And yet gas is still over $3 a gallon. Funny that...
Same thing here in Portugal, when the price rises the excuses are the oil price, but then the opposite never happens.
Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
111–120 of 174 posts
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#112And it will go lower! Canadian crude hit $23/bbl earlier in the week. North America is close to maxing out storage capacity...possibly within 90 days. We've not been this close to max storage capacity in more than 80 years. North American crude oil production currently exceeds demand (meaning what we have capacity to refine) by over 1 million barrels a day. All that extra is getting dumped into storage. And the sprea…
What are the main companies that produce crude oil storage?
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
This line of logic says that it is impossible for us to come to any sort of "cliff" where we are unable to smoothly transition from one energy source to another (where the possible ensuing resource wars could prevent us from ever harnessing those alternative sources). It's basically a "nothing bad can happen because ECONOMICS !" answer.
It does, and to do so it presumes that there will always be some readily available alternatives with smooth supply curves, and neglects transition costs.
It also ignores the output (garbage, buildup of entropy that destroys ecosystems)
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#114This is slightly worrying, because if we want to reduce CO2 emissions, we need to leave the oil in the ground. High prices may not be ideal economically, but they do reduce demand for oil, and increase demand for alternative energy.
It's also an opportunity. It costs energy to make alternative energy sources. So build them now while prices are low (I.e. don't send the Middle East lots of cash).
Then reduce demand for hydrocarbons by simply producing lots of alternative energy.
The other alternative is wait for prices to be high, which increases demand for alternative energy exactly when it's the most expensive to manufacture.
A smart company will build and stockpile, then sell when prices are high. A smart consumer (with deep pockets and lots of patience) will do the same.
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is a race to the bottom in oil to fend off the development of new oil, but that will still happen once imported oil becomes more scarce. The problem is that capitalism rapes externalities. Even if you are not against the killing of an individual animal for food, for instance, the capability of doing so drives an increase in demand which drives an increase in supply -- billions of animals raised for the sole purpos…
The real "problem" with Capitalism is that the effects of the trade-offs being made are either not felt directly by the perpetrators or the feedback loop is too long that you end up in a "slowly boiling frog" situation. If the person that reaps all of the money for a particular business makes enough money off of the venture that they can insulate themselves from the consequences, that is a failure of Capitalism. For…
A supporter of capitalism would say the problem there is the lack of capitalism - someone should have owned the waterway, so that they'd have an incentive to sue if there was someone dumping stuff.
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#116This is slightly worrying, because if we want to reduce CO2 emissions, we need to leave the oil in the ground. High prices may not be ideal economically, but they do reduce demand for oil, and increase demand for alternative energy.
Well, counter-intuitivley, consumer gas prices aren't falling nearly as much if at all. Personally I think the DOJ should investigate refineries, as none of the seem particularly eager to compete on price. They're making record profits as the price of crude collapses while the price of gasoline is flat. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-refinery-profits-recor... It seems very fishy to me that we have so much crud…
> consumer gas prices aren't falling nearly as much if at all.
Consumer gas is a very small portion of energy use. Just a very visible one.
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
This line of logic says that it is impossible for us to come to any sort of "cliff" where we are unable to smoothly transition from one energy source to another (where the possible ensuing resource wars could prevent us from ever harnessing those alternative sources). It's basically a "nothing bad can happen because ECONOMICS !" answer.
It does, and to do so it presumes that there will always be some readily available alternatives with smooth supply curves, and neglects transition costs.
I've seen it referred to as the Adam's Law of Slow Moving Disasters
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/102964934001/fact-checking-adam...
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#118The capital cost for the saudis is $15 and they are okay pushing it to $20. One paradoxical fact about the drop in oil prices is there is a uptick in investment in renewable ! The market for renewable is not only folks who care about prices but also people who are worried about emission and self-sufficiency ( this is more to do with countries ) So a drop in oil prices is leading to greater investment in solar and win…
Saudi Arabia is a country, not a company. Oil is used to pay for everything, and they need oil to be around $106 to balance their budget.
http://graphics.wsj.com/lists/opec-meeting
If oil fell to $20 for any significant amount of time, there would be serious political strife in Saudi Arabia.
Re: Oil Falls Below $40 for First Time Since 2009 as Glut Grows
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are legion ways to mitigate expelled CO2. But probably the cheapest is just to leave it in the ground.
"There are legion ways to mitigate expelled CO2." Could you please elaborate on this assumption?
ways to sequester CO2? Plants/Trees, Freezing/compressing air, catalysts that react with CO2, and this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_removal