Down with the evil Gas lords. (yes, i am brave enough to post another from myspace)

[KrazyHorse]

Watching Kaak go is sort of funny and sad at the same time.

[KrazyHorse]

I also think that Kaak has never heard of royalty payments, which are generally based on the market price of the produced oil...

[KrazyHorse]

You can go ahead and cry, Kaak.

I won't think any less of you.

Hell, I couldn't think any less of you.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You could if you REALLY tried!

[Kuciwalker]

This thread makes baby Jesus cry.

[KrazyHorse]

It should be archived.

[Adam Smith]

When demand increases, costs, prices, and profits all go up, no conspiracy necessary.

[JohnT]

Did Kaak's dad approve that chart?

[KrazyHorse]

I don't see 42 cent gas anywhere on there

[Adam Smith]

If its a conspiracy you want, I would be looking at the refinery level, not at a global market for a fungible commodity.

Having done antitrust work in a former life, I can tell you that the market would be much more subject ot manipulation at the refinery level because:
1. Market is probably regional (US or North America) instead of global.
2. Refinery capacity is fixed instead of more elastic global supply.
3. There are substantial delays and costs to new refinery construction.

As the graph shows, refinery utilization has dropped in the last few months. Reduction in supply could raise the prices received by refiners that still operate.

Is the reduction in utilization due to lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina? Maybe. Conspiracy? Maybe. Capacity taken off line to get into compliance with provisions of Clean Air Act? Maybe.

A few more facts that would be useful to know:
Who's refineries are down?
Why?
For how long relative to similar prior situations?
How much oil products (gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, heavy oils) are imported relative to refined domestically?
Who owns the import terminals?
What is their capacity and utilization?

The capacity utilization graph at least helps a refining story pass the sniff test.

edit: spelling, link

http://www.petrostrategies.org/Graphs/refineryutilization.html

[Zkribbler]

Some of us are naive enough that competition between oil companies should keep prices down. I guess this proves the free market doesn't work....not when all oil companies feel justified in gouging consumers across the board.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Adam Smith
If its a conspiracy you want, I would be looking at the refinery level . . .

That has always been my half-baked conspiracy theory.

[DanS]

This conversation is pretty scattershot, but a point that needs to be recognized is that Exxon-Mobil and the other majors participate in projects in a multitude of different ways in both OPEC and non-OPEC countries. Exxon-Mobil could be participating heavily in various parts of the Saudi business, for instance. How much that translates into influence, I'm not sure.

[Frozzy]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


I thought I was being sarcastic. Usually, when costs go up, profits go down.

Not for inelastic goods such as oil.

EDIT: a bit late

[JohnT]

Oh, and just in case: Hi Kaak's dad!