Oil prices approaching $65 a barrel

[registerthis]

Oil/Gas it's all going to go up. No way around it. Yes, we need alternative sources of energy fast, but that's not going to happen while oil and gas is still reality cheap. We'll get alternative sources of enegy, but I hope America leads the way and fast.

I hope they tax gasoline at $5 a gallon...that's the kind of wake-up call the u.S. needs to start making the search for alternative fuels an active priority. Not this bogus energy bill Bush just passed, whose focus was on providing money for exploratory drilling and tax breaks to oil co.'s--albeit with a token shot of funding for alternative fuels.

When Johnny SUV wakes up one morning and sees regular unleaded at $7-$8 a gallon, then maybe the pressure for developing alternative fuels will increase.

[zombie-a-go-go]

I hope they tax gasoline at $5 a gallon...that's the kind of wake-up call the u.S. needs to start making the search for alternative fuels an active priority. Not this bogus energy bill Bush just passed, whose focus was on providing money for exploratory drilling and tax breaks to oil co.'s--albeit with a token shot of funding for alternative fuels.

When Johnny SUV wakes up one morning and sees regular unleaded at $7-$8 a gallon, then maybe the pressure for developing alternative fuels will increase.

I'd vote for that.

[remdog]

OK, I follow your logic there ZOG. It may or may not be valid but I can see how you arrived at the conclusion.

US gasoline prices have been well below the cost of gasoline in other countries for decades (especially considering the average GDP in those countries). While this price rise (I believe at least) was started as an artificial 'scarcity' by producing countries that were unhappy with the $25-$28/brl price a couple of years ago, it got away from them and actually jepordizes continued growth in the world markets as well as long-term independence from oil which would not be in the producers' best inerest. (Whew! That was a pretty good run-on sentance!) I don't pretend to be able to lay out that scenario all in one sentance but I do trade commodities from time to time (not oil/gasoline) and sometimes the market functions independently of the real world.

Rem

[Redsfaithful]

The biggest problem with the energy bill is that it still doesn't allow drilling in the arctic.

From everything I've read it doesn't seem like the oil available in Wildlife Reserve will make a dent on prices or supply. Perhaps I'm wrong, I'm certainly willing to read others opinions.

BTW, I cant recommend this book enough:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...66337?v=glance

[Reds4Life]

When Johnny SUV wakes up one morning and sees regular unleaded at $7-$8 a gallon, then maybe the pressure for developing alternative fuels will increase.

SUV's get blamed because they are an easy target, there are plenty of cars out there that get just as poor mileage.

[registerthis]

SUV's get blamed because they are an easy target, there are plenty of cars out there that get just as poor mileage.

OK, well the same goes for Johnny Poorgasmileagecar then.

[Unassisted]

I heard some talk radio "expert" say the other day that even if someone flipped a magical switch that made every car on US highways into a hybrid, that US fuel consumption would return to its previous number in 3 years because of the rate at which US fuel consumption and number of vehicles on the road here are expanding.

[Heath]

I heard some talk radio "expert" say the other day that even if someone flipped a magical switch that made every car on US highways into a hybrid, that US fuel consumption would return to its previous number in 3 years because of the rate at which US fuel consumption and number of vehicles on the road here are expanding.

But here lies in the ol' supply vs. demand....if supply is up...is demand down? and vise versa...we should - technically - be able to save what we don't consume.

now back to the real world......

did anyone see that FX drama movie - "Oilstorm"? - I didn't - anybody want to add from watching that show?

here's a dumb thought - but it might kill the economy - but maybe we have to "gas ration" - you get so much per week - But, it might be able to slow down some dependencies and have the ability to save some oil.

[Heath]

Here's an interesting story



Africa looms larger on US oil map

www.chinaview.cn 2005-07-23 13:54:40

NAIROBI, July 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Africa's vast oilfields discovered in recent years have attracted much attention from countries around the world, including the world's top oil consumer, the United States, which is increasingly focusing on African oil to secure stable energy supply.



OIL HUNGRY ECONOMY DEMANDS STABLE ENERGY SOURCE

As the world's biggest oil consumer, the United States devours 20 million barrels of crude oil everyday, almost one third of the global consumption. Meanwhile, its oil consumption is very much import-dependent, with more than 60 percent from the Middle East.

However, after the September 11 attacks and the US-led war against terror, many experts and lobbyists have expressed concernsthat instability and anti-Americanism in the Middle East could endanger oil supplies.

President George W. Bush has said he wants to pursue energy sources that are closer to home so the country is less dependent on supplies from "unstable" parts of the world.

The United States, which is stepping up oil exploration in the Gulf of Guinea basin off the coast of west Africa, has been striving to keep crude flowing into its oil-hungry economy.

"African oil should be treated as a priority for the US national security post 9-11. I think that the post 9-11 it's occurred to all of us that our traditional sources of oil are not as secure as we thought they were," US Congressman William Jefferson once told a meeting of the African Oil Policy InitiativeGroup (AOPIG).

Africa now has the third largest oil reserve in the world, onlyafter the Middle East and South America. According to the OPEC statistics, till the end of 2003, there were 93.55 billion-barrel finds of oil on the continent, accounting for about 10 percent of the world's total. Currently the continent has an output of 8 million barrels a day, nearly 11 percent of the global daily yield.

The US government is gradually making policy shift to search for new oil supply in Africa, a continent that in the past had counted for little in its global strategy. In the Bush administration's 2003 National Security Strategy report, cooperation with African oil producers has been underlined as the important approach to "strengthen the US national security."

The more hawkish advocates of the policy even want the US military to create a Gulf of Guinea Command -- similar in scale tothe Korea Command -- and to build a naval base on the island country of Sao Tome and Principe to protect the oil supplies.

US oil companies are also pushing for government policies that improve access to crude supplies in Africa.

Dave O'Reilly, chief executive of No. 2 US oil company ChevronTexaco Corp, said that protecting US energy needs means recognizing issues not just in energy policy but also in foreign and trade policies.



EXPLORATION INTO AFRICA REWARDS

Efforts are not only from the US government, oil executives and policy-makers are now both exploring into west Africa's vast oilfields to secure cheap oil, and the rewards are potentially great.

According to the US Department of Energy, by 2003, 15.3 percent of US oil comes from Africa and US-owned firms are investing 10 billion dollars a year there. And it was estimated that by 2015 west Africa will represent 25 percent of total US oil needs and by2020 will be exporting to it some 770 million barrels of African oil a year.

Former US president Bill Clinton in May 2000 signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in order to integrate Africa into the global economy by boosting trade with the United States, the continent's largest single country market.

Oil represents the lion's share of what Africa sells to the United States -- some 87 percent of exports -- concentrating AGOA's influence into a handful of countries including Angola, Chad and Gabon and Nigeria, the continent's top oil producer and ranked 11th worldwide. Nigeria is already the fifth largest exporter of oil to the United States, and with 1.5 million barrels a day flowing into US ports. West Africa exceeds Saudi Arabia as a source of US imports.

The US companies' oil exploration in the Gulf of Guinea basin has covered an area of more than 200,000 square km, involving nearly 10 countries.

ChevronTexaco Corp is planning an investment of 20 billion US dollars in the next five years, to further improve its oil production capacity in Africa. The company's executive O'Reilly said improving security and the investment climate in west Africa,which supplies light sweet crude oil that is in high demand, should be a priority in the US foreign policy.

Another energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp, which is going to invest50 billion US dollars in the area in the next 10 years, said it had begun offshore production at a major facility off Angola, which is counting on oil revenues to help its recovery from three decades of civil war.

Exxon Mobil said its local subsidiary had started production ofthe 3.5 billion dollar "Kizomba B" project to develop one billion barrels of oil lying more than 320 km off the coast of Angola.

Angola is fast becoming a world oil player as sub-Saharan Africa's second largest producer after Nigeria, with output expecting to hit 2 million barrels a day by the end of 2007.

Exxon Mobil and its foreign partners in Angola -- Britain's BP,ENI of Italy and Norwegian firm Statoil -- have announced 38 discoveries in Angola with the potential to yield up to 4.5 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Enditem

[Heath]

also for you oil heads - map of crude oil locations determined by the department of energy.....
http://energy.er.usgs.gov/products/p...World_oil/oil/

[GAC]

It's still cheaper then bottled water.

[Johnny Footstool]

Africa's vast oilfields discovered in recent years have attracted much attention from countries around the world, including the world's top oil consumer, the United States, which is increasingly focusing on African oil to secure stable energy supply.

Cool! When do we invade?

[registerthis]

It's still cheaper then bottled water.

But water tastes better. A cold, refreshing bottle of water goes down so much better than a quart of 10W-30, especially after a lengthy workout at the gym.

[registerthis]

Cool! When do we invade?

Just as soon as we can pin some WMD's on 'em.

[Redsfaithful]

It's still cheaper then bottled water.

Where are you buying bottled water where it costs more than 2.49 a gallon?