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

[Kaak]

JohnT, kontiki is a lawyer. My friend is the one who works for the oil company and negotiates with land owners.

MRT,
a) my excuse is that it is just as good for me if prices go up as down.

b) I never claimed my father was any kind of expert on politics or economics. Way to put words in my mouth though

c) I didn't make any anecdotes, just repeated what I had heard.

d) Statistics can be manipulated any kind of different ways. Samuel Clemens said there are three types of lies. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. so :P

KH: read the article from the link I posted about the OPEC spokesman. Kinda kills that argument.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
He's a half/half compsci filosofy, apparently...

We are both either off the hook or equally responsible then!

[MRT144]

a) deal kaak, deal.

b) you were using your father as a reference to oil production capabilities of various companies/governments. a most dubious authority.

c) so your dad's biographical narrative you repeated is no longer an anectode? you work for Bush's war reporting department or something?

anecdotal
One entry found for anecdotal.


Main Entry: an·ec·dot·al
Pronunciation: "a-nik-'dO-t&l
Function: adjective
1 a : of, relating to, or consisting of anecdotes b : ANECDOTIC 2
2 : based on or consisting of reports or observations of usually unscientific observers
3 : of, relating to, or being the depiction of a scene suggesting a story
- an·ec·dot·al·ly /-t&l-E/ adverb

d) invoking famous people's quotes doesnt make your arguement any stronger

[Kaak]

so umm...the word you used:

an·ec·dote ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nk-dt)
n.
A short account of an interesting or humorous incident.
pl. an·ec·dotes or an·ec·do·ta (-dt) Secret or hitherto undivulged particulars of history or biography

there was nothing humorous or secrative about it. merely that my father works for the oil companies, and from the information received, it costs 42 cents to bring a gallon of gas to market. But hey, I'm sure it's not true. I'm sure they aren't making any money.

....and in an un related story, the Exxon chairman just got a $400,000,000 retirement package.

[MRT144]

and its people like kaak that make me want to apply to almost every university in the nation stating "if you let this dummy in, why should i jump through the hoops of JC to get in?"

That might actually work at WSU too.

[Kaak]

I got accepted to Cornell... maybe you should apply there. Since you're so intelligent, i'm sure you'll get in

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Kaak
JohnT, kontiki is a lawyer. My friend is the one who works for the oil company and negotiates with land owners.

Um, no I'm not. That would be Flubber. I'm just a man with an MBA who understands how businesses work and how to read financial statements.

Your friend would negotiate with private landowners who own mineral rights to private land, likely almost exclusively in the lower 48 states. In many jurisdictions with oil, including a big chunk of the US (especially Alaska), Alberta, most places offshore and most OPEC and non-OPEC countries I'm aware of, the oil operations are conducted on public land and/or the subterrainean mineral rights are publically held. None of which, of course, changes the fact that royalties, be they paid to governments or private concerns, are almost always linked to resource prices.

[Arrian]

This thread has gotten even more entertaining that it already was.

Fantabulous!

-Arrian

p.s. Kaak - ponder that our gas prices are incredibly CHEAP compared most of the 1st world. I was in New Zealand recently. After converting liters to gallons and NZ dollars to US, it worked out to roughly $4/gallon, and at the time our gas was at about $2.50/gallon (in CT, which is on the pricey side). The UK is worse.

This, of course, is mostly about taxes and regulations and such. I'm not making an argument here, but rather just mentioning that, on the whole, we in the US do rather well with gas prices...

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Kaak
I got accepted to Cornell... maybe you should apply there. Since you're so intelligent, i'm sure you'll get in

Legacy?



-Arrian

[MRT144]

Kaak, maybe I dont have the intelligence to do well on the SAT Math Section, but at least Im not fundamentally unnable to grasp simple principles that are explained to me, in writing.

and I can already see the application process "no SAT, dropped out after sophmore year, 22 years old, and has no funds available other than student loans/financial aid" you want to add a fifth card to that losing hand?

sheer wit alone doesnt grant you access to institutions of higher learning. a proven track record does.

but maybe, just maybe I'll just petition to have you thrown out of cornell using this as my first example.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Arrian
This, of course, is mostly about taxes and regulations and such. I'm not making an argument here, but rather just mentioning that, on the whole, we in the US do rather well with gas prices...

You guys also have toll roads everywhere. I hate those ****ing things.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Kaak
and from the information received, it costs 42 cents to bring a gallon of gas to market. But hey, I'm sure it's not true. I'm sure they aren't making any money.

Try to use a little bit of math and common sense and think about how much their profits would be if it really only cost 42 cents to bring a gallon of gas from the ground to the gas pump. If you think they're selling gas for six times what it costs to produce it, what do you think their profit margin should be?

[Kaak]

lol...I went to Baylor, and I already graduated, so good luck with that Arrian, I've always thought it was crazy how expensive gas was other places. I just kind of assumed it was a difference in tax, but I've never really known.

I just think it's interesting that instead of trying to come up with creative ways of changing things, the people on this thread are not only bending over and taking it, but making excuses for them while they are getting raped.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Kaak
I never said they were forcing prices higher. I'm sure they are happy that the prices are high, and are perfectly fine with selling it at market value. I was only suggesting that they have a lot of room to cut prices *if they HAD to*.

Well that is true.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kaak


Oil companies either buy mineral rights, in which case they don't pay royalties, or they set up long term contracts where royalties are paid. The royalties in these long term contracts don't vary with the price of crude.

HUH--- royalties in Canada are almost invariably a percentage. They can be "gross" --ignoring costs or "net"--an-after-specified cost percentage-- They are also "fixed" like the 15% royalty on conventional production in Alberta or "sliding" like the regimes for offshore and oilsands where the royalty might start at 1% until simple payout of capital costs and then increase as the project owners get paid out until it eventually hits approximately 30%.

In all cases, royalty is a PERCENTAGE so the government take goes up proportionally with revenue.

Now I have seen the occasional fixed dollar amount royalty but it is somewhat rare. Now my experience only covers projects that span about a dozen countries so I'm sure your best friends second cousin knows better