Apr 30 - Shell Oil president: To cut price, produce more gasoline in U.S.

well, duh!

lack of refining capacity in this country is the single greatest comtributor to high gas prices. building new capacity is a regulatory and NIMBY nightmare.

 

playa, I don't know if you know this, but we can tell when you started the thread. sorry, its just a little annoying

 

The sad part is the most democrats view domestic oil companies as 'the enemy'. How screwed up is that? These are the companies that we need to operate well in order to produce more oil and gas and put downward pressure on prices. These are companies that most mutual-fund owning households own a part of. They consist of American employees and pay taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Lots of 'em. Without these companies, we'd be at oil $500/bbl.

Hillary Clinton said yesterday that the oil companies didn't deserve their profits because they 'didn't invent anything.' OH REALLY? How ridiculous. Where do you even start with a comment like that? The list of new techniques, new equipment, new technologies for recovering oil to feed the American consuming beast, is endless. Typical democratic brain-dead, bumper sticker financial logic. Unreal. Why are they demonizing the very people we need to solve this problem? No wonder they have no cred...

 

I have to say the Dems lose me on this issue big time. I'm all for investing in alternative energy sources....but it's not an either/or game. I believe you can do both.

 

They lose me too. Demonizing large corporations is not the answer. It may make a lot of lower and middle class Dem voters "feel good" to be sticking it to "big oil" and "big tobacco" and "big drugs" and "big Wal-Mart", but in the long run they're the very ones getting screwed by these policies.

And the GOP pisses me off even more because they either don't have the balls or the brains to speak out about this. In fact, McCain seems to be on the Dems' side on this issue.

 

Really it IS an either/or game. Because our current approach is unsustainable. That's a simple fact.

However, I don't think your acquainted enough with the degree to which the energy lobby has captured the right wing and runs things in Washington and the deliberately destructive behavior they've engaged in - I'm not going to go into it now but a lot of it is so obviously detrimental to us for their own sake it really borders on criminal irresponsibility.

 

^^^^
Well I agree that the current approach of restricting drilling in the frozen tundra of ANWR (would easily be the US' largest oil field) and in parts of the Gulf is an approach that isn't working. The current approach of the environmentalist kooks playing the role of obstructionists for much needed power plants, refineries, and import terminals is an approach that isn't working.

Global industrialization and raised demand for commodities has come at a time when global oil production is peaking (or has peaked). The oil is there, but it's increasingly expensive to find and develop, and its in harder to reach places. This combination of global forces has led to the price environment we are in. The liberals' policies have made things worse. There is no stopping humans from seeking a better lifestyle. This requires energy. The world's energy needs will only increase from here. The question is can we increase supply? I can tell you that making the firms responsible for that the 'enemy' is not the answer. Reducing their profit incentives is definitely not the answer.

The libs are just lost on this issue. Totally lost.

 

I don't believe big oil when they say they can't build new refineries because of environmental regulations. They have zero motivation to spend billions on new capacity only to see it cut their own profit margins.

Am I supposed to believe that Sierra Club is running the show, vs Exxon?
LOL

 

Then you've never been through the permitting process. Believe it.

 

refining=red herring

 

My favorite is when Oil companies claiim that they can't research alternative energy technologies or other environmentally friendly measures unless they get more tax breaks in additon to the ones that they already receive. hilarious.

 

Oil companies are in the business of finding and developing oil. Would you pillory Dell Computer for not spending money on auto manufacturing capacity? No. Would you pillory Sears Roebuck for not investing in wind farms? No.

 

Madmax--as I read it--indicated that we should be able to continue to use fossil fuels AND research alternatives. This is what I read him to mean it is not an either/or game.

You emphatically seem to disagree with him (you capitalized the word "IS" when you said it IS an either/or). Can you expand on that?

I agree that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels, and I think alternative energy developments could be the next big thing and that the economy that develops an economically viable alternative to fossil fuels will see a huge boost, but are you advocating that we stop all reliance on fossil fuels immediately...........or would you perhaps agree with MadMax that we need to do both (develop alternatives AND take care of the here and now)?

 

interesting

 

Oh man that drives me nuts. Exxon is the worst in this regard. 13 billion in profits and 35+ billion in cash and you need subsidies to research an inevitible reality of your core business??

Give me a freeking break.

 

Either way, those of you (hell.....those "us" because I'm in this camp) who want to see advances in alternative energy need to be absolutely ecstatic about oil and gas prices going through the roof. No amount of legislation or taxes or talking about it will ever put pressure on alternative energy development like the economic pressure of higher fossil fuel costs.

 

Just sitting here laughing at pgabs making no sense.


JUNIOR VARSITY

 

you're making no sense with your "why demonize the people we need to solve the problem" and then later arguing they have no incentive to solve the problem

NO CRED