Iraq opens oil fields

[linux_is_cool]

Interesting.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25453428/

[Common Sense Al]

Maybe the can use the money to pay us back the $500,000,000,000 plus we've spent over there.

[skiing1974]

or let us have the gas under $3.50 again

[josh]

Its about time.

[neighbor]

Unfortunately, opening more foreign oil won't do much for gas prices. There isn't a shortage of oil, there's too much speculation.

I just read this... interesting. I hadn't looked at it from this angle.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25417337/

[Common Sense Al]

Unfortunately, opening more foreign oil won't do much for gas prices. There isn't a shortage of oil, there's too much speculation.

I just read this... interesting. I hadn't looked at it from this angle.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25417337/

I read this earlier... says the opposite (I think the price is more due to "real" reasons than speculation - but speculation does make some difference)
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080701/iea_speculate.html

LONDON (Reuters) - It is easy to blame speculation for the doubling of oil prices over the past 12 months, but the real reasons are strong demand growth, coupled with shortages of supply and refining capacity, the IEA said on Tuesday.

[skiing1974]

noooooo...! speculation in the market?

[josh]

Its a combination of both. I like Newt Gingrich (shocking...I know) and think he has come up with a lot of good common sense ideas lately. One of those - relating to his campaign to "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" is that we should release 1/3 of the strategic petroleum reserve tomorrow and bankrupt all of the speculators. That would, in his estimate, lower oil by $30-$50 overnight and cause those speculators to go broke. That is a very short term fix...not really a fix, but a way to punish those who bid up future oil, not for supply and demand reasons, but for pure profit reasons.

The medium term fix is to drill in the US and take advantage of our vast supply of untapped oil and gas. The medium, to long term is to keep moving away from a oil driven economy and into clean emission generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOpcPfAarjY

[neighbor]

Unfortunately, opening more foreign oil won't do much for gas prices. There isn't a shortage of oil, there's too much speculation.

I just read this... interesting. I hadn't looked at it from this angle.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25417337/

I read this earlier... says the opposite (I think the price is more due to "real" reasons than speculation - but speculation does make some difference)
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080701/iea_speculate.html

LONDON (Reuters) - It is easy to blame speculation for the doubling of oil prices over the past 12 months, but the real reasons are strong demand growth, coupled with shortages of supply and refining capacity, the IEA said on Tuesday.

Interesting. I should restate my comment from 'no shortage of oil' to specifically state 'no shortage of gas'. Your link indicates a shortage of distillates, affecting heating oil and diesel. That will hit the U.S. this winter.

[HEAD]

Its a combination of both. I like Newt Gingrich (shocking...I know) and think he has come up with a lot of good common sense ideas lately. One of those - relating to his campaign to "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" is that we should release 1/3 of the strategic petroleum reserve tomorrow and bankrupt all of the speculators. That would, in his estimate, lower oil by $30-$50 overnight and cause those speculators to go broke. That is a very short term fix...not really a fix, but a way to punish those who bid up future oil, not for supply and demand reasons, but for pure profit reasons.

The medium term fix is to drill in the US and take advantage of our vast supply of untapped oil and gas. The medium, to long term is to keep moving away from a oil driven economy and into clean emission generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOpcPfAarjY

I watched the CEO of Chevron in an interview last week. He was asked why not drill more in the Gulf where it has been allowed for over 20 years. he said it was too expensive. So if we open up Florida/Alaska, who is to say the oil companies will drill there anyway. If they really wanted to do it, they would have been doing it.

[Common Sense Al]

I watched the CEO of Chevron in an interview last week. He was asked why not drill more in the Gulf where it has been allowed for over 20 years. he said it was too expensive. So if we open up Florida/Alaska, who is to say the oil companies will drill there anyway. If they really wanted to do it, they would have been doing it.

I bet it's cheaper to drill there. But I'm just guessing.

Jsut because it is expensive in the Gulf, doesn't mean it would be expensive off the coast of another state or in Alaska.

[HEAD]

I watched the CEO of Chevron in an interview last week. He was asked why not drill more in the Gulf where it has been allowed for over 20 years. he said it was too expensive. So if we open up Florida/Alaska, who is to say the oil companies will drill there anyway. If they really wanted to do it, they would have been doing it.

I bet it's cheaper to drill there. But I'm just guessing.

Jsut because it is expensive in the Gulf, doesn't mean it would be expensive off the coast of another state or in Alaska.

No, but my point was if they really wanted to do something about forien oil, they could have a long time ago. Botom line is $$$$. Whatever way is cheaper for them.

[Common Sense Al]

No, but my point was if they really wanted to do something about forien oil, they could have a long time ago. Botom line is $$$$. Whatever way is cheaper for them.

Yeah, it's money... but I blame the gov't mostly. The gov't could have made policies and regulations to prevent us from becoming so dependent on foreign oil. I consider it a national security issue and they should treat it like that.

The idea to use part of the oil reserves sounds pretty interesting. I think it's getting to the point where it's an "emergency"... if we wait too long it might be too late. But then the gov't might have to bail out more banks if the price fell too low!

[skiing1974]

Al, now can't regulate too much here when it is not in gov't interest and when that would be seen as socialistic way of market control

[Common Sense Al]

Al, now can't regulate too much here when it is not in gov't interest and when that would be seen as socialistic way of market control

Yeah, some things NEED to be regulated. The "free" market can do some bad things by placing profit and greed as #1. In many ways, deregulation has been worse for the consumer (like electricity). But don't get me started.