oil prices

[haypoint]

Oil Prices
England and France threaten to stop buying Iran’s oil. So, to punish them, Iran stops selling them oil?
Canada wants to build a pipeline through the heartland of the US, from their oil sands to an oil refinery on the Texas coast. The US is currently the largest exporter of gasoline in the world. So, more Canadian oil would increase the amount of gasoline produced and exported. But that wouldn’t drop the cost of gasoline to US. We are told that if we do not accept the environmental dangers, they will sell to China. Get your maps out, boys and girls. See that mountain range that separates Canadian oil sands from the Canadian coast?
We are told that unrest in the Middle East would drive crude oil prices to $200 a barrel. But we currently get 8% of our oil from the Middle East. So, who do we buy the $200 barrel oil from? The same folks we buy our $100 a barrel oil from: George Bush, other Texas Billionaires and commodity traders on Wall Street. When gas tops $5 a gallon, we’ll be mad at Iran, but we don’t raise an eyebrow over our biggest importers, Mexico and Canada.
We let China snooker us into an anything but free trade agreement and now they can afford to buy US produced gasoline.
When OPEC reduced output in the 1970s, we were outraged when the resulting fuel prices jumped. Recently, when commodity brokers on Wall Street bought up futures contracts amounting to 16% of the US production of crude oil and caused crude oil prices to jump from $47 a barrel to nearly $100, no one raised an eye brow. Well, a few got mad at the middle East for charging the same prices for their oil as the speculators were getting for their contracted oil.
If Sheiks are becoming wealthy beyond your imagination on $100 a barrel oil, just think how rich Wall Street will be getting brokering that oil to $200 a barrel through futures contracts.
Getting harder to fill your fuel tank with Billionaire Texans, Wall street Tycoons and Oil companies record profits getting their cut, while you try to keep one of the jobs China hasn’t gotten, yet, while you buy imported food and clothes and vehicles, just to keep a roof over your head.

[emdeengee]

Originally Posted by haypoint

Oil Prices
England and France threaten to stop buying Iran’s oil. So, to punish them, Iran stops selling them oil?
Canada wants to build a pipeline through the heartland of the US, from their oil sands to an oil refinery on the Texas coast. The US is currently the largest exporter of gasoline in the world. So, more Canadian oil would increase the amount of gasoline produced and exported. But that wouldn’t drop the cost of gasoline to US. We are told that if we do not accept the environmental dangers, they will sell to China. Get your maps out, boys and girls. See that mountain range that separates Canadian oil sands from the Canadian coast?
We are told that unrest in the Middle East would drive crude oil prices to $200 a barrel. But we currently get 8% of our oil from the Middle East. So, who do we buy the $200 barrel oil from? The same folks we buy our $100 a barrel oil from: George Bush, other Texas Billionaires and commodity traders on Wall Street. When gas tops $5 a gallon, we’ll be mad at Iran, but we don’t raise an eyebrow over our biggest importers, Mexico and Canada.
We let China snooker us into an anything but free trade agreement and now they can afford to buy US produced gasoline.
When OPEC reduced output in the 1970s, we were outraged when the resulting fuel prices jumped. Recently, when commodity brokers on Wall Street bought up futures contracts amounting to 16% of the US production of crude oil and caused crude oil prices to jump from $47 a barrel to nearly $100, no one raised an eye brow. Well, a few got mad at the middle East for charging the same prices for their oil as the speculators were getting for their contracted oil.
If Sheiks are becoming wealthy beyond your imagination on $100 a barrel oil, just think how rich Wall Street will be getting brokering that oil to $200 a barrel through futures contracts.
Getting harder to fill your fuel tank with Billionaire Texans, Wall street Tycoons and Oil companies record profits getting their cut, while you try to keep one of the jobs China hasn’t gotten, yet, while you buy imported food and clothes and vehicles, just to keep a roof over your head.

Excellent post. The propaganda that people are exposed to and accept serves like a magic trick to just get you to "look over here!" while the real trick is happening over there.

[sammyd]

It really doesn't matter where we get our oil from. If world unrest causes oil to be worth 100 a barrel on the open market then we will pay 100 dollars a barrel for any oil, because if we don't everyone else will.
Why would you expect Bush to sell his oil cheaper than Sheik Yerbouti?

[poppy]

Originally Posted by sammyd

It really doesn't matter where we get our oil from. If world unrest causes oil to be worth 100 a barrel on the open market then we will pay 100 dollars a barrel for any oil, because if we don't everyone else will.
Why would you expect Bush to sell his oil cheaper than Sheik Yerbouti?

Because to liberals it is good to give people who don't produce anything more of other people's money but it is bad for someone who actually produces something to keep his own money.

Wonder how many of those liberals would be willing to produce something and sell it for half of what they could get in a neighboring town out of community spirit?

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by sammyd

It really doesn't matter where we get our oil from. If world unrest causes oil to be worth 100 a barrel on the open market then we will pay 100 dollars a barrel for any oil, because if we don't everyone else will.
Why would you expect Bush to sell his oil cheaper than Sheik Yerbouti?

Absolutely not. Market price is market price.
But when we have unrest in the Middle East and oil prices go up, most folks think it is a shortage of supply in the Middle East that drives up the price. Many folks think that we need Middle East oil, so we must pay whatever they demand. But the amount of oil we get from the Middle East is a tiny amount of the oil we consume. Plus, we export more fuel than what the oil from the Middle East amounts to. A loss of the Middle East oil, just means BP can’t fulfill their production quotas for fuel refined in the US and exported elsewhere.

If we (US) reduced our use of fossil fuels, it wouldn’t loser prices much, just make more fuel available to China. Much of our Alaskan oil ends up as fuel in Japan.

Since small fluctuations in oil supply causes huge shifts in prices, those with enough money can buy futures contracts and hold them for a few months and drive up the demand/price, make millions and never even see a tanker.

[plowjockey]

The oil markets (like about every other market) are minipulated legally, for sure, but in the end, it's supply and demand that drives prices.

I paid $1.05/gal less, for propane purchased in Feb 2012, than in Oct,2011.

There is still a very large world-wide demand for petroleum, which is the main reason prices are high.

BTW, We do not export refined gasoline to China. It goes to Mexico and latin America.

How about how we are being ripped off on corn prices?

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by haypoint

Absolutely not. Market price is market price.
But when we have unrest in the Middle East and oil prices go up, most folks think it is a shortage of supply in the Middle East that drives up the price. Many folks think that we need Middle East oil, so we must pay whatever they demand. But the amount of oil we get from the Middle East is a tiny amount of the oil we consume. Plus, we export more fuel than what the oil from the Middle East amounts to. A loss of the Middle East oil, just means BP can’t fulfill their production quotas for fuel refined in the US and exported elsewhere.

If we (US) reduced our use of fossil fuels, it wouldn’t loser prices much, just make more fuel available to China. Much of our Alaskan oil ends up as fuel in Japan.

Since small fluctuations in oil supply causes huge shifts in prices, those with enough money can buy futures contracts and hold them for a few months and drive up the demand/price, make millions and never even see a tanker.

So, what else is new?

If Texas has a severe drought, cattle and hay prices go up everywhere, even though there may be plent of cattle elsewhere. If Microsoft reports a "bad" fiscal quarter, Apple's and Cisco's, stock price drops also, even though they are doing quite well.

Crude oil, like everything else, has no real value, only percieved value. Wars, country economic strife, etc., alter those perceptions. Even speculation plays into it.

They can write up all the contracts, they want, but if the world economy were to crash again and stay that way, we'd all be paying $1.79/gal for gasoline again, in a heartbeat, even though we wpould still not be able to afford it.

[poppy]

Originally Posted by plowjockey

How about how we are being ripped off on corn prices?

That's cause we are burning food in our cars and Big Corn is selling a lot to China. I think they are shipping corn on the same barges as gasoline to China because Bush cut a deal with the shipping companies.