Big Oil's big 'problem'

[TheNinja]

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Am I the only one who has NOT changed my ways because of gas price increase? I can't believe how many people are changing their habits because gas has gone up $1-$2 over the years. That's maybe an extra $26 every 2 weeks for me (13 gal. tank), $52 over a month. Thats $52 I can save elsewhere and use towards the cost of gas.

I think gas price will hit my wallet if the price comes to maybe $7 or $8/gallon. That's why some people recommend having at least 6-month living expenses in a liquid account to account for price increases such as gas, food, etc. Save, people!!

The U.S. has the 108th most expensive gas in teh world (out of 150 countries i think)

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/0...postversion=2008050109

You don't see 107 other countries complaining? Oh wait. they have a better public transportation system, people walk, use bikes, don't buy SUVs (altho those countries are much smaller in size)

Its all in the American psyche about buying bigger, better things, living lavishly,etc . A little increase in price can hurt a lot of people as we see daily. Quite sad

That is partially true, but what you aren't taking into account is the fact that all other goods will go up b/c of this. Airline tickets are getting out of control Deisel prices are making it so I have to pay $3 for a gallon of milk instead of $2.25. The list goes on. Rising gas prices cause rising prices everywhere, not just your gas tank. Also the fact that gas has risen much fast than peoples' incomes.

 

[2Xtreme21]

The only thing I don't get is why these oil companies need to continuously be granted billions of dollars in subsidies by the federal government as well as remain exempt from many taxes paid by every other multi-billion dollar corporation. Where is that money going other than just the pockets of oil execs?

In April, roughly the same lineup defended their firms before a House committee. The hearing was ostensibly called to ask the executives why they needed some $18 billion in federal subsidies in light of their record profits, but quickly became a Q&A on bigger questions in the energy business.

Link

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: TheNinja

Originally posted by: fallenangel99
Am I the only one who has NOT changed my ways because of gas price increase? I can't believe how many people are changing their habits because gas has gone up $1-$2 over the years. That's maybe an extra $26 every 2 weeks for me (13 gal. tank), $52 over a month. Thats $52 I can save elsewhere and use towards the cost of gas.

I think gas price will hit my wallet if the price comes to maybe $7 or $8/gallon. That's why some people recommend having at least 6-month living expenses in a liquid account to account for price increases such as gas, food, etc. Save, people!!

The U.S. has the 108th most expensive gas in teh world (out of 150 countries i think)

http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/0...postversion=2008050109

You don't see 107 other countries complaining? Oh wait. they have a better public transportation system, people walk, use bikes, don't buy SUVs (altho those countries are much smaller in size)

Its all in the American psyche about buying bigger, better things, living lavishly,etc . A little increase in price can hurt a lot of people as we see daily. Quite sad

That is partially true, but what you aren't taking into account is the fact that all other goods will go up b/c of this. Airline tickets are getting out of control Deisel prices are making it so I have to pay $3 for a gallon of milk instead of $2.25. The list goes on. Rising gas prices cause rising prices everywhere, not just your gas tank. Also the fact that gas has risen much fast than peoples' incomes.

He's also missing the fact that the price per gallon in the vast majority of those countries include massive taxes, which go to the rest of the country in social products and such. The real price needs to strip out our, and their, taxes. This gives you the true cost of gas in the respective countries.

What people here don't realize is that the profit of increased oil going to the pockets of the oil companies is an optical illusion. It's really going to oil producers and "investors" in the futures contracts.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
The only thing I don't get is why these oil companies need to continuously be granted billions of dollars in subsidies by the federal government as well as remain exempt from many taxes paid by every other multi-billion dollar corporation. Where is that money going other than just the pockets of oil execs?

In April, roughly the same lineup defended their firms before a House committee. The hearing was ostensibly called to ask the executives why they needed some $18 billion in federal subsidies in light of their record profits, but quickly became a Q&A on bigger questions in the energy business.

Link

Do you realize how much in taxes they pay? Exxon alone paid almost $30bn in taxes last year.

That 18bn is jack shit.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: yllus
What's to defend? More than one analyst agrees that oil is becoming more and more cost-prohibitive to go after, so Big Oil is spending more money on buying back its own stock to shore up its value than it spends on reserve exploration. They're doing what they're supposed to be doing: Acting in the best interests of their stockholders.

Sure, as a stockholder for Big Oil I am jumping for joy, but weren't they supposed to be investing some of the money in ways that would help contain the daily rise in gasoline prices at least a little? Isn't that their argument when they are faced with tough questions about their glut of profit?

It's nice they're giving you a good return on your investment, but unless you have a lot of stock, you're just spending it on their insane gas prices You should be encouraging your company or companies to invest in new technologies so when oil becomes too cost prohibitive, you can still be making money. It will eventually happen. You only poke straws in the ground for so long to get the easy oil.

The commodity traders are the ones really pushing the price of oil up. If Exxon gets the oil of the ground for 55-60 or even 70 bucks, and someone is willing to buy it at 100-130, you're going to make a ton of money for each barrel. You're also not going to say, "oh I think it should be at 80 or 90 a barrel..." It just doesn't work that way.

 

[fallenangel99]

What people here don't realize is that the profit of increased oil going to the pockets of the oil companies is an optical illusion. It's really going to oil producers and "investors" in the futures contracts.

I'll agree with you on that one. Its the oil traders, among others, who are pocketing serious $$$.

 

[TechAZ]

"Big Oil" companies like Exxon, Shell, etc are not the evil ones people portray them to be. They profit ~4-8 cents per gallon of gasoline...profit.

Oil supply has not increased (thanks OPEC) in the past 30 odd years whereas demand has increased BIG time.

 

[Mide]

Someone's getting rich and it's not us.

 

[imported_Lothar]

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewsl.../05/22/afx5037883.html

 

[Red Dawn]

It's not the inflated cost at the pump that's bothering me, it's the inflated cost to everything else that needs to be shipped. It's easy to offset the cost of driving, get a car with better fuel mileage, car pool or take public transport but there's only so much you can do to offset the added cost to food and other items of necessity

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: yllus
What's to defend? More than one analyst agrees that oil is becoming more and more cost-prohibitive to go after, so Big Oil is spending more money on buying back its own stock to shore up its value than it spends on reserve exploration. They're doing what they're supposed to be doing: Acting in the best interests of their stockholders.

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[AMCRambler]

It's a pretty good article, but I don't think its these big oil companies kicking us in the junk. It's OPEC. More than likely because of our recent heavy handed policies towards the middle east. Found a pretty good chart showing crude oil prices over the last 60 years with different events pinpointed on the timeline.

http://www.wtrg.com/oil_graphs/oilprice1947.gif

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

Now that the price of Oil has gone over $100 a barrel a lot of Wells across the country that were capped because getting oil out of them was to cost prohibitive are now being uncapped and ass a result my family who has a lot of mineral rights in Oklahoma are starting to receive checks of up to 10K from companies leasing those Wells. My folks never thought they'd ever see any money from those.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

Now that the price of Oil has gone over $100 a barrel a lot of Wells across the country that were capped because getting oil out of them was to cost prohibitive are now being uncapped and ass a result my family who has a lot of mineral rights in Oklahoma are starting to receive checks of up to 10K from companies leasing those Wells. My folks never thought they'd ever see any money from those.

$10k/month of checks?
Sweet.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

Now that the price of Oil has gone over $100 a barrel a lot of Wells across the country that were capped because getting oil out of them was to cost prohibitive are now being uncapped and ass a result my family who has a lot of mineral rights in Oklahoma are starting to receive checks of up to 10K from companies leasing those Wells. My folks never thought they'd ever see any money from those.

$10k/month of checks?
Sweet.

They wish.:laugh: It was for a 3 year lease and it was split between 3 parties (Mother and 2 Uncles). But that was just one property, they have many more so they might be getting a nice windfall in the future.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

Now that the price of Oil has gone over $100 a barrel a lot of Wells across the country that were capped because getting oil out of them was to cost prohibitive are now being uncapped and ass a result my family who has a lot of mineral rights in Oklahoma are starting to receive checks of up to 10K from companies leasing those Wells. My folks never thought they'd ever see any money from those.

$10k/month of checks?
Sweet.

They wish.:laugh: It was for a 3 year lease and it was split between 3 parties (Mother and 2 Uncles). But that was just one property, they have many more so they might be getting a nice windfall in the future.

How much barrels of oil are estimated to be in their wells?

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Is profit bad?

Are you a communist?

Depends who and how you are profiting off of. Profit for the sake of profit is neutral. But say, profiting off of stolen goods from jews during the holocaust.... yea that might be bad.

I'm not grouping the oil companies in any way, shape or form, only showing that profit is not necessarily good or bad but depends on the motive and the means. Oil companies are profiting in a time when the country is supposedly "hurting", that is almost parasitic in nature.

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Is profit bad?

Are you a communist?

I'm not grouping the oil companies in any way, shape or form, only showing that profit is not necessarily good or bad but depends on the motive and the means. Oil companies are profiting in a time when the country is supposedly "hurting", that is almost parasitic in nature.

That sure sounds like each according to their need. See Marx.

 

[alien42]

solution: stop bitching and start investing.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: Lothar

Originally posted by: EKKC
buy these stocks:
XOM, CVX, BP, COP, HES

the money i made off of them clearly nullifies the rising cost of gas.

hey don't blame me, i gotta drive 90 miles a day to/from the client, and i only go 2-3 days a week.

as i'm only one person, i doubt i can change anything to make them lower the prices. so since I can't fix the problem, I've become part of the problem.

Forget those stocks.
The real money to be made is in the oil drillers and oil service sector.
http://finance.google.com/finance?catid=57896416
NOV, RIG, HAL, SLB, and many others.

Hell, I'd even take companies like APC, CEO, OXY, and many others before touching the "Big Oil" group.
Disclosure: I have NOV, CNQ, PWE, and sold APC last week in mom's portfolio.

Those "Big Oil" companies are overrated and aren't that much great an investment.
They don't make as much money as people think.

"Big Oil" = Exxon, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total, ConocoPhillips.
Sure there might be bigger ones such as nationalized entities, but those are the ones that get media attention.

Now that the price of Oil has gone over $100 a barrel a lot of Wells across the country that were capped because getting oil out of them was to cost prohibitive are now being uncapped and ass a result my family who has a lot of mineral rights in Oklahoma are starting to receive checks of up to 10K from companies leasing those Wells. My folks never thought they'd ever see any money from those.

$10k/month of checks?
Sweet.

They wish.:laugh: It was for a 3 year lease and it was split between 3 parties (Mother and 2 Uncles). But that was just one property, they have many more so they might be getting a nice windfall in the future.

How much barrels of oil are estimated to be in their wells?

I dunno.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Can someone explain the supply part of the equation to me? In the 70s there was a supply problem. People went to the pump and hoped gas would be there. Today it just seems to be a fabrication that results in speculators forcing the barrel prices ever higher.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: alien42
solution: stop bitching and start investing.

Funny, I heard the same thing circa 2005 with regards to housing.

 

[Wheezer]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Anyone want to try to defend this?

Big Oil's big 'problem'

US giants Conoco and Exxon have more money these days than they know what to do with, so they're handing it out to shareholders. What they aren't doing with it is much that will reduce the oil crunch, says MSN Money columnist Michael Brush.

http://articles.moneycentral.m...?cp-documentid=7569804


full article:
http://articles.moneycentral.m...BigOilsBigProblem.aspx

become a share holder.

 

[Nitemare]

why not bribe the hippy local officials to let them build more refineries