Posted on 10/27/2014 9:08:21 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
American workers and motorists got some badly-needed relief this week when the price of oil plunged to its lowest level in years. The oil price has fallen by about 25 percent since its peak back in June of $105 a barrel. This is translating to lower prices at the pump with many states now below $3 a gallon.
At present levels, these lower oil and gas prices are the equivalent of a $200 billion cost saving to American consumers and businesses. That’s $200 billion a year we don’t have to send to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other foreign nations. Now that’s an economic stimulus par excellence.
There are many global reasons why gas prices are falling, but the major one isn’t being widely reported. America has become in the last several years an energy-producing powerhouse. And sorry, Mr. President, I’m not talking about the niche “green energy” sources you are so weirdly fixated with.
Oil prices are falling because of changes in world supply and world demand. Demand has slowed because Europe is an economic wreck. But since 2008 the U.S. has increased our domestic supply by a gigantic 50 percent. This is a result of the astounding shale oil and gas revolution made possible by made-in-America technologies like hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Already thanks to these inventions, the U.S. has become the number one producer of natural gas. But oil production in states like Oklahoma, Texas and North Dakota has doubled in just six years.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
That and the ChiCom economy is beginning to tank.
I believe that it might have something to do with increased fuel economy. I am certainly not a petroleum engineer, but I do know that the “distillation/refining” of crude oil is not infinitely adjustable. If you make X amount of this, you have to make at least Y amount of that. So, if you need X amount of plastic precursors, you might have to make (and SELL) Y amount of gasoline, and Z amount of jet fuel (kerosene? - and jets are more fleet efficient, too). They can’t dump it in the ocean...
The last time gas prices dropped like this was just before the 2008 election.
It isn't that widely known, but this is a watershed in geopolitics. The world very nearly went to war over both Iraqi and Iranian threats to block oil shipments in the Persian Gulf because it actually was an existential threat to the world economy. Now, far less so.
It is amusing to note that the Green position has come into conflict with the anti-war position in this issue, which may be why we haven't heard more about it, since those two positions seem to have in common the same set of adherents, many of them in the media and in popular culture. These will not appreciate anyone pointing out this inconsistency.
One of the best kept secrets with the crisis in Iraq/Syria/ISIS ? and other oil producing countries like Russia, is how the price of gasoline and oil in America and the world keeps coming down.
Increased U.S. production is helping to create an oil surplus on world markets, driving down prices despite a myriad of threats to oil supplies, and doing more to crush Russia’s economy than the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European Union, said Chris Faulkner, chief executive of Breitling Energy.
This is also preventing the Opecker Princes from doubling their price on oil to again cause another major economic recession around the world.
American ingenuity and capitalism has given swift, hard and repetitive economic kicks below the economic belts of the Opecker Princes, Putin and some South American dictators.
The Opecker Princes are in full panic as they are flooding the market with oil, which helps to drive the price down along with our oil production.
Supply and demand.
I figured it was because of the elections
Obama and the left aren’t “weirdly fixated with” “green energy”,
they’re fixated with not allowing commoners access to energy,
and that requires any viable affordable source to be taxed or made unavailable.
billions and billions of dollars not going to other countries that hate us. awesome.
How come I never seem to hear about the “POTENTIAL” amounts of oil and natural gas hiding offshore of the United States?
We have about 2000 miles of north/south shore plus the gulf.
They don’t allow drilling or exploration offshore Sillyfornia, a state which could have a balanced budget if they factored in oil revenues, now forbidden. That’s their problem.
And whether or not the President likes it, we have among the very largest COAL reserves in the world, too.
If any country on the face of the earth SHOULD be totally energy independent it is this one.
The price is falling because OPEC is trying to shut down domestic production in the US by making it not cost effective.
Worked in the 80’s. I’ve said before, I benefit as much as anyone from lower fuel prices but I’d much rather that my country lose it’s dependence upon people who want to kill us all.
There needs to be a way for domestic development and production to continue independent of unfavorable world price. View it along the lines of the strategic reserve.
Ooh, yeah. Dear Leader has furrowed his royal brow in disapproval and all the coal disappeared from the public consciousness. Praise Dear Leader.
Maybe that’s why I read recently the Saudis told the rest of OPEC, “We’re not slowing output, deal with it”.
It’s “fall”, on the cusp if an election which threatens dems!
Gasoline was $1.87 when Hussein got elected in 2008.
How about something improbable but not impossible? This all started wth Ukraine. Maybe, just maybe under the radar we are punishing Russia.
Despite Obama we are still the most powerful nation on the planet and we do have some leverage. Now, if we want to finish off Putin and send a message to the Chicoms, ISIS and the rest of the idiots, all Obama needs to do is go on TV tomorrow and announce the fast tracking of Keystone.
We know what he could do if he really wanted to be a good leader, but he has no interest in true leadership.
He has a heart of stone, and a will like iron. Nothing will make him budge, not even Our Lord Himself will be able to make a dent.
BINGO!
This is all about the Saudis trying to decrease the amount of fracking and horizontal drilling in the US. Also, to keep it from spreading to other countries. This same technology will eventually be adapted all over the world. There are shale plays on every continent. The Saudis stated about a month ago they were OK with the price going to $80/barrel. They will still make a lot of money. However, it will also hurt their rivals the Russians and Iranians.
The US producers need the price to be around $65/barrel or higher or it is not worth drilling. This level would also hurt places like Nigeria that has a very high lifting cost of its oil. If the price drops into the $50’s, North Dakota and Texas shale plays will shut down. The same thing happened in Canada with natural gas when it got so cheap in the US a year ago. Natural gas drilling in western Canada came to a halt.
There will always be a higher cost to drill in the US than there are in places like the middle east. We have environmental regulations. There will always be more cost to bring oil from 4-8000 feet underwater up than drilling in the desert with slave labor. It is like comparing union labor costs in the US to manufacturing costs in China.
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