Three Reasons Gas Prices are High

Townhall.com ^ | April 10, 2012 | Mike Shedloch

[Kaslin]

The blatant hypocrisy and arrogance of president Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton in the  video below is simple stunning.

Caroline Baum on "Obama the Omniscient"

Inquiring minds are reading Bloomberg columnist Caroline Baum's article

[thackney]

given the 22 year low in oil demand

Oil is a globally priced commodity and no where near a 22 year low.

[oneamericanvoice]

The Middle East is not our main vendor. Canada is. With Mexico in third. Obama has screwed up the relationship with Canada so badly that they are now considering selling oil to us at the same price the Chinese purchase at.

Oil/gas is high because:
1. speculation
2. low domestic production
3. no new refineries/pipelines
4. seasonal changes (winter to summer/summer-winter gas)
5. Taxes: federal, state, local
6. rent of station facilites
(not all stations own the property)

[RinaseaofDs]

I expressed myself badly - oil inventories are at 22 year highs. Demand is down.

Last year, I asked a refinery plant manager what it would take to build a new refinery in the US. She told me that nothing would. Her company alone was long by at least three refineries on the West Coast alone. She said she’d hate to be Tesoro right now - they are a refinery play.

[thackney]

Last year, I asked a refinery plant manager what it would take to build a new refinery in the US.

No need. Our refinery capacity exceeds our demand. Even after shutting a few down in the Northeast.

[xzins]

Since it’s a world oil market, it doesn’t matter who our main vendors are in terms of that market price. The sheiks of just the arab league still put out about 30% of the world’s oil production. Canada is at about 4%

[ROCKLOBSTER]

So did you inform his boss you were now voting with your feet?

[Smokin' Joe]

"Industry" LOVES a guaranteed bigger return without having to invest.

So, is that why the oil companies are shelling out $10 million or more per well in the Three Forks and Bakken from lease to production?

[Carry_Okie]

So, is that why the oil companies are shelling out $10 million or more per well in the Three Forks and Bakken from lease to production?

Gotta sell something. More on less is better. Read the article. There's a reason the owners of BP, Exxon, Sunoco, and Citgo are the largest donors to environmental NGOs, by far, than any other interest group. Hell, they FOUNDED several of those environmental groups that sit on UN environmental treaty secretariats.

[Smokin' Joe]

In dollars, if you print them like you are producing toilet paper for a food poisoning festival, gas is going to be expensive. Taxes make it worse (especially if they are percentage taxes and not fee-type taxes).

You touch on the fun part of inflation: For those making a decent living, inflation guarantees movement into higher tax brackets if the purchasing power of their salaries remains the same. For government, this means an automatic bigger slice of your individual pie, even though the purchasing power of your money remained constant or even declined slightly.

[Smokin' Joe]

Nice change of subject. Environmental NGOs at the UN really don't affect the cost of a Bakken or Three Forks well much. Those expenses are due to lease rates, drilling and production costs, and the nature of the well.

It is no surprise that the 'Rainbow coalition' style of blackmail has been carried out by ecowhacko groups against oil companies who could be tied up until leases expire with pissant litigation by environmental groups, so they make donations to get them off their back and in some cases, make commercials about how green they are.

The reality is that virtually any environmental disaster results in loss of product, materials, and profit, not to mention local hostility, and that is reason enough for the oil companies to keep their operations tidy. It's cheaper to not make a mess than to be fined and have to clean one up.

[Carry_Okie]

Nice change of subject.

I'm afraid you did that by not addressing the material I referenced. The link I posted above addressed the connection between the industry and the NGOs directly.