US demand for refined products is no longer dropping.
US supply, however...
And associated crude oil imports:
Posted on 11/14/2014 2:28:23 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
US demand for refined products is no longer dropping.
US supply, however...
And associated crude oil imports:
Wisdom there.
but perhaps the government should look into some means of supporting the shale oil revolution and keeping it going.
NO!!!! Government price controls is NEVER a good idea. To think that the federal government would provide a long term help in this method is simple silly. Why would any conservative want that?
Government does not need to "help" the industry. They just need to quit putting up road blocks.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
- Ronald Reagan
ROW is slowing. US cannot export majority of the oil due to regulations so over supply plus slowing demand = price decline.
It is not the US export bans driving the problem. If that were so the oil outside the US would be rising in price relative to within the US. That is not the case.
Actually, due to the export ban, it limits even more exploration for fear of not making sufficient return on investment as we approach the refining limits of light, sweet oil. Without the ban, we would like be chasing more production and driving the price down even farther.
I do not say that to support keeping the ban, it should be removed. The Feds should not dictate to whom oil owners are allowed to sell their product. There might be an initial short term dip in price with the removal, but the industry and the US would benefit in the long run.
What private industry has the US manipulated with prices controls that led to the long term benefit for that industry and the nation?
It is insane to hear conservatives calling for federal price controls.
“Someone trying to kill the domestic industry”
We have a winner. That is EXACTLY what is going on. OPEC is trying to financially drive out the exponential growth in the US production by killing off the companies responsible for it by undercutting their revenues. Aided by the world wide recession, they may be effective in causing a huge consoladation in the US as this increase has mostly been achieved by lightly capitalized heavily indebted companies.
“Normally, I wouldn’t support government price controls, but perhaps the government should look into some means of supporting the shale oil revolution and keeping it going. Not for economic reasons but purely national defense - with shale, it is conceivable that the U.S. (With the assistance of Canada) could become a net exporter, wholly self sufficient on North American supplies.”
I would also be 100% in favor of this - say, the minimum price for oil is $80, with any difference to be spent on energy efficiency or energy exploration and R&D - if I wasn’t also 100% certain that the government would squander/divert/waste every single penny of it.
No, you only wrote the words "I agree" in response to the post you quoted:
"Normally, I wouldn’t support government price controls, but perhaps the government should look into some means of supporting the shale oil revolution and keeping it going."
I'm glad to hear you do not agree with that.
they can provide tax credits for research
NO! No specialized subsidy by the government! Not even in an industry that employs me.
they can open up more federal lands for oil exploration
Yes, few roadblocks would be great.
provide startup tax credits to get the oil flowing
NO! Hasn't the industry already proven it can produce? Even if it hadn't, the government should not be picking the winners and loosers for special tax treatment. Hasn't Solyndra and the others taught you how well they help?
I think Brent is falling because the ROW economies are slowing and demand is decreasing.
Agree on the ban. A conference I went to in August had an oil industry expert discussing the threat of lower oil prices to further US exploration. His comment was that lifting the ban will allow some place for that excess production to go.
Again, normally I’d agree. But at current, the U.S. is being held hostage by Middle East interests because we depend (albeit to a slowly lesser amount every day the shale revolution gains speed) on their good will to provide us with the oil we need. This is a fundamental national security problem that will not be solved until we can tell all extra-continental oil salesmen “no thanks, not interested, we have all our own supplies.
If you want to see why this is a problem, look at why Japan went to war against the U.S. in WW2. Then look at how many people died as a result.
Perhaps price controls aren’t the right term for what I had in mind. The idea is to somehow ensure that domestic oil resource exploitation continues until we are no longer an oil importer, instead of it all being shuttered because oil prices have dropped below break even. Whether that be through price controls, tax rebates, or some other method, we *must* secure our sources of energy.
I am amazed to keep hearing so called conservative repeat garbage like this? Do you really believe the government fixing, supporting prices is good for the economy? Do you want to end up like Venezuela? If passed, do you think politicians would limit their involvement to one product only one time?
We produce 8.6 MMBPD of crude oil but we refine ~15.5 MMBPD. Why do you want our refineries to become uneconomic with the rest of the world? We finally reached a point where we have surplus refinery capacity and export some excess product for a positive boost to our trade balance. You want to shut that down, loose those jobs to have the feds select which industry should benefit and which shall lose?
I was agreeing with the government supporting the shale oil revolution and keeping it going. Incentivizing the industry will bring money back into the government coffers tenfold by increasing economic activity and more importantly will assist in collapsing all of our petro fueled enemies (Russia, Iran, Venezuela and middle east terrorist). That is the most important part.
We refine more oil than we produce. Why do you want to damage that industry and make us more dependent on importing foreign refined products? Or do you imagine further price controls for the products as well as the feedstocks?
Trying to grow the federal government income, spending and areas of regulation should not be a conservatives goal.
Not only no, but hell no.
Every dollar drop in the price of oil puts tens of millions back in the pockets of American consumers. Go read about Bastiat's "What Is Seen And What Is Not Seen" for an understanding of why this sort of cronyism is just plain bad economics, and bad politics too.
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