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[SickBoy]

It's alwAys a great joy of mine to ask these DRILL BABY DRILL republicans how they intend to keep all this new oil they want in the USA, for patriotic American use.

The U.S. produced 2 billion barrels of oil in 2011 and imported 3.2 billion (and exported 17 million) http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/monthly/pdf/table2.pdf

So presumably, that oil would all be used in the U.S. by patriotic Americans, since there seems to be 3.2B barrels of oil demand in the U.S. that's not met by local production.

 

[thatbox]

The U.S. produced 2 billion barrels of oil in 2011 and imported 3.2 billion (and exported 17 million) http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/monthly/pdf/table2.pdf

So presumably, that oil would all be used in the U.S. by patriotic Americans, since there seems to be 3.2B barrels of oil demand in the U.S. that's not met by local production.

That's not how it works in practice, unfortunately.

 

[Large Professor]

They can by raising inflation.

How would that work?

 

[SickBoy]

That's not how it works in practice, unfortunately.

So how does it work in practice?

 

[Baraka in the White House]

So how does it work in practice?

In practice companies like ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron drill wherever they can - stateside or otherwise - and sell the recovered oil on the global market. Although they are U.S. companies they're neither interested in nor obligated to keep American oil in America, they want to sell that oil to the highest bidder.

 

[thatbox]

How would that work?

I was being facetious. High inflation incentivizes immediate spending, because money is decreasing in value so quickly that the longer you wait the less you can purchase with it. It was just a fun point to make, and not all that relevant - you were talking about investing and and SapientWolf was talking about spending.

 

[Raistlin]

UPDATE 1-US 2010 oil refining capacity highest in 29 years-EIA

We've lost refineries, but they've expanded the current refineries more than the small ones shut down.

What's weird is that even though capacity increased (and this was mainly due to the Delaware refinery reopening that I wasn't aware of) ... actual refinement operations remain well below that of the 90's.

So yes, I misspoke. Capacity isn't really the issue ... but actual refinement still seems to be a problem. I'll try and dig up some articles on it. I've heard several discussions on NPR regarding it of late.


It should also be noted, that article you cite doesn't really give a break down of what petroleum products are being refined either. It's obviously not all gas to begin with.

 

[HeySeuss]

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but there was just an article in the Columbus Dispatch where governor Kasich said that for every barrel drilled in Ohio, the oil company pays exactly 20 cents in taxes to the state. Pretty crazy if true.

 

[akira28]

We've known this for a while. We're actually exporting oil at this point, and still prices are high due to speculation. It's a complete mess.

Didn't the Justice Dept basically have to make veiled threats towards oil speculators, warning them not to mess with the market or else they would double and triple check every transaction for wrongdoing?

 

[Brimstone]

Investing in refineries seems pointless.

Start building Nuclear plants and keep investing into battery technology.

 

[SickBoy]

In practice companies like ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron drill wherever they can - stateside or otherwise - and sell the recovered oil on the global market. Although they are U.S. companies they're neither interested in nor obligated to keep American oil in America, they want to sell that oil to the highest bidder.

... There were 17 million barrels of crude oil exported from the U.S. last year. Consumption was around 5.4 billion. (in other words, the U.S. exported 0.3% of what it used, while it imported 61% -- according to my quick, rounded-numbers math)

The oil would stay in America (and I'll go further and say that the products made from that oil would largely stay in the country, too). That won't necessarily mean what politicians say it will mean, however. There's little incentive to move it elsewhere, though.

For the record, I don't think there should be a mad rush to drill. Especially non-conventional resources that aren't already being tapped.

 

[Raistlin]

Investing in refineries seems pointless.

Start building Nuclear plants and keep investing into battery technology.

Actually using our existing refineries would probably be a good idea in the now however ...

 

[Gallbaro]

Damn, you, Fed! Damn you for creating such high inflation!

Ah yes, the inflation metrics that do not actually account for most of American spending.

 

[rpmurphy]

Investing in refineries seems pointless.

Start building Nuclear plants and keep investing into battery technology.

Oil will still be a very important commodity even then. As long as people are realistic about what the various technologies can and cannot solve and not make rushed decisions or decisions that take too long to pass through all the red tape, there are ways we can definitely tackle the problem. That I think is very difficult for most of the public and politicians.

 

[phosphor112]

shocker

This. Anyone thinking drilling more will help, it wont.

Even if it cost them pennies to achieve a barrel, they'd still sell it at the same price.

Investing in refineries seems pointless.

Start building Nuclear plants and keep investing into battery technology.

Solar and wind power are both are "infinite sources," with minimal upkeep.

Germany has cut subsidies since it's costing them so much to buy all the energy. Mass produce panels for every house, hydrogen cells to store the energy, and a converter to allow houses to use them. We can drop dependance on fossil fuels considerably (mainly coal) while adding thousands and thousands of jobs to manufacture and install/etc the hardware.

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

Probably won't pass given the deadlock within Congress.

Yeah, it's purely symbolic. The infuriating thing about this bill is it essentially asks a regulatory body to pretty please do their job, with powers already conferred. We need a fucking bill for that? The CFTC is simply abdicating their responsibility, and the Obama admin treats this as business as usual. I guess you can't blame them, regulatory capture runs so deep that Americans are happy being fleeced in broad daylight.

 

[XMonkey]

... There were 17 million barrels of crude oil exported from the U.S. last year. Consumption was around 5.4 billion. (in other words, the U.S. exported 0.3% of what it used, while it imported 61% -- according to my quick, rounded-numbers math)

The oil would stay in America (and I'll go further and say that the products made from that oil would largely stay in the country, too). That won't necessarily mean what politicians say it will mean, however. There's little incentive to move it elsewhere, though.

For the record, I don't think there should be a mad rush to drill. Especially non-conventional resources that aren't already being tapped.

It doesn't matter as oil is a global commodity. It may stay here, but the price we pay for it is not dictated solely by factors internal to the US so the price remains high regardless of where it came from.

Unless you want to argue for nationalizing our oil companies to keep prices lower and stop oil recovered here from entering the world market...

 

[SickBoy]

It doesn't matter as oil is a global commodity. It may stay here, but the price we pay for it is not dictated solely by factors internal to the US so the price remains high regardless of where it came from.

Unless you want to argue for nationalizing our oil companies to keep prices lower and stop oil recovered here from entering the world market...

That really has nothing to do with what I'm saying.

I'm just disputing claims that U.S. oil is largely exported (it's not) and that increased production would be exported (it wouldn't be). Maybe I'm just being a stickler for details, but that's a pretty big detail.

 

[SapientWolf]

... There were 17 million barrels of crude oil exported from the U.S. last year. Consumption was around 5.4 billion. (in other words, the U.S. exported 0.3% of what it used, while it imported 61% -- according to my quick, rounded-numbers math)

The oil would stay in America (and I'll go further and say that the products made from that oil would largely stay in the country, too). That won't necessarily mean what politicians say it will mean, however. There's little incentive to move it elsewhere, though.

For the record, I don't think there should be a mad rush to drill. Especially non-conventional resources that aren't already being tapped.

The info I read indicates that market forces independent of supply are dictating where the domestically refined gasoline goes. There is incentive to send it elsewhere when it's more profitable to ship gasoline overseas than to transport it cross country.

 

[satriales]

I wish I could pay $3.58/gallon for petrol. Here in the UK we pay about $8.40/gallon.

 

[XMonkey]

That really has nothing to do with what I'm saying.

I'm just disputing claims that U.S. oil is largely exported (it's not) and that increased production would be exported (it wouldn't be). Maybe I'm just being a stickler for details, but that's a pretty big detail.

Ah, seems I misconstrued your point and it looks like you were only trying to point out to LosDaddie that a lot of our oil stays in the country anyways and not really making a comment on how that effects price?

 

[SickBoy]

 

[gutter_trash]

the Keystone pipeline bringing in oild-sands gas from Canada is not going to lower gas prices.

proof?

Gas prices in Canada are sky high at an historic high... plus we have a Conservative majority government