Why, if refineries were not seriously impacted, am I hearing that

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

natural gas prices will increase 40-60% this winter? Please explain.Is this just pure exploitation and profiteering? Can middle America bear heating costs increases like this on top of prices at the fuel pump, property tax increases due to inflated values, increased cost of health care, etc. etc. etc. Where does it all end?

My personal prediction of a seriously tanking economy - the very first bill that is optional for most families is cable television. When you see the expanded and premium packages being canceled in favor of basic, that's when you know we have got trouble in River City.

[pitohui]

1. it's pure price gouging

the oil industry is enjoying record profits

someone needs to go to jail v. badly, they have no right to profit off a natural disaster like this

[Skink]

2. Took out the cable two years ago..

saves a whole lot of money.

[leeroysphitz]

19. I steal... Can't miss the simpsons or BSG... nt

[Robertwf]

3. They aren't going to cancel

their cable--the reasoning is--can't go anywhere, so gotta have something to do.

[yella_dawg]

4. Natural gas has nothing to do with oil refining.

Two different products.

The supposed problem is the damage to offshore gas wells by the two storms. May in fact be partially true.

The most likely problem is that demand has outstripped supply. Natural gas prices started to rise before Katrina.

Natural gas cannot be shipped cost effectively. There is work being done to find ways to liquefy it so that it can be shipped in tankers, but at present, the only way to economically transport gas is via pipeline.

[acmejack]

6. The have used ships to transport LNG for years!

According to LNG Shipping Solutions, 151 were in operation worldwide as of October 2003







http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/lng.asp

[yella_dawg]

7. Umm...

My point was economical transport. If you read your own link, most LNG tankers are built for special purpose operations, and cost is still a significant deterrent to large scale shipping of natural gas. Shipping can ease the natural gas crisis, but the technology isn't in place to solve the current shortage problem.

[acmejack]

13. Of course YD

Obviously an LNG ship is special purpose as is a conventional liquid tanker. If there are 151 of them, I suggest they are not a money losing proposition-the wonders of the free market economy.

Of course there used to be 4 or 5 of them idle in Newport, RI that allegedly had a design flaw which kept them from operating. They were a rarity, American flagged vessels home ported in Wilmington, DE.

But as you point out, all petroleum products are obsolescent and we must find a viable replacement technology asap.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Bottleneck on the gas transmission lines

Gas must be moved north of the bottleneck in the Summer and early Fall to storage fields. The peak transmission capacity of the pipelines is not sufficient to satisfy Winter demand. During the Winter, the gas in storage is drawn down. Because of the hurricanes in the gulf, production was curtailed during this critical period and the storage fields will not be fully stocked. The gas production fields are shut down whenever there is a hurricane in the gulf, so production is lost even if the facilities are not damaged.

[leesa]

8. Pure exploitation...they've also been banging the drum for more refineries

KaaaaChing!

[Neil Lisst]

9. FYI - Gulf Coast refineries usually shutdown sometime in sep/oct

There are many parts of the refinery process that are only serviced once a year, via the plant shutdown. The plant shutdown is usually done during this time of year, particularly the gulf coast, in part because of weather issues.

Shutdowns last 1-2 weeks usually.


http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst/

[cmd]

10. The word is that there is plenty of natural gas

but expect to pay at least 50% more. Explain to me how that is not profiteering?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. yes. there is plenty of supply but cost up 50%. Why?

And why isn't someone doing anything about it? This is like when everyone stood by when Enron gamed the California electrical grid. This is also going to have terrible consequences for the economy and for individuals. I just heard that restaurant business is dropping like a stone. They are a huge part of our new "service" economy. Just one more canary in the mineshaft.

This will also impact real estate. McMansions will become like SUV's when people take into account what the costs are to heat these behemoths.

[cmd]

21. Two story high foyers and living rooms

Those will be a joy to heat this winter. I'm so glad I have lil old 8 foot high ceilings. As it is, we will be closing off part of the house. No need to heat rooms that are only used on holiday weekends when the chickies come home to nest. There may be many McMansions up for sale before it all ends.

[YapiYapo]

12. Not seriously impacted ?

Today's shut-in oil production is 1,062,530 BOPD. This shut-in oil production is equivalent to 70.84% of the daily oil production in the GOM, which is currently approximately 1.5 million BOPD.

Today's shut-in gas production is 6.042 BCFPD. This shut-in gas production is equivalent to 60.42% of the daily gas production in the GOM, which is currently approximately 10 BCFPD.

The cumulative shut-in oil production for the period 8/26/05-10/11/05 is 54,557,243 bbls, which is equivalent to 9.965 % of the yearly production of oil in the GOM (approximately 547.5 million barrels).

The cumulative shut-in gas production 8/26/05-10/11/05 is 271.661 BCF, which is equivalent to 7.443 % of the yearly production of gas in the GOM (approximately 3.65 TCF).

http://www.theoildrum.com/

[paineinthearse]

15. Can we have that in English, please?

:shrug:

[LostinVA]

14. Profiteering, plain and simple.

[Blue Diadem]

16. I was notified in August, pre-hurricane, of the natural gas increase.

We pay our natural gas bill by the budget plan and our increase showed on our annual August notification..weeks before the first hurricane. They had, at the August mailing, figured our annual amount to be $720 higher.

Middle America is being gouged into poverty while CEO's and the wealthy get richer and richer.

[lectrobyte]

20. Yes, gasoline prices and natural gas were headed up before Katrina,

but I figured that was going to happen with peak oil and increasing world demand anyway. Even ignoring those causes, since we import so much and dollars are becoming worth less, say, compared to Euros and other currencies, it didn't seem too mysterious that energy costs would rise. Why is the dollar worth less? God bless our trade imbalance and trillion dollar deficits, too bad the average person can't get a sense of what those tax cuts are really costing us.

[lectrobyte]

17. It depends on what you mean by "seriously impacted" -- I thought

I'd read that natural gas and gasoline production would be down through December of this year by at least 25%. Have you seen something different?

[ThomWV]

18. Because Gas Supplies Are Dropping Fast - Nothing To Do With Storm

The increase in natural gas cost really doesn't have much of anything to do with storms, it has to do with a resource that really is running out (unlike oil). We import a great deal of our natural gas from Canada, most of the gas that is used in the west actually (most gulf gas goes to the east coast and more importantly the great lakes region).

Now, here's the problem - Canadian gas production has been dropping at the rate of about 8% per year and the rate at which production is dropping is increasing. As far as exports and imports go - and yes, we do export natural gas both as a liquid and as a gas - they are about a wash. We import a bit of liquid gas in the east but it is consumed in the north east and at the same time we export almost the same amount of liquid gas from our western ports, with the fuel headed for Asia.

The bottom line is that our marginal supplier, Canada, is running out and that is why our prices are jumping so fast. Oh, and there is another part to this too. The wells that are being drilled (hint, if you want to see where gas prices are going just follow the "rig count") are running dry sooner. Most wells that are being drilled today will have a productive life of 2 years or less, that is down by over 50% in the last decade.

[ComerPerro]

22. They were impacted enough to up prices, but not enough

to make people start pointing fingers at Bush.

Everything now is done on a sliding scale.

We are at war. Deep in it. To such an extreme degree that even questioning the President is like treason.
But not so deep in it that he can't still take monthlong vacations and cut taxes for the richest Americans.