it's all about the dollar, and it's going down hill fast. they keep the prices high because they can. everytime i drive buy a refinery they're burning off natural gas. this month my gas bill for the house is up again. they're burning it off in the air and i'm having to pay more for it?????? it's just a rip off and our wonderful government has their hands deep into it. i'm burning used oil and anything that will burn though my old truck and don't care who knows it. if it blows the engine i'll rebuild it. that's the reason i'm rurnning a idi cheaper and easier to work on. for the people and by the people what a joke. i don't seem to hear my voice in this.

 

you are right this isnt the place but politics is definitely behind the price of energy
why do we buy oil from the guy
and what about the sultans and kings that use alot of the oil money to support terrorism, or dont u believe that
just asking and i will drop this now and wont respond in this forum on this subject
this is a great site for ford enthusiasts but understand this, we all may love our fords
but we darn sure dont all think the same
have a good day
gt

 

GT you are right we don't all think the same. That is the beauty of this country. You are also right in my opinion about the "alot of oil money going to support terrorism", but not all. I hear what you are saying, and because we drive big honkin thirsty trucks we are most affected by this. I did not mean to come across as judgemental. Sorry tonfro.

 

I dont understand windfall profits tax. The whole idea is if you make to much money Big government comes in and tells you how much you can make and takes the rest. gt lets say you own an excavating company and your company is in a small town, for a lot of years busyness is crappy but then its start to pick up and you start making the big bucks, so people around you start to get pissed and instead of investing in an excavating company through things like stocks, or starting there own because its a free market, and they can because no ones stopping them, those people just complain enough that the government steps in and takes the hard earned money form you because your "making to much" and You don't "deserve it" sounds f'ed up but that's exactly what happened to domestic oil companies in the 80's and it put a lot of guys out of business. And those windfall profits taxes only apply to domestic oil so people like Hugo, and the Sadie's don't get touched.

 

Hey Skoto, trust me you don't want to burn that gas in your home. They call it the flare tower, it's job is to burn off poisonious gases like H2S and other dangerous elements. H2S will kill you quick, you won't even have a chance.

I agree, I just read that ExxonMobile had a record $40.3 billion profit for 2007. I just about SH#T, when I saw that.

One of the reasons that the diesel prices went up a few years ago is the regulations requiring the refineries to produce Ultra Low Suflur Diesel fuel. Well, you can thank the EPA, because depending on the size of the unit, it cost over $250 million or more at EACH refinery. But with the profits they're making it's sick..........

 

I do know here in N.D. they check quite a few guys for burning either fuel oil or the red dye farm fuel. I wouldn't want to get caught around here either. The fines are stiff.

 

I read that the profits that ExxonMobil posted are the largest posted by a US Company in history. No other company has made such a profit. That makes me sick. Reason for such profits??? $3.40 gal for diesel. Just keep screwing the american trucker!!!!!

 

Exxon-Mobile also paid the all time record in taxes, some 30 billion dollars in one cycle. The tax rate on oil company profits for USA oil companies is 41%, ....already the highest in the world. Don't think that isn't reflected in the price at the pump?????...think again. Taxes get passed on to the customer, and this isn't the existing road taxes, or the potential additional carbon/enviromental taxes I'm talking about. These are hidden taxes within the price at the pump.

Companies have to pass on taxes to the customer or they would not have the required re-investment capital for continued R&D and exploration, building new refineries, pipelines.....ect... Re-investment of profits is the only way that technology progress can be applied to solve the energy problems we face. Confiscation by Gov is the worst thing that can happen, because Gov will waste the money, and Gov research is the most ineffective and most ineffcient type of R&D there is.

Just the continued operational costs of the oil companies is mind boggling, and that's not counting the building and upgrading of refineries, and the devolpment of altenative fossil fuels sources that must take place.

 

When Pigs Fly!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Here we go again, another uninformed consumer thinking "big oil" is out to get them. The flare you see burning is the refinery gas being burnt. It is everything you don't want in your home, and everything left over from the refining process. Trust me, they throw nothing away, many fire boilers with this same fuel gas, but they must keep the flare lit if there is a process interuption, they cannot flare raw flamable/poison gas into the atmosphere.

 

ExxonMobil
Chevron
Marathon
Ashland
Valero
Tesoro
ConocoPhillips
Callon Petroleum
Apache Corporation
Oxy
Petro Hawk
Texas Petroleum
Hilcorp
Penn Virgina
TC Oil
Range
Dune Energy
Devon
*** Petroelum
Newfield
Hunt Oil
Hunt Petroelum
Camterra
Desoto
Southwestern Energy

Should I keep going? There are probably 100 more. Just because they are not a major, does not mean they don't produce what we use every day.

 

Wow, an educated poster, not a ranter. Thanks.

 

Ok a few rumors out of the way, now back to the original topic. Prices will go down by only 2 means. Well maybe 3.

A.) We consume less, therefore making more available. (katrina/rita prices were the same as I am paying now due to 7 refineries being offline)

B.) We build new, modern, refineries, that increase supply. (we only refine roughly 80% of what we use every day)

C.) We start drilling and increasing our own produced crude, that is not on the market competing in a global economy. (Its alot easier to ship crude through a pipeline than it is finished products, plus shipping and handling costs of tank terminals and barging facilities)

Thats it, no smoking gun, no conspericy theory, no evil oil empires, it is just that simple.

 

As for the root of the problem, well smoking gun activists, that goes back to the lovely clinton years. It is stricly a competition thing. Less competition, higher prices. Prior to 1998/99 we had.......(bear in mind, these are intergrated producers/refiners, or major producers)

Exxon
Mobil
Texaco
Burlington Resources
Shell
Diamond Shamrock
Ultimar
Valero
Tosco
Phillips Petroleum
Conoco
Amoco
Arco
Vastar
Unocal
BP
Devon
Ocean Energy
Marathon
Ashland
Premcor

We now have................................
ExxonMobil (self explanitory)
Chevron (Texaco, Unocal merged into Chevron)
ConocoPhillips(Conoco, Phillips, Tosco Refining, Burlington Resources)
BP (BP, Amoco, Arco, Vastar)
Marathon
Ashland (Marathon and Ashland were partnered for a while and are now again seperate)
Valero (Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Ultimar, Premcor)
Shell (got some refining and pipeline assest from the Motiva and Equilon split with Texaco and Saudi Aramco)
Devon Energy (Devon, Ocean Energy)

Kinda like Lowes and Home Depot, or China-Mart and Target, you get to choose from 1 or the other, prices rise accordingly when all the local competition has been eliminated. As you can see, from 21 companies to less than 10, the gun is not even warm, let alone smoking.

 

Jacksonville, Florida... BP $3.69 a gallon...

and I was B*TCN' when I filled it up last weekend at $3.34 ... Wal mart gives a 3 cent discount when you use a gift card, guess what? I spent $100 and still didn't top it off!!!