Will we ever see gas at $3/gallon here in the US? (paying, Mobile)
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Price at the pump is about the same as when oil was $140 a barrel. Now it is $100. There are 42 gallons in a barrel so it should be a dollar cheaper. Where is all that money going?
People don't seem to understand that there will be several 600 lb gorrellas coming into the world energy market and if anyone of them consumes energy a mere fraction as much as we do there will have to be a doubling or tripling of the amount of oil produced. If not there is a real chance Americans will be muscled out of the world oil market by nations who have a more sound currency. In otherwords, those producing the oil and maybe gas will chose to sell it to India, China or Brazil because they will have things to sell and a currency that has real value. Hence we would have to figure out how to get along on lets say 30% of the oil we use now. We will have to decide what we will use this small amount of oil for. Maybe it might be illegal to use a private car or petroleum based plastics and other chemicals. How does this grab you.
People don't seem to understand that there will be several 600 lb gorrellas coming into the world energy market and if anyone of them consumes energy a mere fraction as much as we do there will have to be a doubling or tripling of the amount of oil produced. If not there is a real chance Americans will be muscled out of the world oil market by nations who have a more sound currency. In otherwords, those producing the oil and maybe gas will chose to sell it to India, China or Brazil because they will have things to sell and a currency that has real value. Hence we would have to figure out how to get along on lets say 30% of the oil we use now. We will have to decide what we will use this small amount of oil for. Maybe it might be illegal to use a private car or petroleum based plastics and other chemicals. How does this grab you.
As long as oil is sold only in US dollars, we won't have to worry because those other nations need US dollars to but all that oil. They cannot muscle us out. Now should the oil producers start accepting Euros or Yuans, we will have some real problems. But I don't think they will as long as they need our military to protect their oil.
As long as oil is sold only in US dollars, we won't have to worry because those other nations need US dollars to but all that oil. They cannot muscle us out. Now should the oil producers start accepting Euros or Yuans, we will have some real problems. But I don't think they will as long as they need our military to protect their oil.
That has been happening for a while now. China gets its oil from Russia, and they do not trade with US dollars.
And they still need 55 gallons of crude to produce 42 gallons of gasoline.
On what Planet?
You get 22 gallons of gasoline out of 42 gallons of light oil. Altogether 42 gallons of light oil produces 44.5 gallons of products.
You don't 22 gallons of gasoline out of a barrel of California Heavy or Alaskan North Slope (because they're heavy oils).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Philip T
You show us how to keep a 6 barrel a day well going on less gross money, and I am sure you would be very, very popular.
I sure it would too. For every barrel you pump out of the ground, you have to replace it with something. Usually you replace it with water, but in countries where water is scarce, usually they use seawater. You do that for two reasons, one to keep up static pressure for ease of pumping and secondly to keep the geologic formation from collapsing, unless everyone wants an environmental disaster.
Illinois Intermediate is instructive. If oil drops below $50/barrel they'll be shutting down those fields. The only reason you pump that is because oil is >$50/barrel, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. I mean you have 4,200 wells but you're only getting 25,000/bpd (and the average well pumps about 8 to 18 barrels per day). What does that tell you? That tells you almost 50% of a barrel of Illinois Intermediate is water.
The cost to process a barrel of oil that is 50% water is higher than a barrel of oil with less than 10% water. All oil is processed before it is shipped (or pumped through a pipeline) to refineries. The processing filters out particulate matter, removes heavy metals like nickel, vanadium, mercury and others and also releases compressed natural gases, and it extracts the water (which is then pumped back to the wells and back into the ground).
Over time, the cost to process oil increases greatly, and that is factored into oil price.
Also a new well normally has to operate 5-8 years before it becomes profitable (that will depend on the average rate per day).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Philip T
And I imagine the refineries will be awaiting your cost-cutting measures, as well.
They just don't understand that there are several components to the price of gasoline:
1) the price of oil
2) the demand for gasoline (since only 17 of 49 refineries produce gasoline in the US that means gasoline supply is fixed against demand)
3) the price of ethanol
4) State and local taxes
5) the time of year (since RBOB is more expensive than non-reformulated)
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55
Price at the pump is about the same as when oil was $140 a barrel. Now it is $100. There are 42 gallons in a barrel so it should be a dollar cheaper. Where is all that money going?
You're ignoring the price components.
It has already been suggested that because of tornadoes, flooding and other weather related problems, there will be a reduced corn harvest in the US this year.
If so, then the price of corn will rise, which means the price of ethanol rises, which means the price of gasoline rises (or doesn't drop if oil price drop significantly).
As long as oil is sold only in US dollars, we won't have to worry because those other nations need US dollars to but all that oil. They cannot muscle us out. Now should the oil producers start accepting Euros or Yuans, we will have some real problems. But I don't think they will as long as they need our military to protect their oil.
At least three major oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Sudan and maybe Russia view the USA and its military as a security threat and have argued it is time to price oil in terms of a more secure and stable currency other than the dollar. They view the use of the US dollar as a weapon to coerse them to change policy as a problem. The US restricts the use of US financial institutions to Iranians and Venezuelans and their property and assets are prone to seizure by the US government.
At least three major oil producers Iran, Venezuela and Sudan and maybe Russia view the USA and its military as a security threat and have argued it is time to price oil in terms of a more secure and stable currency other than the dollar.
The euro was being pushed for this purpose at the end of the 90's.
The efforts were actually getting somewhere too, with not insignificant influence and help of Saddam Hussein...
Well, for a while the efforts were getting somewhere.
The euro was being pushed for this purpose at the end of the 90's.
The efforts were actually getting somewhere too, with not insignificant influence and help of Saddam Hussein...
Yeah . . . youse donts be messin' with the Dollar Mafia and lives to tell about it.
We will have to decide what we will use this small amount of oil for. Maybe it might be illegal to use a private car or petroleum based plastics and other chemicals. How does this grab you.
If the price of oil skyrockets in dollar terms, they won't need to make private cars illegal. People will discover (and demand more) mass transit, walking, biking, more fuel efficient cars, etc... and they will also get serious about finding viable alternatives to oil.
Consumption is already down from a year ago at current price levels. If gas went to $5 a gallon, you can be sure a lot more people would cut back on their driving.
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