Since oil company profits are up 40+ %, why don't they

[SoCalDem]

start building some of those refineries they claim they need so badly to "hold prices down"..Every time someone dares to ask them why prices are so high, they always have that old excuse handly.. "20 refineries closed"..Um who closed them?? They did! Why? because their "exclusions" were running out, and they would have had to upgrade their pollution controls, so they just closed them down.. the silver lining in their plan, was tat they could then create their own scarcity..

"Gee it gets COLD in the winter?? who knew? every winter"? Every year they use the "switchover" as a reason why supplies get scarce and costs go up. Maybe they could use some of these outrageous profits and build some refineries that were located in areas of need... say..

a heating oil facility in the northeast..and more gasoline refineries where people have big commutes..

they have the power to "self-regulate" so that their supply is stable, but they prefer the instability..

[tx_dem41]

1. Until demand goes down....why should they?

They're a business.

[radwriter0555]

2. well that would cut into their PROFITS, now, wouldn't it?? THINK woman,

THINK! The oil cos are entitled to those profits dammit!!! Their CEOS are entitled to make millions each year while your grandma in Chicago eats dog food so she can heat her one room apartment in the winter.

Where in HELL are your priorities, girl? Oil co profits are far, far more important than people. You really must start thinking like a republican..

MORE refineries? Heck, shell just closed down the wildly profitable oil wells near bakersfield. they were making way, way too much money and producing far too much oil at virtually no cost. That could have lowered prices!!!

*Gaaah*

[TX-RAT]

6. wildly profitable oil wells near bakersfield?

I believe those are owned by the GOV.

If your talking about Elk Hills

[radwriter0555]

7. No. Shell refineries near Bakersfield referenced in a company report

last year as 'wildly profitable' yet taken off line.

Gee the oil cos would never do something like that while proclaiming a shortage and staking out 40% increase in profits.

[tk2kewl]

3. In fairness, I can't think of a single community that would welcome one

but maybe there is one out there somewhere.

[SoCalDem]

4. Alabama is fighting to GET nuclear reactors..maybe they want

some more refineries:) Call up ole Banjo-boy Jeff sessions..maybe he can get some refineries started:)

[TX-RAT]

10. we've had one here for over 50 yrs

Cosden Refinery

In a small town of 25,000, it's pretty important to local economy. 6000 jobs not counting the support contractor and vendors. We've been lucky, other than a couple of small fires and no injury's, it's been great.

I'll take a refinery over a prison any day.

We now have 5 prisons on what used to an old airbase. Since the prisons started up our local crime rate has skyrocketed. Seems the prisoners families come with them, and thats made a big difference. We now have a major gang problem, and local burglaries and theft have tripled.

[madrchsod]

5. do you smell another enron?

i certainly do. i read the a journal of petroleum engineers every month and they are not really concerned about the great oil shortage. in fact they think the supply will increase as soon as fields off africa and brazil come on line in 2006-7.

[leftofthedial]

8. they are doing fine the way things are

eventually, we'll have to pay to build their infrastructure with tax subsidies or incentives in addition to paying high prices at the pump.

[rman]

9. They have all the refineries they need

They might need some different kind of refineries, to deal with stuff like phosphor-rich heavy crude and tar-sand.
But above all they need oil. They are scrambling to get to the smaller, more remote, lower quality, previously not so profitable fields. Some of which are in parts of the world where they can't just start drilling, so there will be a few coups and wars. And they are researching new extraction- and refinery technology.


The oil industry has been regulating itself reasonably well for many decades - until recently.
If this is only some trick to make more profits, then why didn't they think of this sooner?

[Javaman]

11. What ever happened to the oil refineries and nuke plants moron*

was to build on old army bases???

That seems to have vanished off the radar...funny how that works. I bet the various senators with base closing in their respective states fed him a shit sandwich.

colossal failure*

[no_to_war_economy]

12. the are saving all that money for the future security operations

it is gonna get ugly when peak oil peaks and people riot in the streets

[Saphire]

13. I get a small royalty check from Unocal for oil on some property.

three years ago I got a check for about 40.00 every three months or so ( really small royalty) and now, three years later, with the price of oil at almost 65.00 per barrel, I get a check for about 40.00 every few months. Go figure.

[SoCalDem]

14. They won't be sharing with their "small investors"

The big bucks are reserved for the "inner circle"..:(

[Hubert Flottz]

15. Let's take a trip down memory lane...

GOP lawmakers blame Clinton administration for high prices at the pump
June 23, 2000

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Republicans called Friday on the Environmental Protection Agency to lift cleaner fuel requirements in places hit hardest with rising gasoline prices and charged that the Clinton administration has long neglected to implement a national energy policy.


House Democrats, meanwhile, accused their GOP colleagues of playing a "fast and furious blame game" with hopes of taking full political advantage of the rising prices this election year.

Gas prices have soared this week to a national average of $1.64 a gallon, and to well over $2 a gallon in the Chicago and Milwaukee area, setting off a frenzy of finger-pointing involving the Clinton administration, Congress, oil companies and refineries, and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Oil industry experts cite numerous possible culprits, including recent increases in the price of crude oil as well as the EPA-mandated sale of reformulated gasoline designed to cut back on smoggy skies -- a regulation five years in the making. More...

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/06/23/gas.prices/

THe GOPers were crying like little babies when the gasoline prices went up on Clinton's watch!

[Hubert Flottz]

16. How Bush Pushed Gasoline Prices Sky High

On March 5, 2003, Senator Carl Levin, the Ranking Minority Member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report prepared by the minority staff that reveals why gasoline prices soared under the Bush administration. It has to do with the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) and some odd decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) after consulting with White House officials.

According to the Senate Report, the Bush administration added forty million barrels of oil to the nation’s reserves in 2002. That wouldn’t be a problem in and of it self. But the purchases represented an extreme change in energy policy; they were made in a strong market, with a tight supply of oil, which increased demand, which in turn pushed up the gasoline prices to their highest levels in twelve years.

The Senate report said in a one-month period in mid 2002 the Bush administration purchases caused crude oil prices to soar, raising the cost of heating oil by 13%, jet fuel by 10% and diesel fuel by 8%. The bottom line was the Bush policy change cost citizens between $500 million and $1 billion.

When crude oil jumps from $20 a barrel to $30, the Senate report says, the costs to U.S. taxpayers are an additional $1 million per day. “Over three months, the additional cost of filling the SPR approached $100 million,” which will ultimately be borne by U.S. taxpayers. More...

http://www.yuricareport.com/Energy/How%20Did%20Oil%20Prices%20Get%20so%20High.htm