Cowpie1 wrote:
naturist wrote:
kjfishman wrote:
Taz wrote:
In the Twin Cities there was a 15 Cent increase in Diesel Fuel Prices this week. Anyone else notice the same in other parts of the country? Anyone know whats causing it?
The reason is they don't need a reason. All the company's that sell products or services to the oil companys should charge the oil company's twice as much or more than they charge everyone else. The oil company's report record profits and try to blame the high prices on the middle east, bad weather when it is simple greed on thier part.
The green people that don't want any drilling in the US or any new refineries aren't helping any.
Funny, in talking to the oil industry people, I've been told that it wouldn't matter if they were allowed to drill anyplace their heart desired -- or for that matter every 10 feet everywhere on the planet -- there isn't enough oil left to be tapped to make a dent in what is expected to happen in the oil markets over the next 50 years or so.
I heard those same forcasts over 40 years ago. I remember hearing in the 80's that we would only have 20 years of cost effective oil reserves left at the rate of consumption. Heck, in the 80's, actors were in the media claiming the oceans would not sustain life after another 20 year's of man's actions!
When allowed to thrive, the free market will always win out. The current chairman of BP has testified that between the oil sands of Canada, the KNOWN oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, and the oil reserves untapped on the N.A. continent, we have enough to take care of our needs past the 50 year prediction by doom and gloom scenarios. The government just restricts going and getting it. To wit, the lastest round of congressional debate about drilling in the Gulf and ANWR.
Get the government out of the way and you will see plenty of oil at a price less than we have now. Also, we wouldn't be lining the pockets of those that like to shoot missles and blow up children. Let's get the oil that is available here, increase biodiesel and ethanol use, build a few more refineries, and lower our consumption a little, and we would be sitting pretty good.
Considering the massive world-wide recession in the '90s (which for some reason the US mostly did not experience), the prediction from the '80s is right on target, unless, of course, you consider the current run-up in fuel prices to be of no consequence.
It should be noted that the BP chairman you cited was absolutely correct about the abundance of oil sands. What he didn't mention, or you neglected to add, was that nobody has been able to extract the oil from those sands without burning more oil than they got out of the sands. The rest of that citation, however, runs counter to everything else I've read from every other oil industry source. I don't buy it.
I'd also add that if you "got the government out of the way" completely, meaning also that the government quit subsidizing oil production around the world, we'd finally have to pay what petroleum products REALLY cost us at the pump instead of hidden in our taxes. The last analysis on that said with oil at $70 a barrell, the true cost of gasoline was $10.28 a gallon.
But there is no need to argue about this one, you know. If YOU are right, sometime in the next 20 years, I'm sure we'll see 32 cent a gallon gasoline again. If I am right, you'll never see $3 a gallon gas again after the end of 2006. Anybody want to lay a little wager on the chances?