Oil surges as Saudi king dies, refiners struggle (Crude now $62 and rising)

Reuters Canada ^ | August 1, 2005 | Simon Webb

[riri]

I don't find paying $2.39 acceptable

I am with you there.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

What do you suggest ?

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

How the HELL do refinery outages raise the price of crude oil?

You tell me and we'll both know. Yet it seems to be received wisdom in the financial press. I'm with you, it is completely absurd on its face. I've read statements just like this on the front page of the wall street journal, who you think/hope would know better.

[ApplegateRanch]

Bush, Hell! It's CARTER'S fault.

[Finalapproach29er]

I'm tired today. I'll offer a brief list:

The speculators need to feel fear. W didn't even bother to threaten to open the SPR. The price is being kept artificially high by speculators using oil as a hedge.

National Acadamy of Sciences said raising CAFE by 2 (measley) MPG's would save a million BBL/day. (No safety reduction)

How about calling in some favors for the 22 Billion in foreign aid?

How about leaning on those mutts in Saudi-instead of holding their hands,literally.

How about having the Russians start providing us oil since they have been taking Billions of our welfare and Nunn-Lugar money for a decade.

How about lifting a finger to get a rifinery built in the USA. (He finally got 1 in the SW recently, but we need about a half dozen more).

The point is that GWB letting the market "sort it out" doesn't cut it with me. I would like to see some effort.

[Black Tooth]

Read over the weekend via newspaper that CAFTA will result in US exporting billions in petroleum.

What?

[RightWhale]

The magic number is 84 Mb/d. That is the world capacity of the oil producers and also the demand of the market. Oil production capacity can be increased a little, but at a price. One Mb/d is way short of 5%.

[NeoCaveman]

Read over the weekend via newspaper that CAFTA will result in US exporting billions in petroleum. Maybe the exporting will be temporarily stopped but I won't hold my breath. The American consumers are being gouged horribly so why in the world does the US oil companies and govt want to export petroleum to the central american nations when it could be used at home. Message to the oil companies and to the govt: charity begins at home.

If the U.S. companies exported 100% of their oil it wouldn't change the price. Price is a function of global supply and demand. You'd have the same amount of oil at the same price regardless of how much you import and export...except for Cuba which gets subsidied by Venezuela, but what would you expect from Marxists.

[jec41]

Increase the price of gas, yes. Increase the price of oil, no

We are not the only ones who buy crude and there is heavy demand worldwide. England is no longer a net exporter and is now importing. Indonesia became a importer two years ago and has now stopped buying oil. They have been out of gas for two weeks and the lines at stations reached 11 miles long. Even government vehicles have been out a week.
Japan has raise the temperature for public buildings to 84 degrees and they encouraged businessmen to go casual rather than suits to keep cool. If you goggle up gas shortage, oil price, or peak oil you will find out that some countries have just passed a law to close gas stations at 7:30 pm. India has just lost 40% of there total supply due to a rig and refinery fire. Since these countries can no longer afford the price of crude we are buying the excess, however it is getting more expensive. Several countries in Africa are down to 1 tanker per week. Check out Zimbabwe.

[dalereed]

"If I were the President, I'd announce this week that we are in war time and will start rationing gas to x-number of gallons per driver starting Sept. 1."

Go to hell!!!!

[petitfour]

It reminds me of how much pharmaceuticals cost for US citizens.

[Finalapproach29er]

I thought we used just over 20 million/day- witch would make 1 mill just under 5% of US usage.

That's what I was comparing. I'm by and large for freedom when it comes to conservation, Cafe,Etc. , the status quo is no longer acceptable.

When people with a tight budget(me) get spanked by these high prices, maybe its time to take modest actions.

[RightWhale]

Got to look at the world. The US is important, but it is only 1/4 of the world usage.

[imskylark]

"So, W was responsible for living in a hurricane prone area ?"

Were did that come from? I just said that we were seeing long lines at the stations. I was honestly saying it as a tease. I meant nothing by it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Just kiddin !

[WOSG]

ROFLMAO

the Sky falls ...

You have the breathless doom-n-gloom down to an art form!

[bitt]

'It has been a repeating cycle for the 25 years I've worked in refineries... '

okay, since we haven't found the almost free and abundant fuel, (yet) why hasn't the refining procedure been Manhatten - Project -ed and the cost of setting up new refinaries thus reduced?

[BOBTHENAILER]

Thanks for setting the record straight. I've been in the O&G exploration business for 28 years and can easily remember $10 crude and $1.35 Natural Gas. Most fools on these energy threads don't have a friggin' clue.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Great response Eric

[BOBTHENAILER]

Great response to "charity begins at home".

No free lunch....don't like the prices----hang an environmentalist.