Jim Neal on How to Lower Oil Prices NOW
OPEC Keeps Production Down
Although OPEC member states have about 75% of the world’s oil reserves, OPEC controls about 35% of oil production worldwide. Their production quotas create an artificial scarcity by holding back supply. The Saudis in particular hold a tight grip on the production lever, keeping the flow slow and profits high. They pushed OPEC to reduce production in 1998, and it has never been restored to those levels.
Bush/Cheney Profiteering
Meanwhile, the Bush family has long standing private and governmental ties with the Saudi Royal family. For years, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have been the protector of last resort in the Middle East. U.S. taxpayers pay $136 million a day to protect Saudi oil wells while the Saudis treat us like they own us. Oil was below $12 per barrel in June 1998 and was still as low as $20 per barrel in December 2001 (after 9/11). While the price of oil has increased over 500% since the Iraq war began, the production cost to the Saudis has remained about the same - about $2 per barrel.
The Bush government has done absolutely nothing to reduce our consumption or help us make substantial changes towards alternative fuel sources.
Why would they? The Bush and Cheney families are laughing all the way to the bank!
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Meanwhile, Bush/Cheney policy is to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve no matter what the price of oil is. When the price of oil was skyrocketing, Bush used his 2007 State of the Union address to propose that we expand the capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to twice its current level… creating an open invitation for OPEC to keep prices high as we continue to buy whatever they put on the market.
Why does the Strategic Petroleum Reserve matter so much? It currently holds about 700 million barrels of oil (worth over $70 billion at current value). This takes a huge amount of oil off the market, and if you ever took Economics 101 you know that reduced supply results in higher prices. But the psychological message it sends to OPEC is just as important. When we don’t use the SPR as our supply and demand leverage, it allows OPEC to control production and prices however they would like.
Bleeding us Dry
The oil industry and their lobby are enormously powerful players in the Bush/Cheney era. While the administration has had to tap into taxpayers pockets for recent Wall Street bailouts, they have allowed the oil industry to suck its money straight out of our back pockets.
The United States needs an oil policy that leverages the power of our demand on the world market. We can decrease the amount we’re paying for oil while simultaneously decreasing our military spending in the Middle East. It’s time that we stop sending a financial pipeline to the Middle East. It’s bleeding common people dry, fattening the Bush/Cheney oil elites, and destabilizing the entire region.
What I’ll Do in Office
Take action NOW. People can’t afford to drive to work with gas prices at $4/gallon. They need help today, which is why I support opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Feed the market and drive retail prices down. And, it sends the right message to OPEC nations: business as usual is over. The US should begin tightening the screws with our purchasing power-and what better time than now to remind them of the $136 million daily subsidy we are providing to serve as their de-facto Department of Defense.
President Clinton tapped the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in 2000. It’s time to take the same bold action-NOW.
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A Few Thoughs
According to the Department of Energy, we consume almost 21 million barrels a day. 700 million barrels is only a one-month supply. Also note that the majority of our reserve is of the dirtier, lower-yield "sour" crude oil. Whether you look at it as a way to flood the market or as a cause for short supply, it doesn't seem like it can make that big of a difference in the long run.
Frankly, I think in some ways the high prices are good. It has motivated people to buy more efficient cars, seek alternative fuels, and in many other ways focus on the energy crisis. If gas goes back to $2.00, everyone will be buying Suburbans and Hummers again.
Yes, it's about time.
While I agree that it would have been better to have taxed gasoline heavily in the past to get high prices, I guess we can let the "free market" do it instead.
Maybe we'll finally have small cars, less sprawl, better trains for long distance freight and passenger travel, etc. Granted, the suddenness of the price rise is hurting truckers and poorer people, but there's really no excuse for inefficient cars and long distance trucking.
So, I'm not particularly impressed by Mr. Neal's proposals, which will, at best, postpone the inevitable, and make the eventual adjustments even more painful than they are now.
-- ge
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
http://george.entenman.name
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
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"proposals"
I notice you use the plural, but only focus on this proposal. Taken as his entire energy outlook, it would be, well, bad! But, it isn't his entire energy proposal. I know Frank has a video somewhere dealing with his energy proposal, but in the meantime.
To me, this seems along the lines of the plan put forth in Scientific American by a group of leading scientists. In order to get off fossil fuel as fast as possible you invest in a number of slices of the energy pie, including nuclear. I know many don't like nuclear.
One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
Well, of course, Robert....
But, Robert, our country won't actually feel any urgency or adopt all our great new renewable or nuclear energy sources unless our existing ways are much more expensive than in the past. A "crash" program without real felt urgency will take a very long time to get us to energy independence.
-- ge
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
http://george.entenman.name
Besta é tu se você não viver nesse mundo
https://plus.google.com/101467996658104595560/about
Not if we elect politicians who understand 2 things
First, that they have to do everything in their power to stem the tide of inflation, job loss, foreclosure and trade deficits. The country is hurting badly and we can't afford a slide into depression. That may include leveraging the oil supply.
Secondly, in the same stroke of a pen as that legislation is made into law, the long range part of the equation needs to be spelled out. The New New Deal. An investment in The Project for a New Energy Paradigm...wind farms, solar panels, biodiesel, an embracing of new technologies, things that will start new American businesses and put Americans back to work recreating the possibilities that were ours before the corporate takeover of our Congress and White House.
Progressives are the true conservatives.
Fill'er her up General? Need the Windows clean Sir?
Our military consumes more fuel than any of 170 of the countries on the below list. Perhaps one should address that issue first? Example! In Iraq, our military uses the most known gas guzzlers in the history of military warfare. The average mile per gal for a lite armor Hummer is about 4 miles per gallon. Heck! NASCAR good ole boys get better gas mileage on the track than our military dume runners.
SOURCE * note..this source should not be consider as the final authority on the subject due to it's association with the military industrial complex
CIA World Factbook, 14 June, 2007 DEFINITION
This entry is the total oil consumed in barrels per day (bbl/day). The discrepancy between the amount of oil produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other complicating factors. Energy Statistics > Oil > Consumption (most recent) by country
VIEW DATA: Totals Per capita
Showing latest available data. Rank Countries Amount (top to bottom)
#1 United States: 20,730,000 bbl/day
#2 China: 6,534,000 bbl/day
#3 Japan: 5,578,000 bbl/day
#4 Germany: 2,650,000 bbl/day
#5 Russia: 2,500,000 bbl/day
#6 India: 2,450,000 bbl/day
#7 Canada: 2,294,000 bbl/day
#8 Korea, South: 2,149,000 bbl/day
#9 Brazil: 2,100,000 bbl/day
#10 France: 1,970,000 bbl/day
#11 Mexico: 1,970,000 bbl/day
#12 Italy: 1,881,000 bbl/day
#13 Saudi Arabia: 1,845,000 bbl/day
#14 United Kingdom: 1,827,000 bbl/day
#15 Spain: 1,573,000 bbl/day
#16 Iran: 1,510,000 bbl/day
#17 Indonesia: 1,168,000 bbl/day
#18 Taiwan: 965,000 bbl/day
#19 Netherlands: 946,700 bbl/day
#20 Thailand: 900,000 bbl/day
#21 Australia: 877,300 bbl/day
#22 Singapore: 800,000 bbl/day
#23 Turkey: 715,100 bbl/day
#24 Belgium: 641,000 bbl/day
#25 Egypt: 590,000 bbl/day
#26 Venezuela: 560,000 bbl/day
#27 Malaysia: 515,000 bbl/day
#28 South Africa: 502,000 bbl/day
#29 Argentina: 470,000 bbl/day
#30 Poland: 445,700 bbl/day
#31 Greece: 435,700 bbl/day
#32 United Arab Emirates: 400,000 bbl/day
#33 Iraq: 377,000 bbl/day
#34 Sweden: 362,400 bbl/day
#35 Philippines: 342,000 bbl/day
#36 Kuwait: 335,000 bbl/day
#37 Portugal: 332,000 bbl/day
#38 Pakistan: 324,000 bbl/day
#39 Nigeria: 290,000 bbl/day
#40 Hong Kong: 285,000 bbl/day
#41 Ukraine: 284,600 bbl/day
#42 Austria: 282,000 bbl/day
#43 Colombia: 269,000 bbl/day
#44 Switzerland: 268,100 bbl/day
#45 Israel: 249,500 bbl/day
#46 Norway: 244,300 bbl/day
#47 Chile: 238,000 bbl/day
#48 Libya: 237,000 bbl/day
#49 Puerto Rico: 234,000 bbl/day
#50 Algeria: 233,000 bbl/day
#51 Vietnam: 230,000 bbl/day
#52 Syria: 230,000 bbl/day
#53 Kazakhstan: 222,000 bbl/day
#54 Finland: 220,400 bbl/day
#55 Romania: 212,000 bbl/day
#56 Cuba: 204,000 bbl/day
#57 Czech Republic: 203,100 bbl/day
#58 Ireland: 182,400 bbl/day
#59 Denmark: 171,000 bbl/day
#60 Morocco: 170,000 bbl/day
#61 Belarus: 165,000 bbl/day
#62 Peru: 156,000 bbl/day
#63 New Zealand: 150,600 bbl/day
#64 Uzbekistan: 148,000 bbl/day
#65 Ecuador: 148,000 bbl/day
#66 Hungary: 132,000 bbl/day
#67 Bulgaria: 131,400 bbl/day
#68 Dominican Republic: 127,000 bbl/day
#69 Azerbaijan: 120,000 bbl/day
#70 Virgin Islands: 115,000 bbl/day
#71 Lebanon: 107,000 bbl/day
#72 Jordan: 107,000 bbl/day
#73 Turkmenistan: 95,000 bbl/day
#74 Croatia: 93,000 bbl/day
#75 Tunisia: 89,000 bbl/day
#76 Serbia and Montenegro: 85,000 bbl/day
#77 Yemen: 85,000 bbl/day
#78 Bangladesh: 85,000 bbl/day
#79 Sri Lanka: 82,000 bbl/day
#80 Qatar: 80,000 bbl/day
#81 Panama: 79,000 bbl/day
#82 Slovakia: 74,000 bbl/day
#83 Guatemala: 73,510 bbl/day
#84 Jamaica: 72,080 bbl/day
#85 Netherlands Antilles: 70,000 bbl/day
#86 Sudan: 66,000 bbl/day
#87 Luxembourg: 62,420 bbl/day
#88 Estonia: 60,000 bbl/day
#89 Oman: 60,000 bbl/day
#90 Lithuania: 56,000 bbl/day
#91 Kenya: 55,000 bbl/day
#92 Slovenia: 53,000 bbl/day
#93 Angola: 48,000 bbl/day
#94 Latvia: 47,000 bbl/day
#95 Bolivia: 47,000 bbl/day
#96 Costa Rica: 44,000 bbl/day
#97 Ghana: 44,000 bbl/day
#98 El Salvador: 43,000 bbl/day
#99 Armenia: 41,000 bbl/day
#100 Uruguay: 38,100 bbl/day
#101 Honduras: 37,000 bbl/day
#102 Trinidad and Tobago: 34,000 bbl/day
#103 Senegal: 31,000 bbl/day
#104 Ethiopia: 29,000 bbl/day
#105 Tajikistan: 28,000 bbl/day
#106 Bahrain: 27,000 bbl/day
#107 Paraguay: 27,000 bbl/day
#108 Bahamas, The: 27,000 bbl/day
#109 Nicaragua: 25,200 bbl/day
#110 Albania: 25,200 bbl/day
#111 Korea, North: 25,000 bbl/day
#112 Mauritania: 24,200 bbl/day
#113 Cameroon: 24,000 bbl/day
#114 Gibraltar: 24,000 bbl/day
#115 Côte d'Ivoire: 23,000 bbl/day
#116 Tanzania: 23,000 bbl/day
#117 Bosnia and Herzegovina: 23,000 bbl/day
#118 Macedonia, Republic of: 23,000 bbl/day
#119 Zimbabwe: 22,500 bbl/day
#120 Mauritius: 21,500 bbl/day
#121 Iceland: 20,560 bbl/day
#122 Burma: 20,460 bbl/day
#123 Malta: 19,000 bbl/day
#124 Papua New Guinea: 18,000 bbl/day
#125 Namibia: 18,000 bbl/day
#126 Guam: 16,000 bbl/day
#127 Brunei: 14,900 bbl/day
#128 Madagascar: 14,500 bbl/day
#129 Togo: 14,000 bbl/day
#130 Benin: 14,000 bbl/day
#131 Moldova: 14,000 bbl/day
#132 Georgia: 13,000 bbl/day
#133 Gabon: 13,000 bbl/day
#134 Zambia: 13,000 bbl/day
#135 Macau: 12,360 bbl/day
#136 Djibouti: 11,900 bbl/day
#137 Haiti: 11,600 bbl/day
#138 Nepal: 11,550 bbl/day
#139 Mozambique: 11,500 bbl/day
#140 Botswana: 11,500 bbl/day
#141 Mongolia: 11,220 bbl/day
#142 Guyana: 11,200 bbl/day
#143 Suriname: 11,200 bbl/day
#144 Barbados: 11,000 bbl/day
#145 Uganda: 10,890 bbl/day
#146 New Caledonia: 10,000 bbl/day
#147 Kyrgyzstan: 10,000 bbl/day
#148 Fiji: 10,000 bbl/day
#149 Guinea: 9,650 bbl/day
#150 Congo, Democratic Republic of the: 8,200 bbl/day
#151 Burkina Faso: 8,200 bbl/day
#152 Maldives: 7,200 bbl/day
#153 Aruba: 7,000 bbl/day
#154 Sierra Leone: 6,600 bbl/day
#155 French Polynesia: 6,000 bbl/day
#156 Congo, Republic of the: 6,000 bbl/day
#157 Seychelles: 5,600 bbl/day
#158 Niger: 5,500 bbl/day
#159 Malawi: 5,500 bbl/day
#160 Rwanda: 5,400 bbl/day
#161 Eritrea: 5,300 bbl/day
#162 Somalia: 5,000 bbl/day
#163 Bermuda: 4,658 bbl/day
#164 Faroe Islands: 4,550 bbl/day
#165 Afghanistan: 4,500 bbl/day
#166 Mali: 4,300 bbl/day
#167 American Samoa: 3,900 bbl/day
#168 Greenland: 3,860 bbl/day
#169 Antigua and Barbuda: 3,800 bbl/day
#170 Cambodia: 3,750 bbl/day
#171 Liberia: 3,500 bbl/day
#172 Swaziland: 3,500 bbl/day
#173 Burundi: 3,100 bbl/day
#174 Belize: 3,000 bbl/day
#175 Laos: 3,000 bbl/day
#176 Saint Lucia: 2,800 bbl/day
#177 Cayman Islands: 2,600 bbl/day
#178 Guinea-Bissau: 2,500 bbl/day
#179 Central African Republic: 2,420 bbl/day
#180 Gambia, The: 2,000 bbl/day
#181 Grenada: 1,800 bbl/day
#182 Western Sahara: 1,800 bbl/day
#183 Chad: 1,460 bbl/day
#184 Lesotho: 1,400 bbl/day
#185 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 1,400 bbl/day
#186 Solomon Islands: 1,280 bbl/day
#187 Equatorial Guinea: 1,220 bbl/day
#188 Bhutan: 1,160 bbl/day
#189 Cape Verde: 1,150 bbl/day
#190 Samoa: 1,000 bbl/day
#191 Nauru: 1,000 bbl/day
#192 Tonga: 900 bbl/day
#193 Dominica: 900 bbl/day
#194 Saint Kitts and Nevis: 800 bbl/day
#195 Comoros: 720 bbl/day
#196 São Tomé and Príncipe: 660 bbl/day
#197 Vanuatu: 620 bbl/day
#198 Saint Pierre and Miquelon: 500 bbl/day
#199 British Virgin Islands: 480 bbl/day
#200 Cook Islands: 420 bbl/day
#201 Montserrat: 380 bbl/day
#202 Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas): 230 bbl/day
#203 Kiribati: 200 bbl/day
#204 Saint Helena: 100 bbl/day
#205 Turks and Caicos Islands: 80 bbl/day
#206 Niue: 20 bbl/day
#206 A Republic of South Pole....1 gallon per day during the summer....Winter....3 Whales per day
Total: 82,234,918 bbl/day
Weighted average: 399,198.6 bbl/day
DEFINITION: This entry is the total oil consumed in barrels per day (bbl/day). The discrepancy between the amount of oil produced and/or imported and the amount consumed and/or exported is due to the omission of stock changes, refinery gains, and other complicating factors.
24th February 2005 .. China's oil demand has been growing at an average 7% since 1990, and while it's now the second largest oil consumer after the USA, its consumption in 2004 was around six million barrels per day, against a little over 20 in the USA. But if the current trend continues, China's consumption is expected to equal that of the USA by the mid-2020s.
DG
4th March 2005 To answer why the U.S. is in the Middle East, consider that we USE about 7 billion barrels per year (from data, above), and we have, in the ground 22 billion barrels (http://www.capitals.com/rankorder/2178rank.html).
You do the math.
Then consider that you can't grow food, fertilize crops, make plastics, not to mention drive or fly without it.
30th March 2005 According to Al Jazeera, an International Energy Agency (IEA) report suggests that governments should cut back fuel consumption by encouraging car-pooling, cutting or eliminating bus and subway fares, and enforcing speed restrictions and compulsory driving bans.
The driving bans suggested include requiring everyone not to drive one day out of every 10, or limiting vehicles with odd- or even-numbered license plates to driving on odd- or even-numbered days.
The IEA study admits that enforcing such bans would require the hiring of additional police or traffic officers. They estimate that one additional officer would be required for every 100,000 employed people.
An emergency treaty of the IEA – the Agreement on an International Energy Program – would require member countries to reduce oil consumption by seven to 10 percent if activated. The world’s five biggest economies – United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and France – are all members of the IEA.
Fast Solution to Oil prices!
1. Pack in and leave as fast as the next Greyhouse leaving for Durham
2. All profits from American and International Oil corporation be frozen if they are doing business in the USA.
3. Frozen profits put into a National lock-box that can't be touch! Profits should be in Gold and Silver products only, until the dollar regains it's past strength. * Note in the first days of JFK presidental career. He threaten the Steel industry with frozen profits should they raise the industrial price of Steel...He than transfer the currency to a USA treasury note instead of Federal Reserve Notes to the public.....
WASHINGTON - Think you're being gouged by Big Oil? U.S. troops in Iraq are paying almost as much as Americans back home, despite burning fuel at staggering rates in a war to stabilize a country known for its oil reserves.
Military units pay an average of $3.23 a gallon for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, some $88 a day per service member in Iraq, according to an Associated Press review and interviews with defense officials. A penny or two increase in the price of fuel can add millions of dollars to U.S. costs.
Critics in Congress are fuming. The U.S., they say, is getting suckered as the cost of the war exceeds half a trillion dollars — $10.3 billion a month, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Good Jim. Forward leaning is what people need to hear.
The Oil fiasco, our President's relationship with the Saudi Royals, The Oil industry barons and the Multi-national Corporations is important information.
Conventional wisdom today is devisive, was formed with a specific agenda and is not in the best interest of the American people. Stay outside the box Jim.
Heck....What am I saying?.... You've been outside the box your whole life!
Friend
Marshall Adame
http://MarshallAdame4Congress2008.com
Marshall Adame
I have a post on my other computer about truckers and diesel.
When I post it tomorrow I'll see if I can't tie it into this discussion. There is a big problem coming and the question is how do we address it? I think short-term negotiation is one way; and, we need to think about other ways as well.
One of the pitfalls of childhood is that one doesn't have to understand something to feel it. - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
I'm afraid it won't help
I must agree with the earlier poster who points out that the SPR would last us a month at our current consumption rate.
It would certainly have an effect on short term prices, but the effect would be ephemeral.
The days of cheap gasoline are gone, and I doubt we will see gas under $2.50 ever again.
21 of the the 38 oil producing countries fields are in decline, including Mexico and Saudi Arabia (U.S. oil production peaked in 1970 at 9.5 million bpd and is currently running over 5 million bpd, and falling.
We need a new source of energy, and unless we get serious about it, the world economy and standard of living is in for a steep decline.
Liberalism as a badge of honor!
No apologies, no excuses.
Liberalism as a badge of honor!
No apologies, no excuses.