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[Guest Nogbad]

The £10/$10 gallon is well on the way.  I can't work out if it's pure corporate greed (have you seen the oil company profit acceleration recently - makes bikes look slow) or some hidden "save the earth" agenda.

 

That last sentence was intended entirely humourously.  The first sentence I anticipate to become reality by this time next year.

 

mike

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According to this week's Economist, the world is awash with crude, the reason for the high price is it's mostly sour (high sulphur) and the world lacks refining capacity for it, hence demand is having to be met from so called sweet (low sulphur) crude. A vagary of the oil pricing system is that the benchmark grades are all light low sulphur varieties such as West Texas intermediate and Brent. The high prices we are experiencing are mostly due to speculation, but the article reckoned there could be some way for the bubble to inflate yet!

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

the world is awash with crude

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Too right. The reserves in the Athabasca tar sands more than equals all the oil produced by the middle east for the last 100 years. They have extraction methods now that are approching the efficiecy of conventioal oil wells! Soon the Chinese will invade.....

 

On the other hand I broke in my MGS on the racetrack but also following the manual. It is considered broken in after 100 km. It runs great!!!!

[mike wilson]

Too right. The reserves in the Athabasca tar sands more than equals all the oil produced by the middle east for the last 100 years. They have extraction methods now that are approching the efficiecy of conventioal oil wells! Soon the Chinese will invade.....

 

But the extraction costs much, much more than conventional wells. The oils being extracted are also in need of much higher levels of refining. Add to those base costs the elevated levels of profit to be accrued for all this extra work and you are talking about much, much more expensive final product.

 

The oil companies will raise prices exactly as far as they can, because that's the way business works these days. The only thing limiting the cost of fuel at the moment is the fact that our society depends upon it. Do the oil companies care that you will be spending most of your income to cover the fuel cost of getting to work? Not one jot. Only if there is a danger that profits will fall because people are unable to work will the price stabilise. We are, literally, over a barrel.

 

m

[helicopterjim R.I.P.]

But the extraction costs much, much more than conventional wells.  The oils being extracted are also in need of much higher levels of refining.  Add to those base costs the elevated levels of profit to be accrued for all this extra work and you are talking about much, much more expensive final product.

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I thought the same but the new extraction methods are 60% more efficient and now the tar sands are transported to the extraction plants by pipeline in a hot water slurry. When it arrives it is 50% separated. It now seems that with the latest oil prices that tar sands are quite economically feasable.

Add in the theories that oil is a renewable resource and not strictly a product of fossil reduction and it seems the oil companies are going to do very well now!

[Guest Nogbad]

Add in the theories that oil is a renewable resource and not strictly a product of fossil reduction and it seems the oil companies are going to do very well now!

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Hmmm.... This particular theory is not exactly mainstream though is it? More the ramblings of one barking mad Norwegian geologist, though I can see why such an idea might find credence in America.....

[dlaing]

Hmmm.... This particular theory is not exactly mainstream though is it? More the ramblings of one barking mad Norwegian geologist, though I can see why such an idea might find credence in America.....

58144[/snapback]

I love it! Hundreds of more years of global warming! Water World, here we come! I think I'll invest in Jetski® stocks,

Oh, and don't forget, in addition to the lack of low sulphur crude, the major oil companies' profits since 2000 has been phenomenol.

I love it, They have us "over a barrel"

[Skeeve]

I love it! Hundreds of more years of global warming! Water World, here we come! I think I'll invest in Jetski® stocks,

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If the Antarctic ice fields melt, we'll only lose about 100m of elevation ASL, all around the world. Waterworld just ain't gonna happen unless the sea floor gets a fair bit of an increase in altitude...

 

Still, it would be cool to go marlin fishing in Kansas! It'd certainly suck for anyone who owned what's currently sea-front, Florida, or delta area property tho'...

 

But since we need to burn more greenhouse gases to put off the coming Ice Age, I don't think it's that big of a problem. I'm certainly not losing any sleep over it!