Gas prices: good idea, but...

[analag]

I see more vehicles at the gas station now.

 

[JohnRoberts]

[quote author="dale116dot7"]I used 82 Mbbl per day, which is about 13GL per day.

Yes, little things add up, and adding the probably a few thousand litres of cooking oil per day that gets thrown out would help a bit.

Check out ExxonMobil's business strategy lately - doesn't that tell you something?

-Dale[/quote]

There may be consumers throwing out their cooking oil, (I don't fry food) but commercial cooking oil (called something like "yellow grease"?), is routinely collected and the price for used cooking grease has gone up 4x since the awareness that it can also work as motor fuel. Perhaps still economical considering it lacks the tax, motor fuel gets hit with.

There have been reports of thefts in 20 states by "thrifty" consumers... Why not just steal diesel? Thefts of oil from oil field storage tanks is increasing too.

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I'm not aware of any major shift in Exxon's business strategy (maybe their PR , All the big oil companies are struggling to look like good guys while getting tarred and feathered every other month by politicians. I sold mine a while ago because I'm apprehensive that they will be a pinata for the next administration who is likely to punish them for the imagined crime of delivering a product that people want at a profit margin lower than many companies. It's not like they're selling crack, while some people can't tell the difference.

I like the Brazilian oil co (Petrobras) because congress can't reach out and touch them, and they've discovered some huge new fields in deep water off their coast.

JR

 

[kato]

[quote author="analag"]I see more vehicles at the gas station now.[/quote]

I've noticed that too.
I'm assuming it's people gassing up $5 - $10 a time - which was enough to get through the week at one time.

 

[lofi]

in the uk 79% of pump price is tax, yet still we complain about the company's making a profit :? i have cut my consumption by 50%, not to punish them but to save my wallet.

 

[dale116dot7]

ExxonMobil - share buyback, huge profit, production down, exploration down. Proven reserves depleting, and little activity to find more. Do they feel the end of oil is near? Or are they nearer than we thought of finding an alternative that they feel exploration is not where to spend a lot of that profit?

As a shareholder, I insist that they maximize their profits for my dividends. As a customer, I might be upset at the high fuel prices. I can't have it both ways.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I am no longer a shareholder, so I don't get annual reports any more but corporations rarely put themselves out of business on purpose.

Exploration for new oil is difficult. something like 80-90% of known reserves in the US is off limits. We see drilling off the coast of Cuba that is outlawed off the coast of Fla a few miles away.

Exxon has announced initiative in very low friction oil, lighter weight plastics, and tire compounds that hold air better, all factors that can improve gas mileage and reduce demand for their product. I lump this into PR or efforts outside of their primary mission to placate detractors in high places.

Regarding their proven reserves they have increased them to 101%. While one percent is not a huge increase keep in mind the volume that 100% represents.

I see a lot of capital investment in cleaning up their operations, carbon capture (sequestering) research, refinery expansions and things they anticipate becoming mandates or at least politically correct. Since the investment cycle for large oil projects is many years long I can understand them being a little gun shy anticipating the direction the political winds are blowing. The current political discussion favors increased tax rates on the profits they already make rather than opening more of known reserves for expanding capacity.

Worldwide most of the undiscovered/undeveloped oil is under sovereign control or in difficult areas to explore/extract. The recent large find off Brazil is under something like 4 miles of ocean. There is discussion of oil possibly being found in polar regions but again very difficult to extract and move to market. Even developing well known reserves like in Iran are complicated by US technology export restrictions (something about lying to UN investigators about nuclear weapons development for several years in a row), and Iraq another whale of oil reserves where they are still arguing about how to split up that cash cow before they start pumping in ernest.

There is a lot of political arm waving about this but not much mystery, or actual government help. They could do a lot more good by just leaving the oil companies alone to their knitting. Soon enough we'll be ranting about more important concerns.

JR