[Ratmagiclady]

Maybe its got something to do with middle east uprising.

So, being in denial of *that* inevitability, especially when the Right's been *advertising* it if not bringing it about, was a point in *favor* of denialism in service of deeper fossil fuel reliance and hoping Big Oil would out of the goodness of their hearts 'keep prices down' to have us over a barrel.... as long as we kept giving them more money and power?

(Also, so you know, Parallax, the Moon is in the seventh house just about daily. Most of the variance is from your screen name. )

[jeffkrol]

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, is “not comfortable” with the current crude price and is concerned about its effect on global economic growth, the head of the state oil company said.

Saudi Arabia is committed to keeping aside a “sizable cushion” of 3 million to 4 million barrels a day of idle production capacity to stabilize the market, Khalid al-Falih, chief executive officer of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., said today in Seoul. The kingdom pumped 9 million barrels a day last month, the most since October 2008, according to a Bloomberg News survey of producers and analysts.

“We are not comfortable with oil prices where they are today,” al-Falih said. “We’re concerned about the impact it could have on the global economic growth.”

Oil has rallied 32 percent in New York since protests against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi began Feb. 15, cutting the country’s oil production and fueling speculation Middle East supplies will be disrupted.

Saudi Arabia Uncomfortable With Crude Oil Price, Aramco's Al-Falih Says - Bloomberg

Oil prices ... FUD...........

Rich a holes jerking our chain again..................

Saudi Arabia raised its crude output to offset lost production in Libya and has developed two new blends to help meet the demand of European refiners that use Libyan grades. Both countries are part of the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil.

Oil consumers needn’t be concerned by high crude prices because spare capacity can “moderate” the market, said al- Falih, who is in South Korea for a board meeting this week.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi “has made it clear that the kingdom will continue to act in support of oil market stability,” al-Falih said. The minister on April 19 described the recent gains in prices as
“unjustified.”

[jeffkrol]

Maybe its got something to do with middle east uprising.

Maybe it has something to do with the difficulty in getting domestic drilling permits.

Maybe decades of poor urban planning and personal preferences for overpowered engines and oversized homes has made our dependence on oil for transportation fuels the weak link to economic growth.

No, no and no, BUT there not bad ideas....... just have little to do w/ the current spike, if anything...

Another foolish man................

"The reason you're seeing these high prices is because of the extraordinary growth in demand globally and the inability of this nation to create sufficient supply," Romney told reporters as he visited Hillsborough Gas & Repair before a GOP candidate forum in New Hampshire.

"It's a supply-and-demand imbalance, and if we're going to finally address our sources of energy," he added. "Instead of trying to find a scapegoat, as I watched the president (say) the other day, 'We're gonna investigate and see who's gouging,' well, that's always a good thing to do; there's nothing wrong with finding out who the gougers are, but that's not the reason for gasoline prices at the level we're seeing.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2011/04/romney_blames_h.html


SEE ABOVE.............

[GeneV]

What do you mean by saying that domestic supply is "high?" We produce ~5600 barrels/day and consume ~19,000. It might be high relative to some production levels in the past but it is low compared to domestic consumption. Most of the oil in the world comes from places which are teetering on the brink of civil war, this year's weather has been unpredictable and severe, and there are risks of inflation from the federal reserve which is driving investment into commodities like oil.

Oil is a commodities business and when prices are high Exxon is no more to blame than a farmer for a high food prices, Nucor for high steel prices, or Freeport for high gold prices.

There are no cartels involved in those other commodities, nor is there a long history of antitrust violations. Exxon's predecessor was a primary reason antitrust laws were created.

I'd like to see subsidies for oil removed. I'd also like to see the U.S. live more compactly, as in Europe, but that requires a lot of changes that the Libertarians won't like.

---

Last edited by GeneV; 04-29-2011 at 05:29 PM.

[lesmore49]

Bernie Sanders has gone from championing anti-global warming legislation to demanding cheaper gas so americans can tear up the highways with their polluting trucks and cars and take to the skies.

Why is it that liberals want all of the european amenities but are unwilling to accept expensive gasoline. When gas prices go up, people will rethink living in big houses located in far flung exurbs and local producers will be more competitive.

Bring on $15 per gallon gas!

Bernie Sanders Demands Action From Obama On Wall Street Oil 'Gambling'

Unbelievable . Did you not hear of the multi Billion dollar profit one of the oil companies made during the past quarter ?

Where do you think the bulk of what you pay at the gas pump goes to...the oil companies.

[newarts]

...

I'd like to see subsidies for oil removed. I'd also like to see the U.S. live more compactly, as in Europe, but that requires a lot of changes that the Libertarians won't like.

Change is difficult.

The US built a sprawled suburban structure based on low cost fuel. Increases in fuel prices are inevitable and will lead to adjustments in the urban/suburban housing balance which will take time.

Probably the dumbest thing the US could do is to use up its own petroleum resources - they should be the last used rather than the first. Find them, prove them, but don't use them while other supplies are available.

[shooz]

I've said for years that's the best reason not to drill in Anwar.
A true strategic reserve.

[reeftool]

Like all other politicians, Bernie wants to get re-elected. He will bitch along with everybody else about the prices. There isn't much he or anybody else can do about it. The prices are being controlled by foreign cartels. The oil companies are making money because they are selling a product in high demand. Sure, we could refuse to pay up and demand lower prices. They will sell it to other countries who will pay. Donald Trump went on a good rant yesterday, suggesting that Obama should do something. Nothing specific mind you about how he would deal with the situation but let loose an F bomb in a speech anyhow. Makes him look good to the voters.

Don't like the price of fuel? Lets learn to live without it. The technology is there but we don't use it. The arguement is made that it isn't practical enough yet. Lets put it to use and make it practical. 100 years ago, the horse and buggy was more practical than the car. That didn't stop builders from making them and putting them into use.

[jeffkrol]

That's funny.
In Canada, it was a Liberal Prime Minister who decided that the price Canadians pay for oil (and consequently gasoline) should be tied to the world price of oil, even though at the time we produced all of our needs, and knowing that it would raise the price of gasoline significantly. He also put in place a federal thing called the National Energy Program which stole billions and billions of dollars from the west, most notably Alberta, and transferred said money to Ottawa, where it was used to fund some fairly massive bribes to Quebec to keep a pacifier in the mouths of the separatists.

See you are Americans............

[wildman]

1. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says production of conventional crude oil peaked in 2006.

Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.

2. In 2010 the top two best selling vehicles of any type in the north American market were the Ford F150 and the GMC Silverado both full size pickup trucks.

Sure the price of oil is manipulated. How could it be othewise so long as we (Americans primarily) continue to pursue a life style that denies the basic long term realities of the energy market?

With or without price manipulation, in the medium and long term, the price of gas at the pump will continue to rise.

---------------------

Reality is the leading cause of anxiety among those in touch with it.
Lily Tomlin

[GeneV]

Unbelievable . Did you not hear of the multi Billion dollar profit one of the oil companies made during the past quarter ?

Where do you think the bulk of what you pay at the gas pump goes to...the oil companies.

And profits are way up over previous years.

Chevron up 36%
Shell up 60%
ConocoPhillips up 43%
Total up 50%

At $11bn, Exxon had its biggest quarter since 2008

Chevron profit rises 36 percent on high oil prices - BusinessWeek

[Oso]

Thank God for Bernie Sanders! Here in Vermont we are so proud that we actually have real representation. (my sympathies to those in Michigan, Wisconsin,...)

Bernie was elected as mayor of Burlington, then he became our US congressman, one of the longest serving Independents in the House,
and is now our senator.

He keeps winning elections because he speaks Truth to Power, and has Gonads requiring wheelbarrows to haul them around in.

Vermont is a very rural state, and employment is difficult at the best of times, and travel is a must.
Unfortuantely, this is a rural state, and not many of us are what you call rich.
Can you remember way back when, when the electric utility companies didn't want to run wires to the boonies, but they were forced to by way of the rural electrification act? They wanted the benefits of the government, but couldn't care a whit about sending power to those areas deemed too expensive to run wire until forced to do so by the government. The people pay for it, but have to fight for it.
Mass transit is very expensive, and Vermont has tried very hard, but it is difficult, hence we, like many Americans, are forced to use our cars to get to work.
The high gas prices kill us up here, just like they kill the rest of working America.

Vermont is one of the leaders in this nation in renewable energy, and it is one of the states leading growth job sectors.

Knowing that our energy needs are in the hands of the people that brought us our current economy(wall street), Just gives me the shivers.

recognize assault when you see it. we are being had.

And we are paying $15.00 for gas, you just don't see it.

The difference is made up in the taxes that fund the Pentagon budget we use to protect our supply of oil around the world, and in the subsidies to big oil, in the taxpayer funded environmental cleanup...and on and on.

[shooz]

Well put and accurate.
Problem is, so many believe that NO politician is honest.
Bernie is one of the few.

[mikemike]

And profits are way up over previous years.
Chevron up 36%
Shell up 60%
ConocoPhillips up 43%
Total up 50%
At $11bn, Exxon had its biggest quarter since 2008 Chevron profit rises 36 percent on high oil prices - BusinessWeek

Most of those profits come from higher prices for oil, pure and simple which is again a function of the price of commodities not anything outright evil on behalf of the oil companies. Most of them (Shell and Exxon definitely don't and I heard that BP gave up on it a couple years ago) have given up on trying to participate in the oil market as a buyer of oil futures because it has just burnt them too many times in the past.

Right now oil is a seller's market. When the price is down to $30/barrel no one has any sympathy for the oil companies or the workers that are suffering with low gas prices, but when the price is over $100/barrel everyone becomes an oil expert. The oil industry is one of the last places where you can fulfill your progressive wishlist... high salaries, pensions, lifetime employment, profit sharing, and great benefits... all with low rates of unionization to boot.

The other thing that is contributing some to the profit margin is their inability to engage in full blown exploration since the deepwater horizon disaster. Exploration is a very expensive undertaking and it doesn't generate any profits in the short term so it is like they have spent the last year just doing work that they had lined up without bringing any new business through the door, looks profitable this year but it will be detrimental in the long run as they need to play catch up.

[shooz]

You can't have it both ways mike.
You've just admitted it has nothing to do with supply and demand.
The speculators drove it up.
Creating inflation in that market. A bubble, if you would.
What did you miss about even the Saudis at loss to explain it.
It's the libertarians the get it all wrong.