Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do you have a better one. Maybe you can think of something that is cheaper then [sic] oil and can fuel our vehicles more efficiently. If you do then you should speak up because you will be a billionaire.
It is not your point that I was actually referring to, it's just that your comparison doesn't follow. The cost of a bottle of water vs. a gallon of gasoline, is not a valid comparison.
Fair enough, how much does a gallon of water cost? 2 bucks from a grocery store, 50 cents from the faucet, free from the ditch outside. The value of water depends a lot on circumstances and it is much more diffuct to buy gasoline on whole sale in the same way. So i was comparing the two smallest units to measure them each in. Is that fair?
Fair enough, how much does a gallon of water cost? 2 bucks from a grocery store, 50 cents from the faucet, free from the ditch outside. The value of water depends a lot on circumstances and it is much more diffuct to buy gasoline on whole sale in the same way. So i was comparing the two smallest units to measure them each in. Is that fair?
Water is much cheaper than that. From the faucet, it's pennies. From the grocery store, gallon containers run around a dollar, or fill your own gallon jug at the grocery store for even less. However, what is the consumption rate? I hear people say that gasoline is cheap at $3.00/gallon and then compare it to some other similarly priced volume of some other consumable product: milk, soft drink, etc, as a way to make you not feel so bad about how expensive gas has gotten. However, compare quantities that you buy it on a monthly basis. How many gallons of gasoline do you buy in a month vs gallons of milk per month. It is not really 1:1. I certainly do not buy 30+ gallons of milk in a month. I'll buy a couple gallons of gas for my lawn mower. At the rate I use that gas, six dollars worth can last me the summer. But when you put in in your vehicle, how far does six dollars get you during the day. When gasoline was cheap, the expenses of producing it was made up for in the volume sold. The problem is, so much of the cost of a gallon is in taxes and speculators' fears, and not in the actual cost of production.
I aggree with most of that except the cheap gas selling more. It may sell more but oil wells only produce a certain amount. Oil companies, small ones anyways, only sell what they have and cant control the volume they sell. On the other hand, more people buying more causes the supply to run down and the price to go up, so i guess it does have an effect on the long run.
I aggree with most of that except the cheap gas selling more. It may sell more but oil wells only produce a certain amount. Oil companies, small ones anyways, only sell what they have and cant control the volume they sell. On the other hand, more people buying more causes the supply to run down and the price to go up, so i guess it does have an effect on the long run.
I think we are saying about the same thing. The only thing that popped out at me from your original post was just the comparison of bottled water to gasoline, and the fallacy in using that as a rationalization for gas not being that expensive. Of course cheap gas sells more. People really curbed their diving habits when it went over $4/gal. Speculators saw the decrease in demand and down went the contract prices. As the price retreated back to, as I recall - $1.33 in St. Louis (that was the lowest that I saw it), people went back to buying more, and buying big trucks again. Let me put it this way, the revenues for lower $$/bbl must be spread out over what gasoline is produced, hopefully making some of it up on volume from the increased usage. Majors can more readily do this because they have refineries. The majors are whom I was really referring to in my comment about making it up on volume of gasoline sold. What you said is true, small independents don't have that luxury. Oil is a different story. When oil prices increase, exploration budgets increase. True, small companies will produce what they can. On the otherhand, majors may shut-in potentially producible wells until prices are more favorable or sell the leases out-right to smaller independents. When oil got down to below $10/bbl in the 80's drilling came to a standstill. Investors could make more money sticking therefunds in high yielding CDs and get a better return without the risk.
Yeah, i am from a small family owned oil company so i dont think in terms of the major companies. When oil hit $10 a barrel i was in 6th grade and my Dad brought me out to work with him in the oil field. Oil was so cheap we could barely keep the wells we had running let alone drill new ones. He was losing thousands of dollars a month. But because he hung on he is now grossing almost 7 figures a year with the same production.
Yeah, i am from a small family owned oil company so i dont think in terms of the major companies. When oil hit $10 a barrel i was in 6th grade and my Dad brought me out to work with him in the oil field. Oil was so cheap we could barely keep the wells we had running let alone drill new ones. He was losing thousands of dollars a month. But because he hung on he is now grossing almost 7 figures a year with the same production.
I'm a petroleum geologist, I consulted for ARCO and small independents - at the same time back in the 80s, you could really see how priorities differed. Those were tough times. Lifting costs were around $8.00/bbl in West Texas and with oil only selling for $10/bbl that wasn't much of a return. So many were just shut in and hoped for better times to open them up again. I hated to look at the rig counts, too depressing.
I'm a petroleum geologist, I consulted for ARCO and small independents - at the same time back in the 80s, you could really see how priorities differed. Those were tough times. Lifting costs were around $8.00/bbl in West Texas and with oil only selling for $10/bbl that wasn't much of a return. So many were just shut in and hoped for better times to open them up again. I hated to look at the rig counts, too depressing.
I am a pertrolem geologist also...well kinda, i'm actually mud logging right now out in PA while i try to get more work back home in Illinois. Do you work in Texas mostly?
I am a pertrolem geologist also...well kinda, i'm actually mud logging right now out in PA while i try to get more work back home in Illinois. Do you work in Texas mostly?
Yeah, mostly. I have worked in Southern Louisiana a little bit back in the day. However, I used to LIVE in Illinois - Naperville way back in the 60s. You, being that close to St. Louis, got to see the lowest prices in the country when they fell to $1.33. It made the news - an I was there to fill up.
I'm a petroleum geologist, I consulted for ARCO and small independents - at the same time back in the 80s, you could really see how priorities differed. Those were tough times. Lifting costs were around $8.00/bbl in West Texas and with oil only selling for $10/bbl that wasn't much of a return. So many were just shut in and hoped for better times to open them up again. I hated to look at the rig counts, too depressing.
EE here -- putting Solar on Oil Wells, if that does not tell you what times have become.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You, being that close to St. Louis, got to see the lowest prices in the country when they fell to $1.33. It made the news - an I was there to fill up.
