Tag: Oil

What Do You Know About Oil?

My Sunday begins and I had a random thought….what do you really know about oil?

Our lives are controlled by oil….we run our cars on it……plastics are made from it….oil is everything.  We go to war over the black substance….economies are made of the stuff….but what else do you know?

Well to help you out…..

Whenever you see a headline like this, you know it will go along the lines of “did you know that petroleum stands for rock oil?” Yes you did, goes the reply of an overwhelming majority of readers. For this reason, the list below is one which holds the reader in high esteem, as a dear colleague on the road to broaden our knowledge of the oil industry. So here we go…

1.) Oil’s first use was for caulking – ruins from early Antiquity (5-6 000 BC) testify that Euphrates and Indus Valley civilizations built their houses with bitumen. Caulking their ships with bitumen logically followed soon afterwards.

(there is so much more)

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/44-Things-You-Didnt-Know-About-Oil.html

Not only do you have a couple of days off….but now you know so much more about oil……a knowledge that will get you nothing in life but the knowledge that you know some things that others mmay not….

TTFN my friends…..chuq

In Bed With Al Qaeda?

I apologize to my readers that find the Middle East a bit tiring…..well it is tiring….but I have no choice I have a grad degree in Middle East Studies and have worked and lived there…..I feel obligated to tell the stories that are seldom told in the Western media….there is more going on in the region that most Americans are aware of on any given day……please bear with me  I will get back to other stuff soon…..thanx for your patience…..

We hear many stories in the media about AQ…many of them are true….we Americans hate the very name, thanx to 9/11….we detests anyone and anything AQ….but does the rest of the West feel the same way?  England should because of the attacks, right?

On to another subject……oil!  We know how important oil is to our economy and our lives….and we all know the influence that OPEC has on the world and the prices of oil……

Now to tie the two thoughts together……

From a site called “Staff & Scrip”……

The decision of the European Union to lift the embargo on Syrian government’s energy exports by importing oil from the ‘armed opposition’is another flagrant violation of international law. It violates the UN General Assembly declaration of 1962 on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources and is yet another violation of the 1981 UN declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States. But it is much more than a technical violation of the law. It marks the decent of civilization into barbarism.

London and Paris, have more than Washington, been at the forefront of aggression against Syria. In spite of the fact that it has now been confirmed by most media sources that the Syrian ‘opposition’ is Al-Qaeda, London and Paris persist in their insane drive to arm the terrorists, using the spurious argument that if they don’t arm the ‘moderates’ the ‘extremists’ will take over the country. However, in thewords of the New York Times, ‘nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of’. [1] The fact that the Syrian ‘rebels’ are in fact Al- Qaeda has even been admitted by the war-mongering French daily Le Monde.[2]

So, Paris and London are pushing for further arming of Al-Qaeda and the legalization of oil trading with the jihadi terrorists. In plain language this means that the loose, terrorist network known to the world as Al-Qaeda will soon become one of the EU’s partners in the oil business…

Read more…

I am still working on verifying the info…..if I find something different I will post on it………..

How will that sit with the American people?  Probably will not matter.  As long as they keep their cars that use 2 gallons to the mile then they will smile and pay the money….caring little that AQ will be in control of their addiction….

And The Prez Speaks……Again!

From the VOMITORIUM

I guess I will make today “Energy” day…….

Today Obama made his speech on energy….and hot damn we have a ….YAWN!  Will some please tell these people to stop all the damn lip service to our dependence on foreign oil?  He basically said the same crap that started with Nixon….and thanx to Politfact for the info……

Richard Nixon kicked off his 1974 State of the Union speech by commenting on how it was the first of its kind to feature energy as the No. 1 priority. He went on to say that even if the embargo is lifted, “conservation will continue to be necessary.” And private enterprise will “develop the new resources, the new technology, the new capacity America will require for its energy needs in the 1980s.”

Gerald Ford picked up the thread, calling in 1975 for more synthetic fuels, home insulation, efficient cars and the like. And in 1976 he advocated “technology to capture energy from the sun and the Earth.”

Jimmy Carter was an avid conservationist, and talked at length about the subject during his State of the Union speeches, such as in 1981 when he endorsed technology such as “photovoltaics, which generate energy directly from the sun.”

Reagan made very little reference to dependence (go figure)…..Bush I the same….Clinton was not that forthcoming with views on the dependency thing….and now Obama…..

Please stop it!  For nearly 50 years presidents have been pointing out that we are dependent on foreign oil and for 50 years NO one gives a sh*t….so why NOT just give it up…..as long as big oil has a control of Congress we will always be dependent….and if you think all that will change with domestic drilling…all I can say is…….HA HA HA HA HA!

The World Is Watching!

From the SCRIPTORIUM

The world is watching a well head located a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico…….and what do they see?  The massive oil flow has been replaced with a massive mud flow coming from the broken pipe…and some say that this “top kill” technique may be working at helping seal the ruptured oil pipe….

If true it is all so much good news for us here on the Gulf Coast…believe me we need some good news with the latest Hurricane prediction was not so good for the upcoming season.

The live feed from the Gulf floor is compelling…it is like a train wreck that you cannot stop looking at …..but the feed appears to show no oil escaping, just drilling mud blow back….but that begs an answer to a couple of questions (yes, there is always questions)

1–is the sight of the mud blow back just covering up the oil as it continues to escape?

2–Is the mud sealing the leak or is it just being forced back out?

3–Is the pumping of mud just a smoke screen which is doing nothing to give the relief well a chance to punch through and solve the problem?

Update:  Not important now….the Top Kill failed and now on to the next big idea…..cut off pipe install new valve…..I am beginning to think that the “best” minds are anything but that…..if that fails…it looks like the 2 relief wells will be the answer the whole time…..was all this just a cover and the 2 wells were the answer the whole time?

The Ballet Of An Oil Spill

I would suspect that just about everyone in the US has heard about the massive oil spill threatening the Gulf Coast…..the people are angry and are demanding restitution, they are demanding that the company makes everything whole again….but is that a realistic hope?  And so the Ballet begins!

There have been some that suggest that the Obama Admin may have been at fault for the disaster, not as deeply involved as BP, but still should share some of the blame as an accomplice…..

A May 11, 2009 legal brief written on behalf of Obama’s secretary of the interior, Ken Salazar, requested that the Washington, DC federal court of appeals overturn or amend an earlier decision blocking new drilling in the Gulf of Mexico’s outer continental shelf. The petition referred specifically in several instances to site “206”—the same area where the Deepwater Horizon would explode in a blowout less than one year later.

“Salazar approved BP’s exploration plan without any environmental analysis on April 6, 2009, knowing that the lease could get struck down by an active lawsuit,” said Kieran Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity. “When it was struck down 11 days later, he went back to court to get the BP exploration drilling (and other areas) removed from the vacature. His success in this legal maneuver allowed BP’s exploration drilling to take place, resulting in the April 20, 2010 catastrophic disaster.”

Even since the explosion on the rig, the Obama administration has continued to grant “categorical exemptions” for deep sea oil drilling—27 in all, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

If this research done by Tom Eley of wsws.org is true then Obama and the boyz are and should be blamed for this disaster, or at least held accountable…the way they keep saying that BP will be held accountable.

Now the CEOs of BP, Halliburton and Transocean are on the Hill testifying at what happened and what is to be done.  But the game got to the inevitable point of blame.

BP America President Lamar McKay stressed the failure of the blowout preventer owned by rig operator Transocean. “The systems are intended to fail-close and be fail-safe,” McKay said. “Sadly and for reasons we do not yet understand, in this case, they were not.”

But Transocean chief executive Steven Newman said the blowout preventers “were clearly not the root cause of the explosion.” He said they might have been damaged by debris made of cement and steel casing material blown upward because of other failures.

Halliburton’s Tim Probert also tried to deflect blame, saying, “We understand that the drilling contractor . . . proceeded to displace the riser with seawater prior to the planned placement of the final cement plug.” That plug was designed to keep the oil and gas in the well, a final step before pulling the drilling rig away from the well. Probert said that the final cement plug was never set.   (Thanx to WaPo for the excerpts)

This was a predictable thing….NO one is to blame, especially those with an interest on the rig.  The media will run amok with the hearing transcripts; they will show the CEOs in the most unflattering light, but I would bet my last dollar that the report from the Center of Biological Diversity will get little to no play in the media……..any bets?

BP IS too blame….Transocean IS to blame…..Halliburton IS to blame…..and yes politicians are too blame, especially the Obama Admin……I am sure there will be a plausible explanation to why the Admin pushed deep sea drilling without the proper documentation…….but I want them all to take RESPONSIBILITY for the disaster that they alone have created.

Candidates And Energy

I found this chart in the Detroit Free Press and wanted to post it to help my readers understand where their candidate may be on the issue energy–at least for now. These two flip and flop more than a fish out of water.

BARACK OBAMA ISSUE JOHN McCAIN
Send out stimulus checks of $300 per family

.

 What he’d do now if he were president Suspend the 18.4-cent a gallon federal gas tax.
Opposed to offshore drilling, saying it offers no short-term benefits and doesn’t address energy issues; opposed to drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. On domestic drilling Wants to lift ban on domestic offshore drilling to reduce dependence on foreign oil; opposed to drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Wants more aggressive investigation into speculation and reforms; wants energy traded on regulated markets

.

 On oil speculation Supports government investigation and punishment for illegal actions; wants reform of oil futures markets.
Supports taxing companies selling oil at more than $80 a barrel, with money going to energy programs; wants repeal of tax breaks for oil industry

.

 On taxing windfall profits of oil companies Opposed, says it hurts domestic production and investment, increasing dependence on foreign oil.
Focused on national energy policy aimed at ending dependence on foreign oil but says states should set speed limits. On reducing speed limits to reduce energy use Supports exploring all conservation options but says decisions must be made in consultation with states, industry and consumers.
Create $150-billion investment fund used in part to advance technology and commercialize plug-in hybrids and produce new biofuels; double fuel standards for vehicles in 18 years; mandate that all new vehicles have flex-fuel capability by 2013. On autos Promises up to $5,000 tax credit for purchase of low- to zero-carbon emissions car; promote flex-fuel technology; offer $300-million prize for battery that can make current plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles commercially viable; enforce fuel standards.
Create investment fund to reduce oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day by 2030 through technology, including clean coal; favors market-based system to cut pollution; says nuclear plant safety must be addressed. On what’s next Commit $2 billion to clean coal technology; push for 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030; use market-based system to cut greenhouse gases; supports research in advanced energy alternatives.

Leave It To Texas Oil Men

Bush administration officials knew that a Texas oil company with close ties to President Bush was planning to sign an oil deal with the regional Kurdistan government that ran counter to American policy and undercut Iraq’s central government, a Congressional committee has concluded.

As reported in the NY Times, it appears the the oil men running this country have assisted the awarding of a oil contract to a Texas firm.

The conclusions were based on e-mail messages and other documents that the committee released Wednesday.

United States policy is to warn companies that they incur risks in signing contracts until Iraq passes an oil law and to strengthen Iraq’s central government. The Kurdistan deal, by ceding responsibility for writing contracts directly to a regional government, infuriated Iraqi officials. But State Department officials did nothing to discourage the deal and in some cases appeared to welcome it, the documents show.

The company, Hunt Oil of Dallas, signed the deal with Kurdistan’s semiautonomous government last September. Its chief executive, Ray L. Hunt, a close political ally of President Bush, briefed an advisory board to Mr. Bush on his contacts with Kurdish officials before the deal was signed.

In an e-mail message released by the Congressional committee, a State Department official in Washington, briefed by a colleague about the impending deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government, wrote: “Many thanks for the heads up; getting an American company to sign a deal with the K.R.G. will make big news back here. Please keep us posted.”

Iraq’s oil minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, has condemned the Kurdistan deal as illegal because it was not approved by Iraq’s central government and was struck without an oil law, which has still not been passed.

The encouragement by State Department officials did not end with the signing of the contract on Sept. 8, the documents suggest. Five days later, a State Department official in the southern city of Basra wrote to Ms. Phillips, “I read and heard about with interest your deal with the regional Kurdish government.”

“I don’t know if you are aware of another opportunity,” the official wrote, mentioning an enormous port project and a natural gas project in the south. After a few more lines, the official concluded, “This seems like it would be a good opportunity for Hunt.”

Why Is My Oil So Damn Expensive?

If you really want to know, then the answers are a bit complex but I will try to break it down for you.
How to explain the oil price? Why is it so high? Are we running out? Are supplies disrupted, or is the high price a reflection of oil company greed or OPEC greed. Are Chavez and the Saudis conspiring against us?

The dollar is weak because of large trade and budget deficits, the closing of which is beyond American political will. As abuse wears out the US dollar’s reserve currency role, sellers demand more dollars as a hedge against its declining exchange value and ultimate loss of reserve currency status.

In an effort to forestall a serious recession and further crises in derivative instruments, the Federal Reserve is pouring out liquidity that is financing speculation in oil futures contracts. Hedge funds and investment banks are restoring their impaired capital structures with profits made by speculating in highly leveraged oil future contracts, just as real estate speculators flipping contracts pushed up home prices. The oil futures bubble, too, will pop, hopefully before new derivatives are created on the basis of high oil prices.

There are other factors affecting the price of oil. The prospect of an Israeli/US attack on Iran has increased current demand in order to build stocks against disruption. No one knows the consequence of such an ill-conceived act of aggression, and the uncertainty pushes up the price of oil as the entire Middle East could be engulfed in conflagration. However, storage facilities are limited, and the impact on price of larger inventories has a limit.

Perhaps more difficult to understand than the high price of oil are the low US long-term interest rates. US interest rates are actually below the rate of inflation, to say nothing of the imperiled exchange value of the dollar. Economists who assume rational participants in rational markets cannot explain why lenders would indefinitely accept interest rates below the rate of inflation.

Of course, Americans don’t get real inflation numbers from their government and have not since the Consumer Price Index was rigged during the Clinton administration to hold down Social Security payments by denying retirees their full cost of living adjustments. According to statistician John Williams, using the pre-Clinton era measure of the CPI produces a current CPI of about 7.5%.

By pumping out money in an effort to forestall recession and paper over balance sheet problems, the Federal Reserve is driving up commodity and food prices in general. Yet American real incomes are not growing. Even without jobs offshoring, US economic policy has put the bulk of the population on a path to lower living standards.

The crisis that looms for the US is the loss of world currency role. Once the dollar loses that role, the US government will not be able to finance its operations by borrowing abroad, and foreigners will cease to finance the massive US trade deficit. This crisis will eliminate the US as a world power.

And that is the name of that tune!

Big Oil To Return To Iraq

Nearly four decades after the four biggest Western oil companies were expelled from Iraq by Saddam Hussein, they are negotiating their return. By the end of the month, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Total will sign agreements with the Baghdad government, Iraq’s first with big Western oil firms since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The deals are for repair and technical support in some of the country’s largest oilfields, the Oil Ministry in Baghdad said yesterday. The return of “Big Oil” will add to the suspicions of those in the Middle East who claimed that the overthrow of Saddam was secretly driven by the West’s desire to gain control of Iraq’s oil. It will also be greeted with dismay by many Iraqis who fear losing control of their vast oil reserves.

But they mean that the four oil companies, which originally formed the Iraq Petroleum Company to exploit Iraqi oil from the 1920s until the industry’s nationalisation in 1972, will be well-placed to bid for contracts for the long-term development of these fields. The oilfields affected are some of the largest in Iraq, from Kirkuk in the north to Rumaila, on the border with Kuwait. Although there is oil in northern Iraq, most of the reserves are close to Basra, in the far south.

The high price of oil means that Iraq is not under immediate pressure to maximise its oil revenues. The Iraqi parliament has suspected anything which looks like giving foreign companies ownership of Iraq’s oil through a production sharing agreement.

The nationalisation of Iraq’s oil is one the few acts of Saddam Hussein’s long years in power which is still highly popular, and Iraqi members of parliament are fearful of anything that looks like back-door privatisation in the interests of foreigners.

This is something that should been a no brainer–they should have nationalized the industry immediately and that would avoid the possibility of the companies gaining complete control of their fields.  Slowly, but slowly these companies are reasserting their control–good for the companies—but bad for Iraq.

Oil Companies Still Control Congress

This is an editorial that was sent to me in an email–the source was not given.

Senate Republicans gave people a slap in the face June 10, voting to block a windfall profits tax on oil companies that are robbing us blind at the gasoline pump with $4.35 per gallon gasoline. Democrats mustered a majority, 51 senators, but GOP leaders rallied 43 senators to block the bill, effectively killing it.

It would have imposed a 25 percent tax on “unreasonable” profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies, which reported $36 billion in profits in the first three months of this year. The legislation would have given the government more power to curb oil company speculation and would have made energy price gouging a federal crime.

The AFL-CIO Working Families network called for a “Week of Action” to protest the price gouging. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said both George W. Bush and John McCain “have handed the reins of the economy over to Big Oil and other corporate interests whose only concern is maximizing their profit margins.”

Since Bush-Cheney seized office in 2000, the five oil giants have reaped $525 billion in profits and presided over gasoline prices that zoomed from $1.47 per gallon to well over $4 per gallon. Oil CEOs are wallowing in money. Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson reports $21.7 million income last year. Occidental Petroleum’s Ray Irani pocketed $34 million.

GOP presidential nominee McCain voted in 2005 against curtailing windfall profits for oil companies. In 2007, he was the only senator to miss a vote on an energy bill that repealed billions in tax subsidies for oil companies. McCain promises if elected to push through a new $3.8 billion tax giveaway for the oil companies. His election in November would ensure another four years of Bush-Cheney giveaways to Big Oil. Democratic nominee Barack Obama, by contrast, vows to “make oil companies like Exxon, pay a tax on their windfall profits.”

If this highway robbery continues, can calls for nationalization of the oil companies be far behind? Venezuela’s example of using nationally-owned oil wealth to lift the living standards of the people is becoming an ever more attractive alternative.

I have said that I would not be opposed to the nationalization of the oil industry…my state has a monopoly on the liquor sales and it generates mush needed revenue for state programs–so I say why not?