Same Old Song... "Cry Me A River" by Exxon

I wanted to share this when I first saw it months ago. But of course I put the clipping away and just found it. From the Tampa Bay Times: (The bold highlights are from me).

Exxon Mobil said fourth-quarter profit rose to $9.95 billion, a five-year high, as growing supplies of cheap U.S. oil boosted margins from refining crude into fuels. (Are they saying that the oil they get from our land is cheaper than getting it from foreign  areas???)
Profit from processing crude into gasoline,diesel,heating oil,and other fuels quadrupled in the quarter compared with a year earlier. Exxon refineries earned $1.77 billion during the period, compared with $425 million a year earlier. 

So there you have it. They're still rolling in the dough. And we just watch gas prices go up and up. So why don't we continue to get more "cheap" oil from our own land? Drill baby drill.
 

Drill or Bill?

I just finished reading an article in the latest edition of "AMAC Advantage", the magazine of the Association of Mature American Citizens. It was titled, "Mr. President, Let Us Drill". It explained that America has huge quantities of fossil fuels and they have fueled our factories, homes, highways and hospitals since their first use. It further stated that we have vast amounts of untapped forms of fuel that hold promise for generations to come. 

Here are some stated facts:

- The amount of oil that is technically recoverable in the U.S. is more than 1.4 trillion barrels, with the largest deposits located offshore, in portions of Alaska, and in shale in the Rocky Mountain West. When combined with resources from Canada and Mexico, total recoverable oil in North America exceeds 1.7 trillion barrels.

- That is more than the world has used since the first oil well was drilled over 150 years ago in Titusville, Pennsylvania. To put this in context, Saudi Arabia has about 260 billion barrels of oil in proved reserves. The technically recoverable oil in North America could fuel the present needs in the U.S. of seven billion barrels per year for around 250 years.

- Only about 2.2 percent of America's offshore acreage and less than 6 percent of federal onshore lands are currently leased for production because of restrictions in the form of federal bans and much of our future potential supplies of fossil fuels exist under lands owned by the federal government. Here are some areas that the federal government could open to oil and gas development: 
            > 10.4 billion barrels of oil in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge and 8.6 trillion cubic   
                feet of natural gas.
            > 86 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of the lower 48 states and 420
                trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
            > 500 million barrels of oil in the Naval Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
            > 25 billion barrels of oil in the outer continental shelf of Alaska. 
            > 90 billion barrels of oil and 1.669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the geologic   
                provinces north of the Arctic circle.


   - There is enough natural gas in North America to last the U.S. for over 175 years at current rates of consumption.

- North America recoverable coal could provide enough electricity for the U.S. for about 500 years at current levels of consumption.  



- The U.S.has 486 billion short tons of recoverable coal out of a total resource base of more than 10,320 billion short tons of in-place resources.  The Powder River Basin, which also covers parts of Montana, is one of the world's richest deposits of low-sulfur coal.


- To put it in a nutshell: 
             > OIL - We have enough oil to fuel every passenger car in the U.S. for over 430 
                            years.
                         - We have almost twice as much as the combined proved reserves of ALL
                            OPEC nations. 
                         - We have more than six times the proved reserves of Saudi Arabia.


             > NATURAL GAS - Enough to fuel homes heated by natural gas in the U.S. for
                                                 857 years.
                                              - Enough to provide the U.S. with electricity for 575 years at
                                                 current levels.
                                              - More natural gas than all of the next five largest national proved
                                                 reserves; Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.


            > COAL - Provide enough electricity for about 500 years at coal's current level of
                              consumption for electricity generation.
                           - More coal than ANY other country in the world.
                           - More than the combined total of the top five non-North American             
                              countries' reserves: Russia, China, Australia, India, and Ukraine.


Folks, we have more combined oil, coal and natural gas resources than any other country on the planet! We have enough energy resources to provide reliable and affordable energy for decades, even centuries to come. But a scarcity of sensible government policy has led to soaring fuel prices and high unemployment rates. 


The solution is simple: Drilling equals jobs and affordable energy rates. By allowing hard-working people in the Gulf of Mexico to ply their trade, we can save 25,000 jobs. By allowing production in a small portion of ANWR, we can create over 250,00 jobs. By lifting the ban on new offshore drilling, we can create 1.2 million jobs.
We must increase domestic energy exploration, expedite the permitting process, and remove the bureaucratic red tape and barriers on job creators. 
Producing domestic energy will create jobs across the country, increase revenue to the federal government, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. 




Can we start the process now or do we have to wait until gas at the pump is $10 a gallon?

Check out: DrillBabyDrill.com


*Data, and research provided by the Institute for Energy Research.



 

Are We All Crazy?

I haven't posted here in a while and I will make this one short. My wife and I spent almost 3 weeks at our cabin in western Kentucky and I still have a zillion pictures to resize, name, oranize, etc. I really just wanted to point out something that simply amazes me whenever I see it.

While taking a day-trip on our vacation we were in Bowling Green, Kentucky.This was back in late August. Gasoline prices for the area we were in, including the area around our cabin, was averaging about $3.59-$3.69 per gallon. When we got to Bowling Green and were on on of the main streets looking for a White Castle, I noticed there must have been a half-dozen gas stations within a 3 block area.
All of the stations were selling their gas for $3.69 and one advertised $3.68 per gallon. Then, in the middle of all these stations I saw a Raceway station with its huge sign advertising their gas for $3.44 per gallon. I'll let that sink in....... Go ahead, go back and read that again, I'll wait......

All of the stations were selling their gas for $3.69 per gallon and the Raceway was 25 CENTS cheaper per gallon! (I should have added about 10 exclamation points to show my amazement).

Now you would think my next comment would be that the Raceway had cars backed out onto the street waiting for gas and the other stations were empty. But I can't say that. Sure, Raceway was doing a good steady business and I filled up there also but all of the other stations had customers also. Lots and lots of people were paying the extra 25 cents per gallon and not using Raceway.

Please, can anyone out there explain to me why that would happen? I also saw that same scene at one other location while on our trip and it also involved another Raceway. It is mind boggling why people would pay more money for gas than they have to.

That's a perfect example of why we are paying whatever prices the oil companies want to charge us. Gas prices have been falling every week for the past couple of months, but only by a penny or two every other day. When gas prices rise they jump by 8-10 cents a gallon or higher EACH day. You NEVER see them fall that fast.

So please do me a favor and if you are one of those people that would pay even a nickel more for gas than a station a block away from you, please tell me why. And if you are one of the people that paid 25 cents more for gas in Bowling Green, please tell me you escaped from a mental home so I won't think you are just a stupid fool.

And It Continues....

For one of the few times in this blog I'll skip the bashing of Exxon/Mobile and this time I'll pick on Chevron. However, keep in mind that whatever figures I'm about to tell you would be even higher if I was talking about Exxon/Mobile!

On July 29 of this year Chevron announced that its profit jumped 43 percent to $7.7 billion in the second quarter as higher oil and gasoline prices made up for a decline in oil production. Read that again, I'll wait..... They are admitting that even though they produced LESS oil, their profits increased because they  charged higher prices for their products! The trend of soaring profits among the major oil companies continues. 

Chevron's revenue for the quarter increased 31 percent to $66.7 billion. 


I'd research and tell you about Exxon/Mobile's profits but I'm out of gas.

They Have Their Cake and Cheat It Too......

My wife and I recently took a three week vacation out wets and we visited a number of national parks and landmarks throughout 20 states. I mention that only to show you that I have a pretty good idea of gasoline prices in a lot of different areas of this country. Prices for the most part averaged about $3.74 per gallon, with the lowest being $3.48 and the highest at $4.04. 

Near the end of our trip we visited friends and family in the northern Kentucky area. We arrived on a Monday and the local gas prices were mostly $3.65 per gallon. Now, I have lived most of my life in the Florence, Ky area which, for many years, has had a "weekend price hike". Somewhere near the end of the week gas stations across the board raise their prices. Not by a penny or two but by 10-15 cents per gallon or more. Then, toward the beginning of the new week they drop back down but not as fast as they rose.

On Wednesday morning during my visit the prices were still around $3.65 but by late morning all the local prices were now $3.95! ALL of them! A 30-cent jump out of nowhere. To make it even more suspicious,  it seems that when these large increases occur, every station somehow manages to have the exact same price. During normal times most stations have a couple of cents differences and you can pick and choose which station you want to use. But not on these weekend price hikes. They all somehow happen to be the exact same price. This has been going on in this area for many, many years. Locals even know to get their gas early in the week. BUt since Florence is loacted on I-75 and is the main corridor for north-south traffic to many states, travelers must pay a premium.

We left there on Thursday morning with a half tank of gas and I was determined not to pay the gouging prices. I drove south and every station in the Florence/Boone County area was staying at $3.95. We continued into Kenton and Grant counties and the prices were still at that price, minus a cent or two. To show you how much of a rip-off it really is, once we traveled south to the Lexington area we saw prices dropping into the $3.80's and $3.70's. I pulled off at an exit just north of Berea, Kentucky and the price was $3.85. I was  still steamed at the gouging rip-off and told my wife I would go one more exit and then I'd have to pay whatever it cost since we were almost empty. I got off at the first Berea exit and saw a Shell station that had a price of $3.55 per gallon! Yes, 40-cents cheaper than the northern Kentucky area! Can someone explain that to me? 

It just shows you that we are getting ripped off every day not just by the oil companies but by the station owners as well. The price of a barrel of oil during our travels did not increase but actually decreased some during our travels. It also did not increase during our stay in the Florence area. Yet, gas jumped 30 cents within one hour on a Wednesday morning. When will we stand up together and stop this gouging? If no one had bought an ounce of gas from Wednesday and all through the weekend how fast do you think those prices would have fallen? 

Give my plan a try. STOP buying ANY gas from Exxon/Mobile. Period. Use any other station. Watch the prices fall like a rock. 

Gasoline Prices Have Dropped Like A Rock!

Gasoline prices continued slipping downward in the Clearwater area, with many independents and some major oil companies selling regular grades for 25.9 cents a gallon!

Prices among most of the major companies range from 26.9 to 28.9 cents a gallon for regular.

High test gasoline is selling from 26.9 to 30.9 centa a gallon, with the independent companies usually 1 to 3 cents lower.

That was an article published in the St Petersburg Times. Oh, the publish date was May 14.......1962. Yes, those were the good old days!

Here They Grow Again!

It has been quite some time since I added a new post but with gasoline prices rising almost every other day I wanted to just throw my hands up and said, "I give up". A few months ago gasoline prices were staying steady in the mid-to high two dollar range. Then, out of almost nowhere, the prices started climbing and flew past $3 per gallon and is now almost $4 per gallon in a lot of the country and than that toward the west coast. 

But allow me to vent once again and tell you that as the price of gas rises so does the profits of the oil companies. The first quarter results show major windfalls for the companies and they're having their best year since 2008.

- ConocoPhillips reported its first quarter earnings rose 43% to $3 billion.
- Exxon Mobil and Chevron are expected to report a combines $18.2 billion in earnings. That's a 40% increase from a year ago. 

That is all great news to oil company shareholders and executives but for businesses and consumers it just means rising prices not just for gasoline but for food, clothing, airline fares, shipping and almost everything we use in our daily lives. 

Even as the price of a barrel of oil decreased at times, the price at the pump continued to rise! The companies still continue to receive $4 billion in subsidies every year by the current administration. President Obama must be starting his new game face for his upcoming re-election bid because he even appointed a task force to look into manipulation of oil and gas prices. "Task force". "Look into." "Manipulation". I love those terms. 

Wall street is predicting that Exxon will make $40.71 billion in profits this year. And they predict that Chevron will make close to $25 billion in profit. 

I could go on and on with examples of rising profits for all of the companies but I start feeling light-headed after see all those numbers. I read somewhere the other day about how much oil we had underneath out own soil in America. It was a staggering amount that could be easily accessed and it would greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And another story told about all of the oil that Canada has in it's ground and tit asked the question of why aren't we at least buying our main supply of oil from our northern neighbor and telling the foreign blood-suckers to go pound sand! 


We could have a lot more control over the gas prices if we wanted to band together as a whole and start telling these companies that we are not going to pay these prices. If you've been following this blog then you know about my efforts to get everyone in this country to stop buying any gas from ExxonMobil. Just get it from ANY other company. How fast would the prices drop at all Exxon/Mobile stations?? I'd love to try and find out. Ever since I started writing this blog I can tell you that I have not driven onto any Exxon or Mobile lot, nor have I bought one drop of gas from them. If you bought from them or continue to buy from them, please stop. You have NOTHING to lose and everything to gain. I'll keep my fingers crossed....