Bush Urges Congress to Lift Offshore Drilling Ban

reply to post by jfj123


Bingo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! somebody that knows what is going on with our oil men running our government and our nation.

Loam

Thanks

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by jfj123

 

Bingo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! somebody that knows what is going on with our oil men running our government and our nation.

Loam

Thanks

Why thank you

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
Ok, I can see that things are different now and something needs to be done. Doesn't anybody have an answer as to why the oil companies won't drill the land they're already sitting on though?

Forgive me if this is already posted. I don't have time to read all the pages.

You are being played for a fool by Politicians who are trying to cover up their own screw-ups for the last half century.

When a company takes out an Oil Lease on offered land, they do not know whether the oil or gas exist or where best to drill if it is even feasible. Most of these leases are decades old and the technology just was not up to todays standards. The existence of the oil amounted to a guess.

After the lease the company must spend huge amounts of money on things like seismological surveys as well as drilling test wells. On top of that are mountains of regulations to deal with as well as local and state issues. A legal nightmare if you will.

When all that is done they may still come up with nothing. Only a small percentage of the wells "come in" and many of those can not be developed economically, even if they do find oil or gas. You can't spend more to recover the oil than you can sell it for as that would lead to a thing called bankruptcy. Some of you must be old enough to remember the large number of oil companies that failed in the 80's?

Our Government blew it and now they are starting the spin machine to confuse us and the old "it's the other Parties fault" game is in play.

One thing that is a fact, is that the Environmental Lobbies stranglehold on our Government is about to destroy our economy and they could give a crap less. Now they have succeeded, they have moved on to try and eliminate mining. Get ready for the price of metals to skyrocket and be added to the already high prices of products we need to survive. Say thank-you Mommy Sierra Club and prepare to take it in the shorts. No college for Johnny or dental work for little Sue as long as these clowns have control of Congress.

Send Pelosi a letter and maybe she will loan you the money for a car when you can no longer afford one. Perhaps she or Gore will let you use their plane?

Edited to add; There are proved fields where we absolutely need to drill and drill yesterday. Those are the ones Congress wont allow to be drilled by anyone.

[edit on 6/18/2008 by Blaine91555]

Originally posted by loam
Exactly where are all of the oil refineries that are going to process this oil?

Think about that.

The existing refineries can increase their capacities far faster than new ones can be built. No problem there.

Originally posted by WhatTheory
reply to post by marg6043

 

What are you babbling about?
How is Bush responsible for the current price of oil?

OPEC, speculators and other countries are setting the price of oil, not Bush. Bush is saying he wants to finally allow drilling again in the U.S.; so how is this a bad thing?

How dare you confuse the issue with facts Line two.

Does OPEC Set Crude Oil Prices?

In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges, all of which have their own Web sites featuring information about oil prices. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX,
www.nymex.com...), the International Petroleum Exchange in London (IPE, www.ipe.uk.com...) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX, www.simex.com.sg...).


The Web sites of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA, www.iea.org...) and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA, www.eia.doe.gov...), also have extensive historical information on oil prices.

www.opec.org...

Who Is Gouging Whom?

The true culprit that we should condemn for driving up prices is the government, which has engaged--with popular support--in the gouging of both the producers and consumers of gasoline.

www.capmag.com...



[edit on 18-6-2008 by marg6043]

Originally posted by WhatTheory

So what?
That still does not make my point any less true. People can still use less and conserve.

ALGORE, Mr. Global Warming himself, has proven that statement to be false. You would think after all the hell he was put through 1 year ago about his huge "carbon footprint" that he would have learned his lesson and tried to cut back. WRONG...his energy use went up 10% over last year. So that talk about cutting back and conserving is totally bogus.

Has anybody checked to see if ALGORE's carbon footprint was for sale? I bet you could build a nice size house inside that footprint.

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
Why won't they drill the leases they've got though? The exploration's all been done and the permits have all been issued, this is land that's set aside especially for the oil companies and nobody objects to them drilling there. 14 years supply of oil right there vs. 3 years off shore.

Why?
Well, they already have those resources in their pocket and locked up tight for the elite and obscenely wealthy. They're saving them for later. They want more. They want the ones they don't have yet.

Could be that if they can lock up the rest of the resources they could either raise prices further, or create a tailor made shortage. Just depends on what they need to do and when to capture and/or retain ultimate control.

Originally posted by Blaine91555
The existing refineries can increase their capacities far faster than new ones can be built. No problem there.

Can and will are not the same thing.

See for example the following:

Crude Oil: Low Refinery Utilization & High Prices?

Refinery utilization was lower than typical in first quarter 2008. Actual first-quarter 2008 utilization averaged 84.7 percent, compared to the average of 89.1 percent during first quarter 2001 through 2005 (years where first quarter volumes were not significantly impacted by hurricanes). In April and May, utilization remained low, averaging 86.1 compared to an average of 94.1 for the two months during 2001-2005.

So in addition to a capacity issue, there is also a utilization problem.

The article continues:

While petroleum product prices are continuing to break new records, why is refining capacity utilization low?

...

Market conditions are the driver behind the discretionary cutbacks in crude inputs. Gasoline prices have risen in 2008 mainly from increases in crude oil prices. Refiners purchase that crude oil and sell product at wholesale prices. The wholesale gasoline price spread (the difference between spot gasoline and crude oil price), where refiners operate, has narrowed, indicating plenty of gasoline supply has been available to meet demand. Supply was outpacing demand in January and February, and inventories built substantially (Figure 1), resulting in very high stock levels and very low wholesale (e.g., spot) gasoline price spreads. Indeed, at some points in March 2008, the gasoline wholesale price was actually cheaper than crude oil. In addition, refiners have been blending more ethanol into gasoline, further reducing the need for gasoline from crude oil. As summer demand has been picking up, inventories have been drawn down from their very high levels at the beginning of March, but gasoline spreads have not increased much. If U.S. refinery utilization increased, gasoline prices might decrease some, but probably not by much, since wholesale gasoline spreads are already low, and crude prices remain high.

So in other words, pressing for additional drilling sites is really a sham. It benefits big oil and will do little to help consumers.

Originally posted by marg6043
Remember tax payer will be paying for the drilling.

Says who? You have a source for that?

If no oil is found, tax payer still will get the bill.

Says who? You have a source for that?

You DO realize how oil companies make money, don't you? It may be a shock, but they make money by selling oil. I know. Crazy. The more oil they have to sell, the more they will make.

Let's see, state and federal governments have HUGE budget deficits and oil companies will pay BILLIONS for the opportunity to drill where they are now forbidden. Unemployment is spiking, but a resurgent oil, coal, and nuclear industry would result in MILLIONS of new jobs in this country. Increase the supply of fuel and the prices will drop. It's basic economics. Lower fuel prices will result in lower food prices and lower the price of many, many other things as this economy is oil based, like it or not. Do nothing and all prices will continue to rise. Who is hurt the most by fuel and food prices rising? The poor of course. These are basic needs that can't be done without, unless you expect us to live in caves and try to stay warm by looking at a drawing of a fire. IF we were to use our own natural resources we could become energy independent and not rely on terrorists and dictators for our oil. They would no longer have us by the you-know-what.

Let's review:

MORE money into the government coffers
MORE jobs
CHEAPER energy (oil, gas, electricity)
NO reliance on foreign tyrants

What's the downside again?

We are probably the only country in the world TOO STUPID to use our own natural resources. We have more oil reserves than the entire Middle East, yet the Green Mafia has most of it locked up.

You nay-sayers can sit there and say "NO" to everything we need to do, but you offer no solutions, only more of the same.

If you think Americans are going to put up paying $4-$5-$6-$7 & more for a gallon of gas and skyrocketing food prices while we are sitting on all kinds of natural resources, you are in for a VERY RUDE AWAKENING.

reply to post by GLDNGUN


It seems that you have forgoten that oil companies have millions of acres to drll.

If they wanted to use their outrageous profits to drill they would have done it decades ago.

Why? because regulations and road blocks? no really and just part of the problem.

they want billions of tax payer money to do the drilling.

Some times is good to listen to what the Markets are saying about the oil companies and drilling rights

Start with Squaw box in CNBC.

So far the leases that the oil companies have has not paid a penny on royalties to the governmen.

Even with record profits this greedy oil barons do not pay a penny on the leases.

Yes is very easy to avoid that, and gauge the tax payer for paying for drilling if the ban if lifted with the corporate ruled government we have.

Congressional auditors put the lost federal revenue at as much as $2 billion so far and estimated it could total as much as $10 billion over the life of the leases

.

Then incentives and tax brakes at the expenses of tax payers thanks to the Bush administration.

When was the last time that our government work for the people?

It doesn't take a genious to deduce and come to the conclusion that American tax payer will be at the short end of this new deal.

seattletimes.nwsource.com...

And If the offshore drilling ban is lifted,
there should be absoloutely no exemptions for any area to not sprout drilling platforms.

Marthas Vinyard & Nantucket are one famous example of the 'Not-In-My-Backyard' mentality.

all leases or tracs should be randomly selected (a lottery type drawing?)
for rapid development... none of this chicanery where Halliburton could buy the lease tracs in the scenic areas of New England or California, then refuse to develop oil/gas fields so the pristine vistas could be preserved for the elites who can afford such scenic locations.

A mandantory or Corps of Engineers energy production business could be started... a sort of regressing to the former Gazprom (soviet) model of an energy exploration/production/delivery system would go well with the existing corporate fascism the USA has now./

Originally posted by GLDNGUN
Let's see, state and federal governments have HUGE budget deficits and oil companies will pay BILLIONS for the opportunity to drill where they are now forbidden.

Maybe you're getting confused with the BILLIONS we're giving the oil companies in tax breaks, because they sure as hell ARE NOT paying BILLIONS to US for any of their leases. Here is the latest fee schedule from the Bureau of Land Management and you can see for yourself, the costs are less than $500 to file and 10 cents an acre. They only pay $360 to renew each lease, regardless of size. www.blm.gov

Unemployment is spiking, but a resurgent oil, coal, and nuclear industry would result in MILLIONS of new jobs in this country.

U.S. Department of Labor There were approximately 619,000 wage and salary jobs in the mining industry in 2006; around 136,000 in oil and gas extraction; 79,000 in coal mining; 33,000 in metal mining; and 110,000 in nonmetallic mineral mining.

U.S. Department of Labor
Power plant operators, distributors, and dispatchers held about 47,000 jobs in 2006, of which 3,800 were nuclear power plant operators, 8,600 were power distributors and dispatchers, and 35,000 were other power plant operators.

So, if there are only 136,000 oil and gas workers, and 47,000 combined coal, oil and nuclear power plant workers in the whole country, how exactly do you get MILLIONS (plural) of new jobs? That would be a 1000% (one thousand percent) increase in employment.

Says who? You have a source for that?

Well now, how about you..?

The only people that will use their personal wealth to drill if the ban is lifted will be the wildcatters but they stand no chance to the big oil monopoly that oil corporations have unless they lure people to let them drill in their backyards.

The oil companies already have millions of acres on hold.

While Oil companies do not regulate the prices of gas they are profiting from the prices of gas, the lifting of royalties that they already do not pay is nothing more than another slap on the tax payer pocket and a long term gouging on the tax payer people making the deficit already outrageous becoming obscene.

Because the oil prices are control in NY by he markets no matter how much they big companies get to drill we will be paying the high prices for gas that has become a trend in this nation.

Wildcatterswill be the new speculators for the drilling sites raising the drilling speculations to become the new wave to make money in the markets.





[edit on 19-6-2008 by marg6043]

reply to post by mythatsabigprobe



This is one of the few issues that I agree with Bush on. The sole reason being is that money is being pumped away from our country and not into it through oil. (specifically around 80% of our oil).

As of right now, we are very dependent, and due to our economic decline, we don't have the bargaining power that we used to have.

I support the idea, because I feel like it's the only way that we can have less dependence and foreign oil, even if it's an isolationist view.

I feel like finding an alternative fuel dependancy is much more important though, and should be higher on the priority list.

reply to post by Azurus


Actually this will do no a thing to the prices of oil but will benefit the pockets of the oil companies.

Also the problem with the gas prices we are paying is due to lack of regulations coming from our government to stop the gouging on the American consumer.

See is not that we are having a shortage of oil or that we do not have enough oil, is the market that happens to be set in our own nation doing the pricing.

So actually legislation will protect the consumer but at the same time our oil barons in American are reaping outrageous profit from the gas prices so that alone tells you who is controlling our own government.

reply to post by marg6043


I hate to defend the record profit oil companies, but let me explain:

POINT 1:

The OPEC is who sets the prices on the oil, not the oil companies. The oil companies have to adjust their own prices based on the OPEC regulatory effects on inflation. OPEC consists of 13 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Indonesia. OPEC's decisions have a huge impact on world oil prices, including America, who imports around 80% of their oil.

www.opec.org...

If we want to not rely on importing from OPEC member countries, then we will have to import less oil. Importing less oil means finding more of our own. The major way to do this is lift the 27 year ban on offshore drilling.


POINT 2:

Oil companies make record profits because of the sheer oil moved. Their profit margins are merely pennies on the dollar, yet they move so many dollars they still make billions in profit. Their overhead consists of the purchasing price (based on OPEC inflation), taxes, and refining costs to name a few. In order for them so save us money, they would probably have to cut down to fractions of a cent on the dollar, and even then we wouldn't feel much of a difference at the pump.

America consumes around 20 million barrels a day in oil. You do the math.


POINT 3:

Many of you are overlooking some key facts in this issue. Americans are freaking out about oil prices because we have had it cheap for so long. The problem is that the value of the American dollar has declined, and continues to decline. This should be apparent in the simple fact that in Saudi Arabia, gas is 18 cents a gallon. Gas money moves in, not out and they import none. The fact that we pay OTHER countries, especially OPEC in billions for our oil moves money away from our country empowering their economies while weakening ours. Oil drilled here in America would reduce our dependence on OPEC prices, therefore strengthening our economy through jobs, and money that stays in our country and does not go to OPEC.

Please let me know how you disagree with these points...


[edit on 19-6-2008 by Azurus]

You know we get about two thirds of our oil from non-OPEC Mexico and Canada right? And the oil companies don't 'buy' their oil from OPEC, they drill it themselves and get that $134 in their hot little hands for every barrel. That's why they're called oil companies and not gas companies. The 'gas' companies that do the refining into gas and diesel, and own the pumps at your station are the ones making just a few cents on dollar and they're mostly owned by the 'oil' companies anyway.

I've also seen some people who are very quick to accuse the oil companies of pretty outrageous sinister plans. We all know they are all about gaining profits, but I doubt they want Americans to feel the pain at the pump and switch to alternative fuels and buy SmartCars like we are doing. You must think outside of your "consumer" bubble and look at the most logical assumption when there are no facts given.

Where do you then think that oil will go once it is pumped out of the ground? Can you say foreign markets and a new earnings stream for American big oil?

Why is this a bad thing? I would rather our own oil companies based here in America make profits off foreign markets, then have foreign markets make a profit off of us.

You are forgetting what an huge task it is to fuel America, and once again not noticing that when the oil companies are doing good and when the American dollar is strong, we pay less at the pump. Like it or not, it's true.

[edit on 19-6-2008 by Azurus]

reply to post by mythatsabigprobe


Can we see some documentation proving what you said?