Oil Slick Stuff

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The way that oil is going up has nothing to do with Iran or demand. Something illegal is going on and congress will turn a blind eye because they are all making money on this. How is that for a conspiracy theory
 
I don't know about the refineries closing being an issue since I just heard from some "experts" on TV that oil demand is at its lowest point since 1997. It sounds like it is not a matter of supply and demand anymore here in the U.S. It's a matter of who is willing to pay more overseas. The question is, do we want gov't intervention to stop the free market process and require the oil companies to sell to us first? Interesting problem.

This is what has been passed around recently as a reason, and it's true that the administration has restricted drilling in some major federal gov't controlled areas, but drilling on state land and private land has increased since they can't stop that.

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Bottom line, the demand is down, supply is not. So is it just a matter of geo-political events and speculators keeping prices up? I don't know.
 
That and more. I would suggest that if there was a sufficient number of Pipelines to the Northeast Refineries they would never have closed. And how about that XL Pipeline, it would have stopped the backup in Cushing Oklahoma. This article reports that the refineries in the Northeast could use WTI Crude but couldn't get it there.:cool:
Investigating the Discrepancy Between Midwest and East Coast Oil Refineries: The Brent-WTI Spread


By Ashim Midha Oct 17, 2011 9:10 am
Midwest refineries are minting money while their East Coast counterparts are bleeding cash. Here's what's behind the immense disparity.

Ever see a cash cow? Yeah, me neither. But if there ever were one that came close, it would be an oil refinery in the Midwest.

Since the downfall of West Texas Intermediate (or WTI) as the world crude benchmark (and simultaneous tracking of Brent as the new benchmark), it's been an absolute "Tale of Two Cities." Midwest refineries are minting money while their East Coast counterparts are bleeding cash. And the bloodbath is so profuse that ConocoPhillips (COP) plans to shut down its Trainer, Pennsylvania, unit if it cannot find a buyer. Similarly, Sunoco (SUN) is arranging to do the same with its Marcus Hook and Philadelphia refineries. A total of almost 700,000 barrels-per-day of capacity will be lost if buyers for these assets are not found. As PBF Energy recently purchased several Valero Energy (VLO) refineries, it remains one of very few companies left in the R&M business in the mid-Atlantic.

Why exactly is there an immense discrepancy between the two regions? Since Brent is the new benchmark, crude distillates and products including gasoline (RBOB) and heating oil (HO) track its prices rather than WTI’s. Midwest refineries can purchase WTI crude as their input because they are located close to Cushing, Oklahoma (WTI’s pricing point). East Coast refineries can't buy WTI because of the high cost of transportation from Cushing, so they purchase Brent crude instead.

Read more: Energy Sector Investing, The Brent-WTI Spread: Investigating The Discrepancy Between Midwest And East Coast Oil Refineries | Commodities | Minyanville.com
 
North Dakota’s economy outpaced every other state in 2011, with the fastest growth in personal income, jobs and home prices, according to Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States. Oil boom in the USA including recent estimates have come up with figures as high as 24 billion barrels in technically recoverable oil.
 
Obama Slams GOP 'Bumper Sticker' on Drilling
by Dow Jones Newswires
|
Jared A. Favole
|
Thursday, February 23, 2012




obama_gop_115479.jpg
President Barack Obama on Thursday waded into the politically charged debate over gasoline prices, saying he knows high prices at the pump cause pain and criticizing Republican calls for more drilling as a "bumper sticker." [More]
RIGZONE - Obama Slams GOP 'Bumper Sticker' on Drilling
 
House Passes Pro-Keystone XL Bill
by Matthew V. Veazey
|
Rigzone Staff
|
Friday, February 17, 2012


A bill that would require approval of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline project passed the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday by a vote of 237-187.
"This bill puts America on a path toward energy independence," said Colorado Republican Doug Lamborn after his bill, H.R. 3408 the "PIONEERS Act," cleared the lower house with support from both parties.
According to a statement released by Lamborn's office, the legislation would clear a path forward for Keystone XL by transferring authority over the pipeline's permit from the President to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In addition, it instructs FERC to approve the pipeline within 30 days if the permit remains in compliance with the U.S. State Department's Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The FEIS concluded that building the pipeline was the "preferred" option. [more]
RIGZONE - House Passes Pro-Keystone XL Bill

 
James48843 said:
Interesting story.

Do I believe it? Not sure. What do you think?

How The Gas Prices Are Manipulated By The Koch Brothers And Other Wall Street Players | Addicting Info
Click to expand...

So, Koch is an oil transporter and they leased an oil tanker... why is that a conspiracy?

Do you think the Federal Reserve printing money to buy our debt and devalue our currency isn't manipulation? Or is it ok because it is the government and not a corporation?

BTW, what law did they break?
 
FireWeatherMet said:
I don't know Norm, this Keystone thing looks like something that will make life worse for us (and better for US and Canadian Oil executives). Since when does the oil industry want lower price sat the pumps?

Keystone: the pipeline to higher gas prices

By Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org - 02/21/12 10:45 AM ET

"Let me predict the next talking point right now: with gas prices rising, the pipeline will let Americans fill up for less. This is nonsense on many fronts, most of all because the price is oil is fundamentally set on global markets. As the Congressional Research Service pointed out in late January, when there’s trouble in places like the Straits of Hormuz, the price of oil goes up for everyone and Keystone will make no difference, since the oil market is “globally integrated’; it’s not like Exxon offers a home-country discount to American motorists."

"But in the case of the Keystone pipeline, it turns out there’s a special twist. At the moment, there’s an oversupply of tarsands crude in the Midwest, which has depressed gas prices there. If the pipeline gets built so that crude can easily be sent overseas, that excess will immediately disappear and gas prices for 15 states across the middle of the country will suddenly rise. Says who? Says the companies trying to build the thing. Transcanada Pipeline’s rationale for investors, and their testimony to Canadian officials, included precisely this point: removing the “oversupply’ and the resulting “price discount” would raise their returns by $2 to $4 billion a year."

Keystone: the pipeline to higher gas prices - The Hill's Congress Blog
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This article was written by the founder of 350.org a liberal Global Warming environmental promotion site. What did you think their opinion would be? slap.gif
 
RealMoneyIssues said:
So, Koch is an oil transporter and they leased an oil tanker... why is that a conspiracy?

Do you think the Federal Reserve printing money to buy our debt and devalue our currency isn't manipulation? Or is it ok because it is the government and not a corporation?

BTW, what law did they break?
Click to expand...
Here are some more articles by the writer of this one, page down this should be really interesting for Obama supporters but not for viewing by the general public. Do I smell an agenda here? Disregard! Emine Dilek | Addicting Info
 
FireWeatherMet said:
Well,
I care about the message....not the messenger.

Even for those with barely any oil knowledge at all...the obvious fact is that it doesn't matter if we produce a little more oil here. We are a small player in global oil production (around 9%). Its the other 91% that has the biggest influence on global prices.

Increasing our domestic percentage slightly (lets say we increase oil production 10% in the US) on the global scale does almost nothing for the price at the pumps, sans maybe a penny or two.

But the biggest issue against increasing production...is we have decreased demand over the past few months. So something else is driving prices up. Namely the same ones who drove it up back in 2008...speculators.

Once again, speculators behind sharply rising oil and gasoline prices


WASHINGTON — U.S. demand for oil and refined products — including gasoline — is down sharply from last year, so much that United States has actually become a net exporter of gasoline, unable to consume all that it makes. Yet oil and gasoline prices are surging.

Click to expand...
It all goes back to consumer confidence. Back in 2008 when gas prices were at it's peak George Bush opened up up Drilling in the GOM, Atlantic coast, pacific coast, Alaska and government owned property in the United States, the result was a huge drop in prices, speculators stopped speculating because they knew we had a REAL PLAN and prices continued to drop until the current Administration took control and stopped drilling on the East coast, West coast, GOM, Continental USA and most of Alaska. The result is what you have now, look it up, I get tired of repeating myself.
 
FireWeatherMet said:
Norm, I don't know about that. Actually, I couldn't disagree more.

A shift in US Drilling Policy...tiny on the global scale...sending the price of oil worldwide plummeting??
You're gonna have to send me a certified (independent) link from somewhere to back that one up.

I thought all the experts already agreed that the reason Oil started plummeting is because in the latter half of 2008, the whole global economic system as we know it was on the brink of total collapse. The same world-wide speculators who drove prices upward in early 2008 were now caught, and their panic selling is what drove prices down.

Found this link from the Fall of 2008 talking about the price of oil falling. Refreshed my memory. Those were bad times, except at the pumps!

Oil prices fall on demand jitters

Crude falls as investors focus on a weak demand outlook. OPEC official says the cartel will hold another emergency meeting.

By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writerLast Updated: November 14, 2008: 2:58 PM ET


Oil prices fall on demand jitters - Nov. 14, 2008
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HISTORY:cool:
In Pictures: Bush Vs. Obama On Gas Prices

Rory Cooper
March 4, 2011 at 4:00 pm

During the first twenty-six months of President Bush’s first term in office, the price of gasoline increased by 7%. At the end of his second term, the price had decreased by 9% from the time he took office (adjusted for inflation). During the first twenty-six months of Obama’s term in office, the price of gasoline has spiked over 67% with no relief in site.
Clearly, other mitigating factors were at work between those two time periods. U.S. demand is one such factor, as is global supply disruptions, cartel pricing and the cost to refine and distribute, but the current price spikes obligate serious people to scrutinize our nation’s energy policy.
President Bush’s response to $4/gallon gasoline was to lift presidential and congressional moratoriums on expanded drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, a move that many critics say came too late. But what about Obama?
Some on the right have criticized Obama for having no energy policy. This is wrong. Obama’s energy policy is working exactly the way it is designed. This administration knows that unless the price of fossil fuels skyrocket, expensive alternative energy sources, no matter how heavily subsidized, will continue to be unattractive to American consumers.
Click to expand...
The Effect of Obama's Energy Policies on Gas Prices
 
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