A flawed Oil policy

[jreeves]

Saudi Arabia, he said, "holds the key to reducing gasoline prices at home in the short term." Therefore arms sales to that kingdom should be blocked unless it "increases its oil production by one million barrels per day," which would cause the price of gasoline to fall "50 cents a gallon almost immediately."

Can a senator, with so many things on his mind, know so precisely how the price of gasoline would respond to that increase in the oil supply? Schumer does know that if you increase the supply of something, the price of it probably will fall. That is why he and 96 other senators recently voted to increase the supply of oil on the market by stopping the flow of oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which protects against major physical interruptions. Seventy-one of the 97 senators who voted to stop filling the SPR also oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Also disqualified from complaining are all voters who sent to Washington senators and representatives who have voted to keep ANWR's oil in the ground, and who voted to put 85 percent of America's offshore territory off-limits to drilling. The U.S. Minerals Management Service says that restricted area contains perhaps 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- 10 times the oil and 20 times the natural gas Americans use in a year.
Drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are.

ANWR is larger than the combined areas of five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware) and drilling along its coastal plain would be confined to a space one-sixth the size of Washington's Dulles Airport. Offshore? Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed or damaged hundreds of drilling rigs without causing a large spill. There has not been a significant spill from an offshore U.S. well since 1969. Of the more than 7 billion barrels of oil pumped offshore in the past 25 years, 0.001 percent -- that is one-thousandth of 1 percent -- has been spilled. Louisiana has more than 3,200 rigs offshore -- and a thriving commercial fishing industry.

America says to foreign producers: We prefer not to pump our oil, so please pump more of yours, thereby lowering its value, for our benefit. Let it not be said that America has no energy policy.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Already been posted that there is a million barrel surplus in the market. It is NOT supply that is the problem.

 

[jreeves]

Already been posted that there is a million barrel surplus in the market. It is NOT supply that is the problem.

However pumping our own oil will help drive down the cost.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Actually it won't. We do not have the capability to refine it so we would have to ship it out of country to make it into what we needed anyway. Further there is a reason Most oil pumped in the US is sold outside the US. Taxes, tariffs and ignorant laws make it to cost prohibitive to use our own oil.

 

[Toro]

Actually, it is a supply problem. The amount in storage is only a small portion of total consumption. Storage is tighter than last year, and shipments from the Gulf to the East have skyrocketed while shipments to the West have plummeted. Morgan Stanley said this morning we could see $150 oil by July 4.

 

[Detmurds]

The flaw is the fact that our government (Fed., State, County, and local) on average taxes about 40-60 cents per gallon! Stop the taxing, and let's stop blaming the oil companies who employ Americans, since oil companies make about 9 cents to the gallon.

 

[AllieBaba]

Actually, it is a supply problem. The amount in storage is only a small portion of total consumption. Storage is tighter than last year, and shipments from the Gulf to the East have skyrocketed while shipments to the West have plummeted. Morgan Stanley said this morning we could see $150 oil by July 4.

Then it makes sense that we should use our own, methinks.

 

[Toro]

The flaw is the fact that our government (Fed., State, County, and local) on average taxes about 40-60 cents per gallon! Stop the taxing, and let's stop blaming the oil companies who employ Americans, since oil companies make about 9 cents to the gallon.

It wouldn't matter.

The demand curve for energy in the short-run is inelastic. What that means is that within a short period of time, prices would rise to almost where they were prior to the tax being instituted.

 

[AllieBaba]

Of course it would matter.

 

[Paulie]

Of course it would matter.

Well I guess that closes THIS thread out.

 

[Toro]

Of course it would matter.

No it wouldn't. All that would happen is that the price of gas would shoot up to near its previous price and the excess would be captured by the oil companies. That's why all the economists condemned Hillary's and McCain's proposal to cut gas taxes.

Somewhere there's a thread on this.

 

[jreeves]

No it wouldn't. All that would happen is that the price of gas would shoot up to near its previous price and the excess would be captured by the oil companies. That's why all the economists condemned Hillary's and McCain's proposal to cut gas taxes.

Somewhere there's a thread on this.

I believe if we were to increase domestic oil production, coupled with gas tax relief. Prices would drop or least stay stagnant.....

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I believe if we were to increase domestic oil production, coupled with gas tax relief. Prices would drop or least stay stagnant.....

Again our oil does not help. It is just as expensive and we have no way to refine it. The act of moving through the Country would be cost prohibitive.

We need to double our refining capability then drill and require US Oil be used in the US.

Make the Oil Companies spend their profit on refineries rather then tax them more. US Refineries.

Rather then tax them force them to research alternate means for power. It is in fact in their best interest.

 

[Paulie]

Make the Oil Companies spend their profit on refineries rather then tax them more.

And therein lies the problem.

First of all, the oil companies will never do it because for decades they have almost never even attempted to. You can say environmentalists cause the problem all you want, but there haven't even been real attempts.

And I like how you say "make".

Now the federal government has a right to make a company spend it's money on something specific?

I'll tell ya RGS, everyday you show more and more of your liberal side.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

And therein lies the problem.

First of all, the oil companies will never do it because for decades they have almost never even attempted to. You can say environmentalists cause the problem all you want, but there haven't even been real attempts.

And I like how you say "make".

Now the federal government has a right to make a company spend it's money on something specific?

I'll tell ya RGS, everyday you show more and more of your liberal side.

The Government controls interstate Trade, they can pass laws based on that Better than just taxing them and causing us to pay for it.

 

[Gunny]

However pumping our own oil will help drive down the cost.

The problem is the US government has kept an artificial ceiling on fuel costs since the 70s but for some reason is no longer willing to maintain that ceiling. We WERE protected by our government in that regard.

They've thrown us to the wolves and we're having to compete with the world market now.

 

[manu1959]

congress could order every state in the union to build a refinery and drill in anwar.....

the price of gas would halve in a day.......

 

[editec]

America needs to get serious about helping the people change the way they use energy.

We could drill every oil source in America and it wouldn't help for a decade.

But start giving tax credits or grants to Americans to become energy efficient in their own lives, and we'd actually start solving the problem rather than trying to put it off for another decade.

Jimmy Carter had the solution thirty years ago.

The Reganistas wasted that opportunity, folks.

We can all thank the Republicans and the Democraps for betraying the working classes.

Nothing that is happening to us now wasn't foreseen a long long time ago.