Posted on 07/15/2008 2:44:18 PM PDT by rob777
In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136.
Now isn’t this interesting?
Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them.
Traders took a look at a feisty and aggressive George Bush and started selling the market well before a single new drop of oil has been lifted. What does this tell us? Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime.
The congressional ban on offshore drilling expires September 30, so that becomes a key date. A new report from Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California.
There’s also a “gang of 10” in the Senate, five Republicans and five Democrats, that is trying to work a compromise deal on lifting the moratorium. So it’s possible a lot of action on this front could occur much sooner than people seem to think.
So I repeat: Drill, drill, drill. Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry. Those hated traders will then keep selling oil as the laws of supply and demand and free markets keep working.
Bravo for Bush. Bravo for the traders.
I love your negativity. /s
Since I am in an oil refining town as we speak I think they can build a refinery in less than 10 years. They can do amazing things when they put their minds, money and determination behind it.
One thing we will benefit from local drilling is natural gas supplies. And that is something we desperately need.
We are a long long ways away from tapping into shale however.
Plus most of it sits on top of the nations largest fresh water table.
Because shale conversion into usable fuel uses a large amount of water, it will be a tough fight with the EPA to win that one.
We’d be better off developing coal oil from other deposits.
They're right, too.
2 year of jumping through bureaucratic hoops;
7 years of fighting envirowhack Dems in court challenges after court challenges, after lawsuits;
1 year for exploration, drilling, and starting to pump.
They were talking about the intraday plunge, not the settlement.
That's what the message needs to be.
The chart that has been circulating around here for a while, showing what the per gallon gas cost was under 6 years of Republican Congress, versus 18 months of Democrat Congress, should be the backdrop chart when every Republican speaks, either in the House or in the Senate.
(with an additional data point, the cost of a barrel of oil.)
Like it or not, building more refineries is a problem, doesn’t matter if you live in a refinery town. The physical work of building them isn’t the problem, getting the EPA and the rats to sign off on it is the problem.
And I’m not negative, I’m just saying it like it is.
I’m not negative about alternative resources either. It’s a booming businesss and a very practical, ALL American one which can only add to our energy independence. So rather than knock it, learn it. Might be a job in there for you or your children.
What I'm looking forward to seeing is Democrats' in Congress defending their position of "No Oil for Blood".
;>
Maybe it was Pres Polar Bear Bush. It was likely Wegener and his electric cars.
Look at the intraday oil chart and also see when Bernanke gave his speech. It's not spin.
Oil price is still holding. Let’s see if it will hold for five years based on the Presidential smile. Wegener’s electric cars will be out in Sept. They won’t use motor fuel.
Who would a refinery owning company rather do business with -- a huge conglomerate with all kinds of trade assets, or one with far few overall trade assets and options.
NAFTA. Nafta is Arabic for oil. That giant sucking sound is oil being pumped.
That's just pure BS. The President speech on recinding the no drilling executive order was in the afternoon. Oil had a huge drop right during and after Benake's speech in the morning. Oil regained half it's fall from the end of Benankie's morning to when Bush spoke in the afternoon. Go look at the chart yourself.
Yes, I know. See post 35.
Absolutely, and not just for gasoline either. It's vital for 100's of other products which rely on petroleum by-products and chemicals. Gasoline accounts for only 1/4-1/3 of that barrel, depending on the type of crude.
As crude quality becomes heavier and heavier, the need for combustible fuels will continue to grow. More and more of that barrel of oil can produce will go towards other petroleum products in relation to crude viscosity.
and what did the MSM say tonight about this? [........sound of crickets]
Wegener’s electric cars will be out in Sept. They won’t use motor fuel.
Yep, and our electric grids are still not entirely secure, and the high price of oil to electricity-supplying companies, including companies making the batteries for the cars, making the cars, making the Wegener's parts, is going to make what will be already expensive cars, still expensive to run.
I can't imagine India would welcome another "battery manufacturing plant".
It's kinda like watching a modern version of those "Magnificent Men and their Flying Machines".
And the California electric grid? Rolling blackouts, mandatory blackouts? Thermostat controls? Gonna require a lot of oil to keep those puppies running, while erective alternative energy uses.
I really, really like all this new innovation running in tandem with pragmatic reality.
Don’t leave Wegener’s announcement out of the possibilities.
I agree for the most part. But some GOP’rs are growing a set and are fighting back.
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