Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

$100 Buck Oil

The record has now been set; oil reached $100 per barrel today.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will continue to outstrip supplies.

Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria's oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.

Hmm. Maybe that new smart fortwo car is starting to look a little better, after all.

12 Comments:

TexasFred said...: Why we are so reliant on foreign oil is no secret, up until now it was cheaper and the government didn’t have to piss off the tree huggers but we are now in a position that drilling and refining in America is an urgent issue…

We have oil, plenty of oil, but the environmentalists have all but stopped offshore drilling, and have severely curtailed onshore drilling as well, and in the process, are holding America hostage to these oil producing nations that are run by militant insurgencies and Islamic moonbats, and we are making them mega-rich…

Domestic oil production can and must be increased, we have huge resources off the coasts of California and Florida, and the east coast as well, we can produce oil here, in the USA, for many years to come, and maybe during that time a viable alternative will be found, and speaking strictly for me, taking money away from the Nigerians, the Arabs, Chavez, Mexico and a few others isn’t a bad idea…

Do you think we’ll ever have a POTUS and Congress with the balls to get that job done??; Wed Jan 02, 12:16:00 PM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Fred: at least in Fornicalia, you'd have to kill ALL the politicians in order to drill off the coast. We NEED to drill ANWR, we NEED to run the fields in Montana, Wyoming. We NEED to drill off our coasts. In answer to your final question: on the Demorat side, no. On the GOP side, I wish I could state unequivocally, on ANYONE, but I cannot. I don't honestly think I've even heard those questions put to GOP candidates.

BZ; Wed Jan 02, 01:32:00 PM PST
TexasFred said...: Yeah, but none of that is an immediate fix..; Wed Jan 02, 02:20:00 PM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Heavy sigh. Yeah. True.

BZ; Wed Jan 02, 02:49:00 PM PST
Ranando said...: Does anyone know how many barrels we import a year from the Saudis?; Wed Jan 02, 03:23:00 PM PST
Ranando said...: October 2007 Import Highlights: Released on December 28, 2007
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in October 2007 has been released and it shows that one country has exported more than 1.50 million barrels per day to the United States. Including that country, a total of five countries exported over 1.00 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 71 percent of United States crude oil imports in October while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 86 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for October were Canada (1.889 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.370 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.322 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.221 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.184 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.490 million barrels per day), Angola (0.342 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.222 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.213 million barrels per day), and Brazil (0.172 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.776 million barrels per day in October, which is a decrease of 0.539 million barrels per day from September 2007.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in October, exporting 2.411 million barrels per day to the United States, which was a decrease from last month (2.502 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Mexico with 1.454 million barrels per day.

WTF?

We get most of our oil from Canada?; Wed Jan 02, 03:26:00 PM PST
Ranando said...: Data here:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html; Wed Jan 02, 03:28:00 PM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Great.

BZ; Wed Jan 02, 04:31:00 PM PST
ABFreedom said...: Oooooooh those cars are soooooo Ugly.. IMHO

Happy new year to you and your wife too BZ... :); Wed Jan 02, 04:57:00 PM PST
shoprat said...: Better Canada and Mexico than the Muzzies, but here in Michigan we are sitting on large reserves of oil that we are not allowed to drill, not to mention the massive amounts under the Great Lakes.; Wed Jan 02, 05:33:00 PM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Well TF, looks like you hit it -- vast amounts of oil sitting underneath our feet which we, of course, CANNOT unearth ourselves. And yes, Ranando, I believe that's accurate, that the bulk comes from the Great White North.

BZ; Wed Jan 02, 06:28:00 PM PST
A Jacksonian said...: Canada's oil sands/tar sands have more oil in them than all of KSA... that stuff is now being exploited as Canada was exporting *zero* before 2004. Now look at those numbers! $70 billion by Chevron last year and I do believe the other oil companies are investing like amounts. There is a negative unemployment rate in west-central Canada. Yes, jobs going begging for *anyone* to do them... and they can't convince fat and lazy Torontonians to come on over and get a good job. Not to speak of Vancouver or Montreal.

The US oil shales put us tops when that goes economic *if* the lovely tree huggers would just get out of the way... what's that? Suicide of the US to be so multi-culti tree-hugger that we can't bother the environment for any little bitsy thing, even if we clean up after ourselves?

We got lots of oil in the Gulf and along the continental shelf but can we use better technology than existed when the laws were put in place to stop drilling to get the stuff? Nope. Ditto the north slope where there are smaller reserves left to get to... but that pipeline would need *replacing* to help get it as the poor thing is too old.

Of course if you want to put up 'wind farms' you get environuts going on about 'viewsheds' like Sen. Kennedy and Walter Cronkite. Texas has actual wind resources to exploit but can they put up nice little wind farms? Nuh-uh, envirotreehuggers want to hug the treeless plains and worry about the *birds*... say, how about tiny whistles on them rotors so when they turn birds hear them and stay away?

Then you get to bio-this and bio-that which is far less efficient than just putting up amorphous silica solar cells to capture energy. And less reliant, too. Fourth gen solar panels will be dirt cheap, highly efficient, easy to deploy and probably derided by anyone wanting to keep a 'viewshed' or some such pristine. Mind you that methanol conversion of kudzu may finally get rid of the thing... or make it an economical crop, but don't expect methanol to go above 5% in meeting fuel needs as the stuff is damned nasty to existing infrastructure. But its 'bio' so it must be 'good'.

Of course we could use some new refineries, too... we have *plenty* of pre-polluted land for that but, no, you can't actually use that either as polluting polluted land is far too much to do in America.

Of course *India* will be testing Space Solar Power over the next few years... they have an empty island to demonstrate that it will not harm local flora and fauna. Automated deployment of third gen thin film technology will get a far higher return rate on sunlight than we can manage under this nasty old atmosphere. But America can't do *that* for some reason... it would require ingenuity, perserverence and the willingness to make a clean energy buck.

That, obviously, no longer describes an outlook available in America anymore.

What was that about Rome and gold going to the Orient?

Barbarians at the door to take the goodies from the fat, lazy Romans and destroy their culture?

Any comparisons to modern day America are *purely* coincidental.; Thu Jan 03, 04:02:00 AM PST

Bloviating Zeppelin

: Name: Bloviating Zeppelin; Location: Sierra Nevada Mountains, Fornicalia, United States

A former Democrat in my tender and ignorant youth, I am now a Conservative first and, these days, quite a distant Republican with a dash of Libertarian mixed in for good measure. I believe in God, the strength of America, the brilliance of our Founding Fathers, the valor of our military, and the need for Leadership in all forms and on every level. I am not an advocate of censorship as I believe everyone on the Far Left has a God-given right to be painfully stupid -- as I have a right to expose said stupidity. UPDATED NOTE: Recent legal references mandate that I make clear that these writings are ONLY my written OPINIONS and those of no one else. FAIR USE NOTICE - This web site may contain copyrighted material, which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such images and excerpts are made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance understanding of social, political, media and cultural issues. We believe this constitutes 'fair use' as explained in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. ADVERTISING: I do NOT, however, ask for nor display advertisements here.

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Bloviating Zeppelin

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

$100 Buck Oil

12 Comments:

Bloviating Zeppelin

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