Yes, U.S. Gas Use Dropped; But So Did Production

This article has 15 comments:

•  
  TMFSinchirun
  a

  Jul 10 12:32 PM

  My Website
  I commend your objective approach! We news writers need to continue to call it as we see it.
  
  www.fool.com/investing...
•  
  ozzy43

  Jul 10 01:30 PM
  Regarding the author's presumption: "domestic oil production will begin to move higher over the next few years due to all the exploration and development being done"
  
  Are there publicly available articles or studies which present evidence for this view? Most of the analysis of this question I have seen indicates that all of this exploration and development will, at best, only partially offset the *decline* (e.g. www.theoildrum.com/nod...), and I have not seen any logic and fact based articles which make the case that an actual net *increase* in domestic production can ever be expected again. Would be interesting in examining any such.
  
  Also, it seems evident that even if an increase could be achieved via new fields, this could only happen many years from now since it takes a decade or more to bring enough wells online to reach high levels of production. Does this author contend that oil prices will fall sooner than that, or is his timeline for falling oil prices several years out, as would seem supportable IF such an increase could be achieved?
  
  Or is the assertion here that we'll be able to reverse the decline in existing fields? And if that's it, are there articles or studies which are based on evidence of this?
•  
  iThinkBig

  Jul 10 03:19 PM

  My Website
  1) Bad government on energy policy for 30 years
  2) Bad government on fiscal policies for 15 years
  3) Coordinated global strategy to NOT increase supply (new paradigm where the U.S. no longer tells OPEC what to do).
  Exxon is the last American energy giant that has any say in the oil market, everything else is owned by foreign nations, facilitating further wealth transfer into there pockets from the U.S.
  4) Big speculators including the oil producing nations (ICE, GCC, Russia) had more or less a sure bet creating a self-fulfilling prophecy loop, but that is now changing.
  5) Yes, demand destruction and great financial pain makes all of this now seem VERY transparent.
  6) Solutions: Must go energy independent and create jobs. Will the ivory tower guys on the Hill get there head out there ass in time and explore ALL options including drilling? We can only hope.
•  
  Shenandoah

  Jul 11 08:46 AM
  What would the total domestic fuel production look like if you overlayed ethanol on the crude oil curve?
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  paultaut

  Jul 11 09:27 AM
  Corn Ethanol has destroyed Crack margins and the earnings of the refiners. It is a substitute for Gasoline not an additive to reduce emmisions.
  
  In trying to assess Corn ethanols costs, one has to include that an estimated 75% of the cost increases on all of the Grains can be added to the fuel saved by using corn for fuel.
  
  Personally I believe the single biggest inflation cost outside of Oil can be laid on Corn Ethanol's doorstep.
  
  Add that to all of your equations.
•  
  cal48koho

  Jul 11 10:36 AM
  Following Eric's ideas has cost you a lot of money lately and following some of his thoughts going forward will likely continue that trend. I would use him the way I'd use Henry Paulson.Good contrary indicator. Us drilling will increase supply? Sorry Eric. It may or may not and it takes years for that to happen, that's if you can find rigs and people. One of our main suppliers Mexico is in huge trouble. A year ago Matt Simmons(I think) said Mexico might be a net importer by 2014 or 2015. The Cantarell field is off a mind boggling 34% in the past year and one oil pundit said that Mexico may stop exports as soon as 2 years from now. That's more than 1 million barrels gone in 2 years. Do a google on the Wikipedia megaprojects work and be prepared to hang on to your hat. There is almost no new production coming on line of any consequence after 2013 or so. With the current gang of morons in charge in DC I would be very loath to be shorting OIL. The republican business model has brought the country to its knees and if the draft dodger in chief sends cruise missiles to Iran, I hope you have your 55 gal drums of fuel in your backyard topped off. Mine are full.
•  
  Shaggieman

  Jul 11 11:12 AM
  Bush could solve this problem with the stroke of a pen. Simply no new cars or SUVs, domestic or imported, over 3000 pounds period and new trucks could be purchased only by a licenced professional.
  
  Now quite throwing tomatoes at me.
  
  Maybe the 55 mph is a easier fix to save an instant 20%.
•  
  July41944

  Jul 11 11:41 AM
  Sorry, Shaggieman, but we still have a Constitution (although it's being honored more in the breach than in the keeping by the current Administration). Interfering in the economy to that extent is Congress' job, and even then the Courts (which the current Admin. has conveniently stacked with pro-business judges), is unlikely to go along.
  
  It would be kinda fun, though, to see the Administration attempt to exert Executive authority and try a stunt like Shaggieman suggests, only to see their own judicial appointees rap their knuckles with a big stick.
•  
  john s.
  gordon

  Jul 11 11:51 AM
  cal48 - stealing fuel oil from tanks has been big business in garrett county MD for the last 2 yrs & can only get bigger. when they start trying to steal propane we/re in big trouble forestfirewise.
  
  shaggie - the solution in italy has been simple - every car over 2 litres engine size gets to pay a super duper annual excise tax for the privilege.
  > jack
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  fireball

  Jul 11 04:33 PM
  wow legitamate use of constitutional taxation. no john i need some of your money to give to this crackhead over here. let us be fair. the poor guy is broke and out of crack. until we get those pesky guns out of public hands it aint safe for him to steal what he wants. o.k. everybody pay your fair share. we got illegitamate babies to birth and illegals to care for. we got unelected beauracrats we got to pay. aw comeon we have to fund our own destruction.
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  oldtrdr

  Jul 11 11:21 PM

  My Website
  Eric,
  
  As one of your detractors, I wish to commend you on your effort to not mine data to support your view....keep it up.
  
  jan
•  
  oldtrdr

  Jul 11 11:21 PM

  My Website
  Eric,
  
  As one of your detractors, I wish to commend you on your effort to not mine data to support your view....keep it up.
  
  jan
•  
  fireball

  Jul 12 12:04 AM
  it is all going to be o.k. i just heard obama tell the oil companies to drill on the land they already have or we (he) will give it to someone who will. if you just drill and oil comes out i think i will get my neighbor to bring his tractor and auger over to my back yard. it is a pretty big yard so there must be a lot of oil. please do not tell maxine. i do not want my yard nationalized.
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  User 224526

  Jul 14 05:55 PM
  You want to see PROOF that Oil pricing is a "SCAM".....
  
  Take a look at some of the futures prices of a barrel of oil.
  
  futures.tradingcharts....
  
  Do you see a pattern there?
  
  Look at the 2012 future prices for a barrel of oil...they are trading in the $70's
  
  2012 will be "election season"....
  
  Speculators don't want to touch buying it...if we were really living in a "tight" market....and $150/$200 a barrel is here to stay...That's the BEST deal OF THE CENTURY you could find, you could TRIPLE your investment in 4 short years...what other investment exists with that kind of "guarantee".... 300% return in 4 years....?!
  
  Why are people not buying up those futures contracts as fast as
  they can?
  
  You want further proof?!
  How and why would a COMMODITY price...we're talking a COMMODITY, have $4-$5 swings in a matter of HOURS...that's a 3% price swing within HOURS of trading in a single DAY!!
  
  Because the price is FALSELY inflated....and Oil Pricing is a SCAM manipulated on the ICE markets.
  
  Has EVERYONE completely forgotten (or IGNORED) history? We've seen this EXACT SAME THING when Enron was around.
  They were the Market makers and they manipulated the market to their whim......Anyone remember Dick Cheney saying "we can't pull anymore kilowatts", yet Enron was shutting down Power plants in California, to close grids and falsely increase demands on the rest of the grid...
  
  
  it is the EXACT same thing ICE is doing.
  
  Eliminate the Graham/Enron loophole, put more transparency on ICE Markets, and a price of a barrel falls in HALF, OVERNIGHT
  
  I'll bet EVERYTHING I OWN on it.
•  
  User 224526

  Jul 15 08:26 PM
  If you didn't believe me with my first teaser....trying reading these articles...
  
  About ICE,IntercontinentalEx... Inc.
  
  
  Ice, Ice Baby Part 1
  www.star-telegram.com/...
  
  Ice, Ice Baby Part 2
  www.star-telegram.com/...
  
  
  Here are some teaser quotes:
  
  
  When Enron failed and took its private, unregulated energy exchange to the grave, another rose to take its place. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) was the brainchild of
  Morgan Stanley,
  Goldman Sachs,
  British Petroleum,
  Deutsche Bank,
  Dean Witter,
  Royal Dutch Shell,
  SG Investment Bank and
  Totalfina.
  
  In 2001 ICE purchased the International Petroleum Exchange in London; renamed ICE Futures, it now operates as an "exempt commercial market" under section 2(H)(3) of the Commodity Exchange Act. As the Senate hearings pointed out in the summer of 2006, "Both markets operate outside of any CFTC oversight."
  
  www.star-telegram.com/...
  We started as a society that worships hard labor and the basic business ethic of building value into the goods you create. How’d we get from there to worshiping Wall Street’s billion-dollar boys — who create nothing, build nothing, own nothing and deliver no goods, and yet can throw so much money into products made by others that they determine what we consumers will pay for those goods?
  
  Oil Movements tracks every tanker at sea, from both OPEC and non-OPEC oil countries, along with their cargoes’ final destinations. Anne O’Shea responded immediately to my request with their report dated May 8, 2008. Just so you will know, oil shipments are up from a year ago in almost every class, including Middle East oil in transit and Non-OPEC in Transit. The only class of oil shipment that has declined is covered on page 3 of that report. That chart is labeled, "4-Week Changes in Westbound Oil at Sea."
  
  That’s right, shipments of oil headed west have shown serious declines during the month of April, down 800,000 barrels per day in the week before the publication of the report
  
  
  This is EXACTLY what Enron did when it's Electricity Manipulation, Turning off power grids to falsely inflate demand on other grids....