What the Oil Guy Said

Guest

When I was dropping Two off at the airport, we had a very interesting conversation with a guy that had something to do with oil refineries. I can't remember exactly what his job description was, but what he told us was very enlightening. Two asked him why the price of diesel fuel was now more than the price of premium gas? He explained that most of Europe was on diesel, and that it was the opposite ratio in this country. What I found fascinating was, he told us that we do have enough oil in this country to sustain us, we just don't have the refining capacity. He said there used to be 17 refineries here in Oklahoma that were operational, now there are only 3. He also said that the price of oil was so inflated that the Saudis have had to take the surplus profit and pump it back into the economy, otherwise we would be crashing hard and fast! That's why they are buying all the land and buildings in various countries, they aren't looking to take over the world, they are trying to keep the economy from crashing. The guy also said that he foresaw the price of oil going to over $100 dollars a barrel and that our economy would soon take a dive because of it. Maybe Two can explain it better than I, but I have always wondered why the Saudis were buying up so much land. It makes sense now, after talking to this guy. Of course, I usually think people have pure motives and I could be wrong here....what do you guys think?

Subject: Re: What the Oil Guy Said Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:28 am

I think you explained it perfactly Honey...he did say however that he sold oil...But you were right on with his discription of what's taking place

Subject: Re: What the Oil Guy Said Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:25 am

BTM I can tell what this gentleman told you is basically correct. My soul matey has been in the oil field business for 35 years. Although he is not involved in the actual production, he is in the service sector that provides the products and engineers to the drilling rigs that the oil companies need to run the rigs.

A lot of the refineries have closed in Oklahoma, along with the service industry sites that are needed to keep the refineries productive. They have had to close several sites from his company because the refineries ceased operation. But, you have to realize that a lot of times the wells run dry, and then it is not feasible for the companies to keep those sites operational. We are on very shaky ground right now with our oil dependence, and yes we are in for a major crash soon.

We do need to reduce our dependency on the Saudi Oil. It will be the ruination of us if we don't. We are the largest consumer of Saudi petroleum worldwide, and the Saudis need us as much as we need their oil. This has resulted in many companies setting up overseas - Nigeria, Angola, and the middle east to name a few, in order to keep a foothold in these areas and maintain stability. I am not in total agreement with this man on the Saudis buying up all the land to pump back into the economies. Some of this may be correct, but believe me they are not doing this out of pure benevolence.

I do believe that the major reason we invaded Iraq was to take over the oil industry and get a foothold in the middle east to reduce our dependence on the countries that rely heavily on terrorist tactics. This is an extremely complicated issue, and not one with which many people familiarize themselves with. As long as we have our fuel for our vehicles, and our electricity, and heating we go about our merry way and don't worry about it. But we are dangerously close to major fallout regarding oil soon. All we need is for Iran, or some other contingent to block the Straight of Hormuz and our oil supply is shut off. We would then see a major depression unlike any the U.S. has ever seen.

I won't go into all the specifics related to this because it is a very hot button issue, but we will need oil for many years to come. There is no easy or cheap way right to reduce our dependence to any remarkable level. Until we can institute some major, economically feasible alternatives we will increase our dependence every day. Our entire economy is dependent on the oil industry. Products for every single thing we utilize and consume are shipped, produced, packaged, or in some way dependent on oil. We cannot get away from this fact, and we must wake up before it is too late.

Subject: Re: What the Oil Guy Said Tue Nov 06, 2007 11:44 am

A very dear friend of mine, who is Saudi was a chemical engineer for ARAMCO the largest oil refiner in the world. He told me almost 10 years ago that Saudi Arabia only had another 30 or 50 years worth of oil. AT THE PRESENT RATE OF USAGE, so you can figure they are about to run out. There are many, many ways to get off oil, the government hushes them up. I met a man here in Joplin when I first moved here that had invented a car that ran on compressed air, the gov. turned him down. THERES NO MONEY in it for them. The gas prices, while hard on our pockets are also having a very positive effect in waking people up. When gas was cheap most people didn't care how much they drove or fuel they used, now more people are being a little more careful, combineing trips, car pooling etc. So, look on the bright side!

Subject: Re: What the Oil Guy Said Tue Nov 06, 2007 1:07 pm

I found this site on free (sort of) energy. some of you ma find it interesting. www.redicreations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?=861

Subject: Re: What the Oil Guy Said Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:59 pm

This confirms my previous statement that it is all about the oil! We are moving closer to War everyday.

US Gulf Forces Drill Tactics to Avert Hormuz Closure

November 5, 2007, 1:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

Helicopter carrier USS Wasp

Taking part in the American Persian Gulf exercise in progress since Nov. 2 are the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise , its strike force and two smaller helicopter carriers, the USS Wasp and USS Kearsage , which are marine amphibian assault craft. Commander Jay Chambers, who also heads the combined 59th Task Force, described the exercise as tough and demanding but good preparation for realistic scenarios.

The maneuver began shortly after Iranian Gen. Ali Fahdavi stated that the Revolutionary Guards Naval forces under his command are ready and able to strike at oil export traffic heading out of the Gulf region. The statement on Oct. 29 was taken as an implicit Iranian threat to block oil tanker traffic through the Straits of Hormuz chokepoint. Fahdavi added that Iranian suicide teams were also braced to attack any Gulf target.

Friday, Nov. 2, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said: “While they (Iranians) don’t have the bomb yet, they are developing it - or the capability for it.” He was the first Arab ruler to spell this threat out publicly.

At the same time, representatives of the five UN Security Council’s permanent members and Germany who met in London Friday, Nov. 2, again postponed for two-and-a half weeks a decision to bring a third round of sanctions against Iran before the UN Security Council. They agreed to hold sanctions in abeyance until the international nuclear watchdog’s director Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei is ready to present his latest report on Tehran’s adherence to the resolutions calling for its halt in uranium enrichment.

DEBKAfile’s sources in Moscow and Tehran report that Moscow has warned Tehran that Moscow can no longer defend Iran’s nuclear program against tough international sanctions. This was the message from president Vladimir Putin that the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov carried to Tehran on his sudden visit of Oct. 30 for a meeting with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Lavrov explained that Moscow will have no choice but to vote with the West at the Security Council and suspend Russian work and nuclear fuel supplies for the Bushehr nuclear reactor.

Putin delivered the same sharp warning to Iranian leaders during his own visit to Tehran on Oct. 16. He also repeated his offer to relocate Iran’s uranium enrichment production to Russia under IAEA supervision. So far, he has received no reply.

DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources report that a similar proposal was put before Tehran by Saudi foreign minister Prince Saudi al Faisal Friday, Nov. 2. He proposed setting up a Gulf consortium of six members for this purpose, one of which would be Iran, and placing the project under nuclear watchdog oversight. This way, the Saudi minister explained, no single member including Iran would be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

Tehran promptly agreed to join the proposed Gulf consortium but said nothing about giving up its own enrichment installations in Isfahan and Natanz, or the heavy water in Arak for producing plutonium.

DEBKAfile’s Iranian and military sources emphasize that this upsurge of military motion and diplomacy do not alter the two key elements of the crisis surrounding Iran’s nuclear weapons plans:

1. The radical faction led by Ahmadinejad has not been deterred from pushing for Iran to run full speed ahead towards a nuclear weapon, unheeding of possible American military retaliation. This faction appears to be gaining the upper hand against the pragmatists who, led by Supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, hold fast to the argument that a military showdown with American is unnecessary because Iran can afford to be satisfied with a weapons capability, just short of actual production.

2. All the parties involved in the crisis, the US, Iran and the rest of the Gulf and Middle East nations are all geared up for a US-Israel armed confrontation against Iran.

Guest

New 'disaster' movie warns world of oil apocalypse

The latest gloves-off documentary to hit screens predicts a global meltdown as vital fuel runs out.

Robin McKie, science editor The Observer Sunday November 4 2007
Oil is 'the bloodstain of the earth's economy' and will soon trigger a global conflict that will cost millions of lives. That is the stark claim of a controversial new film, which says a crash in oil production is about to set off worldwide recession and economic collapse.

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash, which opens in UK cinemas this week, shows stark images of rusting Texan and Venezuelan wells and fuel riots in Asia and Africa. Such scenes will be repeated thousands of times around the planet in the near future, argue the film's makers, who say the world is facing changes 'more frightening than a horror movie'.

The film is the latest of several polemical documentaries to achieve nationwide release. Others include Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Michael Moore's Sicko, and the forthcoming Darfur Now, in which Don Cheadle provides a voice-over about the Sudanese civil war.

However, A Crude Awakening has had a boost not available to the rest. Just as its screenings were scheduled to begin here, crude oil prices soared to their highest level for decades, reaching $96 a barrel last week. Petrol and diesel at more than £1 a litre at UK garages is now common.

'This is a bleak and very worrying topic, but we have tried very hard to make it entertaining and exciting,' said Basil Gelpke, who - with Ray McCormack - wrote, directed and produced the film.

And to judge by film festival screenings, they may have succeeded. A Crude Awakening has won prizes at the Zurich and Palm Beach festivals. It is a dramatic depiction of the arguments of economists and geologists who say that the day of 'peak oil' has either occurred or is imminent. Peak oil is defined as the time when the world produces its maximum output of oil and enters a period when prices start to soar as demand rises - thanks in part to the industrialisation of China and India - while supplies dwindle.

The US Energy Information Administration said recently it believed production had peaked last year. Others say it has not yet occurred but is imminent, a point backed by geologist Professor Stuart Haszeldine, of Edinburgh University. 'If we have not reached peak oil already, then I am sure it will be upon us within the next two years.'

In the North Sea, oil production has been declining for years, America reached its maximum output decades ago, and in other parts of the world stocks of easily accessible oil are slowly being used up. 'We have reached the peak of oil production, the question is: how steep is the slope downwards on the other side,' said Matt Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy

Oil companies say that there are still major reserves to be exploited. In particular, Arctic and Antarctic fields - which are being freed of ice and snow as the world heats up - are being sized up for their reserve potential.

In Burma, protests over rising fuel prices led to a crackdown by the country's military authorities while in China, where there have been critical fuel shortages recently, one man was shot for trying to jump a petrol queue. Such events are destined to become the norm across the planet, it is argued.

As prices soar and production falters, the world will hurtle into a future of pitched battles over dwindling oil supplies. 'It is not just the threat to transport, ' added David Strahan, author of The Last Oil Shock. 'All across Asia, particularly in India and Bangladesh, farmers use diesel generators to pump water in and out of their fields. If oil prices soar, they will not be able to afford to irrigate their crops. The result could be starvation and food riots.'

In addition, crude oil is a basic necessity in the manufacture of materials such as asphalt and plastic. The construction of a desktop computer consumes 10 times its weight in fossil fuels, for example. Without cheap oil, such products will no longer be affordable.

It is an alarming scenario, although a note of caution was sounded by John Loughhead, director of the UK Energy Research Centre. 'It is true that we may very soon run out of oil from accessible sources, but there are many other types of fuel that we could exploit,' he said.

At present, energy companies exploit a field only if they think they can get oil out of the ground at a cost of less than $18 a barrel. This is a very conservative estimate, given current prices. At present oil is being sold at over $90 a barrel. 'If, in future, companies use a more realistic figure of $40 a barrel instead of $18, that would make many, many more reserves suddenly become economical - the oil tar fields of Alaska, deep water reservoirs, and others,' Loughhead said.

'The trouble is that it is very difficult to estimate future oil prices. Ten years ago they stood at around $10 a barrel. Now they are almost 10 times that. Certainly, I doubt oil will be cheaper than $40 a barrel again, so that means many more fields which once seemed uneconomical will become better bets for exploitation.'

Loughhead said oil was just a small part of the range of hydrocarbons found in the ground. 'It is becoming easier and easier to turn substances like coal and gas into liquid form and use that as a substitute for oil, so fuels based on hydrocarbons will still be with us in some form for a few decades yet,' he said.

Fuel figures

· The United States has 2 per cent of the world's oil reserves and consumes 25 per cent of its annual production.

· 98 per cent of all energy used for road, rail, ocean and aviation transport is provided by oil products.

· A barrel of oil is 42 US gallons, or 34.97 British gallons or 159 litres.

· It is thought there are between 1,000 and 2,000 billion barrels of oil left in the planet's reserves. The world produces 75,000 barrels a day.

· It would take a man working for 25,000 hours to generate the same amount of energy that is stored in one barrelful of oil.