PETROLPHOBIA (Page 31/66)
dennis_6 DEC 31, 01:14 PM
Somebody want to remind me how our gas prices are because of supply and demand again?
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NEW YORK (AP) – For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.


By David J. Phillip, AP

In this Nov. 10, 2010 file photo, oil refineries are shown in this aerial view, in Deer Park, Texas. For the first time, the top export of the United States is fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil. From January to October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly $280 billion.

Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88 billion in 2011, have surged for two reasons:

— Crude oil, the raw material from which gasoline and other refined products are made, is a lot more expensive. Oil prices averaged $95 a barrel in 2011, while gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon — a record. A decade ago oil averaged $26 a barrel, while gasoline averaged $1.44 a gallon.

— The volume of fuel exports is rising. The U.S. is using less fuel because of a weak economy and more efficient cars and trucks. That allows refiners to sell more fuel to rapidly growing economies in Latin America, for example. In 2011, U.S. refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier.

There's at least one domestic downside to America's growing role as a fuel exporter. Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home.

Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.

Refining companies won't say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are likely generating higher profits per gallon than they would have generated in the U.S. Otherwise, they wouldn't occur.

The value of U.S. fuel exports has grown steadily over the past decade, coinciding with rising oil prices and increased demand around the globe.

Developing countries in Latin America and Asia have been burning more gasoline and diesel as their people buy more cars and build more roads and factories. Europe also has been buying more U.S. fuel to make up for its lack of refineries.

And there's a simple reason why America's refiners have been eager to export to these markets: gasoline demand in the U.S. has been falling every year since 2007. It dropped by another 2.5 percent in 2011. With the economy struggling, motorists cut back. Also, cars and trucks have become more fuel-efficient and the government mandates the use of more corn-based ethanol fuel.

The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

http://www.usatoday.com/mon...es-export/52298812/1
dennis_6 DEC 31, 01:36 PM
Are you surprised to learn most of our oil does not come from the middle east?
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Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Sep-11 Aug-11 YTD 2011 Sep-10 YTD 2010
CANADA 2,324 2,240 2,157 1,937 1,971
SAUDI ARABIA 1,465 1,075 1,180 1,082 1,072
MEXICO 1,099 1,150 1,113 1,108 1,132
VENEZUELA 759 806 893 919 928
NIGERIA 529 854 826 1,107 1,018
COLOMBIA 510 365 364 308 328
IRAQ 403 637 473 422 464
ECUADOR 299 303 203 229 215
ANGOLA 283 311 323 404 413
RUSSIA 275 252 246 286 295
BRAZIL 163 213 225 177 270
KUWAIT 145 165 164 172 204
ALGERIA 139 140 204 366 337
CHAD 74 32 54 30 14
OMAN 72 52 39 0 0
http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_.../current/import.html
carnut122 DEC 31, 07:29 PM

quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

You are looking at India the wrong way. They have something very important that we not only want--we desperately need far more than any product they could make and send us-----consumers for our own exports. They are the 3rd fastet growning economy in the world. We not only cannot grow without them--we cannot survive without them.



That's what they said about Mexico before NAFTA and about China before making them a "most favored nation." The problem is the factories move to these markets and then get to export back to the US without tariffs. Funny how that as worked out.
carnut122 DEC 31, 07:34 PM

quote
Originally posted by dennis_6:

Somebody want to remind me how our gas prices are because of supply and demand again?



I'm not sure, but I'm glad to see that we're exporting anything at all.
USFiero JAN 13, 08:08 AM
I don't have exact figures, but yesterday I read oil was around $100/barrel and gold over $1700/oz - which seem like a jump over last year this time. It all seemed crazy then, eased a little and then it has settled here. Gas is around $3.29/gallon - again too high for the current economy - and I am all out of things to cut from my monthly budget. So we drive less, a lot less. There have been increases in fresh and frozen produce I suppose is related to this, but right now meat seems to be on sale. Yes, I am suggesting that fuel prices are driving the increases in those commodities.

Meanwhile GM is supposedly turning things around financially in spite of all the hateful rhetoric - electric/hybrid cars are starting to look pretty good now.
rstubie JAN 13, 01:10 PM
High fuel prices would certainly help the push for electric vehicles. IMO they are going to be a large part of the future automotive market. which will certainly effect fuel prices. Could change the power some countries have and effect the economy of the middle east dramatically.
Today electric cars are no where on pace with a gasoline engine when it comes to the cost but hopefully people remember the first cell phones.
Crappy coverge, about 20 min of talk time to 8 hours of charging time. As that changes with car battery development you can bet everything will change..

[This message has been edited by rstubie (edited 01-13-2012).]

dennis_6 FEB 18, 01:24 PM
NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.

At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.

"You're going to see a lot more staycations this year," says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react."

Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gasoline bill rise to $80 from about $60 in December. The closest service station is selling regular for $3.39 per gallon, the highest he's ever seen.

"I guess we're going to have to drive less, consolidate all our errands into one trip," Coudle says. "It's just oppressive."

The surge in gas prices follows an increase in the price of oil.

Oil around the world is priced differently. Brent crude from the North Sea is a proxy for the foreign oil that's imported by U.S. refineries and turned into gasoline and other fuels. Its price has risen 11 percent so far this year, to around $119 a barrel, because of tensions with Iran, a cold snap in Europe and rising demand from developing nations. West Texas Intermediate, used to price oil produced in the U.S., is up 4 percent to around $103 a barrel. That's 19 percent higher than a year earlier.

Higher gas prices could hurt consumer spending and curtail the recent improvement in the U.S. economy.

A 25-cent jump in gasoline prices, if sustained over a year, would cost the economy about $35 billion. That's only 0.2 percent of the total U.S. economy, but economists say it's a meaningful amount, especially at a time when growth is only so-so. The economy grew 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, a rate considered modest following a recession.

High oil and gas prices now set the stage for even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.

Every spring, refiners suspend operations to switch the type of gasoline they make. Supplies of wintertime gas are sold off before March, when refineries need to start making a new formula of gasoline that's required in the summer.

That can mean less supply for service stations, resulting in higher gas prices. And summertime gasoline is more expensive to make. The government mandates that it contain less butane and other cheap organic compounds because they contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a primary constituent in smog. That means more oil, a costlier component, is needed to produce each gallon.

The Oil Price Information Service predicts that gasoline could peak at $4.25 a gallon by the end of April. That would top the record of $4.11 in July 2008.

The national average for gasoline began the year at $3.28 a gallon. The average price for February so far is $3.49 a gallon. That's up from $3.17 a gallon last February, a record at the time. Back in 2007, before the recession hit, the average for February was $2.25 a gallon.

Prices are higher on the East and West Coasts, where gasoline has risen above $3.70 in Connecticut, New York, Washington D.C. and California. This isn't unusual — states on the coasts charge some of the nation's highest gas taxes.

High gas prices put a strain on many people's budgets.

Americans spent 8.4 percent of their household income on gasoline last year when gas averaged an all-time high of $3.51 a gallon. That's double the percentage a decade ago. They could pay even more this year, even though demand is the lowest in 11 years as people drive fewer miles in more efficient cars, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at OPIS.

Gary Goodman commutes into Manhattan from Edgewater, N.J., because gas, tolls and parking make the cost of driving prohibitive.

Goodman, an accountant, commutes by bus. He uses his car mostly for trips to the grocery store or for occasional nights out. He says he has no choice but to eat the higher gas costs.

"I already drive as little as possible," he says.

Paul Dales, a senior economist at Capital Economics says it would take a bigger shift in the global economy — say, a deep recession in Europe or a slowdown in Asia's manufacturing — for pump prices to drop noticeably. Either event would slow oil demand, depressing prices.

But experts expect demand to keep rising. World oil demand is expected to increase by another 1.5 percent to 89.25 million barrels a day in 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In the short term, tensions with Iran are feeding fears that oil supplies could be blocked.

The U.S. and Europe are tightening economic sanctions against Iran over what the West believes is Iran's attempt to build a nuclear bomb. World leaders fear Israel may be planning a strike against Iran, the world's third largest oil exporter.

In response, Iran has threatened to withhold its own oil deliveries and to block the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway along its coastline through which one-fifth of the world's oil flows.

On Friday, an international banking clearinghouse crucial to Iran's oil sales said it is prepared to discontinue services to Iranian financial institutions being targeted by the EU and U.S. sanctions. That could ratchet up the pressure on Iran, but also send oil prices soaring.

The price of Brent crude fell 53 cents on Friday to $119.58. WTI gained 93 cents to $103.24.

Gas prices are already an issue in the presidential campaign. Republican candidate Newt Gingrich spoke several times this week about opening up more federal land to oil and gas drilling as a path toward U.S. energy independence — and lower pump prices.

"Our goals should be to get gasoline to $2.50 or less so that working families can actually get to work and retired families can travel," Gingrich said at a campaign event in Los Angeles Thursday.

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Reporter Beth Fouhy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
http://www.fiero.nl/cgi-bin...Subject=PETROLPHOBIA
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Any doubt we are being screwed, and in the worst economy since the great depression. Some comments that put this in perspective...

Rambler • 2 hrs 11 mins ago

Gasoline is now our number 1 export We pay at the pump while our gas goes to Europe and China

Niveus Nex • 54 mins ago

Don't believe a single Economist. According to their normal standards, this should have been the winter of $2-gallon gas. It was a mild winter in the U.S. There was no heavy demand for heating oil. Economic depression has dropped the amount of diesel required. There were no major wars ongoing. Refineries were operating optimally. There were fears of maximized stores of refined petroleum as recently as December. There was NO REASON for gas to go UP over the winter, and yet, it did. Therefore, them telling you 'there are concerns for $4 per gallon gas this summer' is nothing but a 'fear starter' for what they already plan on for us all.

Joe • 2 hrs 10 mins ago

...and yet, we are SHIPPING refined gasoline out of this country as fast as we can!! Sounds like the oil companies LIKE BIG PROFITS, while the bums in DC continue to stuff cash into their pockets at a record rate, all the while keeping a straight face and telling us "no problem here..."

Steve W • 1 hr 29 mins ago

I remember when Bush was in office, at the time gas was $1.79 a gallon. Pelosi was talking about how high gasoline was, it was Bush's fault, and if the Democrats were in charge it would be so much cheaper. Well, little Nancy you got you're chance and the price has doubled. I don't hear you running your big mouth today about gas prices.

Pedro C. • 1 hr 35 mins ago

When George Bush was president and gas passed the $2,50 mark, the major “news” organizations had stories of “ordinary” Americans claiming they could either eat or fill their car’s tank. Where are the stories now with the Kenyan King in the White House?
82-T/A [At Work] FEB 18, 01:33 PM
Whew, I'm just glad that I bought my oil stocks when I did. I was getting away from Oil because the Obamanites were telling me that oil was going to go down (and it did temporarily when he made his promise to lower them).

But I picked up LINE (Lynn Energy) a while back... bought it at $8 a share, now it's 20 something.

I also picked up TNK (TeeKay Tankers), which has also gone up.

I also re-purchased PWE (Penn West Energy) which is an old Canadian Trust converted to stock that has an awesome quarterly dividend. I'll have to re-check, but I think it's around 12%.


Still, I see gas going up hard-core... and it's actually been a very reasonable winter this year. Imagine if the North-East had had a major blizzard, how expensive the fuel prices would have shot up???
USFiero FEB 23, 12:30 AM
$3.51 tonight. Up 11 cents since the end of January.
1985FieroGT FEB 23, 09:23 AM
$3.69 a gallon in Mid-Michigan now... jumped 30+ cents