Ahhh yes...

[SFC]

Those poor oil companies strapped for cash, cannot build further refineries because it costs too much money...

http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=101320

[Stormwalker]

Good article, SFC.



Perhaps the gas companies are cashing in now because they suspect that they will be inconsequential in the future? I mean, if an alternative mode of transportation/energy source is found and standardized, these guys are fucked.

[SFC]

Good article, SFC.



Perhaps the gas companies are cashing in now because they suspect that they will be inconsequential in the future? I mean, if an alternative mode of transportation/energy source is found and standardized, these guys are fucked.

Come on, if an alternative source of energy is found, they'll just be behind that too, with all the money they have in the bank. There's several power companies out west that are already turning to solar/wind energy. Even if say... we move to hydrogen... who's going to build all the stations? Takes a lot of money to build up the infrastructure they have.

[68GTO]

Good article, SFC. Perhaps the gas companies are cashing in now because they suspect that they will be inconsequential in the future? I mean, if an alternative mode of transportation/energy source is found and standardized, these guys are fucked.

Or, perhaps we are looking at this through a microscopic lens. At any given point in time, someone can make an argument that things are ridiculously overpriced/underpriced, people are taking advantage of us, and so forth. Did anyone complain when the Dot.com companies were making money hand over fist on pure speculation?

Look, it is always easy to pick on "big business" when they are making money and while consumers are facing increased costs. The BIGGER picture here is that this is a temporary blip on the scope. Sure, the prices are ridiculously high, but is this the sole fault of Big Oil? Heck NO!
* Speculation and fears about supply drive futures prices up irrationally
* China becoming the voracious energy hog
* lack of refineries being built DUE TO GOV'T REGULATION, not lack of $
* speculation that the price of energy would collapse too low to drive return on investment
* political unrest in the world -middle east
* weather problems for production/interrupted supplies (US and Indonesia)
* more demand domestically...

It all adds up. Ripping on the oil companies alone is short-sighted and blame-storming. Look at the factors contributing to the problem and you will see that oil will drop again. Prices for crude fell by nearly $2.00 today. Come on...

[SFC]

Or, perhaps we are looking at this through a microscopic lens. At any given point in time, someone can make an argument that things are ridiculously overpriced/underpriced, people are taking advantage of us, and so forth. Did anyone complain when the Dot.com companies were making money hand over fist on pure speculation?

Look, it is always easy to pick on "big business" when they are making money and while consumers are facing increased costs. The BIGGER picture here is that this is a temporary blip on the scope. Sure, the prices are ridiculously high, but is this the sole fault of Big Oil? Heck NO!
* Speculation and fears about supply drive futures prices up irrationally
* China becoming the voracious energy hog
* lack of refineries being built DUE TO GOV'T REGULATION, not lack of $
* speculation that the price of energy would collapse too low to drive return on investment
* political unrest in the world -middle east
* weather problems for production/interrupted supplies (US and Indonesia)
* more demand domestically...

It all adds up. Ripping on the oil companies alone is short-sighted and blame-storming. Look at the factors contributing to the problem and you will see that oil will drop again. Prices for crude fell by nearly $2.00 today. Come on...

... wow, that was a screaming misunderstanding of dot com. Nobody in .com ever made hand over fist. They had huge IPO's, and they had stupid VC's... they NEVER made lots of money. They also weren't raping anyone on anything they sold. If anything they underpriced their wares which is why they all tanked in the first place. Exxon pulled in 10billion in PROFIT. Show me one .com that pulled in 10 billion in profit? We aren't talking IPO here, which is all any .com ever made any sort of money on. ACTUAL SALES.

* Speculation and fears about supply drive futures prices up irrationally
WHAT??? We know we have supplies to last us 10 years even AFTER the middle east dries up...

* China becoming the voracious energy hog
This is so so so overrated. China's growth stalled the last 3 quarters... why would they suddenly be using triple the capacity of a year ago when they've actually shrunk in some sectors!??


* lack of refineries being built DUE TO GOV'T REGULATION, not lack of $
Government regulation?? I believe in another thread you claimed that government regulation made it "too expensive". What government regulation is in place that says "You can't build anymore refineries"??

* speculation that the price of energy would collapse too low to drive return
on investment

... it should collapse, just like the .com did. Ahh, except that oligopoly allows them to artificially inflate prices in order to keep it high. Pretty sure that's why there's 500000 different government officials "investigating" although i'd be shocked if they had the balls to actually follow through.

* political unrest in the world -middle east
What political unrest? We weren't starting shit with anyone else while we were at war with iraq. The rest of OPEC wouldn't dare "cut us off", they don't have that many other customers...

* weather problems for production/interrupted supplies (US and Indonesia)
If it interrupted supplies, we weren't buying as much, crude oil shoudl've gone DOWN.

* more demand domestically...
I keep hearing more demand domestically, yet there's all these new hybrid's on the road... and the economy was tanking. How does that add up to more demand? SUV sales peaked long long ago... That's just one more artificially inflated number. This is Enron^2

[SFC]

PS: notice Exxon was given a tax break JUST TO EXPAND REFINERIES! Tnks

[MadMatt]

I eat ham with mustard on toast

[Bill M]

Sounds simple enough, dont biuld more fefineries and the price stays high. Build a bunch of new refineries and back to.99 cent gas. I know if it was my comany it would suck ass to ONLY make 10 billion in one quarter

[SFC]

Sounds simple enough, dont biuld more fefineries and the price stays high. Build a bunch of new refineries and back to.99 cent gas. I know if it was my comany it would suck ass to ONLY make 10 billion in one quarter

why use that tax money for what you said you would do? Just buy a new house, or you know, Maui.

[KickAssFlash]

I eat ham with mustard on toast

NO fucking way, so do I!