Exxon's $10B fill-up

[Dark5tar]

Found this on another board...may raise some tempers:

http://business.bostonherald.com/bus...ticleid=101320

[Shankerr]

If that raises tempers, then people are generally uneducated about how a market economy works. These guys are not in the business of giving freebies. And to top it off, with guys like Spitzer looking for the slightest notion that a firm may not be fully vested in their shareholders, it makes companies more eager than ever to sting consumers in order to make profits for its shareholders.

To top it off, if anyone actually cares to research the "oil crisis" there really isn't one.. Theres a shortage of refining capacity, especially along the eastern seaboard, but definitely not a raw crude production shortage. The "Katrina shortage" is basically a fabrication of CNN because a few of the platforms had to be evacuated, which has really nothing to do with global production. And, in true circle fashion, Spitzer fuelled firms were more than eager to go along with the bullsh!t protrayed by the American media, in order to boost their profits, so that shareholders would make good ROI, so that Spitzer would stay off their A$$.. etc. etc.

[bgs1154]

If there is a shortage of refineries why don't we just make more, I've heard we havn't made one since some time early in the 1990's. Is this on purpose to keep prices high?

[Shankerr]

Umm, kind of.. The costs of building refineries is astronomical. Many of the oil companies own subsidiaries that carry out their refining, or directly refine their own products, so in that sense, they're happy to have a bottleneck strategically placed somewhere between their platforms or rigs, and the consumer. By doing this, they are able to slow the flow of useable goods to the market, and artificially inflate the price of crude futures, which they can then trade at a profit. (which is even more evident now that "mini futures" accounts let the average joe trade oil, where it used to be left up to professionals almost exclusively)

There are a number of new firms that are emerging in the refining technology market. Also, there are a number of outside firms that are starting to develop plans to open new refineries. Their entire business will revolve around refining crude into more readily useable hydrocarbons, and reselling them into the wholesale commodities market. This is a great idea, because, as noted, currently the bottleneck falls in refining capacity. Also, great investment potential for someone looking to buy and hold for a few years until they're ujp and running. Their potential profits are almost limitless, provided they run their business peoperly.

[shootermcgavin7]

If people didn't panic after Katrina and pay $89,724 a gallon; then I doubt it would have made any "tempers rise".


Although the article does entertain me in the fact that it is blamed on Bush.

[Shankerr]

haha, work that into Canadian cash, and we were paying like close to a billion two a litre

When all that happened, I was at my cottage kind of isolated.. I thought my mate was joking when he told me what gas was at.. He said "$1.25 a litre" and I was like, no, you must mean 102.5 a litre, right? I almost crapped a brick, especially since there was no real need of it.