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Agreed. Most of us have already cut back a lot. We have cut the heat back to where we're cold. It's mid May and we're still having to run the heat to take the edge off the house in the morning.
It sure seems by the responses that people here are more concerned with the price of gasoline in the short term and are WISHING for lower oil prices next winter....me I'm cutting out a lot of fun this summer so we can pay the $6000 for oil next winter.
while solar panels to produce electricity are being shoved down everyones throat it is easy to forget that there are actually cost efficient alternative energy sources/savers out there.
Affordable Solar Water Heaters - Installed by Florida Solar Energy Experts (http://www.ecs-solar.com/solar-water-heaters.htm - broken link)
Ground Source Heat Pumps - Ideas & Thoughts (http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/letters/energy/heating_ground_source.htm - broken link)
there is also good old insulation.
the reality is that whether we like it or not, high prices are here to stay. no matter what the president, congress do they can't take away from the fact that people in the developing world want our lifestyle and our planet does not have the resources to cope with this growing demand. eventually something has to give.
before i get the only in florida posts, here are some links to ground source/geothermal heat pumps in maine along with a few solar water heating companies and articles in maine. bear in mind that if you can heat your water with these systems you can also heat your house
if this is the case then the price increases shouldn't bother you that much!
Wrong. My income is dependant on goods that get shipped. And truckers are getting hit harder than I am at the pump.
Myself and the rest of my Maine neighbors would also like to not freeze our butts off next winter. Fuel oil is nearly a dollar per gal higher today than when I moved to Maine 4 months ago.
And it's all a big sham. It's been stated I believe in this thread earlier, big oil isn't paying the outrageous per barrel spot market price we are hearing every day. They have long term multi year contracts for pricing at a much lower price. Yet the price at the local pump has jumped 15 cents since the last time I bought gas.
Why is this happening if the price per barrel to big oil probably hasn't changed since pre Katrina?
Wrong. My income is dependant on goods that get shipped. And truckers are getting hit harder than I am at the pump.
Myself and the rest of my Maine neighbors would also like to not freeze our butts off next winter. Fuel oil is nearly a dollar per gal higher today than when I moved to Maine 4 months ago.
And it's all a big sham. It's been stated I believe in this thread earlier, big oil isn't paying the outrageous per barrel spot market price we are hearing every day. They have long term multi year contracts for pricing at a much lower price. Yet the price at the local pump has jumped 15 cents since the last time I bought gas.
Why is this happening if the price per barrel to big oil probably hasn't changed since pre Katrina?
post 100 should give you an idea as to what is causing price increases. regarding forward contracts, oil companies took a RISK on signing these. the fact that prices went up means that their risk paid off.
regarding freezing your butt off, i have included some articles, case studies and contractors on post 102 which might be of interest to you!
I would have to disagree that the cost of the dollar is the cause of the tremendous increase in oil prices. The Euro is only up 6.6% since last May. So, figure in 7% to the equation and you see that the speculators are indeed the bad guys. I don't agree that all of a sudden the third world has a doubling thirst for oil. Hey, even OPEC knows it is the speculators. The reason they haven't increased production is because no matter how much oil they pump, the price will not go down. They said as much at their last meeting. So, take the slumping, but not dead dollar out of the equation, take OPEC out of the equation, and take the baloney about demand, well take even half the baloney of world demand out of the equation, oops, take the refiners, and resellers out of the equation, and what do you have left???? ------> SPECULATORS! Of course those guys with all that money are going to buy the press they need to cover up their obscene profits. They can manipulate world opinion. They are a world cartel, so they can control the news worldwide. Think people!!! Use some good old American common sense here. Don't believe what the talking heads are telling you. It's not rocket science, the world is being $cr€w€d by the speculators.
I would have to disagree that the cost of the dollar is the cause of the tremendous increase in oil prices. The Euro is only up 6.6% since last May. So, figure in 7% to the equation and you see that the speculators are indeed the bad guys. I don't agree that all of a sudden the third world has a doubling thirst for oil. Hey, even OPEC knows it is the speculators. The reason they haven't increased production is because no matter how much oil they pump, the price will not go down. They said as much at their last meeting. So, take the slumping, but not dead dollar out of the equation, take OPEC out of the equation, and take the baloney about demand, well take even half the baloney of world demand out of the equation, oops, take the refiners, and resellers out of the equation, and what do you have left???? ------> SPECULATORS! Of course those guys with all that money are going to buy the press they need to cover up their obscene profits. They can manipulate world opinion. They are a world cartel, so they can control the news worldwide. Think people!!! Use some good old American common sense here. Don't believe what the talking heads are telling you. It's not rocket science, the world is being $cr€w€d by the speculators.
if you factor in the rise in demand from the 3rd world plus the wests ever inreasing demand, add a few kinks in supply (unrest in nigeria, iraq war, maturing oil fields), add the increased cost of drilling deeper and in more hostile terrain and THEN add the devaluation of the dollar you are nearly at todays price. they all contribute a little.
i do agree that there are many who buy to speculate, but what they buy, they sell. those who buy and hold (which will inflate prices) are investors (high net worths, banks, your pension fund, your mutual fund) faced with sliding real estate prices, stock values and currencies are looking for a hedge against inflation. if this is a boom based on speculation then we will see the same thing happen to oil as what happened to real estate. somehow i don't think this will be the case.
What they buy now, they are holding on to. They aren't selling very much or the price would come down due to supply and demand even in the commodity market. They will sell after the last drop of blood is extracted from consumers. I think the speculators are manipulating the news. A Nigerian fires a bullet and the oil supply is in danger....the Venezuelan President says he hates America and threatens to not sell oil to America and the price goes up. Don't put it above government leaders to add to the hysteria, after all they make more money. Factor in everything you want, and it still smacks of speculation. Just read what the OPEC nations are saying, with the exception of Venezuela.
There is no more greedy group of people in the world than OPEC. Look what a quote from their last meeting said, it was dated March, so the price is lower than today:
"More crude supply from OPEC would do little to ease $80 oil as speculative investment flowing into the market from other assets is boosting the price, Qatar's oil minister said on Monday.... "I am confident that the price is not related to supply," Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told Reuters by telephone. "We increased at the last OPEC meeting and were confident that it would help the market, but unfortunately the market is moving in a different direction. More oil won't help at all."
Read this:
"If speculators perceive that a higher price may be coming in the future, they might be able to profit by buying some oil for storage now and selling it at the higher price in the future. In this case, some of the oil that is being produced today would not go to satisfy current demand, but instead would be used to increase inventories.With less oil available to satisfy current users, the current price would be bid up. By this mechanism, the actions by speculators could cause the price to be higher than it would have been otherwise."
President Bush was told to shove it by the President of Saudi Arabia today when he asked them to increase the supply. I'm glad we helped to protect them during the Gulf War.
What they buy now, they are holding on to. They aren't selling very much or the price would come down due to supply and demand even in the commodity market. They will sell after the last drop of blood is extracted from consumers. I think the speculators are manipulating the news. A Nigerian fires a bullet and the oil supply is in danger....the Venezuelan President says he hates America and threatens to not sell oil to America and the price goes up. Don't put it above government leaders to add to the hysteria, after all they make more money. Factor in everything you want, and it still smacks of speculation. Just read what the OPEC nations are saying, with the exception of Venezuela.
There is no more greedy group of people in the world than OPEC. Look what a quote from their last meeting said, it was dated March, so the price is lower than today:
"More crude supply from OPEC would do little to ease $80 oil as speculative investment flowing into the market from other assets is boosting the price, Qatar's oil minister said on Monday.... "I am confident that the price is not related to supply," Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told Reuters by telephone. "We increased at the last OPEC meeting and were confident that it would help the market, but unfortunately the market is moving in a different direction. More oil won't help at all."
Read this:
"If speculators perceive that a higher price may be coming in the future, they might be able to profit by buying some oil for storage now and selling it at the higher price in the future. In this case, some of the oil that is being produced today would not go to satisfy current demand, but instead would be used to increase inventories.With less oil available to satisfy current users, the current price would be bid up. By this mechanism, the actions by speculators could cause the price to be higher than it would have been otherwise."
And this is from OPEC and a think tank group.
i am having a really difficult time understanding why you would accuse opec nations of being greedy. they are just getting the best price that they possibly can. in fact, if the saudis had any conscience for their future generations they would be cutting production and retaining some of their oil wealth for future generations. this is bearing in mind that their biggest field Ghawar which is responsible for more than 5% of global production is starting to show signs of maturity and when the oil is gone it's not like they have masses of arable land to farm and feed their country
like i said in my earlier post, if price rises are all based on speculation, then in the near future we can look for to cheap energy again. i doubt whether this is the case though.
President Bush was told to shove it by the President of Saudi Arabia today when he asked them to increase the supply. I'm glad we helped to protect them during the Gulf War.
to be honest i think the king enjoyed telling dubya to go and shove it. i don't think he had any spare capacity anyway. the taps are as wide open as they can go.
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