WayneS

Oil: Supply and Demand? Hardly!

Gas stations have never made money selling gasoline. American refineries have lost money this quarter. We drivers waste 25-40% of the gasoline we buy. The price at the gas pump needs to go up so we can learn to use less gasoline and maybe help to stop our reliance on foreign oil.


On Nov 01 09:37 AM The Greatest Rip Off of our Time wrote:

> Crude inventories are rising, gas inventories are rising, so why
> does the price at the pump keep going up?
> Every American need’s to call, write, fax and email their representative
> ASAP and ask these same questions! Where will the world be when the
> oil industry has all the money? The current world depression will
> not heal as long as fuel cost continues to escalate. The cost of
> fuel is the corner stone of any recovery because it affects every
> aspect of the world’s economy. It is so simple, just get off oil
> and start keeping our $25 Billion a month that we spend on foreign
> oil here at home to rebuild our economy. Our government has way too
> much oil money in it and Congress needs term limits. Where is the
> investigation into the oil and gas industry?

The Energy Efficiency Paradox

The purpose of subsidies is to raise tax revenues. For every dollar of subsidy the government reneges on, they will lose 5-50 dollars of tax revenue.
Most refineries don't use outside energy, they make their own from previously wasted heat.
Vehicles that get greater than 30 mpg have been around for 50+ years. People want intimidating vehicles, not transportation.
Everyone is capable of saving at least a thousand dollars a year with efficiency, but choose not to save.

Any change to the status quo will be a hard sell.

Cap-and-Trade: The Only Alternative to EPA's Power Grab?

It's too late to get into the cap and trade money making scheme.
What's the next scheme?
This article does explain how the rest of the planets are going through global warming without our help.
Carbon capture has been going on for 30-40 years. You pump CO2 into a carbonate formation. The CO2 reacts with the carbonates to make bicarbonates. You pump down more CO2, the bicarbonates precipitate out to a solid.

Game Changing Battery Technology: Is it Here Now?

A little science fiction - Why not supply electricity to cars on tollways & HOVs? Europe's trains are electric.

How High Will the Price of Oil Go?

I belive that conservation is only a stopgap solution. But, it is something we could do today. I don't believe we should have cheap oil. Personally, I think gasoline should be taxed such that the cost never goes below $4/gal. I worked on all of the new alternative energies in the 70's. (gasohol, coal-gasification, nuclear, converting CO2 into methane and/or methanol.) Most of the farmers in my area had pickups that ran on propane or methane. What has changed? It seems renewable energy projects mean "an energy project that can be renewed every 10-20 years and make serious money without actually doing anything."


On Jun 08 12:10 PM Living4Dividends wrote:

> I agree that Wayne S - If we only conserved, there would be cheaper
> oil, and our oil would last longer.

How High Will the Price of Oil Go?

The only competition to the extremely cheap oil we enjoy is conservation, but no one is willing to go that route. We waste 25-40% of the auto fuel we buy.

Crack Spread Calculations Demystified

So the commercial hedgers and the speculative futures traders cause the "vagaries" in XOM's revenue stream? I remember in the eighties when Exxon sold crude to their own refineries, bypassing the middlemen, and sold gasoline at their retail stores at a cheaper rate. The state of Texas fined them a couple of billion dollars for selling under market.


On Mar 05 03:48 PM Brad Zigler wrote:

> Keeping an eye on the crack spread -- and its seasonality -- can
> help you understand the vagaries in XOM's downstream revenue stream.
>

Crack Spread Calculations Demystified

I don't understand this.
I don't trade petroleum futures.
Would someone explain what service futures-traders
perform. How do they facilitate getting products to
the consumers?

Who's Kidding Whom on Gas Prices?

Gas stations have never made money selling gasoline.
Gasoline only brings people into the station where they can get you to spend your money on profitable goods.
First, it was car repair garages.
Then, it was cigarettes and beer.
Now, it is to get you into their grocery or discount store.

At the mergers of the "big" oil companies, the government forced
the merging companies to sell part of their refineries.
Now Valero is the #1 refining company in the US and they were trying to sell several last year. XOM is spending a billion dollars on refinery upgrades this year for diesel alone.

Over half of the price of a gallon of gasoline is taxes. It is taxed at every step throughout its production and at the pump. There is a very narrow profit margin. XOM sold all of their gas stations. This surprises me. They were just starting to make a profit in retail with their introducton of Tiger-Brand coffee.

Oil Prices Are Down, So Why Isn't Gas?

Refineries don't just make gasoline.

Who's Kidding Whom on Gas Prices?

Gasoline prices need to stay above $3 per gallon.
Last year, $4 gasoline saved 1700 lives and
billions in health care. It also reduced our preference
in wasting gasoline to feed our egos. Who knows,
maybe it reduced global warming. That's right, it's
not global warming anymore, it's climate change.

Oil Prices Are Down, So Why Isn't Gas?

Oil went up 100% last year.
Gasoline went up 37%.
Refineries sold gasoline for less than it cost to make.
If refineries lose money for too long.
they will have to shut down.
Fortunately, most of the refineries are owned by corporations
that make money elsewhere and can stand the loses.

Oil Price Economics the 60 Minutes Way

Part of the rise in oil was the weekening of the dollar. Foreign oil cost more for those paying dollars. It didn't go as high for those paying Euros; as previously shown on Alpha. American oil companies with wells in foreign lands had to pay more for service companies and materials and transportation.

The amount of gasoline that can be stored is very limited.
Gasoline is still a minor part of refining. Oil companies really do only make a small profit margin on gasoline as the CEOs told Congress.
Most of 2008, they lost money. Oil went up 100% and gasoline only 37%.

Oil Price Economics the 60 Minutes Way

The oil companies are the only ones that invest in oil. They spend decades and billions of dollars to produce oil. They also pay exorbitant taxes. XOM payed 47% income tax last year. All others are profit takers. They use borrowed money. Take no responsibility for the oil getting to market. They pay rediculously low capital gains taxes.

What Will Move Oil: Obama's Package or Falling Chinese Demand?

On Dec 15 10:26 AM Ishortyou wrote:

> I think is time for the oil companies stop banking on oil dependent
> energy sources and start shifting their portafolio to more greener
> sources, put the money on it.

The oil companies invested heavily in the 1980's into what we now call alternative energies . They found them unprofitable and that they would never make more than a few percent difference. The same is true today. They have shifted to "greener" natural gas. Oil is more valuable as non-energy products. Gasoline was a waste product until they talked Ford into using it to fuel his new automobiles. It has never has had much of a profit margin. ExxonMobil developed a material for use in batteries that may make electric cars safe and reliable with more than a 20-50 mile range.
Hopefully, they will continue invest in viable energy sources.