeremy…Beefy just makes things up. I remember one of his early statements a few months ago when he made the claim that MOST of the price you pay for gas is TAXES.
I’ve heard from 2 news sources that the US currently exports 85% of the diesel fuel refined in the USA to Europe. So that would mean no shortage of availabe fuel in the US for the US market, if of course this was in the US oil industries interest.
It's cost prohibitive to spend MILLIONS in updating their refineries
Have you looked at the balance sheets of the major US Oil companies? Millions is a drop in the bucket compared to the profit the have extolled from us in the past year alone.
Have you looked at the balance sheets of the major US Oil companies? Millions is a drop in the bucket compared to the profit the have extolled from us in the past year alone.
I agree…but tell that to the stock holders. That’s one reason I think what the oil companies is doing is IMMORAL.
Your information makes good sense. I understand that it costs a lot of money at the refinery and that there is a lot of red tape to get permits to build refineries. With that said, I heard that last quarter Exxon Mobile made 40 billion dollars profit (we all know that profit is after all the bills are paid). So, we can throw the high cost theory right out the window. When you make record profits, you can afford to upgrade your equipment. On the governments end of the deal, they work for the people. Well, thats at least what they are supposed to do. With the cost of fuel going through the roof, our economy is being destroyed. If our government wanted to, they could cut through the red tape and not take years to give the refineries permits to build equipment. They could easily put enough people in the permit process and have them working 24/7 to get these permits out and to inspect these refineries to make sure they are safe. The oil companies making record profits could easily afford to build these refineries quicker, but neither the Government or the oil companies will do what I am saying. That is because the American people are just constituents. We dont mean nothing. The Government only listens to the lobbyist (big business). Oil companies are big lobbyist. They work together to screw the American people at the cost of our economy and our countries well being. As long as oil companies keep making record profits, quarter after quarter, this is what I and many Americans know is happening.