The breakdown of Big Oil’s record-breaking profits 6

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1. 

   LGT Posted 9:39 am
   04 Aug 2008

   While you are at it ...don't forget to calculate how much you are paying towards the "war."
   Cost of war on Iraq: $3trillion [$3,000,000,000,000]
   
   US population: roughly 300million [300,000,000]
   
   Cost per head: $10,000
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008 ...
   
   http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/29/exclusive_the_three ...

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2. 

   Sam Wells Posted 10:49 am
   04 Aug 2008

   Oil for War?The US continues to burn about 50 million gallons a month of fuel for all military operations, although I don't know if that includes all the aviation and ship bunker fuel such as with civilian support and logistics.
   About 1.6 million gallons a day is just for the Iraq effort, a remarkable 27 gallons a day for every person in the service (in WWII it was less than 2 gallons a day per serviceman).
   Folks, we're paying for all of that and we're getting suckered at the gas pump!  
   I don't know what to make of the exorbitant profits from the big oil companies but I have heard that even if we threw billions and billions at R&D and exploration, nobody could spend it because we don't have the equipment and labor.
   This makes a little bit of sense to me. Could anyone figure out how to burn 10 or 20 billion a year on R&D with what you have today? Get real. We don't have the infrastructure for that. The universities and government research facilities have been cut back so far and endured so much "brain drain" that it could take five to ten years just to find enough qualified engineers. It is really a shame.
   Of course, some on the far left would like to tax the oil companies and throw the revenue into the general slush fund. This is a very bad policy would result in the opposite effect - less R&D and less alternative energy. You have to be careful how you play your cards on this table ...
   
   Onward through the fog

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3. 

   Jon Rynn Posted 11:15 am
   04 Aug 2008

   Shocked! Shocked!that the oil companies aren't investing in drilling and exploration -- could it be because -- they wouldn't find much oil? It wouldn't pay to create all that infrastructure?
   And to emphasize Sammie's point, the human capital is a mess, I remember being at Columbia University and the Chemical Engineering department was always on the verge of being eliminated.  After the oil price went south in the 1980s, so did chemical engineering.  No chemical engineers, no new oil...unless it isn't there anyway.

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4. 

   Colin Wright Posted 12:52 pm
   04 Aug 2008

   When will the media put 2 and 2 together?It's interesting that as Exxon announced record profits, its stock went down! Investors must have noticed that their oil production actually decreased.
   Maybe the oil companies are in liquidation, as Matt Simmons has said!

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5. 

   Sam Wells Posted 2:04 pm
   04 Aug 2008

   Oil Bubble is ... err ... bubblingOne interesting thing is that even with a tropical storm in the Gulf, today oil went down 3% and natural gas 6%. Apparently, the bubble has smacked into a wall and is popping ... crude is down from a peak of nearly $140 and fooled with $120 today. Like I've always said, oil and gas defy the laws of gravity and supply & demand. If I were a betting man, I'd say the bottom has a long way to go. There's a reason why oil and has concerns bought a bunch of their own stock - it's called self-preservation in a bubble economy!
   Interestingly, softness in the oil market also brought down other commodities from corn to copper.  That should tell you something.
   Frankly, the run-up in energy prices lasted longer than I thought but the poison from the consumer market is finally catching up with them. There was a great article in the NY Times about how global shipping is changing to have suppliers closer to the manufacturers. The egregious example was shipping Alaskan fish to China to be cleaned and cut and repackaged for US trade on the return trip of a container ship, typically LA or Long Beach. Since fuel costs went so high, doubling marine container costs from $4,000 to $8,000, BOTH trips are being eliminated to save money. It actually saves money to use more expensive local labor.
   No, we're not going to eliminate global trade or high energy prices, but I see some less heady times here.
   
   Onward through the fog

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6. 

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   05 Aug 2008

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