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They aren't reinvesting, because they don't want to build refineries. Building refineries is difficult due to excessive legislation. But most of the reason is that more refineries means less supply interruption, and supply interruption means huge profits.

Remove legislative barriers to refinery building. Remove boutique blends. See what the oil companies do then. I bet they would build a couple for public relations purposes at least.

And all of these milk references are crap. No one has to buy milk. Most have to buy energy no matter what it costs. I have argued this time and again with the oil company workers and investors here, and they don't get it. They still think most of us could stop buying gas if we don't like the price.

I don't support government price controls. I have changed my outlook, though. I think they will be forced to drop prices after this winter. I think after most people get their heating bills, there will be public outrage, and the oil companies will have to do something to avoid torch-bearing mobs of angry citizens.

And let's not forget that the biggest "gouger" is government. And it's controlled by Republicans. They are doing nothing to remove legislative barriers, and they are just posturing and finger pointing.

Agreed, the boutique blends are one of the biggest problems with supply. You can't ship gas from Nevada to Ca. and vice versa because of dumbass state smog requirements. There should just be one fuel requirement nationwide. Then you wouldn't need special "approval" to ship fuel to different states during Katrina type disasters or any other time there is some disruption in localized supply.

As for not buying gas, I wouldn't mind having that option when required, just that I live twenty miles from work, no mass transit, no bike paths on very dangerous two lane roads and there is no interest in the local community for other options such as carpooling. There are "no wood burning" days here so a wood stove is not completely out of the question but is not a viable option.

So yes, we're stuck. We have to buy energy, we cut back on other expenses and entertainment, but that's impacting our quality of life as well.

For those who say suck it up...You do remember "quality of life" right? That's where you have a few extra dollars in your pocket to buy a CD, go to a movie with your spouse, eat out once a week instead of once a month (dates with your loved one), buy a good book, buy mountain bike parts ;-), save for that vacation or special trip, etc. These are all things that get impacted when you pay higher energy costs.

Just some more thoughts.

Cheers!

Bigger than having to buy fuel, as a motivation and force in the market, is having to sell fuel. You think these companies aren't running massive debts and interest payments every month? You think one company trusts another company to watch the price of energy increase, supposedly by collusion and reducing supply, and that another company isn't going to swoop in and make cash right then and there? OPEC hasn't been able to get any of it's members to stop cheating for decades. Saudi Arabia has seen it's per capita income, decrease in half over the last twenty years. And no one, publicly knows their debts. Russia, Mexico the rest, they are more cash junkies then we are oil. They know we pay. They trust us to pay. They don't at all, in any way trust themselves or each other. You, and others got it backwards. We got them, we got the good cards.

I think after most people get their heating bills, there will be public outrage, and the oil companies will have to do something to avoid torch-bearing mobs of angry citizens.

Yep. Blame the oil companies, shut 'em down, torch the refineries, and then burn your furniture to keep warm this winter.

Natural gas will be more expensive this winter, so will fuel oil. Part of the pressure on Natural Gas is directly from the conversion of coal and oil fired power plants to burn natural gas to comply with environmental regulations.

Fuel oil and diesel are in short supply, because refinery operations have been interrupted.

Just how often has the supply been interrupted?

Thirty percent of the refining capacity of the country was shut down. Deep water tanker terminals were shut down, not at the whim of the oil compaines, but by two storms of unprecedented magnitude in that area, which wiped out one of the largest cities in the region, and devastated hundreds of miles of coastline, and you have had all the fuel you wanted to pay for.

No one is factoring the cost of shutting down a production platform, not having product to deliver to market, the cost of shutting down and restarting a refinery, or any of that lost revenue, oh no, they are all whining about what? $60.00 a month in increased fuel costs? Less than the cost of dinner and drinks, less than the cost of a night at Bingo for Grandma, but only three hours wages for a worm roughneck in these parts.

If the orange crop gets wiped out by the weather, the price goes up, and people use less.

If you did not want to pay that much, you found a way to use less, be it orange juice, gasoline, or heating fuels.

As things come back on line, the price of gasoline has fallen--nearly a dollar a gallon around here in the past couple of months.

Keep in mind that this has been done despite the loving ministrations of the environmental lobby, government, and endless litigation to PREVENT the construction of refineries and drilling domestic areas with high production potential.

(BTW, I'm just waiting for the hellraising against "BIG CHICKEN" if the bird flu gets into America's poultry flocks. All the torchbearers will be marching on the eeeevil Tyson, Swanson, KFC, etc. for charging "too much".)

For starters, everyone seems to use the unusually (and unsustainably) low oil prices of the late '90s as a benchmark, and secondly, the oil industry has to replace reserves as they are depleted, continuously.

Investment is required to locate prospects, evaluate prospects, lease mineral rights, acquire permits and post reclamation bonds, all long before the well is even spudded. So you won't immediately see the effects of reinvestment.

If all the permits, etc. were granted to build a new refinery today, with local support and no environmentalists involved suing to stop construction, it would still take 10 years for the facility to come on line.

So how many lawyers are taking pay cuts out there? There is an obvious glut of shysters on the market, but I haven't seen any price wars there.

In the meantime, every other industry in the country charges what the market will bear, and no one is griping about it (with the exception of the drug companies, which must invest a lot to see any return on what they put out up front, too).