Are you as sick of the phony excuses for the price of oil going up?

Question

We have had hurricanes for longer than we have used fossil fuels. It has only been since King George has been in office that oil has quadrupled with no response from him. Kind of makes you question it I think.

Answer 1

Why do you think a president can directly influence the laws of supply and demand?  The only thing a president can try to do is obtain more of the product to increase supply.  Bush tried that, but Congress (Pelosi in particular) decided that democracy is not important in America so that went nowhere.  

People want to think that oil is some sort of right we're assured of in the Constitution. It's not.  It's a product just like a Tv or a book.  Our dependency on it does not change that fact.  In fact it's what allows the price to go so high.  It was up way over $4.00 before people finally started changing their consumption habits.  Then look at that, as demand dropped the price dropped.  OPEC has some control over pricing because they have the ability to directly impact the supply of oil in the market.  

Answer 2

Odd.

Many of those claiming that the Office of the Presidency has no effect on the price of oil (or the economy for that matter) are the same ones that once falsely attributed the fall in oil prices to the Bush's recent initiative, which lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling, though the Congressional bans remains intact.  (Bush apologists still can't figure out which way to slant this issue.  LOL 2X)  Sorry, but lower demand and a slight rebound in the US dollar were the primary factors in the lower prices.  Even China has cut back on consumption as of recently.  (By the way, the US is still, by far, the biggest consumer of oil.)

Still, the threat for a potential hurricane to disrupt production in the Gulf is good enough reason for speculators to push the price slightly up.  If one is worried about "price fixing," blame the individual gas station owners for trying to take an unfair advantage of an impending catastrophe, though that would be much harder to prove.

LOL.  Mars Hill sounds like either a renegade Freeper or a paid shill for the oil & gas industry.  

As one can see, China's oil consumption is a distant 2nd behind energy-hog the US of A..  India, with about 3.5 times more people as the US but consumes only about 1/10 of the US's total.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/ene_oi...

From the Dept of Energy's own 2008 report on the viability of opening up ANWR to drilling:

"ANWR oil production is not projected to have a large impact on world oil prices.... Additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR would be only a small portion of total world oil production, and would likely be offset in part by somewhat lower production outside the United States.... Assuming that world oil markets continue to work as they do today, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could neutralize any potential price impact of ANWR oil production by reducing its oil exports by an equal amount.... There is little direct knowledge regarding the petroleum geology of the ANWR region. The USGS oil resource estimates are based largely on the oil productivity of geologic formations that exist in the neighboring State lands and which continue into ANWR. Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. Thus, the potential ultimate oil recovery and potential yearly production are highly uncertain.

One other note: "The high ANWR oil resource case comes closest to reaching this pipeline capacity, when total North Slope oil production peaks at 1.9 million barrels per day in 2026."  

In other words, by the time we see any real benefit from ANWR drilling 18 years down the road, others areas already being drilled to capacity would have either reached or passed their peak production levels.  Considering that domestic and global demand continue to rise, whatever benefit gained would be negated.  Therefore prices, in a best-case scenario, would dip about a few pennies from what they are now, not taking into account future inflation.

Answer 3

According to the US Energy Information Administration's most recent figures, 76% of what we pay at the gas pump is based on crude oil prices. Oil is a commodity that is traded on the world market, so its price is determined in large part by global supply and demand. Global demand has risen sharply over the last few years (see China and India for example), thus lowering supply and raising prices. Speculators in futures markets cannot cause price increases when inventories are drawn down. And after all of their expenses are accounted for, the oil companies' net profit margin is only about 9.7% according to the S&P (compare that to a net profit margin of 25% for Google for example).

President Bush has lifted the Executive ban on offshore drilling, he's now waiting on the Democrat-controlled Congress to do the same. Pelosi's Congress, in the mean time, has decided to go on a five week vacation, while Americans are still stuck with high gas prices, and no solution in sight. If anyone can provide valid information that states otherwise, please share.

Answer 4

Supply and demand.  

China and India have growing economies.  Russia is trying to squeeze the West.  When prices spiked, China was stockpiling oil for the vehicles during the Olympics.  

Answer 5

100% agree.  Someone could sneeze half way around the world and someone would do a news report about how it effected oil prices for the day.  

Answer 6

i agree!

Answer 7

Correlation is not cause.  Do you like the phony excuses for the price going down?  Like strengthened US dollar, increased supply and decreased demand?  If this were some big scheme, why would they ever lower prices?

Bush does not control the price of oil, he does not have the capability.  Nearly every country in the world is experiencing these problems, most more so than the US is.

Answer 8

yes, Im tired of people that think one person that happens to have an R next to his name, has the power to effect the price of oil ALL OVER THE WORLD.  

Answer 9

I understand that a big part of the problem is supply and demand, but anyone that believes the world market is not being manipulated for nothing more than the sake of pure unabated greed, has either lost touch with reality or is in on the greed. Why does the cost at the pump go up immediately when the price of oil increases and then takes weeks to go back down when the price decreases?

Answer 10

Record profits make me wonder why every gas station is within just a few cents of each other. Can you spell price fixing.

Answer 11

Yes. It is odd that when talking about offshore drilling, the argument is that offshore platforms are perfectly safe and indestructible. But the minute a hurricane blows in, the price of oil goes up for fear that they will be annihilated.