http://thepoliticalteen.com/video/noneofyourfuckingbiz.wmv
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I fell for some of the doom and gloom forecasts in the media. I hate it when I do that. We see doom and gloom media stories every day. I know better than to fall for that stuff.
The best description I ever heard of my grandmother was that she spends so much time worrying about things that never happen.
The really sad thing is that people really eat this stuff up.
I was leaving teh “Y” last night and some complete stranger comes up to me and starts telling me how I’d better buy gas tonight. Something to the effect that the price will be 3.10$ in the morning and 4$ by the weekend.
First thing I thought was…I don’t need gas. The second thought was…Do I have a choice? If it were 20$ a gallon I’d still have to pay for it if I wanted to drive my car.
~Matt
Well being a complete and utter capitalist…more power to em’, I guess. If I were CEO of some massive oil conglomerate I’d have a hard time not doing the same thing. Hell WTC rams it home and people keep filling up the races in 12hrs all the while allowing other cheaper just as well run races to die on the vine. Same goes for oil. We get nailed day after day, all the while we drive the wheels of our tanks, hybrids and luxury vehicles complaing all teh way about how damned expensive it is…go figure.
Also keep this in mind. A fairly recent article posted here puts the cost for domestic/non-opec oil per barrel to be extracted from the ground at 7.50$ a barrel. OPEC nantions are closer to $1.50 a barrel…whats todays price per barrel…65-67$…Hmmmm Demand anyone?
My complaint is with the people that buy it. Not only the gas, but the media hype that say’s “it’s all because the hurricane”. It’s a joke.
~Matt
"Also keep this in mind. A fairly recent article posted here puts the cost for domestic/non-opec oil per barrel to be extracted from the ground at 7.50$ a barrel. OPEC nantions are closer to $1.50 a barrel…whats todays price per barrel…65-67$…Hmmmm Demand anyone? "
The price per barrel of light sweet crude is what gets reported (and is the highest price by far). Since it is much more efficient and simple to refine that is basically all that our refineries use. If they could also take advantage of the other grades of oil then the price for light sweet crude would be lower.
Kind of like grades of diamonds. It doesn’t cost anymore to pull up flawless ones, but they sure are worth much more.
I fell for some of the doom and gloom forecasts in the media. I hate it when I do that. We see doom and gloom media stories every day. I know better than to fall for that stuff.
If the storm hadn’t veered, the doom and gloom would have happened. As it is, things are still pretty bad in New Orleans places, as I’m sure you know.
Yes, it could hve been worse. Yes, it’s not as bad as the tsunami. Still, I don’t really understand the “screw you guys” attitude in this thread.
Our area (NW Fla) has undergone two direct hurricane hits in less than a year. Both storms wer Cat 4/5’s but weakened to Cat 3’s right before landfall. Even so, the coastal devastation was apalling, especially from Ivan. I have friends, family, and coworkers still without homes. Getting someone to get up on my roof and fix minor damage from Dennis is next to impossible. So, I was sitting here hoping Katrina didn’t come and finish off my roof.
I feel for the people who lost it all. It will be years before they recover.
Yes, it was overblown to compare Katrina to the SE Asian tsunami, but there is still a lot of human suffering going on.
FWIW, rumors of hundreds of deaths after Ivan turned out to be false. I hope the same happens in Mississippi and NOLA.
I’m not sure I understand were you got the “screw you guys” thing from?
I think most of the thread is not about the victoms as much as the complete over hyping over every event on the planet by the media.
Even if this had the potential for having a death toll near the level of the Tsunami…do you report it as such? The only reason you would, would to create ratings. In fact if teh media really cared about the situation they’d play it down and try to install a bit of calm rather than panic.
If there’s a screw you in here it’s directed at the media and not the victoms…well unless you’re talking about the gas thing…then yes…screw us…it’s our fault…so we’re screwed.
~Matt
If there’s a screw you in here it’s directed at the media and not the victoms
Yeah, you’re right. I missed that - sorry.
The price per barrel of light sweet crude is what gets reported (and is the highest price by far). Since it is much more efficient and simple to refine that is basically all that our refineries use. If they could also take advantage of the other grades of oil then the price for light sweet crude would be lower.
not sure where you get your information, but our refineries are capable of refining all grades of crude. WTI (West Texas Intermediate) is one of the most common prices quoted, but not all crude is of that grade. It is just a basis for setting a price. The price paid at the wellhead is based on the api of the crude, the presence of H2S, etc. and varies from well to well, and field to field, but trust me, it is all bought, and refined by our refineries.
before you spout off about how an industry works, you really ought to try and learn a little bit about it… you can start here
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/oil_market_basics/default.htm
What is wrong with you? This is catastrophic for the gulf coast. Have you seen the video? I have family and friends in New Orleans who lost everything, and they won’t able to return for a month. There’s more to it than the place you go on vacation to get drunk.
As for the media blowing it out of proportion, yea, they did. But if you ever lived down there, you’d know there’s a culture of sticking out the big storms. Have a hurricane party everything will be fine. That hundreds of thousands evacuated is amazing, and the media played a big part in that.
When the water goes down (And it’s not doing that right now, it’s going up in NO) God knows what they’ll find. It’ll be our own little third world country for a long time. A few hours of bad weather could turn our nation’s economy upside down. It’s not just about oil, it’s about all the effects daisy chained together. If you can’t see that, ain’t no cure for the dumb ass.
"before you spout off about how an industry works, you really ought to try and learn a little bit about it… you can start here "
So I was right in that the prices vary, even in your link the difference between domestic and imported was around 10% and then you’re going to see variations within those two ares depending on where it came from, wonder what kind of range those variations would be?
Guess I was wrong though on what the refineries use, but not that they prefer the good stuff as it is more efficient to process and they get more “outputs” per barrel. So it makes sense for them to pay more for the WTI than for other “heavy crude”.
Overall, not too bad and you can take your condescending attitude and stick it. Thanks for the link though, very informative.
your welcome for the link, and sorry for the condescending attitude, was a knee-jerk response.
ok. first. i decline the nomination of “price expert”. i grew up in the industry. working on oil rigs paid for my college. i got to spend lots of qaulity time in nice places like Siberia, and Eunice NM, but my knowledge is in drilling the oil wells, and producing them to the point where the oil leaves the ground and enters the pipeline. i am as ignorant of refining and marketing as a heart surgeon would be of a brain surgeon (probably a really bad analogy), but anyway… i generally know how it all works, but i would be the last person to explain to you the details. for starters, if you really are intersted, i would consider reading the link in my last post. it does layout the basics for how it all works, and provides plenty of links for more detailed information…
that being said… i will offer this… big fat oil executives do not sit around a table at the country club, smoking cigars, drinking scotch, and raising gasoline prices every time the wind blows so they can “gouge” the consumer. for starters, the price of crude and natural gas is determined by brokers and investors. when a hurricane hits the gulf, and the brokers in NYC start buying futures like crazy, based on investors instructions, all it really means to Mr. Exxon, is that he is going to have to pay that much more for a barrell of oil at the wellhead, to get it to his refinery, to then refine it, to then market it, and transport it, and sell it, ultimately to you (and me by the way) when you fill up your car with gas and buy your cheetos. the complexity of the market, after that barrel leaves the wellhead and into the pipeline is beyond my understanding.
so i guess i would answer your question like this… hurricane hits, 2 days later you are paying $3.00 at the pump… doesn’t make sense, but with deregulation and open market trading of oil and gas, and the time/effort/investment/capitol it takes to get that barrel of crude at the wellhead(with an artificially set price in NYC) and turn it into a gallon of gasoline you can put in your car, it happens.
finally… in defense of an industry that gets battered all over these boards… i will say this. i work for a salary just like everyone else. when the price of oil goes crazy i don’t get a raise, when the price goes south (see most of the 80’s, 90’s) i get to sweat my job and spend a lot of quality time in ugly barren places. all it means to me is i have to pay more at the pump for my gasoline, and more at the end of the month for electrity and gas. if you really want to learn who is profiting from artificially inflated prices, head to NYC, spend a few days in the commodities exchange… that’s where the real cash is being made.
"for starters, the price of crude and natural gas is determined by brokers and investors. "
Lately I’ve wondered how much of the price of a barrel of oil is due to hedge funds and institutional investors looking for big returns in the oil markets. If we were to just allow the actual consumers of oil (refineries) to purchase it I’d bet we’d have a much lower price.
I wonder if there is anyway to quantify this (I know it is way over my head though).
" If we were to just allow the actual consumers of oil (refineries) to purchase it I’d bet we’d have a much lower price"
i am sure if you were to poll everyone within the industry, most would prefer it that way. volatile markets don’t benefit those that are in it for the long haul (from Exxon on down to the small oilfield service company), it just makes it that more complicated and risky to do business.
“most would prefer it that way.”
But that wouldn’t be capitalism, to bad though it would provide for much more stable gas prices. Other things to think about, what is going to happen when the Iraqi fields start pumping massive amounts of oil again, what about when Russia stops dismantling and controlling the oil giants there, what if Venezuela was actually a stable gov’t, what effect will Iran also opening up to foreign companies (mostly Chinese though as we can’t do business there)?
There is just so much fear and anxiety in the global oil marketplace that hopefully this all resolves itself and we can get back to “normal trading”.
I think most of the thread is not about the victoms as much as the complete over hyping over every event on the planet by the media.
I’ve been flipping between local and national news the past two days. If anything, the national media isn’t coming close to showing how bad it really is in some parts of MS and LA right now. We’re getting the full 20 minute aerial shots of the damage- mile after mile of leveled coastline, entire suburbs of New Orleans under water. The nationals are only showing you the 30 second clips that just don’t show the full scope of it all.
Watch the “Mississippi Gulf Coast Damage from Skychopter 3” clip. And they didn’t even get over some very hard hit areas like Slidell and the SW Mississippi coast.
I also agree that folks here may not realize just how bad it is in MS and LA. Remember when the tsunami was just breaking out in the news, and they knew a hundred or so had died, and expected that up to 1000 had died?
I’m afraid that’s probably what you’re seeing now. The numbers are probably going to be much worse in a few days. New Orleans may have to be completely evacuated and may not be habitable for months. 60 miles of coastal communities are gone.
It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the tsunamis, but Katrina is a huge catastrophe.
But I also found myself thinking it would be fun to see one of those idiot reporters in the wind get creamed by a billboard 
I fell for some of the doom and gloom forecasts in the media. I hate it when I do that. We see doom and gloom media stories every day. I know better than to fall for that stuff.
The best description I ever heard of my grandmother was that she spends so much time worrying about things that never happen.
One major city and many coastal communities wiped out. Likely several hundred fatalities. Probably the most expensive storm in history. Oh yeah, next month is the peak month for hurricanes.
Just how bad does it have to be for you to consider it doom and gloom?