Gasoline Prices More than Double Under Obama: $1.84 to $3.85

[Straight Shooter]

I don't know who is to blame but the facts remain that the USA and Canada have pleanty of oil. If the USA dug more for it and built refineries to process it then OPEC would not control the oil prices. Competition would drop them. We could have a price war going on if we were able to flood the market with cheap oil drilled and refined right here.

The number of oil drilling rigs has quadrupled in number over the past three years. Between oil and gas drilling rigs, the U.S. now has more rigs at work than the rest of the world combined.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/U-S-oil-gusher-blows-out-projections-3341919.php?cmpid=twitter

The United States' rapidly declining crude oil supply has made a stunning about-face, shredding federal oil projections and putting energy independence in sight of some analyst forecasts.

After declining to levels not seen since the 1940s, U.S. crude production began rising again in 2009. Drilling rigs have rushed into the nation's oil fields, suggesting a surge in domestic crude is on the horizon.

The number of rigs in U.S. oil fields has more than quad*rupled in the past three years to 1,272, according to the Baker Hughes rig count. Including those in natural gas fields, the United States now has more rigs at work than the entire rest of the world.

"It's staggering," said Marshall Adkins, who directs energy research for the financial services firm Raymond James. "If we continue growing anywhere near that pace and keep squeezing demand out of the system, that puts you in a world where we are not importing oil in 10 years."

There are doubts that energy independence is that close. But many say the booming shale oil fields in Texas and North Dakota and the growth of deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico will allow the nation to cut its reliance on oil imports significantly over the next couple of decades.

Last month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration upgraded its forecast of crude production in 2025 to 6.4 million barrels per day - 1 million barrels more than were pumped in 2010.

Previously, the EIA had projected the U.S. would peak at 6 million barrels in 2022.

"The growth that we've seen in shale, that's one of the biggest changes that's contributing to our outlook," said Dana Van-Wagener, a research analyst for the agency. "It's evolving so quickly. We weren't anticipating enough growth."

Crude prices stable

By the EIA's forecast, the United States will challenge Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producer when crude and other forms of liquid petroleum are included. But the U.S. is also the world's top oil consumer, demanding nearly 20 million barrels a day. So even with an oil boom, the nation still falls far short of its energy demands.

The technology that fueled the national shale gas rush is moving into oil fields. The pairing of fossil fuel production techniques called horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing allowed companies to access previously hard-to-reach natural gas trapped in dense shale rock.

The rush has unleashed a flood of natural gas onto the U.S. market, causing price to dive and making some gas wells uneconomical. Companies have started to close natural gas wells and pull rigs out of gas fields.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices have remained high, with the domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate price rising 93 cents to $103.24 on Friday.

Pumping crude out of shale rock is more expensive and difficult than getting at natural gas, said Eric Potter, program director for energy research at the University of Texas at Austin's Bureau of Economic Geology.

Oil molecules are larger and harder to squeeze through the cracks created by hydraulic fracturing. But the high price of crude makes it worthwhile for many companies.

"With natural gas prices being as low as they are, your company could go out of business if you don't manage this carefully," Potter said. "People are moving quickly to get into these oil plays. It's a matter of their existence."

The Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Permian Basin in West Texas, and the Bakken Shale in North Dakota have been hubs of the domestic crude boom. They now make up about 40 percent of the nation's land-based oil production, noted Adkins, the Raymond James analyst. He projects that proportion will grow to two-thirds by 2015.

Fields underestimated

Adkins says the Energy Information Administration is vastly underestimating the rapid growth of those oil fields. He believes that crude oil production in the United States will reach 9.1 million barrels by 2015, some 45 percent more than the EIA's forecast.

The reason for the varying projections about the nation's crude potential is uncertainty about how much oil is underground and whether technological advances will make it reachable.

That also causes debate about future crude oil prices.

Adkins, for example, says the rising production will help reverse the surging price of oil, pushing it down to $90 per barrel next year.

Forecast: $4.09/gallon

Others, however, believe oil prices will continue to rise despite the growing supply coming out of U.S. oil fields. Domestic crude prices are closely tied to the world market.

That makes domestic prices susceptible to the global Brent crude benchmark price, which is on the rise due to foreign conflicts and rapidly growing energy demands in developing countries.

The EIA projects the average world oil price will reach about $145 per barrel in 2035, in current dollars, compared to the 2011 average of $93 per barrel. Meanwhile, the agency forecasts gasoline in America will rise to $4.09 per gallon.

"As far as drilling and production, it's going to be really good and robust," said Michelle Michot Foss, chief energy economist for the University of Texas Bureau of Economic Geology. "But consumers will be upset because gasoline prices will continue to be high."

 

[mikexmoran]

 

[Will E Worm]

I don't know who is to blame but the facts remain that the USA and Canada have pleanty of oil. If the USA dug more for it and built refineries to process it then OPEC would not control the oil prices. Competition would drop them. We could have a price war going on if we were able to flood the market with cheap oil drilled and refined right here.

:clap:

 

[Sam Fisher]

The number of oil drilling rigs has quadrupled in number over the past three years. Between oil and gas drilling rigs, the U.S. now has more rigs at work than the rest of the world combined.

http://www.chron.com/business/article/U-S-oil-gusher-blows-out-projections-3341919.php?cmpid=twitter

Gotcha!

OBAMA IS NOW TRYING TO GET CREDIT FOR TAKING ACTIONS HE DENOUNCED IN 2008

Obama Campaigned In Opposition To Offshore Drilling

Obama Said That Drilling Was A “Strategy Designed To Get Politicians Through An Election.” OBAMA: “This is not a strategy designed to end our energy crisis – it’s a strategy designed to get politicians through an election, and that’s exactly why Washington has failed to do anything about our energy dependence for the last thirty years.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Town Hall Meeting, Cedar Rapids, IA, 7/31/08)
Obama Called Offshore Drilling A “Scheme.” OBAMA: “Now the latest scheme is well, we’re going to drill offshore. Now, I want to be absolutely clear to everybody about this. If I thought that I could provide you some immediate relief on gas prices by drilling off the shores of California and New Jersey, I understand how desperate folks are. I met a guy who couldn’t go on a job search that lost his job, couldn’t go on a job search because of the high price of gas. Just couldn’t fill up his tank. I met a teacher in South Dakota who loved her job as a teacher on an Indian reservation, she had to quit because the drive was too far, it was taking up too much of her paycheck. I know how bad people are hurting. So If I thought that by drilling offshore, we could solve our problem, I’d do it.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Springfield, MO, 7/30/08)

Obama Said That Drilling Will Not “Solve Our Problem” And That Its “Not Real.” “‘If I thought that by drilling offshore we could solve our problem, I’d do it … This is not real. I know it’s tempting. The polls say the majority of Americans think it’s one way we’ll resolve our problems, but it’s not real.” (John Whitesides, “Obama, Mccain Duel Over Celebrity Ad, Attacks,” Reuters, 7/30/08)
Obama: “So If I thought that by drilling offshore, we could solve our problem, I’d do it. This is not real. I know it’s tempting. The polls say the majority of Americans think that’s one of the ways we’re going to solve this problem, but it’s not real.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Campaign Event, Springfield, MO, 7/30/08)

Unlike Today, Obama Said In 2008 That Offshore Drilling Would Not Lower Gas Prices

In 2008, Obama Said That Offshore Drilling Will Not Drop Prices At The Pump For At Least Three Administrations. “Obama, facing polls that show most Americans favor lifting the moratorium on new drilling sites, acknowledged the pressure to back the policy. But, he said, it would not yield lower prices at the pump. ‘It won’t drop prices in this administration, the next administration or the administration after that,’ he said. ‘Although it won’t save you dollars at the pump, I will say it has raised campaign dollars.’“ (Thomas Beaumont, “Obama Bites Back At McCain On Energy,” Des Moines Register, 8/1/08)
Obama: “Offshore Drilling Would Not Lower Gas Prices Today. It Would Not Lower Gas Prices Tomorrow. It Would Not Lower Gas Prices This Year. It Would Not Lower Gas Prices Five Years From Now.” (Sen. Barack

Obama, Remarks At Press Availability, Jacksonville, FL, 6/20/08)
Obama: “Believe me, if I thought there was any evidence at all that drilling could save people money who are struggling to fill up their gas tanks by this summer or this year, or even the next few years, I would consider it, but it won’t.” (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Press Availability, Jacksonville, FL, 6/20/08)

Obama Said That “We Won’t See A Drop Of Oil From This Drilling For Almost 10 Years.” “‘Instead of offering any real plan to lower gas prices, Sen. McCain touts his support for George Bush’s plan for offshore oil drilling,’ Obama said Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. ‘But even the Bush administration acknowledges that offshore oil drilling will have little impact on prices. It won’t lower prices today. It won’t lower prices during the next administration. In fact, we won’t see a drop of oil from this drilling for almost 10 years.’“ (“Obama Risks Voter Ire By Opposing New Oil Drilling,” The Associated Press, 8/1/08)

Obama Said: “We Will Not See A Drop Of Oil From Any Offshore Rigs For At Least Ten Years. We Would Not Have Full Production For Twenty Years.” [/B](Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Town Hall Meeting, Cedar Rapids, IA, 7/31/08)

Full story here.... http://www.gop.com/news/research/just-more-words-hypocrisy-at-the-pump/

 

[Rey C.]

I don't know who is to blame but the facts remain that the USA and Canada have pleanty of oil. If the USA dug more for it and built refineries to process it then OPEC would not control the oil prices. Competition would drop them. We could have a price war going on if we were able to flood the market with cheap oil drilled and refined right here.

I agree with your overall sentiment, Bob - especially the need for more refining capacity. But one issue is, it wouldn't be the U.S. that would be refining the oil - it would be various private companies. And from what we've seen this summer alone, the best way to upwardly manipulate the price of a product (with relatively inelastic demand) is to just limit the supply of the refined/finished product.


Exxon/Mobil and Sunoco are no better friends to the U.S. consumer than is OPEC. I don't know what the solution is, but considering their profits, I would most certainly eliminate the tax breaks that go to these companies.

Gas Prices Still Going Up, Refineries Shutting Down
Posted by George Prentice on Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 11:12 AM

Energy industry analysts say there's no relief in sight at the nation's gas pumps.

While prices jumped 6 percent in February, market experts said many of the nation's refineries have been idled or shut down permanently because their owners claimed they were losing money on them. facepalm According to the Wall Street Journal, Sunoco is expected to close another of its large refineries this July, "taking another 335,000 barrels per day in production capacity off the market."

Nationwide, prices at the pump averaged $3.83 a gallon on Friday, according to the AAA. That's only about 6.7 percent below the record high of $4.11 from July 2008.

In Idaho, the cheapest unleaded gas reported in the last 48 hours was $3.51 a gallon at three stations near Coeur d'Alene. The highest prices were reported at a service station in Salmon with gas at $3.84 a gallon, and in South Boise with a price of $3.81 a gallon.

 

[bobjustbob]

You know what Ray C. if what you and Iceman say is correct then that is just an abomination. Was it them that cried about not having the drilling and refineries or was it some pundits that spoke for them? That was my understanding of the situation. Sure, I agree that the oil companies deserve to make a profit. But now if they are allowed to pump and process at will then not do it is a kick in the balls.

Maybe something like this would kick them in the ass. If you drill and refine it here you get your tax break. If you import it, pay tax. Now don't jump on me about my stand on taxes. But I see it as big farm given land to grow corn and not planting because importing it makes them more money. It's not about the money, it's about control.

 

[larss]

Gotcha!

OBAMA IS NOW TRYING TO GET CREDIT FOR TAKING ACTIONS HE DENOUNCED IN 2008

More cut and paste quotes with no analysis - this taken from www.gop.com.
There is nothing in here to show that Obama is trying to take credit for anything, just the quotes made from his 2008 speeches where he says that drilling now (2008) would not see prices at the pump drop for a number of years and says that there would be no extra oil for 10 years. This is taken from information given to him leading him to believe that there would be no immediate benefit to drilling.
As with any politician, he can only go by advice given (he is not a trained geologist with intimate knowledge of the oil production possibilities of the entire US), and the advice said that drilling would not give immediate benefits. The quotes above all talk about offshore oil and the increase that was written about in Iceman's post has been in adding rigs to EXISTING oil fields.
Currently you are looking a peak production of 6 million barrels a day in 10 years time, this is far short of current usage. There is one estimate of producing 9.1 million barrels per day by 2015, but as the US is the worlds largest oil consumer at 20 million barrels a day, this still means purchasing the remainder via OPEC!

The price has not come down from the additional rigs. I don't think that it will, either.
My reasons for this are that the extra drilling is only possible because the oil price is high. Drop the price and the drilling is no longer economically viable, and the drilling stops, which means less oil production and back up to higher prices. So, yes, there will be more oil produced, but it is extremely unlikely that this will have any affect on the price of oil even in the longer term.

 

[xfire]

A company lobbied heavily to build a new power generating plant in the city twenty miles from mine. They decided to idle the plant after spending tens of millions and the better part of a decade on lobbying, construction, and start up because electricity wasn't trading high enough. Here's the problem with energy production; the investment you make today puts you out of business tomorrow. I've worked as a machinist off and on over the years for the largest producer of oil field equipment in Texas. The gear boxes and pumping units we build one month, once put into operation, causes a slow-down in our work load the next month. It's just the nature of the energy production beast. We have cycles of boom-and-bust. Building new oil refineries will cause the price of oil to drop and when they're not making as much money per barrel they won't produce as much. I've worked in this field for nearly twenty five years, I know what I'm talking about.

 

[Mayhem]

U.S. To Become World's Largest Oil Producer, Overtaking Russia

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/us-largest-oil-producer_n_4083406.html?ref=topbar

(Reuters) - The United States will become the world's largest oil producer next year - overtaking Russia - thanks to its shale oil boom which has transformed the global energy landscape, the West's energy watchdog said on Friday.

The prediction comes only days after estimates by the U.S. government showed the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, has ceded its ranking as top global oil importer to China, thanks to the shale revolution cutting import needs.

"The United States' place in the driver's seat of growth is also a throwback to decades past," the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report.

The U.S. resurgence as an oil producer is already reshuffling the cards in the game of world energy diplomacy, playing it a new hand in relations with long-term ally and top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia.

Major producers such as Russia are now forced to invest billions of dollars into new pipelines towards Asia as they can no longer rely on demand from the West, and have to deal with increasingly assertive Beijing.

"With output of more than 10 million barrels per day for the last two quarters, its highest in decades, the nation is set to become the largest nonOPEC liquids producer by the second quarter of 2014, overtaking Russia. And that's not even counting biofuels and refinery gains," the IEA said.

The agency, the Paris-based energy arm of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that U.S. liquids production will average 11 million bpd in 2014 versus 10.86 million in Russia.

The spike in U.S. production will allow total nonOPEC supply to grow by an average of 1.7 million barrels per day in 2014, peaking at 1.9 million in the second quarter, the highest annual growth since the 1970s, the IEA said.

That robust growth will compensate for disruptions to Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' production and provides a cushion for oil prices, which otherwise could have spiked much higher than the current $110 a barrel.

OPEC crude supplies slipped to below 30 million bpd for the first time in almost two years, led by steep drops in Libyan and Iraqi exports due to unrest and terminal repairs, and despite Saudi Arabian output topping 10 million bpd for a third month running.

The IEA said that growth in non-OPEC production was so strong that it further reduced its estimates for demand for OPEC crude next year by an average of 100,000 bpd to 29 million bpd - effectively 1 million bpd below current pumping levels.


EUROPEAN SURPRISE

The IEA left its global oil demand growth forecast for 2014 broadly unchanged at 1.1 million bpd, an increase of 1.2 percent, saying the macroeconomic backdrop was improving.

"European demand data have surprised on the upside recently amid reports that the euro zone's recession ended in the second quarter of 2013 and signs of improvement in business confidence," it said.

But it added that it saw significant downside risks due to the budget standoff in the United States and currency depreciation in many emerging market economies.

The IEA also said few observers expected sanctions on Iran's oil and finance sector to be eased anytime soon, despite a friendlier rhetoric from Tehran.

"Rather, most expect that turning the clock back on sanctions will be a drawnout process based on tangible diplomatic progress with regard to the issues at hand, which many still view as a remote prospect," it added.

The IEA estimated Iran's crude oil production had declined by 100,000 in September to 2.58 million bpd. Oil imports from Iran rebounded by 180,000 to 1.17 million thanks to higher purchases from China and India.

It said preliminary data indicated China lifted imports from Iran to a fourmonth high of 555,000 bpd, India increased them to 265,000 bpd, highest since January 2013, and Pakistan imported first oil from Iran since January 2011.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Will this is one of these threads that makes even me as a fellow conservative cringe. Gas prices were low when Obama took office because they fell under GWB when the economy tanked and demand was low. This is about as disingenuovs of an argument as you could engage in. Gas prices were averaging almost 5 bucks a gallon late in Bush's term. Remember that?

 

[Mariahxxx]

amazing when gas was over $5 gallon under Bush everyone said that the president has nothing to do with the price of oil. Newt was on meet the press screeching about how unfair the media was being to good ol boy george about the price of gas. then when he ran for president he guaranteed he'd have the price of gas under $2 gallon???? Now the republicans are bitching that obama raised the price of gas???? Where the fuck was it $1.85 in 2008???? Not anywhere near where I live. It's no higher now in Florida than it was in 2008 that I can assure you. I paid $3.59 for premium yesterday. in 2007 is was over $5 for premium in florida and $6 in california.

so please take this bullshit post down the road but I'm sure it was posted for those feeble minded brainwashed kool aid drinkers who believe anything you say unless it's scientific fact.

 

[Master Roshi]

raising and lowering of gas prices has nothing to do with presidents but has everything to do with the seven sisters corporations that have monopolized the oil market and have almost complete control over the price swings

 

[Mariahxxx]

oil prices are entirely dependent on speculators. who those people are I have no idea. but when tensions go up in the middle east, our prices go up and oil companies fatten their wallets.

 

[Master Roshi]

peak oil is a myth, what is important is that the currency that is used to purchase the oil remain in dollars and if it is in another currency, the rate of that currency must be adjusted to equal the exact same purchase rate as the US dollar

 

[Chopper3000]

I don't know what you're all moaning about. In the UK we pay the equivalent of $8.20/gallon. Happy days.

 

[bobjustbob]

$2.97. Part of your gas purchases will go to Sandy Relief. Turf meet at The Meadowlands followed by the grand opening of The new Meadowlands. Don't worry about parking even on Giant football afternoons.

 

[Mayhem]

I just wanted to remind everyone that a vote for Obama meant a vote for $8 gas (like Europe) and he was the worst thing for US oil production, blah, blah.

 

[saschaxx]

oil prices are entirely dependent on speculators. who those people are I have no idea. but when tensions go up in the middle east, our prices go up and oil companies fatten their wallets.

So who ??? do you think them speculators are ?? Traders who work for Exxon, BP, Chevron, Halliburton, ....and so on .

And if I´d pay $ 3,85 for the gallon I could afford a Lambo ...