BP oil spill in the Gulf (Houston, Murphy: lawyers, job market, contractor)
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It isn't about purchasing AT BP. BP doesn't even own the station with their names, its just small business owners. When you buy gas, you have no idea which refinery it came from, much less where the oil came from.
They may own some of the stations with their name - will depend on if the station is a company-owned station or a distributor served. If it is a company owned, it will come from BP's refineries. So will distributor if that station is branded BP. However, unbranded fuels such as Wal-marts, Murphys, etc. come from any refinery just sold w/o the additives that a particular to a brand such as BP, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, Mobil. However, my comment was not advocating that people boycott BP - that hurts the average working person like you and I. It was just commenting that the public will continue to patronize although they might really whine and fuss about it at the same time.
Terrible analogy. Excess blood outside the vessel is not toxic. It's the LOSS of blood in the vessels that can kill.
Obviously, LOSS of blood is a common cause of death due to a hemorrhage.
Excessive internal bleeding can also compress the organs and cause their dysfunction.
Hence; my analogy, that even though a substance may be natural, an abnormal amount flowing uncontrollably can adversely effect it's surrounding environment.
Quote:
You don't see tissue dying from a bruise.
Brain tissue can die due to a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
ExxonMobil spent about 2.1 billion to clean up Valdez not to mention payouts to fishing industry and residents. However, their incident was easier to control - in that it result from human negligence which is more difficult for a company to control (until someone is fired) but it was an oil spill that wasn't just spewing out of control ... their job was a bit easier to resolved. And when looking at their safety records that were posted online last week - that company has the best operating safety record. Perhaps some of these companies operating here should look to that company in terms of day-to-day safety and what they have done to have such a good record (Valdez aside - which wasn't really a safety issue versus the catastrophic failure that occurred with BP's incident - Valdez was more or less a human frailty issue - which needed to be supervised and accounted for and apparently they have done that as it has been what 2-25 years since then).
The problem you have with "renewable" energy sources such as solar and wind is that they just don't produce enough BTUs/$. You either have to break carbon or split atoms for the world wide demand in energy. Unfortunately, the folks against hydrocarbons are also against nuclear. When estimates put hydrocarbons at STILL providing 75% of the world's energy in 50 years, I don't think those oil companies will go anywhere.
Sources?
Here's mine from the Dept. of Energy web-site--
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/so...me_future.html Solar is getting cheaper and will continue to get cheaper for some time. According to the DOE, it will be cost competitive with "traditional sources of energy" WITHIN 10 years. That's from the US Dept. of Energy, brother on their main web-site. Not some obscure trade journal or doctoral thesis.
Once energy production is something individuals can take part in, the oil industry will be struggling for survival much akin to the situation with print media and the post office in the Information Age (an age where just about everyone can take part in production/consumption of information).
Last I heard, wireless energy transfer has just reached its first stages of commercialization.
The current energy industry as we know it (dominated by oil, gas, nuclear fission, coal) will NOT be around forever. As oil gets more expensive (the obvious trend over the last approx. 7 years) and technology advances diversification into other energy sources will occur.
Last edited by Alphalogica; 05-30-2010 at 02:04 PM..
However, unbranded fuels such as Wal-marts, Murphys, etc. come from any refinery just sold w/o the additives that a particular to a brand such as BP, Shell, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, Mobil.
Murphy USA is its own brand owned by Murphy Oil which has the exclusive contract with Wal-Mart. They aren't a small company. They're about the size of Valero in market cap. and prominence. Murphy Oil Corporation
Solar Energy Technologies Program: Solar History Timeline: The Future Solar is getting cheaper and will continue to get cheaper for some time. According to the DOE, it will be cost competitive with "traditional sources of energy" WITHIN 10 years. That's from the US Dept. of Energy, brother on their main web-site. Not some obscure trade journal or doctoral thesis.
Once energy production is something individuals can take part in, the oil industry will be struggling for survival much akin to the situation with print media and the post office in the Information Age (an age where just about everyone can take part in production/consumption of information).
Last I heard, wireless energy transfer has just reached its first stages of commercialization.
The current energy industry as we know it (dominated by oil, gas, nuclear fission, coal) will NOT be around forever. As oil gets more expensive (the obvious trend over the last approx. 7 years) and technology advances diversification into other energy sources will occur.
Yet, despite all of this, oil consumption worldwide has continued to increase due to MORE people and countries advancing and modernizing. Even if oil usage is less of a percentage of global demand, oil demand in pure numbers will still be higher.
You also should research a little bit what comes out of a barrel of oil in the refining process, all the way up to the petrochemicals and the products tht everybody uses that they make. Its not just the gas in your car.
I will make the friendly internet forum bet of 1 internet dollar that in 10 years, global consumption of oil will be higher than it is today.
Yet, despite all of this, oil consumption worldwide has continued to increase due to MORE people and countries advancing and modernizing. Even if oil usage is less of a percentage of global demand, oil demand in pure numbers will still be higher.
You also should research a little bit what comes out of a barrel of oil in the refining process, all the way up to the petrochemicals and the products tht everybody uses that they make. Its not just the gas in your car.
I will make the friendly internet forum bet of 1 internet dollar that in 10 years, global consumption of oil will be higher than it is today.
Perhaps that can/will be true, but there will be a time (not necessarily saying in 10 years) that oil consumption will be on a decline and technologies available to replace oil will be fully developed. All I'm suggesting is that that process could very will START within 10 years. New technologies supplanting old technologies is a VERY long process. The Internet and cell-phone were around for decades before they became widely available and reached the bottom of the economic pyramid (both of which are still on-going worldwide but strong). My personal prediction is that there will be a true turning point (decline in oil consumption worldwide) in about 15-20 years.
More people consuming oil worldwide? That's great. But what happens when something comes along that is cheaper/easier to use? They will drop the old technology and move on with the new. Cell phone proliferation in poor countries is an excellent example of this. It is known as "leapfrogging." Many countries are skipping a wired communications infrastructure entirely. That same model could be applied to energy extraction/transmission.
More people consuming means a higher price for oil which will in turn spur development/research/motivation in/for alternatives that have the potential to be cheaper. Of course, cheaper alternatives haven't happened...yet. Oil will kill itself with its own increased demand/cost.
It should also be noted that the EROEI for crude has been diminishing rapidly. (Which is why this state, Texas, started transitioning to wind power in the early '00's)
Again, all I'm suggesting is that the scale will begin to tip within 10 years, not that it will be fully tipped over by that point.
Last edited by Alphalogica; 05-30-2010 at 02:46 PM..
Murphy USA is its own brand owned by Murphy Oil which has the exclusive contract with Wal-Mart. They aren't a small company. They're about the size of Valero in market cap. and prominence. Murphy Oil Corporation
Murphy is a U.S. subsidiary of another UK company (such as BP is a UK company). I believe they do have a couple of their own refineries which means that they are picking up at those refineries for those areas - not sure if they pick up from the majors' terminals to service stations and stores in particular regions (such as Texas - because their nearest refinery is in Louisiana) so they are probably using the fuel terminals of some of the majors for certain areas. Doesn't mean anything negative about their fuel at all though - a lot of companies get their fuels from the major refiners. They may not be small but as far as the industry, they are not considered one of the majors.
Perhaps that can/will be true, but there will be a time (not necessarily saying in 10 years) that oil consumption will be on a decline and technologies available to replace oil will be fully developed. All I'm suggesting is that that process could very will START within 10 years. New technologies supplanting old technologies is a VERY long process. The Internet and cell-phone were around for decades before they became widely available and reached the bottom of the economic pyramid (both of which are still on-going but strong). My personal prediction is that there will be a true turning point (decline in oil consumption worldwide) in about 15-20 years.
Again, all I'm suggesting is that the scale will begin to tip within 10 years, not that it will be fully tipped over by that point.
There may be a turning point in 15-20 years in US consumption, but if current esimates are correct, the US will be overtaken by China by then and worldwide consumption will continue to rise. We shall see.
The biggest bet is that there will a big mix in energy production, with oil being a big part of it. Hopefully other alternatives will make a bigger chunk of the mix. Only time will tell.
Oil complicates forecasts on hurricane season eve | abc13.com (http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=weather/hurricane&id=7469928 - broken link)
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