Crude futures prices tap $75 for first time ever in NY

CBS Marketwatch ^ | 4/21/2006

[Nachoman]

I don't mind paying extra for gas. I know the oil companies are investing the profits in research for alternative fuels. </sarcasm>

[DeusExMachina05]

This is the worst public relations and information dissemination I have ever seen from a White House. I hope it gets better from here.
The President could be at least appearing to address the issue in a more consistant fashion.

[DeusExMachina05]

I think you are a troll.

[RayChuang88]

I think the speculators who think they can hold US$70+ per barrel are going to be in for an unpleasant surprise soon. I personally believe that once the price of oil punched through the US$70 per barrel barrier, the price of petroleum products starts to become elastic (e.g., consumers become sensitive to price). Already, with consumers starting to cut back on driving the stage is set for a possible huge oversupply of petroleum products by mid-summer, and that will cause oil prices to drop quite a bit.

Also, price controls is a terrible idea. Remember what happened during the 1970's--price controls actually caused flat-out shortages because it did not allow the natural forces of economic equilibrium to work.

[G.Mason]

"In the same breath you say that throwing $400 mil down this guy's fat throat is fine but building or upgrading a refinery is too expensive?"

I said no such thing.

BTW ... a little research on your part would indicate building refineries is being stymied by community activists and political opposition, and that the last refinery to be completed in the United States was in 1976.

In the last 25 years, the number of refineries in the United States fell to 149, less than half the number it was in 1981. Can you spell b o t t l e n e c k ? Or perhaps you think the evil oil companies are purchasing crude at pennies per gallon, instead of at the market driven price (last I read was $75.20 per bbl) and are given the oil rigs and equipment through an special agreement with God?

[G.Mason]

Please see my # 245.

[barnswallow]

\"It is directed at envirowackos and politicians (on both sides of the aisles) bought and paid for by them\"

It is true that environuts and their paid ho\'s in congress (primarily democrats but a fair number of RINOs as well) deserve a huge share of the blame for the mess we are in (blocking refineries and drilling)--BUT--why are the oil industry and its allies strangely silent on this issue; they are allowing the enviros sole use of the megaphone. After all, the oil companies are so flush with cash compared to sierra club etc. that it would be possible for the oil companies--via an agressive advertising and lobbying blitz--to sweep aside much of the enviro objection to oil exploration and refinery building--IF THE OIL INDUSTRY CHOSE TO DO SO. I suspect that that the American oil industry considers the enviros \"useful idiots\"--as it is the excuse that oil refineries cannot be built or offshore drilling take place because of environmental regs which is keeping the price of oil HIGH! If your enemy is helping you to make a big profit, why stand in his way. If you made your living selling diamonds--a scarce resource found mostly in Africa with huge markup, the last thing you would want is for some upstart to find a motherlode of diamonds in the USA. That would depress the price of diamonds big time. If some anti-diamond group was preventing that upstart from mining for domestic diamonds, you\'d be all for that anti-mining group. Oil is no different. Think about it; the advertising and lobbying muscle of the oil industry (as muscular as Charles Atlas) vs the advertising and lobbying muscle of the envirowhackos (as scrawny as Woody Allen). Combine that with the best Congress money can buy. Yet the oil industry is not taking advantage of this muscle. Strange, huh?

[barnswallow]

\\\\The reason why there have been no new refineries in 30 years is because of the oil companies. They wanted to control their profits and did not want to risk over capacity. They felt that if there was additional demand, import it. In short, they put their profits above the interests of the American people.

Do you really think that with a President who has deep ties to oil, a Vice-President who used to run an oil company, a Republican Senate and a Republican House that no refineries could get approval//


I am reluctant to blame the POTUS and VP for this mess (I believe they are merely unimaginative and timid, not corrupt); but the thrust of your argument is sound overall.

[Lucky9teen]

These graphs were taken from different places (you can right click on them to see where) so that might be a reason for the difference. Or it might explain a lot about why we are seeing what we are now.

I question it too.

[Lunatic Fringe]

What gets my blood pressure rising is when the politicians get on TV and bemoan the profits of the oil companies.

DUH!!! If the market price is skyrocketing, of COURSE they are going to make record profits. But oil companies don't set the price of oil, it is set by the open market. As I understand it, oil wells are producing as fast as they can.

Businesses cannot just set an arbitrary price and rake in the money. It doesn't work that way. These Washington toads need to go back to their economics books. The ONLY way to lower the price of oil is to flood the market with supply. Washington has prevented new exploration and exploitation of our own oil reserves, causing a supply shortage and a rise in prices... now they want us to trust them to come up with a solution by going after profits???

Sadly, most Americans buy into this political shell game.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

I long for the day when we thought fifty cents a gallon sounded absurdly high.

I can remember saying "$1.00 a gallon? No one will ever pay that, the economy will collapse."

[barnswallow]

It is true that environuts and their paid hos in congress (primarily democrats but a fair number of RINOs as well) deserve a huge share of the blame for the mess we are in (blocking refineries and drilling)--BUT--why are the oil industry and its allies strangely silent on this issue; they are allowing the enviros sole use of the megaphone. After all, the oil companies are so flush with cash compared to sierra club etc. that it would be possible for the oil companies--via an agressive advertising and lobbying blitz--to sweep aside much of the enviro objection to oil exploration and refinery building--IF THE OIL INDUSTRY CHOSE TO DO SO. I suspect that that the American oil industry considers the enviros useful idiots--as it is the excuse that oil refineries cannot be built or offshore drilling take place because of environmental regs which is keeping the price of oil HIGH! If your enemy is helping you to make a big profit, why stand in his way. If you made your living selling diamonds--a scarce resource found mostly in Africa with huge markup, the last thing you would want is for some upstart to find a motherlode of diamonds in the USA. That would depress the price of diamonds big time. If some anti-diamond group was preventing that upstart from mining for domestic diamonds, you\\\'d be all for that anti-mining group. Oil is no different. Think about it; the advertising and lobbying muscle of the oil industry (as muscular as Charles Atlas) vs the advertising and lobbying muscle of the envirowhackos (as scrawny as Woody Allen). Combine that with the best Congress money can buy. Yet the oil industry is not taking advantage of this muscle. Strange, huh?

[NormsRevenge]

Strange , Not really. I wouldn't underestimate the power of the greens to get their 'message' out.

Also, most lobbyists are not where they are because they are smart, imo. They are there because they are opportunists and out to make a buck, and bottom line, could usually care less about the outcome of their efforts for one side or the other..

Enviros, on the other hand , are the most gullible of the lot. They are led by the hype of the limousine liberals and anti-growth advocates, all believing that their motives are pure and thus unquestionable.

You do raise a good point worth considering, that Big Oil, may be better served by keeping things as they are refinery and production-wise, but long term, even oil producers see the folly in that with aging plants and fields.

Growth for them means more than stagnating in place, no matter where the price or profit levels are at present, imo.

Renewable energy is the rage or so it seems these days, be it primarily solar or wind, or incorporates hydrogen or fuel cell technology. They seem to be getting the bulk of the popular support, while the quietest most efficient form of energy sits churning away in nuclear reactors yet sadly is the ugly duckling on the energy scene. But that's a whole other can of worms, even tho it has proven itself to be a reliable producer of much needed energy for years.


All in all, it's a mess, a mess a lot of folks make money and political livings off of and some do quite well at..

[headstamp]

Can you give me a few links on that coal process and cellulose based ethanol?


Thanks

[norraad]

The diamond metaphor is exactly the road big oil is plowing,

"oh, it's so rare and hard to find, and once we manage to find it, oh, it's so hard to cut (refine), oh, the toil, oh, the trouble, oh, woe is us."

Cough, cough, pull back the curtain,("are they still buying it?)

[ordinaryguy]

These graphs were taken from different places...

Sure, but one is at the Department of Energy and the other is sourced to the Department of Energy. Otherwise I wouldn't have attempted the comparison.

[Kill Osama]

Russia, Venezuela, Norway, Saudi-Arabia and Iran will benefit from this.

[M203M4]

This is what you get when you restrict the free market. Yet some people think that more government control, more government restrictions - more communism - is the answer.

You want the solution? Cut the damn restrictions placed on putting up new refineries, and open up the Alaskan wastelands to the free market.

Tell the communists, the enviro-turds, the big government ninnies, and the economically-illiterate populist morons (oh, how I love to repeat myself!) to (1) go **** themselves and (2) move to Cuba or some other Hillary-village shiteaucracy where they can enjoy taxing, regulating, and criminalizing themselves into absolute poverty.

[OldArmy52]

Clearly profiteering govts here and abroad need a stiff excess profits tax slapped on them.