BP Oil #&$@^**(%$#

[Virgil]

Most companies went overseas. ND was hit very hard in the mid 80's as our state was windfall taxing at 11.5%. The wells here are relatively deep, in hotand hard rock country. They are expensive to drill. Right now, a 15,000 foot well costs about $5 million to drill and complete. The point being, wells are expensive to drill, and typically, US onshore wells have relatively small production volumes in comparison to wells off shore and overseas. They say in the oilfield that each drilling rig produces 150 jobs. ND went from 25 rigs at any given time to 5 or less. With a windfall tax being taken off the top, a lot of these wells become unattractive and the companies go overseas. I know several people who have been laid off over the years due to cyclic nature of the oilfield. ND had lost several thousand oil related jobs because of high taxes. There is a mini boom in ND now with a new find and I am scared that more taxes will cripple that action. While oil companies post record or very high profits this year, I suspect that we will also see record high expenditures next year in finding new reserves. That is what determines a company's future.

[PowellsMonty]

And now the price of fuel is going down, our great Governor of NC is increasing the tax on gas, and our gas tax is amoung the highest in the nation.

[richfaa]

Question for the day..From which foreign country does the USA import the MOST oil

Venezuela
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
Canada

[dsprik]

Virgil, we had the same thing happen here in Mich in the mid 80's. I was a drilling fluids (mud) engineer and owned my own company. I lost everything in the latter part of the decade as the drilling dropped similar to ND. Everyone pulled out.

I see the "Big Three" oil companies' CEOs are all going up in front of Congress for hearings. It looks like some of their longtime friendly Senators have turned on them.

Story~
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174225,00.html

[Native Tex]

Bill & Sue are correct....we did not have a diesel shortage. Diesel is such a cheap fuel to refine. It is pretty much the "bottom of the barrel" so to speak, but is being priced over premium in most places. Maybe they will completely develop this new bio-diesel enough that we can effectively burn it. Just got back from a two week junkit from Alabama to Georgia and South Carolina. I was sure that with gas prices dropping, I would see see diesel less than $3 per gallon. The best I saw was $2.99 per gallon in South Carolina. Very depressing. It is down to $2.85 today in North Alabama.

[Charlie]

quote:Originally posted by Native Tex

Diesel is such a cheap fuel to refine. It is pretty much the "bottom of the barrel" so to speak,

Diesel is about two-thirds of the way down the column in a barrel of crude oil. True, the first cut of diesel is cheaper if it comes from a "sweet" crude oil but the cost of "sweet" crude oil is more expensive than "sour" crude oil. Lower than diesel in the column is gas oil and then residuum. Both of these are further processed in Cat Crackers and 90-95% of this is converted to more gasoline and diesel. After this the next step of processing the gasoline and diesel have to be run through hydrotreaters that remove the sulphur.

As our government requires less and less sulphur compounds to be emitted as we drive down the highway, the price of processing the gasoline and diesel are continuing to spiral upward, hence the price of refining diesel is not as cheap as one would think as most of the diesel and gasoline is obtained through the two additional above described processes other then just "refining" a barrel of crude oil. Also because of government environmental restrictions the oil companies have been hesistant to build any new facilites to process the crude, but there are more trucks and cars on the highways than ever.

[Virgil]

WOW !!!!

This thread has sure sparked some conversation. It is nice to see discussion on both sides.

[dsprik]

Hey! What about Rich's question on countries we are importing oil from???

I read this, too, Rich, just a bit ago... I'll try Venezuela (or Mexico as a 2nd guess), but I just read something on Canada, also. But Saudi Arabia would be the logical answer. Did I leave anyone out???

[dsprik]

Charlie, I am far from being anti-oil company. It fed my family for a lot of years. However, my first thought (on the surface) reading your post, which is very accurate BTW, was how amazing it is that these poor repressed, over regulated, over restricted, over taxed companies were able to valiantly fight through these incredibly depressing barriers of free enterprize to post billions and billions in profit this year. Just extreme luck, I'm sure.

Actually, I trying to be funny...you probably didn't guess... I am definitely for free enterprise. It's what this country was founded on and it's why people are willing to take a chance on dying trying to make into this country in boats and underbellies of planes. I don't believe in government regulation in most cases.

My only concern about these Congressional hearings coming up next week is that our Senators may not be so worried about getting the facts, as they are about trying to get re-elected. Sometimes your constituentcy does not understand all the facts. And, even though you do, you vote the other way just to get re-elected. I'm not saying I'm against these hearings, I'm just cautious of our Senators motives.

[tpbuck1]

Here is an article with some facts to think about when your out spending your hard earned dollars.

All of the hubbub over the oil companies is getting out of hand. An ever-growing chorus of voices suggests all energy companies should be subject to some sort of "windfall" tax on their profits.

First, do energy companies really have "windfall" profits? Compare the profits on fuel to a variety of other items you can buy at the gas station. Coca-Cola sells bottled water, William Wrigley Jr. Co. sells gum, Wells Fargo Bank sells ATM transactions, Altria Group sells cigarettes, Kimberly-Clark sells tissues and Anheuser-Busch sells beer.

Here’s a comparison of the most recent quarterly profits against sales for these companies:

--Coca-Cola: 27.6% of revenue
--William Wrigley Jr.: 15.6% of revenue
--Wells Fargo: 20% of revenue
--Altria: 10.7% of revenue
--Kimberly-Clark: 10.5% of revenue
--Anheuser-Busch: 15.1% of revenue
--Exxon Mobil: 9.8% of revenue

In fact, in the U.S., the industry average profit margin is 7.9%. Why, then is there no grumbling from Congress about Coca-Cola's substantial profits, or Wells Fargo's 20% profit margin? In fact, Exxon Mobil spent $15 billion on capital investments last year, as well as in 1998, when oil was close to $10 a barrel.

Hey Rich, I believe the order is:
#1 - Canada
#2 - Mexico
#3 - Saudi Arabia
#4 - Venzuela

[richfaa]

quote:Originally posted by tpbuck1

Here is an article with some facts to think about when your out spending your hard earned dollars.

All of the hubbub over the oil companies is getting out of hand. An ever-growing chorus of voices suggests all energy companies should be subject to some sort of "windfall" tax on their profits.

First, do energy companies really have "windfall" profits? Compare the profits on fuel to a variety of other items you can buy at the gas station. Coca-Cola sells bottled water, William Wrigley Jr. Co. sells gum, Wells Fargo Bank sells ATM transactions, Altria Group sells cigarettes, Kimberly-Clark sells tissues and Anheuser-Busch sells beer.

Here’s a comparison of the most recent quarterly profits against sales for these companies:

--Coca-Cola: 27.6% of revenue
--William Wrigley Jr.: 15.6% of revenue
--Wells Fargo: 20% of revenue
--Altria: 10.7% of revenue
--Kimberly-Clark: 10.5% of revenue
--Anheuser-Busch: 15.1% of revenue
--Exxon Mobil: 9.8% of revenue

In fact, in the U.S., the industry average profit margin is 7.9%. Why, then is there no grumbling from Congress about Coca-Cola's substantial profits, or Wells Fargo's 20% profit margin? In fact, Exxon Mobil spent $15 billion on capital investments last year, as well as in 1998, when oil was close to $10 a barrel.

Hey Rich, I believe the order is:
#1 - Canada
#2 - Mexico
#3 - Saudi Arabia
#4 - Venezuela

Canada 17%
Saudi Arabia 14.5%
Mexico 13.5%
Venezuela 12%

Our neighbors to the North and south account for over 30% of oil imports..Neither are members of OPEC.. 19.8 % comes from the Persian gulf region..44% from all OPEC nations.Many OPEC nations are NOT in the Persian gulf region..Venezuela IS a opec member, provides 12% of our oil imports and at present is not very friendly to the USA. The great Myth is that Somehow Saudi Arabia "Controls" all our oil and is the great villian..not exactly true. Saudi Arabia is pumping all the oil it can to the USA..Venezuela can do us more damage that any OPEC nation..Oh well....

[sreigle]

Chaser, I feel the pain when you talk about prices in Tonapah. On our recent trip through there after the rally the low fuel light had been on for quite some time and the tone had gone off three times. I was beginning to sweat whether we'd make it to town. So, when we did, we had to pay that price to fill a very empty tank! Thankfully, with the shortbed our tank is only 29 gallons.

[richfaa]

Well after hearing the testimony of the oil folks I feel a lot better..They did us a favor and accidentally made several billion $.They raised prices to PREVENT a oil shortage.By raising the price to a level where a lot of folks could not afford gas, like the less fortunate among us,we therefore used less gas and there was no shortage.And all along we thought it was just pure greed...How little we know////

[dsprik]

Like I said before, I wish they would use different rationale when trying to explain this to the American public. They are not doing a very good job. The oil companies are complaining about all the restrictions being put on them, with refining and new regulations and blends required by law. Lucky for them that they have been able to pass these additional cumbersome expenses on to the consumer and post record profits.