Just ordered heating oil...3.599 gal! F*cking Gadhafi!

[Atman]

Been going up about 10¢ a day around here. Yesterday I had to fill up the car; 3.459 in the morning, 3.579 on the way home from work...for gasoline that was purchased by the station probably ages ago, and a much lower price. What the hell other business can do this shit and get away with it?

[aquart]

1. And this why we should have been snuggling with Chavez instead of Gaddafi.

Instead, the local guy has sold his oil to China. Weren't we clever?

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. This is why we should have nationalized OUR oil like Chavez. not buy it from

greedy multinational corps that don't pay any taxes.

[aquart]

28. Oh, well that I completely agree with.

But if anyone in authority or power ever said it, people from Texas would arrange accidents.

[tcaudilllg]

2. 3.5999 for oil? Not Gadhafi's fault. Blame yourself for not supporting green fuels.

[Atman]

3. Blame myself for not supporting green fuel? Huh?

How about if I blame YOU? I'm not sure what for, but it makes about as much sense as saying that I don't support green fuel. What an idiotic statement. You see, my house is heated with an oil-burning furnace. What would you like me to do, stuff algae and biogas into it? It burns what it burns, you want me to put up a fucking windmill? Sheesh.

.

[EFerrari]

4. Oh, please. I doubt Atman could restructure this entire culture alone. n/t

[leveymg]

5. More like, F-cking oil company execs, pit traders, and spot-market speculators.

There's been little drop-off in oil exports from Libya, which account for a mere three percent of the world total supply, anyway. The volume of U.S. imports of Libyan oil are insignificant as far as pricing is concerned. However, decisions made by US-based oil majors and in US futures and commodity markets are the driving force for the spike in energy costs.

Don't be distracted by the projectors and smoke generators. Look at what the man behind the curtain is doing with his hands.

[Atman]

7. I'm well aware that we don't import much from Libya...

...but it is still Gadhafi's lunacy that set of the most recent round of speculation and price gouging. Directly or indirectly, he's at the root of the current round of profiteering from the Wall Street bloodsuckers. It's just what they do...look for any crisis too exploit.

[leveymg]

10. You can and should curse Gadhafi, just not for this price shock.

He's just an excuse for others to profit wildly from engineered crisis and managed chaos. Just like any other number of occasions.

[Lucinda]

12. I agree - they use any excuse IMO

:hi:

[socialist_n_TN]

17. If that's what they DO ("....look for any crisis to exploit.".........

then why blame Kadaffi for it? Sure he's a douche, just like Saddam was, but blame the capitalist exploiters for exploiting THIS (AND any) crisis.

Nationalize the energy sector and take the profit out of it.

[sasha031]

6. it's the speculators and Wall Street, we import very little oil from Libya

although Gadaffi is a monster...

[WatsonT]

15. It doesn't matter how much we get from Libya

it all goes in to the same market. If we buy all our oil from Canada, who also sells it to the rest of the world then a drop off in supplies from Libya, Egypt, etc will affect us because now Canada has more people willing to buy their oil so they can jack up the price.

That's global economics.

You don't actually have to buy directly from one country for things occurring in that country to affect you.

[StarburstClock]

25. In global oil economics it's very clear that OPEC won't let supplies drop so...

there will be no shortage, it's pure speculative fraud that enriches a few traders at big firms.

[badtoworse]

31. Speculating in futures of any kind involves substantial risk

If other OPEC members maintain the supply, then the price will drop and the speculators will lose money. They are well aware of that and are obviously discounting it. I'm inclined to agree - it's far from certain how much of the supply will be disrupted. What if the turmoil spreads to other OPEC countries?

[PVnRT]

27. True, but

if Europe can't buy it from Libya, they will buy it from someone else - since they pay more, others will sell it to them rather than us (or China, or India). Oil is weird like that.

That said, the sudden bump is being fueled by healthy dose of speculation and old-fashioned price-fixing.

[happyslug]

32. But can they process the crude?

Libya's oil has always been sold at a premium over what is the OPEC price. The reason for this is Libyan oil tends to be very "Light" and "Sweet" oil much cheaper to process then Venezuela crude (And the "Heavy Sour" crude Saudi Arabia is pushing as it s "latest" type of oil, traditional Arabian oil is "light" and "Sweet" but no where near as "Light" and "Sweet" as Libyan oil). In recent years, when Saudi Arabia has increased oil production, it was NOT an increase in its "Light" and "Sweat" oil, but "Heavy" "Sour" oil. Europe (Especially Italy) is geared to processing "Light" "Sweet" oil NOT "Heavy" "Sour" oil. In fact the only plants that I have heard that can process "Heavy" "Sour" oil is the refineries in Texas (Which is why Venezuela sends most of its oil by sea going barge to Texas, and brings back processed oil to Venezuela).

Now, the Texas Coast is NOT the only place in the world that can handle "Heavy" "Sour" Oil, but it is the best one I have heard of. As a general rule Europe can not handle "Heavy" "Sour" oil. Thus it may be hard for Europe to buy any other oil. Thus Europe may end up paying a premium for "Light" "Sweet" oil, and leave the "Heavy" "Sour" oil to the US, India and China. Prices will go through the roof as to "Light" and "Sweet" oil, but not go as high for "Heavy" "Sour" oil do to the fact less plants can process "Heavy" "Sour" oil. Even the US ability to handle "Heavy" "Sour" oil is limited, thus the ability to process "Heavy" "Sour" oil may NOT be enough to keep the price of gasoline low.

Sweet Crude oil (Less then 5% Sulfur):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_crude_oil

Sour Crude Oil (Crude with more then 5% Sulfur):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_crude_oil

Light Crude Oil (Flows freely at room temperatures):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_crude_oil

Heavy Crude oil, any oil that does NOT flow readily:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_crude_oil

Saudi Arabia's main field Ghawar, produced "Sweet, Light" oil, but peaked production in 2005:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghawar

Saris field is the largest Libyan field (37 Degree API on the "Sweetness curve):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarir_field

Zleten Oil field, in Libya:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelten_oil_field

[PVnRT]

33. It depends on whether or not those refineries can quickly get a sulfur unit running

If, for instance, there are refineries in Europe that can quickly get sulfur unit running (say, one that's been mothballed), they can still use the more sour varieties of crude. Essentially, you add hydrogen to the fractions out of the distillation towers, heat to 350 degrees (F), and send it into a reactor with a catalyst that converts the sulfur in the oils to hydrogen sulfide, which is separated and sent elsewhere for further processing. It's a fairly well-known and easy process, provided one has the equipment to do it.

If European refineries must upgrade, then a short-term Libyan revolt shouldn't have much effect. For a protracted civil war, however, you can bet that they will be adding these units to accept Saudi crude. If I were running refineries in Europe, I would probably consider doing that anyway.

I find it hard to believe that there are no refineries in Europe or anywhere outside Texas that have the capability to do this. The process was discovered in the late 1800's and has been improved upon ever since.

[taught_me_patience]

8. Blame Americans for driving gas hogging vehicles

and not supporting any other alternative. Everytime there is instability in the future, oil is going to shoot up. It's a fact of life... you gotta adapt and deal with it.

[Xenotime]

9. Exactly.

[Warpy]

19. No shit

I haven't owned anything with more than 4 cylinders since 1969, so I've been largely insulated from huge price increases by the fact that my transportation has remained economical. Four dollar a gallon gas doesn't hurt me nearly as bad as it does that guy filling his Explorer up next to me at the pump and I get as many miles out of a fillup as he does.

[madrchsod]

11. i went through the early 70`s oil crisis heating my farm house with propane

600 dollars to fill the tank. it was even worse during the winters through 76-79.

here`s a history of oil price - new york harbor no. 2 heating oil spot price

http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EER_EPD2F_PF4_Y35NY_DPG&f=D

[badtoworse]

13. Why aren't we trying to increase our domestic oil production?

Oh wait! The same people who are crying about the price of oil would probably scream bloody murder if we did that.

[WatsonT]

16. We could build nuclear plants

oh wait, those are evil too.

[EFerrari]

20. New York Times: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/oil_spills/gulf_of_mexico_2010/index.html

[TheKentuckian]

34. We don't have enough in the ground to affect costs and certainly not enough to offset the damage.

What about the debacle in the Gulf did you miss? The low hanging fruit is pretty much gone.

Wanna lower fuel costs the legalize hemp so we can use it for fuel and plastics. Push for much greater efficiency standards so we can do more with less. Demand serious research dollars for Universities to develop new solutions and tune up the ones we have. Accept that fossil fuels cost more than we pay at delivery and that most of the downside is pushed onto the commons and nature so that you will see an honest comparison of the expense of alternatives.

[Bardley]

14. well, wall street has a lot of free money to speculate on oil with

and you know where they got that money, dont you

they didnt give you any jobs, but they jacked up the price of everything you buy

then showered themselves with bonuses, and raised their glasses in a toast to 'Change'

i remember seeing a cartoon in 'Punch', a couple of rich wall street guys - one says to the other 'Lets get drunk, and blow lunch on the working class!'

pretty much what's happening

you bought the booze, you bought the lunch, and now you're wearing all of it

[Warpy]

18. All businesses do this, grocery stores and hardware stores and feed stores

and everybody else. The increased price on stuff bought more cheaply is to cover the purchase of more expensive stock as soon as it sells. Otherwise, a marginal business like a gas station or food store is going to take a heavy kick to the profit margin that the owners just can't survive.

In other words, you're paying an inflated price on old gas this week to assure that the station will still be open and able to sell you more expensively purchased gas next week.

I realize this is probably clear as mud to anyone who hasn't been in retail, but that's how it works and nobody is gouging you. They're just trying to stay in business during periods of rapid inflation.

At least gas station prices go down when the wholesale price does. I haven't seen that happen in grocery stores.

[Bardley]

22. somwhat true, but they DO gouge you when wholesale price goes back down

they sure as hell dont 'lead' prices in THAT direction

in fact, they usually lag it my several weeks

[vaberella]

23. But we don't get our oil from Gadhafi---that's Europe.

We don't have much dealings with Libya to be honest.

[StarburstClock]

24. I didn't know Gadhafi was speculating on heating oil futures in the U.S.

That's what is driving the price up, speculation by big U.S. banks that were propped up by the Obama administration instead of being held accountable for massive fraud. So the fraud continues unabated as the propaganda networks suggest that it's some "evil others" fault.

[Atman]

26. And what do you supposed the speculators are speculating on, hmm?

The NFL Draft picks? The Country Music Awards nominations? Hmmm...maybe it's the unrest in Libya. Just a thought.

.

[badtoworse]

29. You seem rather ignorant of basic economics

Regardless of what the big US banks did or did not do, traders speculate based on the supply of oil and the expected demand. With such turmoil in the Middle east, the supply is likely to be disrupted. Unless the demand is reduced, the price is going to rise and traders know that. There is no fraud involved.

[Hannah Bell]

30. it's not about khaddafi. it's about oil corps & hedge funds.