Posted on 09/21/2005 9:08:41 AM PDT by jmc1969
its not a free market. we have 4 or 5 majors controlling "it, a worldwide cartel on the supply side, wall street speculators and hedge funds flooding the futures market turning it into new "tech stocks" - and consumers who must have the product to conduct their lives, taking it on the chin.
I am not for price caps either, but don't claim that oil is some kind of perfect free market, its not, its heavily controlled and manipulated."
Your post is worth repeating. Their is no free market in oil. It's all heavily manipulated.
Then why do the big oil companies donate large sums of money to the environmental groups?
...Well. boys, I guess this is it. Nuclear combat toe-to-toe with the Rooskies.
Boone Pickens.
I'da used a P instead of a W... but to each his own :)
Believe me I was thinking much worse than P and would have used P if I thought the remark wouldn't have been removed.
ep 2, 2005 8:37 AM
Gas prices stun, anger N.C. drivers
snip
Many consumers, such as Four Oaks resident Doug Bowman, said the high prices were a scam and Gov. Mike Easley should have declared a state of emergency.
"It's no different than the looting you see in Louisiana," he said. "I feel like I'm getting ripped off, by the governor's permission."
Station owners say the high prices are caused by higher wholesale costs, which reached $3 a gallon after oil refineries and pipelines were shut down when Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast. North Carolina law prohibits retailers from charging less for gas than they paid wholesale. They also must pay 46 cents in federal and state taxes per gallon -- a cost they pass on to consumers.
snip
Meanwhile, limited shortages are showing up throughout the state. Gas from the partially restored pipeline won't reach the Carolinas until after Labor Day.
snip
"I just got a shipment, and I called my supplier this morning for another delivery and they told me not before Monday," said Mahmoud Atieh, who owns three Raleigh gas stations, including the Wolf's Den on Hodges Street.
Even large retailers aren't ruling out the possibility that their stations will run out. The Pantry, a chain of more than 1,300 convenience stores based in Sanford, is prioritizing, shuttling gas to higher-volume, bigger stores.
Katrina shut down about 90 percent of the Southeast's gas supply. Wholesale prices -- and therefore retail prices -- won't go down until there's more gas.
snip
Colonial Pipeline Co., the world's largest operator of petroleum-product pipelines, on Wednesday restarted two lines from Houston to New York harbor that had been shut down Monday. Service is at 25 percent to 35 percent of normal capacity, and Colonial is installing generators that may increase it to as much as 60 percent by the weekend, company spokesman Steve Baker said.
Gas in the pipeline moves slowly -- 7 mph -- so it will take time. And many of the refineries that feed the pipeline are still down.
Other relief may come in the form of that "winter blend" gas and the release of some of the federal reserve oil stock.
http://gaswatch.energy.gov/
Gasoline was selling at $2.26 yesterday. They raised it 23 cents when Rita was raised to hurricane status. That is gouging IMO, though I can't complain when others are over 3$.
Use the link and tell the government that there was/is gouging. Remind them that the dealers purchased the gasoline on spot at prices ranging from 1.71 to 2.12, and that they may be receiving the benefits of buying spot crude refined from SR crude that sells for $27 not $64 dated Brent October-November, or $69 Nymex November.
BTW, I read the article and it seems the CEO is making a concrete statement that a disaster has already hit though the storm is three days out and hasn't picked a place to make landfall. I'm not saying disaster could not happen but it hasn't happened yet. It's like seeing a train speeding toward a RR crossing and saying ten people died in a fiery crash three minutes before the train enters the crossing. Unless this CEO has a crystal ball, this is just an excuse for wild speculation.
PS. If disaster does strike, we're looking at deep worldwide recession. Better sell your energy stocks at $72 rather than world recession prices of ? less from the world glut of crude. JMO--uneducated according to some.
Energy Department spokesman Drew Malcolm said reports of price gouging were being turned over to the FTC.
You can report cases of gouging to the Energy Information Administration here
http://gaswatch.energy.gov/
The states with the most complaints were North Carolina, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, New Jersey, Michigan and South Carolina.
"Either you favor the free market, or you don't."
I'm not sure whether you really just aren't aware of how much oil is NOT a free market, or whether you're just another oil guy spinning the coming ripoff.
Great time for legislation to fast track some new refineries.
Nobody complained. They just decided they needed bigger trucks.
Now lots of people are trying to trade in their big trucks for small, fuel-efficient cars.
My sister-in-law is named Rita and I have had more fun with this than the law should allow.......
I just paid 2.45 a gallon, which is basically what I paid three weeks ago.
Valero has the St. Charles Refinery down still, the Krotz Springs Refinery was down and then on partial capacity, and the Memphis Refinery was on low production due to a shortage of feed.
At risk from this storm is Valero’s Orange Texas Refinery, Texas City Refinery, Houston Texas Refinery, Corpus Christi Refinery, Three Rivers Texas Refinery and much of their supply and pipeline facilities. This is potentially billions in lost production and repairs.
Bill Greehey held the price on gasoline in Louisiana, kept stations open when nobody else did, and even supplied free fuel to rescue and relief efforts. Tuesday after Katrina, he donated $1 million and has continued to support relief efforts. He is one of the good guys folks!
I call him Slim after the guy that use to be in the western movies.
*** Unless this CEO has a crystal ball, this is just an excuse for wild speculation.***
This thing is tracking right across the deepwater rigs that WEREN'T hit by Katrina....
Yet again, we are about to pay the bill for decades of idiot Liberal Enviro policy. No spare refineries, and no alternate source of capacity.
Not quite. The volcanos in the Western US are waking up and the mystery bulge outside of Redman suggests there could be another volcano in the making or a major shift of molten rock under the center of the Cascade Range. Eruptions and other events of course have the potential for doing significant damage. What then if seismic events related to this could cause a slip in the cascadia subduction zone like the one occurring in 1700 that sent a tsunami wave of 100' stretching from Eureka, CA up into BC?
This would leave all the sea side cities under water and multiple mountain villiages under molten rock.
So look on the bright side, things could actually be worse...
Things are looking mighty bad, but hey, I got some good news. I just saved a bunch of money......
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