OPEC announces 1.5 million barrel cut per day

[Mr. Flopnuts]

They're trying to stop the bleeding. Oil has dropped almost $5 a barrel since the announcement. Oops. This economy is shit.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

fuck those guys!

[Demonpenz]

Doesn't really matter to me. I couldn't afford to go to work anymore because of gas prices and I got fired.

[talastan]

Drill baby Drill!! If they want to cut the production, why aren't we offering to export more of our own oil. If they don't want the customers than why don't we step up and offer a better deal? Of course we would want to keep enough on hand for domestic use to stabalize the prices. Then once we began with the more renewable resources such as solar, wind, or the hydrogen and electric cars, than we can sell more to others across the globe and make a profit. Just an honest question and thought. :hmmm:

[jidar]

Drill baby Drill!! If they want to cut the production, why aren't we offering to export more of our own oil. If they don't want the customers than why don't we step up and offer a better deal? Of course we would want to keep enough on hand for domestic use to stabalize the prices. Then once we began with the more renewable resources such as solar, wind, or the hydrogen and electric cars, than we can sell more to others across the globe and make a profit. Just an honest question and thought. :hmmm:

Export more oil?
Is this 1971 or are you Canadian?

[Amnorix]

Export more oil?
Is this 1971 or are you Canadian?

:LOL:

[talastan]

Drill baby Drill!! If they want to cut the production, why aren't we offering to export more of our own oil. If they don't want the customers than why don't we step up and offer a better deal? Of course we would want to keep enough on hand for domestic use to stabalize the prices. Then once we began with the more renewable resources such as solar, wind, or the hydrogen and electric cars, than we can sell more to others across the globe and make a profit. Just an honest question and thought. :hmmm:

Did you actually read all of the post or not?

[Frazod]

fuck those guys!

Seriously. I'd like nothing better than to ruin those evil pricks.

[boogblaster]

Gas at $1.50 a gallon suits me fine ...

[Amnorix]

People were thinking OPEC needed to drop by 2MM bbls/day to affect much, and their cut of only 1.5MM resulted in the price continuing to drop.

They want prices to "stabliize" in the $70-90 range, which is still vastly above historical averages, of course. SAudi Arabia, which made 1/3rd of the oil drop committment itself at 500K bbls/day indicated they were not keen to drop production further.

Next meeting is scheduled for December, but if prices go south of $50/bbl, they may need to react further.

Part of the "problem" for many of those countries is that they got used to the high price of oil, and (just like us in housing) aren't well prepared to deal with a price that is less than half of what it was only 6 or so months ago, and dropping. Countries like Iran and Venezuela, especially (both anti-US of course) have regimes that could face domestic turbulence in the absence of absurdly high oil prices.

[Amnorix]

Did you actually read all of the post or not?

You seem to fail to understand our oil production capability/potential as compared to our consumption. Nor, for that matter, do you seem to understand the worldwide nature of the oil market, etc.

[Donger]

Excellent.

[jidar]

Did you actually read all of the post or not?

Uh. The US consumes a quarter of all the oil produced by the whole world. We don't even come close to meeting our own needs. We would have to produce triple what we do now just to meet our own consumption, and that's not possible even if we drilled every bit of oil there is left to find on our land and shorelines.

[Frazod]

People were thinking OPEC needed to drop by 2MM bbls/day to affect much, and their cut of only 1.5MM resulted in the price continuing to drop.

They want prices to "stabliize" in the $70-90 range, which is still vastly above historical averages, of course. SAudi Arabia, which made 1/3rd of the oil drop committment itself at 500K bbls/day indicated they were not keen to drop production further.

Next meeting is scheduled for December, but if prices go south of $50/bbl, they may need to react further.

Part of the "problem" for many of those countries is that they got used to the high price of oil, and (just like us in housing) aren't well prepared to deal with a price that is less than half of what it was only 6 or so months ago, and dropping. Countries like Iran and Venezuela, especially (both anti-US of course) have regimes that could face domestic turbulence in the absence of absurdly high oil prices.

Boy, that would just break my fucking heart.

[Donger]

Uh. The US consumes a quarter of all the oil produced by the whole world. We don't even come close to meeting our own needs. We would have to produce triple what we do now just to meet our own consumption, and that's not possible even if we drilled every bit of oil there is left to find on our land and shorelines.

We could meet our own demand.

[jidar]

We could meet our own demand.


I know there are "proven" reserves and all, but seriously, I doubt it.

[Donger]

I know there are "proven" reserves and all, but seriously, I doubt it.

Okay.

[talastan]

What about the shale oil in Montana and the Dakotas? Isn't that refineable?

[xbarretx]

Gas at $1.50 a gallon suits me fine ...

i don't care how low the price gets anymore. my family will continue to use only one car and we will continue to plan trips. im not giving them any reason to believe that demand will rise ... as such let the market fall out and ill still use as little as possible so i can save MORE and pay bills. nice try OPEC!

[triple]

Some of these countries have fixed costs due to inefficiencies and antiquated equipment and such that render their break-even point higher than the price could conceivably go. I don't think we want them to turn off the spigot.

However, this is just another reason for us to use ALL means, even those that won't help us for 10 years, to become more energy independent. I know that I wish we'd begun massive drilling a decade ago.

[Donger]

What about the shale oil in Montana and the Dakotas? Isn't that refineable?

More like Colorado/Wyoming, and yes, it can be refined. Unfortunately, I don't believe it can be refined into gasoline very easily (or economically).

[jidar]

What about the shale oil in Montana and the Dakotas? Isn't that refineable?

It can be, but not at a reasonable price. Cheaper to buy oil on the world market.

[Donger]

It can be, but not at a reasonable price. Cheaper to buy oil on the world market.

Yep. Crude's recent crash shows precisely why the oil companies are reluctant to invest in shale (again).

[Amnorix]

We could meet our own demand.

For like 3 years, no?

[Saulbadguy]

Uh. The US consumes a quarter of all the oil produced by the whole world. We don't even come close to meeting our own needs. We would have to produce triple what we do now just to meet our own consumption, and that's not possible even if we drilled every bit of oil there is left to find on our land and shorelines.

You can say this as much as you want, but "DRILL BABY DRILL" is literally "drilled" in to their minds. Even if we did have enough oil to satisfy all of our needs, the cost at which we could do it would be too high.

[Amnorix]

Yep. Crude's recent crash shows precisely why the oil companies are reluctant to invest in shale (again).

Yep.

[Donger]

For like 3 years, no?

Probably closer to 10 to 15.

[Saulbadguy]

I don't believe it can be refined into gasoline very easily (or economically).

Well there is the problem. I don't see a way to solve that problem.

[Frazod]

What about the shale oil in Montana and the Dakotas? Isn't that refineable?

I heard a story on the radio yesterday about some scientists who claim to have a method using microwaves to efficiently process the shale oil (obviously I don't have a link, but perhaps somebody can find one). They claim that by using this technology they could provide all our oil needs for the next century. Sounds like pie in the sky, but it certainly would be nice if it was true.

[Saulbadguy]

I heard a story on the radio yesterday about some scientists who claim to have a method using microwaves to efficiently process the shale oil (obviously I don't have a link, but perhaps somebody can find one). They claim that by using this technology they could provide all our oil needs for the next century. Sounds like pie in the sky, but it certainly would be nice if it was true.

That scientist will be dead soon.

[Frazod]

That scientist will be dead soon.

Probably buried right next to the guy who discovered the cure for cancer.

[Amnorix]

Probably closer to 10 to 15.

How do you get that? We have 21 billion proven reserves, and consumption of ~20MM/day.

[triple]

Yep. Crude's recent crash shows precisely why the oil companies are reluctant to invest in shale (again).

Yeah. It made sense at $150, but if oil isn't going to stay permanently high it's not worth the expense to develop a big shale operation.

[Frazod]

Here's a link to an article about the microwave oil shale thing:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/01/microwave-oil-recovery-of-oil-shale-and.html

[Iowanian]

DRILL DRILL DRILL!

Screw Opec.



I'd love to see Venezuela burning because oil drops so much.

[Donger]

How do you get that? We have 21 billion proven reserves, and consumption of ~20MM/day.

I believe that reserves in the OCS alone are in excess of 75 billion barrels.

[Saulbadguy]

DRILL DRILL DRILL!

Screw Opec.



I'd love to see Venezuela burning because oil drops so much.

and raise oil prices even more, smooth move!

[Iowanian]

fist yourself, grimmace.

Chavez being ousted in Venezuela would have a much more positive long term effect for the US than a temporary spike in oil.

[Saulbadguy]

fist yourself, grimmace.

Honest question:

Would you pay $1.00 more a gallon for gas if you knew it was %100 from the USA, rather than Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia?

Please answer honestly.

[Iowanian]

I'd pay more for gas that was guaranteed to have never left American shores. What that price is, I'm not sure. I think it depends on the base price ($1.50 vs 3.50) what I could justify.

I already pay more for ethynol when I'm outside of Iowa on principle.

[triple]

Honest question:

Would you pay $1.00 more a gallon for gas if you knew it was %100 from the USA, rather than Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia?

Please answer honestly.

No.

People will say yes, in theory, because they are thinking the choice will be $3 vs $2, but what about the next crisis when it's $5 vs $4? Of course they won't.

The point is, all these other countries nationalize their oil industry so no one gets any of the profits. Conoco-Phillips can't go into Saudi Arabia and drill an oil field. Private oil companies have access to less than 15% of the world's oil reserves. Those countries use anti-competitive practices. We should fight back by drilling everywhere.

Have you all seen how much a 5% drop in consumption changed things for OPEC?

What if we had 10% more of our oil coming from domestic sources?

[The Rick]

Honest question:

Would you pay $1.00 more a gallon for gas if you knew it was %100 from the USA, rather than Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia?

Please answer honestly.
Probably. I'd at least seriously consider it. I hate the fact that we are pretty much at the mercy of some countries who don't like us.

Of course, it would have to be on the condition that the proceeds go towards developing alternatives that completely remove our dependence on foreign oil.

We need a plan. We need to challenge ourselves with seemingly unrealistic goals of removing our dependence on foreign oil in X number of years. If there were a well organized, well laid out plan like that, I'd invest in it for our children's sake.

I was figuring up last night that between me and my wife, with our separate vehicles, we consume about 35 gallons of gas every 2 weeks. That'd be about $70/month.

[jidar]

Honest question:

Would you pay $1.00 more a gallon for gas if you knew it was %100 from the USA, rather than Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia?

Please answer honestly.

No. That sort of thing would be silly when the world market will just buy what we don't and they will enjoy cheaper prices to boot.
It wouldn't take long and we'd be paying $1.50 more.. then $2

[Mr. Laz]

Seriously. I'd like nothing better than to ruin those evil pricks.

get all american cars on Hydrogen and the oil market will collapse and leave Opec with nothing left but memories.

[triple]

No. That sort of thing would be silly when the world market will just buy what we don't and they will enjoy cheaper prices to boot.
It wouldn't take long and we'd be paying $1.50 more.. then $2

Yeah, true.

It's not that far removed from "DONT BUY GAS ON MONDAYZ!!!!"

[Frazod]

get all american cars on Hydrogen and the oil market will collapse and leave Opec with nothing left but memories.

Works for me. Hydrogen, electric, whatever. Just sell me one that I can actually afford.

[Silock]

get all american cars on Hydrogen and the oil market will collapse and leave Opec with nothing left but memories.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. However, it would solve a few of *our* problems.

[Bugeater]

Works for me. Hydrogen, electric, whatever. Just sell me one that I can actually afford.

Even if they could make you one that you could afford to buy, it's likely your operating costs for such a vehicle will be higher. Is it really about getting off foreign oil, or is it about what it costs you to drive?

There's a reason the gasoline powered internal combustion engine has been the dominant force in vehicle propulsion for 100 years, there isn't a cheaper more efficient alternative.

[Demonpenz]

Even if they could make you one that you could afford to buy, it's likely your operating costs for such a vehicle will be higher. Is it really about getting off foreign oil, or is it about what it costs you to drive?

There's a reason the gasoline powered internal combustion engine has been the dominant force in vehicle propulsion for 100 years, there isn't a cheaper more efficient alternative.

Uhhh yeah right. Or it could be the fact that we have had two freaking george bush's in office

[FishingRod]

My understanding is that presently ethanol is not really a net gain. The amount of energy it take to produce it is higher than just buying oil on the world market. It is a political move not an economic one. Now if we used ethanol, fuel produced from coal, electric cars, hybrid cars, and so forth we could (at a great cost) I think be energy self sufficient. What one needs to factor into that cost ( and I don't know the number) is how much money would the United States save by not having to protect our interests in the middle east? I would gladly supplement bio fuels, Atomic energy, clean coal and so forth if we could get close to breaking even and not have to deal with our good "friends" in the middle east. How many billions do we spend directly in the cost of maintaining our military forces in the region and how many billions do we provide in aid to these countries that we would no longer give a rats arse about if we didn't need their oil?

[Bugeater]

Uhhh yeah right. Or it could be the fact that we have had two freaking george bush's in office

They both served 50 year terms?

[Demonpenz]

They both served 50 year terms?

They mine as well have. It is going to take 50 years to clean up the mess.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

i don't care how low the price gets anymore. my family will continue to use only one car and we will continue to plan trips. im not giving them any reason to believe that demand will rise ... as such let the market fall out and ill still use as little as possible so i can save MORE and pay bills. nice try OPEC!

I hope everyone follows this example. Don't give them a reason to reinsert, if you're picking up what I'm laying down.