Oil speculators

So who was it that's been saying oil speculation has been adding as much as $60.00/barrel on oil for months now???

Democrats: Crackdown on oil speculators
Senate Democrats 'Stop Excessive Speculation Act' gives CFTC more leeway to punish oil price manipulation.

Read the story here.

The next thing you can expect democrats to support is offshore drilling as 72% of American now favor it and we all know how democrats chase public opinion.

I don't think the Dems in office care about public opinion, Aaron, I think they care about manipulating voters. The only way they are going to care what 72% of the country thinks is if that 72% are willing to cast their vote based on the issue, and right now it is clear that they are not.

SheikBen wrote:I don't think the Dems in office care about public opinion, Aaron, ...

I think that's ALL they care about Mike, public opinion and preception. Granted, they are slow to address an issue until they think voters will use the issue but I think they follow polls hourly for all of their decision making.

Well as I understand all the ships, equipment, etc for offshore drilling is already leased for the foreseeable future.

It looks like there is no supply problem, there are other factors at work.

i.e. Aaron's post above.

And I know that the big leasing outfits are going full steam to lease as much and drill as much as they can.

But offshore drilling does make more sense to me than drilling in ANWR.

Sherm, I'm quite sure if Congress lifted their ban on offshore drilling, Exxon, BP and the others would find a way to get to the trillions of barrels of oil reserves they are currently being prevented from drilling for.

The only question is, will the Chinese beat us to it?

Aaron wrote:Sherm, I'm quite sure if Congress lifted their ban on offshore drilling, Exxon, BP and the others would find a way to get to the trillions of barrels of oil reserves they are currently being prevented from drilling for.

The only question is, will the Chinese beat us to it?

Aaron hits the nail right on the head. Even though Bush removed the executive ban, congress also has a ban on offshore drilling. Both have to be lifted for exploration to begin. However the dips in congress, both republican and democrat, are so busy trying to appease the envionmental movement and other special interests, the interest of the public in general will not be considered.

shermangeneral wrote:

But offshore drilling does make more sense to me than drilling in ANWR.

From some of your posts I presume you dirve a truck. At the present cost of diesel fuel it costs nearly $1.00 per mile in an 80,000 pound semi to pull freight. It doesn't take long to drive the cost of transportation through the roof either shuting down trucking companies or essen demand for truck transportation. One of the reasons for the high cost of supply, while it isn't the only reason, it is a contributor to the price. One of three things will have to happen to push price down, either demand drops, or supply grows, or a combination of both. With the present state of the art, 7 to 8 miles per gallon is it in a truck. Thus in the short and intermediate term the best hope is to increase the supply fuel until more efficient trucks become available. It makes good sence to do both, drill offshore and in ANWR.

You may say that ANWR will be damaged. That isn't true. First we have to remember ANWR is the size of North Carolina and the area to be drilled is the size of Dulles Airport. As far as moving the crude, it has already be proven with the Trans Alaska Pipeline that it can be done without any adverse effect on the ecology. Additionally, since single hull tankers are no longer used, the chance of another Exxon Valdez is nearly nonexistant. Frankly the only reason we aren't drilling there today is that the politicans sold the public's interest out for the sake of appeasing the environmental movement for nothing more than votes.

Trains are doing quite well now and get pennies per mile.

Didn't you people read or hear about this? I was in RI when I heard about this actually thought about seeking the help of my grandma to place a nice, big, fat, guinea curse on her. It irritates me to no end that we all will suffer because this twit, elected by a fraction of a percent of Americans, is able to prevent the issue from coming up. She has made me wish she were the one with the tumor instead of Teddy.

Perhaps the good people of her district will wake up and vote the wretch out.

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1095193.html

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has called President Bush "a total failure" and said Congress has been forced to "to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again," said she has no plans to schedule a vote to lift an offshore drilling ban. Public support for a resumption of exploration off the coast has been growing since the advent of $4-a-gallon gasoline. Paul Sakuma/ Associated Press file

Click on photo to enlarge

WASHINGTON – A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill, for one simple reason: A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.
Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said she won't allow the immediate vote the president wants.
"I have no plans to do so," Pelosi said last week.

It's an example of the vast power placed in the office of the speaker, who sets the agenda for the entire 435-member House. Members can force a vote if enough of them sign a petition, but that's a rarity because it requires rank-and-file Democrats to line up against their boss.
In this case, Pelosi is going against a rising tide of public opinion. Faced with rapidly increasing gasoline prices, 73 percent of Americans now favor offshore drilling, according to a poll conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corp.
Support is even growing in California, where a majority of residents have long opposed additional drilling off the coast. A new Field Poll survey last week found that 51 percent still favor the ban, down slightly from the 56 percent who backed it in 2005.
Pelosi made her remarks in a wide-ranging interview with CNN, in which she grabbed headlines for saying Bush was "a total failure" who had lost credibility with Americans on his handling of the war, economy and energy issues. She said Congress has been forced "to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."
Pelosi's Democratic colleagues in California are happy that the president's drilling plan is going nowhere, at least for now.
Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento, a drilling opponent, said Pelosi "has shown tremendous leadership" on the issue.
"When Americans go to the pump and are faced with gas prices well over $4 a gallon, it may be tempting to believe that lifting the ban on offshore drilling would bring immediate relief," Matsui said Friday. But she said Congress "cannot make rash decisions that will leave a legacy of irresponsible energy policy for our children and grandchildren to inherit."
Democratic Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara, a longtime opponent of drilling, said she "greatly appreciates" Pelosi's position.
"It's absolutely critical to have a Californian who understands that new drilling has no place off our coasts in a position of power in the House of Representatives," she said. "President Bush and congressional Republicans would have the American people believe that after 7½ years of a 'drill only' approach to meeting our energy needs the solution to record high energy prices is yet more drilling in the economically and environmentally valuable areas off our coasts."
Pelosi and other Californians have long cited the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara as the main reason for their opposition to drilling. The president's plan has drawn opposition from other top leaders in California: Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment Committee, and Dianne Feinstein.
"Californians have learned the hard way how much damage – environmental and economic – can be caused by a major oil spill," Feinstein said.
But Pelosi may be hard-pressed to stand firm against lifting the moratorium. She's under heavy pressure from House Republicans, who have been unrelenting in their political attacks against the speaker, blaming her for the record gasoline prices.
On Friday, House Republican leader John Boehner called on Pelosi to stop "ignoring the calls of the American people."
He said he would lead a delegation of 10 House Republicans —- including Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy —- on an "American energy tour" to Colorado and Alaska this weekend to put a spotlight on the refusal of Democratic leaders to allow drilling in Alaska and elsewhere.
The congressional ban on offshore drilling has been in effect since 1981, but Congress must renew it each year. The issue could come to a head again in September, when Pelosi could make it tougher for opponents to kill the ban by including it in an omnibus spending bill that may be required to keep the government operating.
Acknowledging her ability to influence decision-making, Pelosi said in the interview that she gets to operate differently than her Senate counterpart, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Reid must reach out to Republicans to muster 60 votes – enough to stop a filibuster – to get anything done.
"In the House, the power rests in the speaker, the power of recognition, of setting the agenda. ... Very different rules," Pelosi said.

Well let's see.

Refining capacity is being fully utilized now.


So we add a few million more bbl. in production what do we do with it?

Strategic reserve?

How long does it take to build a refinery?

Sherm,

What is the point of building a new refinery if the government won't let us drill more oil?

Think about it. Why would oil companies invest the huge dollars to construct additional refineries if they can't drill for more oil? That would be as stupid as refusing to allow more drilling to minimize our dependency on foreign oil. If Pelosi & Co. aren't going to allow offshore drilling, they aren't going to allow construction of more refineries. While those oil barons will never win any awards for integrity or humanitarianism, they aren't going to be wearing any dunce caps anytime soon either.

SFCraig wrote:Trains are doing quite well now and get pennies per mile.

Trains are very limited to where they go and even is goods are shipped via train, 98% of the time, they must still be placed on the back of a truck for local delivery.

JB Hunt has been shipping most loads that travel over 400 miles via rail service for years, especially product going to and from California, Florida and into the northeast. It's one of the reasons they remain one of the strongest and largest trucking companies in the US.

Of course it doesn't hurt that CSX owns JB Hunt.