On April 28, 2007 at 23:41, phil said...
To be fair, while we haven't built any "new" refineries
in quite a while, we have expanded the hell out of the
existing ones.
And closed others. Shell closed their most profitable refinery in Bakersfield. What's going on? I don't know. Bottom line, no one will spend the money to try to open a new refinery because regulatory stuff will bankrupt them before they get it going.
Supply and demand. As we buy more TV's and stuff from
China and India, their citizens can afford more cars so
demand for oil goes up, supplies get tight and the price
soars.
But if we drill Anwar and the offshore areas and sell
that oil below $70 a barrel aren't we kinda stupid if
the going rate is $70 a barrel?
Hold on, what about suppy and demand, as mentioned just a few lines up in your post? We increase the supply, the price will drop.
The last time gas got
above $3 a gallon people curbed their driving, and demand
dropped some and then the price of gas dropped. If we
increase the supply of oil we lower the price which increases
demand and eventually raises the price. It's a vicious
circle.
Not so. It is being noted especially that the price increases in gas have NOT decreased demand as expected. As heard on CBS news, not some crackpot right wing news spout.
The one thing no one here or really anywhere is talking
about is that the real problem is is overpopulation.
If the planet reduced it's population by 25% in each
country it would solve many problems. Less traffic congestion
in the US, lower energy cosumption worldwide, less pollution,
fewer guys in the custom business. All good things would
happen. I know this could not be done but to me this
is the root of most of our problems today.
Holacow!
