Jrbarnes

The Carbon Tax Debate: About To Heat Up with Obama as Prez

Considering CO2 as a pollutant is about like treating oxygen as a pollutant. Life on earth is not possible without CO2, which is as vital for platns as oxygen is for mankind. Out of every million molecuels in the atmosphere, 235 are CO2, and they have minimal impact on global warming. It is just a sneaky BS scheme for the biggest tax increase in world history.

The Pelosi Factor - Cramer's Mad Money (8/25/08)

Pelosi recently stated on national television that we needed to move away from fossil fuels and move toward alternative energy like natural gas. I am not sure that I would want to follow the lead on energy of anyone who is so ignorant about energythat theydo not know that natural gas is a fossil fuel. It certinaly make clear why we do not have an intelligent enrgy policy if the leader of the majority party is that ignorant about energy.

Natural Gas: Clean Fuel with a Dirty Little Secret

The increase in supply of NG in the US has already caused US gas pices to fall to the $9-12 range, while international prices range in the $15-20 range. That is why the LNG is going elsewhere. International LNG will go to where it will get the best price - that is not the US. Thanks to the shale gas breakthroughs initiated in the Barnett Shale and since transferred ot other areas, the US has some of the lowest natural gas prices in the world already. Because of that, it is highly unlikely that any LNG will be coming to the US any time soon. The US is not the world's best place to be invested in an LNG terminal. Based on storage, US natural gas production has not created an oversupply, but is fully supplying demand - equilibrium, neither shortage nor surplus.

Can Big Oil Balance Shareholder Interest Against National Interest?

"Oil companies get leases to Federal lands for the purpose of exploration and development of new fields at a minimal cost" All Federal leases are acquired in an open auction. Leases in proven areas go for a lot of money. Offshore leases sell for tens of millions. Only leases in unexplored areas go for modest sums, but even those prices are are at market prices, or someone else would bid higher.

Big oil has failed miserably when it has tried to work in areas outside of producing and refining oil and gas. They do not have the technical expertise or experience or mindset. Examples - Exxon in office automation, in which they invested over a billion dollars to diversify. Mobil in the packaging business. Both investments failures. The money invested in alternative energy needs to be made by folks with the expertise and orientation and passion for it. Use Big Oil for what it is good at - fiinding a producing large multibillion dollar oil projects, refineries and petrochemical plants.

Oil Prices and Political Energy

$260 billion of commodities represents only 3 weeks of world oil sales. Not enough to materially move the market. If ANWR and offshore Florida were currently prodcing their combined 1 million barrels per day each, and they would be if they had not been prohibited 10 years ago, the price of oil would be materially affected. They will make a similar difference 10 years from now, if permitted. Price is set at the margin. An extra 2 million barrels per day of secure oil supply would provide a margin that would bring down price. As to the environmentalists rage against the impact of offshore drilling, Rita and Katrina hit the Gulf oil industry about as hard is it is possible to hit it, even turning some offshore rigs upside down. No oil spills in spite of that.

US Oil Companies Borrow A Page From OPEC's Playbook

Let's see, the Senate says it is going to take $29 billion out of the oil companies' pockets to use to subsidize the production of ethanol and biodiesel, and one wonders why the oil companies are reluctant to pony up a billion dollars or so per new refinery and fight nearly impossible to get around environmentalists and laws which enable them to stop the building of refineries essentially forever, to produce a product that is made from a substance that is currently producing at its peak level ever, to compete against something that is being subsidized with their money. Could that have an impact on their decision. The Senate Democrats can pass a tax, but they cannot outlaw intelligence any more than they seem to be able to exercise it for themselves.