Who Has More Oil Muscle?

[Glenn W]

--- The U.S. Government or Oil Producers collectively?
As a result of the President's decision to tap into our Srategic oil reserves in order to inject more supply ( and hense try to drive oil prices down), suppliers are begining to curtail supply, thereby offsetting the U.S. Government's cartel attempt.
The tactics and oil industry response seems so obvious to me--- when a government interfears with market based supply in an attempt to manipulate market based prices, it is easy for producers to bring the price back up to equalibrium by simply curtailing their own injection of supply into the market. That is, the oil in the ground will not be lost but simply deferred in going to market if producers temporarily reduce output. Think about it this way--- if you are an oil company and the government attempts to manipulate prices by flooding supply, you can either: (1) do nothing in retaliation and accept the lower price (and reduce profits); or (2) hold onto your oil for a couple of months and sell it at much higher market based rates (and increase profits). As any businessman will agree, the obvious answer is door #2.---- it may not be socially correct, but last time I checked we ( the U.S.) are not a socialist economy or government.
See the attached link for one oil company's response to the Government's attempt to disrupt competitive forces

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...rgyNews&rpc=43

[Big Fish Billy]

Unfortunately, I've always thought, the plan was to exhaust all foreign suppliers before drilling here or using our own reserves. Thus allowing the price to fly high, and skate through making huge profits on home oil that should be much less. Obamas plan to boost himself in voters eyes is just backfiring like all his other proposals. As for who has more muscle, the oil companies have free reign, much like Whitey Bulger, to rape and pilage to no end...also letting my mind wander, the oil companies are punishing the American people for electing a Democratic president, preferring the big business catering Republicans, gas is a lot higher now than when Bush was in, and for no good reason.....I think I remember one of the oil magnates saying to Congress when they tried to get a "handle" on the situation in years past..."we don't want to go back to lines at the gas stations do we?" All we can do as American people, is to cut our own personal use the best we can...kind of hard in the boating game...and "we don't want to go sailing do we?"

[Glenn W]

As for who has more muscle, the oil companies have free reign, much like Whitey Bulger, to rape and pilage to no end...also letting my mind wander, the oil companies are punishing the American people for electing a Democratic president, preferring the big business catering Republicans, gas is a lot higher now than when Bush was in, and for no good reason

But isn't this the foundation of you're political favorite--- Sarah Palin?---- Let free enterprise reign with no governmental interference?

[seapower]

So glad to have you back here posting up "the chicken or the egg" questions. The real muscle is the consumer. Doesn't matter what you produce it' the consumer that has you by the "nad's". If we would make ourselves use less, or another energy source, the price would come down good fashion. When the oil price shot up just a couple years ago, the highway looked like a ghost town, the oil price fell. As long as we are buying 3.50 gas it'll stay there. This is nothing but a feel good situation we are in right now. Raise the oil price by 150% and then in a few month's lower it 15%, "oh look the price of gas is coming down". BS folk's, you've forgotten about the additional 135% that's still there. We all have such short memorie's. We should make Iraq our 51st State and ship that oil here till it runs out, then work on drilling our own. If Iran keeps making noise, well there's our 52nd State and so on. Pretty simple math in my book. How about this, let ALL of the oil producing countries manufacture their own defense product's (IE, ships, aircraft, armorment, vehicles, etc....) oh yes let's throw in the catch phase, "when your nieghbor invades your Country (and they will) you're on your own. How about we stop shipping food and "aid" supplies, now there is the real key. They don't eat unless we send it to them, they grow and produce nothing except the oil they are sitting on. Which by the way is sucked out of the ground and refined by machinery and plants that we made and set up. Do all of the above on your own and just before you starve to death or are over-run by your "brothers", we can talk about the price of oil. Are we not still sending bonus, give away money to these folks over and above what we are paying for oil? Well I think you know what oughtta happen to that.
This "global" economy is a farce, it just makes us weaker and for what? Are so stupid to believe that China will not call those "notes" in one day? We still feed the world and come to everyone elses rescue. How about we just look after #1 for awhile, until THEY prove themselves to be the "friends" they propose to be? Of course they will let the oil sit in the ground, it's not going amnywhere. But you an over price yourself out of any business, if the customers you tend to can't afford the product. In due time, the money you have stashed away (from raping everyone else) will dry up, if fresh money isn't coming in. This is nothing more than polotics for the select few to make a bundle. I think a mass public execution (by the public) would do this place good. Gotta head out to the shop and hit my anvil a few times to let my blood pressure ease back down. Frank

[clt_capt]

I look at this a bit differently - I'm both an oil consumer and I'm paying for their tax breaks through my excessively high tax rate...

For my money, I'm getting screwed. Plain and simple - They get tax breaks, record profits, and I get absolutely raped at the pump - and why? they claim that there is not enough refinery capacity - but have they re-invested in new refinerys? Nope. Are they re-investing in oil pipelines to get the oil to where there is refinery capacity? Nope - they are looking for maintenance subsidies...

If I had any say in the matter, the tax breaks would go away - unless they could demonstrate re-development, research into reasonable alternatives, additional capacity, etc - things that I will get a benefit from...

I say leave the camel jockeys to deal with themselves, take the brakes off of Israel as well - if they turn the middle east in to a glass paved parking lot, so much the better - glass will stabilize the dunes making it easier to drill once the radiation level drops a bit...

[Jay W]

Let Israel handle that sand box, they are quite capable. No worry about brakes. If folks like Obammer and his Muslim brothers keep up the pre-1947 border rhetoric it will be nice and glassy before you know it.

[Big Fish Billy]

Sorry Frank, not buying your argument, everyone is using less fuel than they ever have, and the price is the highest ever....our gas dock used to have about 150 customers a week, we had 6 last week....speculators and the oil companies have a price in mind they're going to make, if you use less fuel, they'll just mark it up, the speculators bid it up, on no basis by the way, then when a few cohorts decide they've got enough unknowing players sucked into the game, they pull the bottom out, sell off the commodities, and we have the correction we're having now, based on nothing...the few cohorts are cleaning up...as for Sara and my republican thought, let's face it if the oil companies are feeling better politically, they can give or take a billion with no regard for anything and make a political patsy look good if they want...from what I see running Sara just is the best choice, Romney ain't gonna cut it, and Bachman doesn't even know where she is...and those are the front runners so far? Obama is as good as re-elected, and the punishment will be higher gas prices again going into the Fall, higher than last year....

[marine4003]

I look at this a bit differently - I'm both an oil consumer and I'm paying for their tax breaks through my excessively high tax rate...

For my money, I'm getting screwed. Plain and simple - They get tax breaks, record profits, and I get absolutely raped at the pump - and why? they claim that there is not enough refinery capacity - but have they re-invested in new refinery's? Nope. Are they re-investing in oil pipelines to get the oil to where there is refinery capacity? Nope - they are looking for maintenance subsidies...

If I had any say in the matter, the tax breaks would go away - unless they could demonstrate re-development, research into reasonable alternatives, additional capacity, etc - things that I will get a benefit from...

I say leave the camel jockeys to deal with themselves, take the brakes off of Israel as well - if they turn the middle east in to a glass paved parking lot, so much the better - glass will stabilize the dunes making it easier to drill once the radiation level drops a bit...

I think i read somewhere the problem with refinery's isn't the oil company's,but conservation groups,i think there responsible for no new refinery's,and the expansion of our existing ones,seems the tree huggers want oil high to usher in new, safe fuel, battery powered cars make as much sense as those friggin fluorescent light bulbs,and ethanol..no one researches these things,its all knee jerk "advancements" which cost us double in the long run...stupid people doing stupid things...and we pay for it.

[seapower]

The "marine" market is such a small section of the pie here, so your 6 boats don't mean much. Don't get me wrong I wished you had 60. But when you look at the highway's, commercial shipping, power plant fuel, etc.... that's where the real math starts. I believe the get rich jerks (speculators) oughta be publicly strung up. I know a man's gotta make a living, but stealing isn't much to be proud of in my book. Frank

[longfisher]

Wife and I are in the early stages of building a home in Port Arthur, TX in a nice canal community. We intend to use every conceivable technology to attempt to live off th grid almost entirely.

There's one particularly interesting construction method that used concrete for virtually everything in the building itself. The R values of that stuff when used properly for exterior walls, floors, decks and even roofs is astounding. With solar panels and wind turbines we might very well be able to keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter without paying a cent for utilities but for water. Of course, we'd still use electricity for lighting and appliances. But that's nothing compared to what the utilitiy bills are in Texas summers.

If that makes us tree-huggers, so be it. Using less is saving real $$$s for us. And, we're not so dogmatic that we don't recognize a good thing when we see one.

Oh, hat's off to Marine2003 who's been an invaluable but silent partner with me in getting a good contractor to rebuild our bulkhead. Busted Marine2003. But seriously, you made a substantial contribution to out getting the right guy and the right stuff.

THANKS!

LF