Oil Prices

[wetbandit2003]

Fellow DU'ers

I just wanted to start a thread on the increases in oil prices.
There is a developing situation to where oil prices are rising again. Winter time gas prices are higher than usual and Demand is unusually high. Why do we have to subjected ourselves to the artificially inflated prices in Gasoline cause by OPEC when they decide to cut back oil production. We are all rational human beings here in this forum, but it does not make much sense to me when we dont want to drill in Alaska, or place more oil Dereks out in the gulf and will fight to the death to keep it that way, But we stomp, Gripe, cry and whine when the OPEC ministers decide to cut back because they didnt make their Billion dollars or need mor money to bet on a camel race.
Can anyone give me a rational explanation on this? People whine and cry when it takes $40 to fill up their Tahoe's Gas Tank and and they wonder why they have to convert their hard-earned money into a Combustable liquid with a low vapor pressure that powers their car. Look If we allow oil drilling on our own soil, Supplies will be bountiful, and the Gas companies will not have a reason to GAUGE prices anymore....Another question,,Why do we allow ourselves to suppor an Arab country that doesnt like Americans any by buying their oil.....Lets all just bend over and say "Thank you Sir, may I have another."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/997263.asp?0dm=C1CLB
Just a thought.

[quispquake]

1. Nope...

What we need to do is move to alternative energy sources...oil has already hastened the destruction of the planet...it's time to find safer means of running our SUV's (not mine! I have a small Saturn with 35 MPG!).

pp23

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. "Supplies will be bountiful"

Just where, exactly, would drilling find these bountiful supplies?

[el_gato]

3. i suggest you do some research

we simply don't have that oil and drilling in anwr would yield less than a 6 month supply here in the us at best

We are approaching a severe natural gas crisis here in the u.s. and our oil supplies peaked in 1970.

[Larry Gude]

4. What do you...

"Look If we allow oil drilling on our own soil, Supplies will be bountiful"

...base this on?

[Petrodollar Warfare]

5. I suggest you review Peak Oil...which explains a lot...

<<<Another question,,Why do we allow ourselves to suppor an Arab country that doesnt like Americans any by buying their oil.>>>

The Arabs are dependent on us buying their oil, they just don't want us trying to control via military force their countries. We (along with the British) overthrew Iran in 1953 b/c the democratically elected president nationalized their oil resources. We put in the despotic Shah in 1953, and he brutally ruled until ousted in 1979. Iran has not forgiven us yet for overthrowing their early attempts at Democracy.

As for Iraq, we otherthrew Saddam b/c he switched his oil pricing to euros and Iraq is the only nation that might have worthwhile unproven reserves. However, will eventually be thrown out of that country too as more and more of the Iraqis do not accept us as liberators but as occupiers. BTW, Z. Brenzinski(sp), Carter's brillant geostrategist recommended Americans watch the (in)famous 1967 film "The Battle for Algiers" in order to learn a good perspective re what is happening in Iraq. I watched it this weekend - he was right, we can not stay there. As for Saudi Arabia, their very own oil minister recently stated *publicly* that the whole "idea of oil production quotas will go away within a few years." This is quite a remarkable admission from Saudi Arabia, who is basically admitting that their role as the "swing producer" is going to end by the end of this decade...

In other words, Saudi Arabia and every other OPEC and non-OPEC country will be pumping out as much oil as possible, but still *unable to meet global aggregate demand,* which is scheduled to reach 100 billion barrels per year by 2020. The problem? It appears that 77-76 billion barrels circa 2001/2002 may have been the global peak, and thus oil prices at the pump will continue to increase *irreversably* every year into the future. If Iraq does not have an extra 100 billion barrels as hoped for, then we must get used to the fact that the wonderful era of "cheap oil" is finally over. Thus, this requires the utlization of the word "decline" with respect to economic activity/growth - but like the words "Iraq & petroeuro" - the US media does not appear willing to report on these issues...

The DU link here re "imminent global financial crisis" has a lot of important information re Peak Oil.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=114&topic_id=2706

According to highly-experiecned retired oil scientists like Colin Campbell and Deffreyes, we may have reached global peak oil in 2001. Furthermore, the most prestigious and analytical research institute on oil issues is Petroconsultants Inc, and their analysts are trying to ring the alarm bell. But I think here in the US only the CIA and Bush/Cheney folks know about this issue..hence our scamble over the past year to send troops all over control oil in Columbia, Venezuela, Nigeria, the coast off West Africa, and of course Iraq...the greatest hope for significant unproven reserves so that Global oil can be a short plateau instead of peak. I think the "war on terror" is more about pacifying the US Sheeple in order for the neocons to desperately try to gain control over oil and the currency of oil rather than fighting terrorists.

What Peak Oil that means is that supply simply cannot reach demand anymore. Richard Heniberg's book "The Party's Over" is a good circa 2003 book on this subject. Peak Oil is quite a disconcerting concept. Here's a newsletter from Heinberg on this subejct:

The Petroleum Plateau (May 2003)
http://www.museletter.com/archive/135.html

Here's my comments from that post on this forum re global oil production.

These global oil production figures are interesting, and suggest that Peak Oil may have occured in 2001, or we have reached plateau:

1995: 69,876 (barrels produced in billions)
1996: 71,045
1997: 73,665
1998: 75,133
1999: 74,142
2000: 77,002
2001: 77,031
2002: 76,330 (as best as I can tell)
2003: Anxiously awaiting...

(FYI: According to Dick Cheney and his famously secretive 2001 energy plans, the demand for oil in 2020 will be 100 billion b/day. Based on everything I've read...that simply ain't gonna happen. My question? Will the 2003 production totals, despite mitigating factors in Iraq, be above or below 76 billion barrels...best to keep the American Sheeple dumb, fearful, and preoccupied with "reality TV shows" and daily rhetoric about the so-called "war on terrorism" - how else can the neocon imperialist can carry out their imperialist plans? The problem of course is that Empire abroad ultimately results in tyanny at home....and thus we should heed the wisdom of the Founding Fathers and reject the temptation for Empire...and begin to work on 2 very serious challenges - the global monetary system and Peak Oil)

FYI: I also recommend you read about Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI), which is when the laws of economics clash with the laws of physics. Physics wins.

[ClintonTyree]

6. This is why.................

Bush is invading Iraq. To steal their oil so we can power our "Hummers". There isn't enough oil under American soil to keep up with our unsatiable demand. There is some, but it's not profitable (so they say) to pump it out. It's cheaper to import it. Rather than curb our unquenchable thirst for the black goo, we'd rather kill brown skinned people that do have it under the guise of "Democracy".

[Code_Name_D]

7. Perhaps we should do fule logs here.

Each of us make a daly record over rule prices with gas stations we pass by every day.

[Lefty48197]

8. Using up all our oil would REALLY make us dependant on OPEC

That would be a disaster. Besides, Russia and Mexico have enough oil to satisfy our needs for years to come. Let's use up everybody else's oil first.

[many a good man]

9. Get used to rising fuel prices

The USA reached its peak oil 30 years ago. This was largely the result of domestic oil companies making the exact same argument you do. Throughout the '50s, 60's, and '70s they whined and complained for tariffs and subsidies to promote domestic oil production because it was in tbe "national interest." It was seen as harmful to our national security to rely on imports.

Ironically the US became the first major oil producer to hit peak oil. Now we are forced to seek oil abroad because we haven't done much of anything to curb our voracious appetite for the stuff. The only oil that's left here is getting more and more expensive to drill, is poorer quality, or locked up in increasingly sensitive environmental areas.

I doubt people who complain over the price of a gallon of gas appreciate its true costs. It far exceeds the $1.89 a gallon when you factor in our $400 billion military budget. Oil is the life blood of our civilization. US global economic dominance has always been intricately tied with control of the world's oil. As oil gets scarcer the costs of a fill up will rise right along with the costs of empire.