Commentators on Faux News have been whining that Obama is responsible for gas prices, and many Republican/conservatives are repeating that rhetoric. I guess they've forgotten what they were saying back in 2008, when gas prices had gone up under Bush? Well, here's a reminder. And, for the Presidential Candidates, please note Bill O'Reilly's comment at the end, where he says "Anytime you hear a politician say he will bring gas prices down, please understand it is complete BS". [ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzEnKdBAb_o[/ame]
Obama, himself, believes that he has control over gas prices. If he didn't believe this, then why did he release 30 million barrels of our emergency oil reserves into the market?
You lost your credibility to whine about who is blamed for gas prices now, when you weren't part of the defense for Bush when he was blamed. And you weren't. Try to say you were.
I know what it was for. Nonetheless, it displayed the idea that Obama believes he has power over oil prices, thus why he released the reserves.
LOLOLOL The oil business is about ROI and the US has the highest exploration and lift costs in the world. Our domestic oil industry is expanding rapidly... for the first time since the 1970s. Drive the ppb down and you kill it.
As refineries go offline due to profit concerns, early spring maintenance due to lack of demand, and accidents. We can increase production, but what good is it for, if it is not refined?
No refineries have gone off line.. Refineries shut down temporarily twice a year for routine maintenance and seasonal change overs.
Um... ...those "seasonal changeovers" are massive bottlenecks. If you were intellectually honest about that, you'd recognize that it really doesn't matter how much raw crude is produced; what matters is the rate at which it can be refined, and delivered to market. In this way, the Obama Admin harnesses the willful and useful idiot to his cause. Having cake, and eating it as well: claiming that "oil drilling is up" is useless, in the face of boutique blend restrictions and other regulatory restrictions.
You are wrong and right, but I included the shut down for spring maintenance. However, it came early this year due to lack of demand. Refiners are shutting plants after losing billions of dollars in recent years due to a combination of factors. The weak economy lowered demand for gasoline, tighter environmental regulations raised costs, and increased global competition squeezed profit margins. In the last six months, oil production companies Sunoco Inc. of Philadelphia and ConocoPhillips Co. of Houston have each closed a Pennsylvania refinery and put it up for sale - with few potential buyers emerging - as they exit the refining business. Hovensa LLC, a refiner in the US Virgin Islands, closed a refinery on St. Croix that primarily supplied the East Coast. http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-05/business/31124874_1_refineries-pfgbest-gas-prices Here is an update on refinery status. Notice how another refinery in LA is up for sale. This is an updated piece which didn't touch upon the accidents that happened in NM, UT, and WA. http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120307-711009.html So, BS that no refinery is going offline outside of regular spring maintenance.
Motiva is the largest refinery in the US AND, it just expanded.. Its owned by the Saudis and Dutch Shell.. Obama doesn't run Motiva or any other refinery in the US. How's that for "intellectual honesty"??
You already said that. There is no benefit to this oil, if we do not have the refining capability to bring it to market at a rate which outpaces demand. And we don't. And one of the reasons that is, is because of EPA demands of seasonal boutique blend changes, and regional disparities. Which is exactly the point: the leftist drone can continue to propagandize that Obama=Good because more oil is being produced, and totally ignore that the oil is being sold overseas because local consumption is bottlenecked by domestic refining restrictions.
Unfortunately, half of that total is crap oil. It can't make diesel or jet fuel, and it's about 1/3 as efficient as good, sweet WTI. Our masters like to play with production figures by changing the definition of "all liquids" to include oil from shale and tar sands, thereby fooling anyone who doesn't apply critical analysis. Such a ploy is good for boosting share value, spurring investment, and keeping markets from panicking. Unfortunately, baking (synthetic) oil from rock and clay is an extremely expensive process, no matter how good it makes our "oil rebirth" look. Anyone who believes the U.S. is now some "net exporter" (like that deep thinker Bill O'Reilly) just doesn't understand how this game works. We export a lot of refined product, sure. But a lot of it is refined from what we import and shipped back to the original country. The bottom line is: We still produce barely 5M barrels of the good stuff, yet we gobble up 20M every passing day. That ever-widening imbalance is made up by imports, and ever-more reliance on heavy unconventional crap. Oil is the most versatile and efficient natural resource mankind has ever discovered. It is the very reason 6 billion more of us are here than were just 100 years ago. But the more the world has to turn to heavy oil to keep feeding the ever-expanding beast, the more impossible it becomes to maintain growth. (One might argue that growth is already over, if you take away the $11 trillion in fiat currency and corporate socialism the past 4 years) Of course, it's still popular to blame certain presidents for the price at the pump. Makes for nice sound-bytes, but it doesn't change the reality: Peak is already here. It will get worse.
Production down 44% on public land. Why should they sell oil from private land here for any less than the world market price? Now the oil from public land is a different story. The leases can be made with a percentage of the yield mandated to be sold here. It's not that hard, leases are contracts.
Then Bush lifted the drilling ban and the price was more than slashed in half in less than 30 days. Why wont Obama help the average American? Nancy Pelosi wouldnt even allow a vote on the subject. She wanted the price higher. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeUx6o9qpYY"]Pelosi "Saves The Planet" On 'This Week' - YouTube[/ame] Nancy became a speculator so she could profit off of the suffering of Americans... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Q8RynUbvU"]The Hypocrisy of Democrat, Nancy Pelosi - YouTube[/ame]
I blame it on companies like BP, why are foreign companies drilling for oil on our shores and then selling us our oil? fact is other countries are growing and consuming more and more oil, demand is up and will continue to go up, oil exec look at what kinda gas Americans buy I wonder if the most expensive gas on the pump or the least is used by oil exec's to decide future gas prices, if everyone picks the most expensive gas, they feel they can raise it, ect....
