Oil is not Well in the U.S.

[Joe Guy]

Yesterday I was listening to Michael Finney on the radio, who is a local consumer advocate. He was talking about how the U.S. is producing more oil than it has in 20 years, yet the price is still going up.

Why is that?

It's because although we're producing more oil we're also exporting more oil than we have ever done in our history. And of course, we all seem to be willing to pay the current price.

Which makes me wonder what good it would do for the U.S. to drill for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and other places here at home.

Could it be that those evil republicans really want to drill for oil here just to make more money for the oil companies under the guise of making the U.S. less reliant on the middle east for our oil?

No.

Couldn't be.

Politicians would never be so sneaky.

[Econoline]

Yes, the price we pay for gas and oil here depends on GLOBAL supply and demand, the latter of which continues to rocket upward.

[rubato]

"...

Could it be that those evil republicans really want to drill for oil here just to make more money for the oil companies under the guise of making the U.S. less reliant on the middle east for our oil?
... " .

How cynical of you!

It's not like they had secret meetings in the Bush White House about energy policy or anything like that. Did they?

yrs,
rubato

[liberty]

It doesn’t have to be that way; it can be any way we want it to be if we have the poliltical grit to make it happen.

[rubato]

It doesn’t have to be that way; it can be any way we want it to be if we have the poliltical grit to make it happen.

What way is that?

yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

I was kinda wondering the same thing.

[liberty]

I was kinda wondering the same thing.

If enough American citizens demanded a ban on the export of oil produced in the US congress would do it, if for no other reason than for fear of losing their jobs.

[rubato]

What an astonishingly bad idea. Even worse than Nixon's price controls on domestic oil.


yrs,
rubato

[oldr_n_wsr]

I say use up all of the mideasts oil first while we prepare to harvest our own oil. Then we can be OPEC.
no, I did not think this through

[liberty]

What an astonishingly bad idea. Even worse than Nixon's price controls on domestic oil.


yrs,
rubato

Why would it be a bad idea?

[dgs49]

Read Closely:

The world market for oil can be understood by analogy with a giant swimming pool filled with oil. There are thousands of pipes pumping oil INTO the pool and thousands of pipes pumping oil OUT OF the pool The global price of a barrel of oil at any given time is INVERSELY RELATED TO the level of oil in the pool. When the oil is high the price is low, and vice versa.

Where the oil comes from, or where it goes to is IRRELEVANT. Thus, the specific situation in the U.S. is irrelevant as well. Like I said, where the oil comes from has no bearing on the price in any locality - even if the oil came from the next county. Pricing of oil is GLOBAL.

If the U.S. (or any other country) suddenly finds a huge oil field and starts pumping it like crazy, it will cause the oil in the pool to go up ever so slightly, and might result in a few cents reduction in the price of gas at the pump. But other factors also play a role: refining capacity, taxes, transportation costs, etc. In Europe, they have chosen to fund a large part of their welfare states with gasoline taxes, hence the pump price of gas in Germany, for example, is about US$9/gal. The COST of gas in Europe is the same as it is bere.

The benefit of pumping oil in this country is MAINLY the improvement in our trade deficit. The effect on pump prices is negligible.

Natural gas, on the other hand, is not generally traded among continental sources, and our prices are based on the situation in North America. Lucky for us, because the price per BTU of gas in Europe is about four times what it is here - thanks to FRACKING technology on our side, and in Europe, the Russians scheming and the stupid actions of Europe's "Greens."

[liberty]

What is there to prevent us from having our own pool of oil? After all the US military has one. The US federal could declare all oil in the US a national strategic reserve to be use for the best effect on the US economy.

[Econoline]

What is there to prevent us from having our own pool of oil? After all the US military has one. The US federal could declare all oil in the US a national strategic reserve to be use for the best effect on the US economy.

Here are 25 powerful reasons it won't/can't happen.

[liberty]

What is there to prevent us from having our own pool of oil? After all the US military has one. The US federal could declare all oil in the US a national strategic reserve to be use for the best effect on the US economy.

Here are 25 powerful reasons it won't/can't happen.

I don’t blame the oil companies for looking our for their own interest, but we the people of the US should do the same thing. I still say that if enough voters demand it, it would happen.

[Scooter]

Natural gas, on the other hand, is not generally traded among continental sources, and our prices are based on the situation in North America. Lucky for us, because the price per BTU of gas in Europe is about four times what it is here - thanks to FRACKING technology on our side

And pumping it at the current rate means your entire reserves will be gone in less than 12 years. Then what?

[Big RR]

12 years? I guess it depnds what sources you look to. Granted, like all fuels it is a limited resource, but I've heard a fairly broad range of estimates on how long our reserves will last.

[Joe Guy]

What is there to prevent us from having our own pool of oil? After all the US military has one. The US federal could declare all oil in the US a national strategic reserve to be use for the best effect on the US economy.

You've missed the most important point. Our export of oil IS what has the best effect on our economy. Oil and gasoline is relatively cheap in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.

The reason I started this thread is to offer the idea that many of our republican politicians are trying to convince us that drilling for more oil in this country's protected areas will make us more self-reliant on oil (which most people probably interpret as cheaper gasoline). When the truth is that if the U.S. produces more oil it will allow us to sell more oil in the world market. That's a good thing for our economy (and especially our oil companies) but it is for a different reason than the idea that is often promoted by those evil republican politicians...

[Joe Guy]

And pumping it at the current rate means your entire reserves will be gone in less than 12 years. Then what?

Where did you get that number?

Sources I found with a quick google search say that if the U.S. continues to use natural gas at the rate used in 2011, the reserves will last 92 years. I haven't heard of any drastic change in natural gas usage in the last two years

[oldr_n_wsr]

Oil and gasoline is relatively cheap in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world.

The price per barrel of oil is pretty much the same all over the world. Other countries (european mostly) impose a very high tax on oi/gasl (and other "sin" products) to pay for their "social structure". Just because we pay "lower" prices at the pump doesn't mean we get cheaper gas, it just means our goverment doesn't take as much of our money in exchange for us buying gas.

[Joe Guy]

Just because we pay "lower" prices at the pump doesn't mean we get cheaper gas, it just means our goverment doesn't take as much of our money in exchange for us buying gas.

Well... since very few country's citizens have a choice to purchase gasoline ala carte, it does amount to a cheaper price that we pay for gasoline compared to most other countries.

So if you really want to save money on gasoline, drive down to Venezuela when you need to fill up. It is about 9 to 12 cents per gallon.