Blame Oil Speculators, Not Obama, For Rising Oil Prices

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


That was an old story. It is from 2011. Several refineries are completing changes mandated by new EPA Regulations. I didn't post the regulations because they are all legal pdf's dealing with a settlement with the EPA and Energy producers. The changes have caused the gasoline supply to be much tighter. It has been in the news.

Obama has put on tremendous burdens through EPA Regulationns due to his inability to get cap and trade passed. These regulations are driving energy prices up across the spectrum. And that includes gasolne prices. And below is all the proof you need. Especially for you, Obama himself appears in this post to clear up any debate.

Example of the ongoing issues:

HOUSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo.

The move comes after years of backdoor bickering, negotiations and public arguments between the EPA and Texas. The argument recently escalated from a battle over environmental issues into a heated political dispute over states' rights.

Gov. Rick Perry has been using it to drive home his contention that President Barack Obama's administration is overreaching, saying in a statement Wednesday that "Texas will continue to fight this federal takeover of a successful state program."

The EPA's decision, announced in a statement, will force some 125 refineries and petrochemical plants to invest millions of dollars to get new permits. Many of the plants may also have to invest in updates to comply with federal regulations.

Source from a 2006 Huffington Post article

EPA announces plans to regulate power plant, oil refinery emissions
By Juliet Eilperin
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refineries next year, targeting the nation's two biggest sources of carbon dioxide.

The move, which comes as part of a legal settlement with several states, local governments and environmental groups which have sued EPA under the Bush administration for failing to act, highlights the Obama administration's intent to press ahead with curbs on carbon despite congressional resistance.

Collectively, electric utilities and oil refineries account for almost 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions: Under the agreement, EPA will propose new performance standards for power plants in July 2011 and for refineries in December 2011 and will issue final standards in May 2012 and November 2012, respectively.

"We are following through on our commitment to proceed in a measured and careful way to reduce GHG pollution that threatens the health and welfare of Americans, and contributes to climate change," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a statement. "These standards will help American companies attract private investment to the clean energy upgrades that make our companies more competitive and create good jobs here at home."

Source: 2010 Washington Post article

Twice every year in the United States, the fuel supply changes. It's known as the seasonal gasoline transition. This change is the biggest reason for the price hike in summer gasoline. Depending on the time of year, gas stations switch between providing summer-grade fuel and winter-grade fuel. The switch started in 1995 as part of the Reformulated Gasoline Program (RFG), which was established through the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started the RFG program in order to reduce pollution and smog during the summer ozone season, which occurs from June 1 to Sept. 15 [Source: EPA].

In order to reduce pollution, summer-blend fuels use different oxygenates, or fuel additives. These blends, the EPA claims, burn cleaner and also help compensate for a limited oil supply. The EPA says this practice of using seasonal blends also encourages the development of alternative fuels [Source: EPA]. (Remember that gasoline isn't just made up of processed crude oil -- it's a blend of refined crude oil and different compounds and additives.)

Source

By midyear 2012, refineries and fossil-fuel-fired electric utilities will be required to begin lowering their greenhouse gas emissions under a recent court settlement reached by the Environmental Protection Agency and several states and environmental groups. Refineries and power plants are responsible for 40% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, EPA said when making the announcement on Dec. 23.

While Obama was unsuccessful at putting a moratorium on oil drilling, he was able to accomplish the same thing by putting a stranglehold on oil refining which accomplishes the same thing. With 1/3rd of the country’s oil refining gone what do you think this will do to the economy?

“EPA overturns 16-year-old Texas permit program

By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI, Associated Press Writer Ramit Plushnick-masti, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 30, 5:35 pm ET

HOUSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday officially overturned a 16-year-old Texas air permitting program it says violates the Clean Air Act, leaving some of the country's largest refineries in a state of limbo.The move comes after years of backdoor bickering, negotiations and public arguments between the EPA and Texas. The argument recently escalated from a battle over environmental issues into a heated political dispute over states' rights.

He has been using it to drive home his contention that President Barack Obama's administration is overreaching, saying in a statement Wednesday that "Texas will continue to fight this federal takeover of a successful state program."The EPA's decision, announced in a statement, will force some 125 refineries and petrochemical plants to invest millions of dollars to get new permits. Many of the plants may also have to invest in updates to comply with federal regulations.”

Source

Bottom line is that the EPA and new regulations put in place by...... THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, is causing refineries and other energy producers to reconfigure, upgrade, or otherwise change their plants and that is driving energy prices up. And I think we all can recall Obama himself saying during his 2008 campaign that through his plans "Energy prices will necessarily skyrocket"!

Take the man at his word. Oh, here he is to recap.....

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama flatly proclaimed that under his policies electricity rates would "necessarily skyrocket." For once, Obama can't be accused of breaking a campaign promise. Unfortunately, it is not just electricity rates, but energy prices in general, that have skyrocketed. One look at your huge electric bill, or $3.50/gallon gasoline in winter, and you'll realize Obama meant what he said. In fact, the Obama administration is quietly waging a full-scale assault on fossil-fuel based energy, which accounts for the vast majority of all energy produced in America, while at the same time throwing taxpayer money down a rat hole lined with Democrat-donors and special interest groups.,

As our illustrious campaigner-in-chief would say, "Let me be clear!" This is not by accident. He has filled his Cabinet and administration with "greenies" like Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu (who has stated that he wants to force gas prices in the U.S. up to European levels of around $7-10/gallon).This is a conscious, concerted effort. Obama openly brags that he will bankrupt coal companies, which generate almost half of the electricity produced in the United States today. Using the simple Law of Supply and Demand, what do you think will happen to electricity prices if you cut the generating capacity in half? If you said prices will "necessarily skyrocket," then come get your gold star and go to the head of the class.

Unable to get his desired "Cap-and-Trade" legislation through Congress (even when he had a huge majority in the House and a filibuster-proof Senate), Obama has resorted to becoming a de facto dictator, ruling by executive order and regulatory fiat (or, as Obama likes to say, "If Congress won't act, I will"). Obama has used the EPA to impose costly, burdensome regulations on fossil-fuel generated power plants, which in turn artificially restricts power generation and artificially inflates energy prices. The American people are suffering from high unemployment and a sluggish economy, yet that does not stop Obama from imposing higher costs on the people that can least afford it. That's one way you can tell that Obama likes poor people ... he is working tirelessly to make as many people poor as possible.

Sour ce: Daily Tribune

So, we can see Obama kept his word on raising energy prices and since he couldn't do it through cap and trade, he did it through the EPA and regulations. And this administration has increased regulations 80%. But, the overall issue of regulations is for another thread.

You can blame Obama all you want and claim he's using the EPA to enact tougher air quality standards in retaliation for not getting cap and trade passed, and that is what's causing high gas prices. There's one problem with that: Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney were for cap and trade and supported the idea of anthropological global warming. You know, when that was still in fashion.

So lets just establish that fact. Obama is no lefty, just as Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney aren't conservative. THEY ARE ALL GLOBALISTS.

www.freedomworks.org...

www.usatoday.com...

In addition, the energy market has known about these new EPA regulations for some time; why didn't prices go up when they were passed? The only new information of substance in the oil market (aside from decades low demand and an over supply) is the media drumming up the threat from Iran. THAT IS IT. And that's what speculators are using to drive up prices.

An interesting report from a Wall Street insider:

Chilton, who has served as commissioner since 2007, said far too few players control far too much of the market, allowing them to push the price of gas higher and higher. Chilton and the CFTC are attempting to implement caps on the total positions speculators can take when trading in the oil futures markets.
Chilton obtained an energy research report from Goldman Sachs spelling out how much the Wall Street firm estimated speculators had pushed up the real price of oil sold to make gas, due to large bets in the markets.
Using the numbers from in the Goldman Sachs report, combined with current information from the CFTC, Chilton calculated how much speculation is driving up the price at the pump for the average consumer.
He shared calculations with ABC News for the first time.
By Chilton’s calculation, if you drive a car like a Honda Civic, you’re paying $7.30 more than you should every time you fill up — to Wall Street speculators. If your car is a Ford Explorer you’re paying an extra $10.41.
For a Ford F150, he says owners pay an additional $14.56 per fill up -or more than $750 a year.
For their part, industry groups representing Wall Street say there is no evidence their trading activities actually push up the price of oil.
Chilton isn’t doesn’t buy that argument. He and the CFTC are currently attempting to implement new rules that would put limits on speculation. In response, Wall Street is suing the CFTC attempting to get an injunction, which would allow everything to remain status quo.
“They don’t want these limits,” he said. “They want unbridled ability to speculate in these markets and that’s not good for consumers. It’s not good for markets. It’s not good for the economy.”

abcnews.go.com...
Check the vid in the above article too.

Here's another vid from Chilton:





I'm not sure if there is one single prominent factor that drives the prices up, but in the spirit of follow the money, these 'speculations' are a significant part of it ,imo.

spec

Originally posted by Drew99GT
So lets just establish that fact. Obama is no lefty,

You are absolutely out of your mind if you think 'Obama is no lefty'. And futhermore, it is NOT a FACT! You need to read up on what facts are. I am sick of people coming to post PROOF and FACTS and not have a clue what either one actually is.

Originally posted by Drew99GT
In addition, the energy market has known about these new EPA regulations for some time; why didn't prices go up when they were passed?

Wake up! The Refineries were NOT shut down for reconfiguration when the law was passed. It is now that they have to do all the work that Refining Capacity is down due to having to comply with the new regulations Obama's administration enacted through the EPA.

Hmmmmmmm, how convenient. When gas was high during the Republican administration, it was all Bush's fault. But now, magically, the president cannot be faulted. Must be some magical "Democrat" thing.

When are people going to wake up to the simple fact that almost every single facet of the economy is manipulated by the Fed, the banks and wall street - all with the President's blessing. So yes, it IS the President's fault because he FAILED to correct any of the things that are actually wrong with the current economic machine.

Simple as that.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


You didn't read the post on page 2.

The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill, signed into law on July 21, 2010, mandated that the CFTC write rules for the oil markets designed to stop speculation from controlling prices on crude oil and gasoline and driving them to astronomical levels, as they did in 2008. The bill also demanded that these rules be in place and working by February of this year.

There's just one problem: Those rules haven't yet been written and approved.

They haven't been written largely because of the pushback that the CFTC has received from the traders that make massive profits from the financial oil markets and the advocacy groups and lawyers that represent them. As the CFTC has proposed new rules, they've been met by a who's who of derivative traders and their advocates arguing for the status quo and urging caution, including PIMCO, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, the Futures Industry Association (FIA) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) -- to name only a few. The lawyers arguing their case are predictably the best, brightest and most expensive in Washington, including attorneys from Alston & Bird, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Patton Boggs, Sullivan, Cromwell and Skadden, Arps.

Under this pressure, the CFTC has buckled and thrown in the towel on much of the needed rulemaking, at least for now. To take one example, the Commission has given up trying to craft a rule on position limits in oil derivatives until at least 2012, and position limits is only one of thirty complex rulemaking areas the CFTC has acknowledged it must tackle before its mandate is complete.

Source

Or This

Energy Secretary Steven Chu (who has stated that he wants to force gas prices in the U.S. up to European levels of around $7-10/gallon)

Or THis:

While Obama was unsuccessful at putting a moratorium on oil drilling, he was able to accomplish the same thing by putting a stranglehold on oil refining which accomplishes the same thing. With 1/3rd of the country’s oil refining gone what do you think this will do to the economy?

Unable to get his desired "Cap-and-Trade" legislation through Congress (even when he had a huge majority in the House and a filibuster-proof Senate), Obama has resorted to becoming a de facto dictator, ruling by executive order and regulatory fiat (or, as Obama likes to say, "If Congress won't act, I will"). Obama has used the EPA to impose costly, burdensome regulations on fossil-fuel generated power plants, which in turn artificially restricts power generation and artificially inflates energy prices.

Sour ce

Trying to blame the market for this is not going to cut it. When you are paying $7-$10 per gallon you will remember what Obama and his Adminstration Officials at the Energy Bepartment said. Of course, the market has some effect, but the real problem is the Obama Administration policies. And h you can believe what you want, but when you bring your Kool-Aid in here, we are not going to drink it with you!

Originally posted by kozmo
Hmmmmmmm, how convenient. When gas was high during the Republican administration, it was all Bush's fault. But now, magically, the president cannot be faulted. Must be some magical "Democrat" thing.

When are people going to wake up to the simple fact that almost every single facet of the economy is manipulated by the Fed, the banks and wall street - all with the President's blessing. So yes, it IS the President's fault because he FAILED to correct any of the things that are actually wrong with the current economic machine.

Simple as that.

And your are exactly right. The blind Obama defenders are ruining the country by not demanding that their Extreme Leftist President not impose draconian policies to ruin the US.

Obama policies are damaging the US engery industry. And you can hear him say it himself above, he intended to drive energy prices to extreme highs. He does not care who suffers in his idealogical bid for power.

reply to post by spirit_horse

I did not bring any kool- aid friend, I just did some research and reported on what I found, thank you. I am not saying Obama and his cronies are innocent, but for you to think investment speculation is not affecting the prices is well...kool-aidish.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist

Well if I took it wrong my apology. And I never said the speculators have not influenced prices. I used to trade commodities and I know what goes on. But, the market is usually tempered by the same people holding contracts, hedging their bets and selling contracts. It is up and down and I think that is what people are trying to say that it isn't responsible for it going drastically up.

Now the whole middle east nightmare obviously has its effect. Iran cutting off the EU, and that is affecting oil prices. Gasoline and Diesel are traded on the Futures Exchange too. But the Obama Administration Pokicies are more to blame for the situation we are in today and where it is going. His Energy Secretary said he wants to drive prices to $7 to $10 a galllon. That alone is bad enough. And Obama intended to drive energy prices sjy high. Is it any surprise that the Administration did exactly that since they couldn't get Cap and Trade passed?

I think the left leaning folk are trying to defend the Administration and they are the root cause of the problem. Libya had 20 cent per gallon gas prior to their recent Rothchild takeover bid. How is that? Because they have refineries and oil, which is what we need. But the EPA, Energy Department, and Administration have made policies that goes against that direction.

Speculators have been around for many decades. It didn't just happen recently and that is not the makor source of the problem in my opinion or the opinion or many researchers. I don't about other counntrues, but the US is a big place and many Americans, truck driver, etc. travel long distances for their jobs. High gas prices, like the $7-$10 a gallon the Administration wants to have will kill the economy in record time. The policies of the Obama Administration are a disaster.

Here is a link with a chart and prices of the Gasoline Futures Market.
Gasoline Futures

There are a number of refineries that have no more room to build the process equipment to meet the new EPA requirements. every time a refinery has to meet new regulations they have to expand there plants and some have no room left so they will end up closing or converting to non gas or diesel products.

Less refineries mean less supply and that will drive prices up.

Its time to start building trash to syn-gasoline plants and eliminate landfills.
en.wikipedia.org...
If the government does not allow the products of these plants to be bought and sold on the oil futures market that would start to drive down fuel prices because it would be competition to the big oil companies. and oil speculators profits

land fills are on of the biggest polluters in the US and really not needed and that is where the EPA could make new regulation and force states to start turning the trash to gas and diesel fuel and close the landfills.

The best part about syn-gasoline and syn-diesel is used as needed and you can not hide it off shore in tankers till the price goes up.
You don't need large pipelines to pump it across the country.
Where you have the most trash you also have the most people to buy the product.
Every city would have its own Syn-oil field

And it only cost about $60 a barrel to turn trash into gas or diesel fuel.
Also many types of hazardous waste can be turned into this syn fuel also removing the need for most hazardous waste dumps

Obama is too blame a 1000 fold for this and all else wrong with this country today for the plain simple effin reason that he sold out just like all the other bitches before him.

He gets no pass period. Screw that crook

George Will Says Blaming The President For Oil Prices Is Ridiculous (VIDEO)



"What's preposterous about the GOP running on high gas prices is that the GOP have no real way of lowering those prices. They are grasping at straws, trying to drum up some passion in their disenchanted ranks. Not only does the GOP have no solutions to the problem, their warmongering of Iran is only exasperating those high prices, as can be said for their lack of regulations of reigning in the oil speculators that are really jacking up the prices even more than Iran's threats to the Straits of Hormuz." (comment)

Even conservative pundit and GOP apologist George Will said that the latest Republican game of blaming the President for rising gas prices was ‘nonsense.’

Question that Obama will never be asked.

When you took office, the national average for one gallon of gas was $1.89 per gallon. Since then, you’ve demonized the oil industry, dramatically slowed offshore drilling, blocked ANWAR, and rejected the Keystone Pipeline. Now, gas is $3.54 per gallon and rising and is expected to reach $5 per gallon by May of this year. How much higher do you anticipate driving gas prices?

pointsandfigures.com...

How The Gas Prices Are Manipulated By The Koch Brothers And Other Wall Street Players

Why are gas prices surging to levels unseen since the 2008 oil spike while the oil companies reporting record profits? Much of the problem is actually created by Wall Street traders here in the USA who gamble on oil prices and powerful multinational companies that manipulate the supply and demand by stockpiling oil when the price is low and expected to rise in the near future. And yes, so far this practice is perfectly legal.

Bart Chilton, a commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that regulates commodity futures and option trading in the United States, says a very few number of players control too much of the market, allowing them to push the price of gas higher and higher. The American public knows very little about the oil speculation industry because a conservative majority on the CFTC has refused to implement the mandates from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to curb abuses and provide transparency.

Valero is just one of the more recent examples of how a multinational can use it's dominance to lockup oil in warehouses/tankers and hoard it to push prices higher or stop oil from reaching US markets in favor of higher-priced (and more profitable) Europe markets. There is literally an overabundance of supply in the US right now and it's not being allowed to reach the marketplace. It's market manipulation, plain and simple.

reply to post by Carseller4


Gas prices hit their historical high in 2008 with Bush in office.



And the leading cause now for the spikes in prices is the unchecked rampant speculation. Then as now. Look at that chart - what caused that spectacular climb in prices across Bush's 8 years was market deregulation which unleashed rampant speculation by a vary small handful of very powerful bankers.

Originally posted by jdub297
We are net exporters of gasoline, but the demand is so high in Europe, et c. that it forces the price up as buyers outbid each other for the limited amounts we can ship.

The United States imports and exports both crude oil and refined gasoline. The demand in Europe per capita is higher for diesel, not gasoline.

American refineries produce gas cheaper than others, far cheaper.

Then why do we import gasoline?

Havnt read every post but....
Surely the gradual and consistent devaluation of the US dollar would have an effect on the rise in gas prices.
Also here in NZ our food and in particular our dairy produce that is sold here is determined by the price they get for these commodities overseas. ie. higher export prices = higher local prices.
So to me a combo of low US dollar valuation = high local oil prices and also high oil demand overseas = high local oil prices.
BTW 96 octane in NZ is NZ$2.20 p/l = approx US $10.50 US gal.
and the US still has the cheapest oil in the world from what I can see.
Thank your lucky stars that youre only paying $4 a gallon and not $10.50..

Why Are Gas Prices So High?

High gas prices are usually caused by high prices for crude oil, which accounts for 55% of the price of gasoline. Distribution and taxes influence the remaining 45% of gas prices. Usually, distribution and taxes are stable, so that the daily change in the price of gasoline directly reflects oil price fluctuations.

In February 2012, concerns about a potential military action, by either Israel or even the U.S., against Iran caused high oil prices. Second, some oil refineries in the U.S. were closing. Third, oil and gas prices tend to rise every spring, in anticipation of increased demand during the summer driving vacation season. As a result, gas prices hit $3.50 a gallon by February 15, two weeks earlier than in 2011. That's because oil prices reached $100 a barrel two weeks earlier, as well.

Source

This is a good overview of why Gas Prices are so high and it is a combination of things. And closing refineries because they are refitting or closing due to EPA Regulations is one of them. I think we are all right about certain aspects. But, it is not simply just speculators causing the prices to be high.

The above link give a good overview on Why Gas Prices Are So High.

reply to post by Drew99GT

The same thing that happened in 2008 is happening now: Speculators are driving up the price and now retail investors are jumping on board.

Yeah but back in 2008 it was 90% the fault of speculators... and most of it was done by one bank, JPMorgan... documents have shown this.

Right now, it's several things.
- Devaluation by the central banks of the world.
- Warmongering by NATO.
- Free money for the big banks by the FED.
- Speculation using that free money from the FED.
- CME allowing speculation by not raising margin rates on oil. (while they raise them every week on silver and gold)

Stop the FED from their BS money printing, force the CME to control speculation by raising margins and stop the warmongering. Oil will go back to $40-$50 a barrel in no time.

But of course Obama won't do that.

reply to post by spirit_horse

Thanks for the apology, I just don't usually like generalizations like it is ALL this adm's fault.

And I never said the speculators have not influenced prices. I used to trade commodities and I know what goes on.

Then you know how the (old yet enduring) game works, and while I will agree this adm's cronyism and failures are not helping things, there are still business decisions made by greedy people for control. And we can't seem to find balance between less or more regulation. What happened to viability as oppose to maximum profits and CEO bonuses regardless of public opinion.

Because they have refineries and oil, which is what we need. But the EPA, Energy Department, and Administration have made policies that goes against that direction.

I have found this issue interesting and I used to think peak oil was the reason the US has not invested it or created any new refineries since the 70's. So that decision has been continually made for decades. I don't think it's a left/right issue, but I don't know why none were ever built. I know environmentalist were involved, but they couldn't have that much sway over the oil industry for this long.

I think the left leaning folk are trying to defend the Administration and they are the root cause of the problem.

Or they are trying to defend a blanket accusation that all of our current problems are the lefts fault. There is plenty of blame to spread.

Then there is the regulation issue, and if you asked someone what re the most corrupt industries around, I bet they would say oil and pharma. So who lies more, the industry or the administrations? I say both but imho, where there is money to be made the gov and the corps will dance together to gain advantage. So let's spread the blame over all the cracks, greed, the players and policies.
Also, haven't a few presidents and the people mentioned weening ourselves off of oil? Maybe these are actions by Obama to get to that point, or closer to anyway. Higher prices would cause more interest in hybrids and electric vehicles. But then some could say"we don't need the gov telling us what to do."
Oh man...the futility of it all. I need a break.