any idea how full/much longer we'll be filling the gas-reserve???
Posted on 05/03/2008 5:06:42 AM PDT by kellynla
CALGARY -- With oil prices currently sky-high, it's a great time to be in the energy business - unless you own a refinery.
The record oil prices that are pushing up producers' profits are also dampening demand for petroleum products, creating a glut of North American gasoline reflected by five-year inventory highs.
And while gasoline prices have soared to well over $1.20 a litre in Canada, the surplus stocks mean they haven't kept up with the soaring price of crude oil. As a result, the "crack spread" - the difference between the price of crude and the products refined from it - has been unusually narrow this year.
That's creating thin profit margins for companies like Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada's largest refiner, which yesterday recorded disappointing numbers for the first quarter, and its parent company, Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest public energy company.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Plans are at an early stage, but Mr. March said he hopes to add the equivalent of a "fifth refinery," around 110,000 barrels a day, through the improvements. The increased capacity would be used to process future production from Imperial's proposed Kearl oil sands project in Alberta.
"It's always easier to build on what is in place [than build a new facility]. It's more economic that way," said Mr. March, a long-time refining executive with Exxon who took the reins of Imperial earlier this year. Part of his role is to integrate Imperial's oil sands projects with Exxon and Imperial's refining network.
Refinery Capacity Report
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/refinery_capacity_data/refcapacity.html
ping
Would all parties in the chain be agreeable to lowering the price back to a year ago and I just flush a dollar for every gallon I pump down the commode? Didn’t think so. Its going somewhere.
I always thought that the "crack spread" was waist size divided by butt size. You learn something new every day.
bump
That’s creating thin profit margins for companies like Imperial Oil Ltd., Canada’s largest refiner, which yesterday recorded disappointing numbers for the first quarter, and its parent company, Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest public energy company.
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Simple manipulation to keep profits back at the parent company where they can better escape taxation from Canada by shifting them to a lower tax country where they drill. This is why we need lower taxes here in the US.
any idea how full/much longer we'll be filling the gas-reserve???
This is a development to watch.
* Cease all ethanol production. It requires more energy to make than it yields and the unintended consequence is higher food costs. Corn production shifted from feed-corn to subsidized corn for ethanol. Just say "no" to ethanol!
* Immediately create only ONE "blend" of gasoline and cease regional blends which are stupid, costly, and meaningless. Even if this is the "cleanest" blend, just make it ONE and be done with it. Trucking custom blends around the country is wasteful.
* Drill for oil in Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and other sites in the CONUS as a matter of national security.
* Construct state-of-the-art refineries and/or retrofit current and dormant ones and crank up production.
* Make all “carbon credit” scams unlawful.
* Construct SEVERAL, regional Pebble-Bed Reactors (or other similar designs) that are not considered "breeders", are rechargeable, and cleaner than any current nuclear generator design.
* Use the residual heat from the reactor above to process motor fuel from coal and/or shale. Even though Clinton "stole" some of the best coal reserves, we still have a lot to use.
* Have Iraq pay for its freedom, and maybe even pay us back for their freedom. We'll still need their oil.
* Bust up the cartels or at least be independent enough to make the cartels inconsequential.
* Convince local taxing bodies to lift or fix the sales tax on gasoline so that as gas prices go up, the local tax collectors don’t see a windfall revenue jump at the expense of the consumer.
Until you understand that none of the parties in the supply chain control prices you will be unable to analyze the situation correctly.
. . . , but, . . somebody is controlling it.
I can’t understand why Microsoft won’t roll back its stock price to 1987 levels. It ain’t fair.
Not according to Hush Bimbo.
Not trying to analyze it, just bitching. Is that ok?
And it ain't the oil companies. The refiners control something less than 25% of the crude they require. Much of that production is overseas and it can be more efficient to sell it there than to import it back to the states -- replacing the output with, say, Canadian oil.
Now, think about this: given a worldwide market that is controlled by supply and demand -- and the supply is essentially stable, yet the demand is growing -- who would be most likely to control the price?
That's right. The producers. Which are, by and large, foreign governments.
The control the production. They set the asking price.
It's the way markets work.
I thought it might be the difference between crack cocaine and regular cocaine,but what do I know?
Sure, bitching is fine. Analyzing is better because it might lead to some solutions, but if bitching works, go for it.
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