30 Apr 06
Originally posted by blindcheesecakeSo you're willing to destroy millions of years of natures work and render hundreds of species extinct for a short term decrease in the price of oil? Remember, that even if they did drill Alaska, the oil would still go up at some point, so all you'd do is ruin a beautiful country (state) for the sake of a 5-10 years of potentially lower oil prices. And remember, there is no guarantee that oil prices wouldn't still rise.
I can't help but notice that the price for a gallon of gas in the US has quickly climbed. I saw a report on my local news which predicts prices as much as $4.00 by Labor Day. I have a small car, and paying close to $40.00 to fill it up should be illegal. I say Alaska. More oil, lower prices. That sounds good to me. If all the darn environmentalists d ...[text shortened]... er protecting the environment and sending us in to a depression or to drill some stinking oil!
D
30 Apr 06
Originally posted by General PutzerExcellent idea. Price of gas in Cayman is about $5.10 / US gal. The ratio of pop/car here is higher than in the US its about 1.7/1. Bicycles and Scooters are selling like hot bread, since we do not have good public transport.
I bought a little blue motor scooter (Piaggio Typhoon). Costs two bucks to fill it up. Scooters rock.
30 Apr 06
2 edits
Originally posted by RagnorakThe oil industry is the easiest one to target in terms of a perception that it plunders and exploits an essential resource at the public and the environment's expense.
for the sake of a 5-10 years of potentially lower oil prices. And remember, there is no guarantee that oil prices wouldn't still rise.
D
There would hardly be a way to argue this without sounding like an apologist for big oil, but oil profitability amongst other large scale industry is only ranked about no.5 according to Oil industry data.
Taken from an article online entitled
Record Profits Spark New Backlash Against Big Oil
by DEEPA BABINGTON & BEN BERKOWITZ / Reuters 30jan2006
" The American Petroleum Institute took a full-page ad in the New York Times on Jan. 26 with a chart showing how many cents of profit various industries made over the last five years for each dollar of sales.
Oil and natural gas came in at 5.8 cents per dollar, according to the API, versus 10.8 cents for real estate, 16.2 cents for pharmaceutical companies and 17.3 cents for banks.
"What many may find surprising is that, on average over the past five years, the profitability of America's oil and natural gas industry is far less than many other major industries, like banks, pharmaceuticals and real estate," the advertisement said.
source: http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060130:MTFH48273_2006-01-30_22-43-07_N30326104:1 30jan2006 - "
The unpalatable bit that most people find offensive at big oil is this statistic also from the same article:-
" - All totaled, Exxon and its top U.S. peers Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips reported net profits of $18.58 billion in the fourth quarter and $63.87 billion for all of 2005.
Taken in context, that combined annual profit eclipses the market capitalization of one-third of the blue chip companies in the benchmark Dow Jones industrial average. It also is a larger figure than the entire economies of 131 out of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank in 2004.- "
Now I dont know how much turnover it took to generate that kind of profit, but I have heard it expressed that if anything we pay much too little for our oil and that much of the environmental damge perpetrated by oil companies in certain developing countries, are largely as a result of oil companies not being forced to adhere to regulations that they would be expected to adhere to in the first world. Regulations that if kept would significantly add to the cost of producing oil
If companies like Shell were forced to clean up their oil mining act in Africa for example, there is no telling what our pump price for oil would be.
Probably the most significant aspect of the world's oil prrice that will never go into decline is China's demand for the resource. China has been a slowly waking economic giant. Her long term needs of oil has in a sense put more of a premium on the value of oil as the rest of the world increasingly end up competing for a reduced supply. And we all understand supply and demand. The point is even if the whole Iraq and now brewing Iran conflagration ended, by the time the dust settles, China will have attempted to increase its stake in capturing a larger proportion of the worlds supply that no matter what happens the price will only go up until we all start going Brazillian with a version of Gasohol or we wait until the cost of oil finally puts the hydrogen economy onto the agenda as a cheaper alternative energy source.
30 Apr 06
Originally posted by kmax87Good post, but I think you should read the original post again.
The oil industry is the easiest one to target in terms of a perception that it plunders and exploits an essential resource at the public and the environment's expense.
There would hardly be a way to argue this without sounding like an apologist for big oil, but oil profitability amongst other large scale industry is only ranked about no.5 according to Oil ...[text shortened]... ally puts the hydrogen economy onto the agenda as a cheaper alternative energy source.
D
30 Apr 06
2 edits
Originally posted by blindcheesecakeWell they said the same thing about fishing around our neck of the woods and after drift net fishing and drag net fishing practices destroyed the ocean bed over vast areas we now have the future to look forward to of never being able to regenerate certain fishing grounds. The coral on the ocean floor has been irreparably damaged and that is that. Oh yeah and we had a surplus of fish for a while but now thats all gone and it will even cost us more.
More oil, lower prices. That sounds good to me. ... Really you got to decide what is better protecting the environment and sending us in to a depression or to drill some stinking oil!
Sound like a fishy story? Well the depression rationale of destroying any pristine wilderness just because we can does not make sense. Once its gone thats it. We should be divorcing ourselves from our dependence on oil, not junking everything in sight just to 'fuel' our addiction a little while longer.
I dont have a problem with oil companies making profit either. If you consider the scale of their operations then distributing that profit over reinvestment over all the divisions that generated all that profit may not mean that much anyway. It makes good copy as an absolute number, but it seems a meaningless quantity all the same. Otherwise we would not need stockbrokers.
Just put your money on oil and start counting your moolah.
30 Apr 06
Originally posted by kmax87Aye, and dicatorships are expensive to install and expensive to arm.
I dont have a problem with oil companies making profit either. If you consider the scale of their operations then distributing that profit over reinvestment over all the divisions that generated all that profit may not mean that much anyway.
D
01 May 06
Originally posted by blindcheesecakeBet you voted for Bush with such an ignorant, selfish, short termed view of things.
I can't help but notice that the price for a gallon of gas in the US has quickly climbed. I saw a report on my local news which predicts prices as much as $4.00 by Labor Day. I have a small car, and paying close to $40.00 to fill it up should be illegal. I say Alaska. More oil, lower prices. That sounds good to me. If all the darn environmentalists d ...[text shortened]... er protecting the environment and sending us in to a depression or to drill some stinking oil!
