Leah_Beno's Blog

There are 68 million acres in the US that oil companies hold leases to already, that they aren't drilling on. Digging more wells isn't the answer, building refineries to turn the oil into gas is what should have been happening the last thirty years. Bush "allowing" drilling only opens the door for more petroleum companies to post higher profits. He and Cheney are after all; oil men. It is an allowance that "shows well" to the voters who only read the headlines, but as Rep. Myrick stated the results are ten years down the road. When Bush was asked what he planned to do after the presidency, he said he planned to refill the coffers. This should do it.

I completely agree, refineries are the answer. But if Congress doesn't see this than I will have lost all confidence in the US government. If our "leaders" don't catch this then why should anyone have confidence in the government. Don't get me wrong I'm not an anti-government activist or whatever they call themselves, but the United States is supposed to be the greatest nation on the planet, what would this say to other world leaders if we just come up with quick solutions that look good on paper. Yes refineries may take time to build but like mrmajestic said, we had 30 years to build refineries.

I've got a few things to say about this. First, China has secured drilling rights off of the coast of Cuba. THEY will be able to drill off of our shore, but WE won't. If THEY don't do a good job, WE still have to clean up the mess.

Windfall profits tax. Why put a windfall profits tax on oil when you could get taxes from new oil finds and offshore oil anyway?

Oil drilling accounts for less than 1% of the oil spilling into the ocean. Tanking/Transporting it causes 4%. The less drilling we do, the more Tanking we need to do. . . which is more environmentally friendly? Where does most of the oil contamination in the ocean come from? MOTHER NATURE. Yes, the National Academy of Science determined that 63% of the petroleum in the ocean results from natural vents from the ocean floor.

Oil Company subsidies - GET RID OF THEM. The government doesn't need to give these companies any more money. . . they have plenty.

Conservation concepts - they are GREAT and a PART of the long term solution. . . but hey, if we can't 'drill' our way out of this situation, we can't HOPE our way out of this situation either. The idea that we can throw money at technology and innovation and we'll find a solution is laughable. Maybe George Washington should have thrown money at a flight program and we wouldn't have had to wait for the 20th century for the airplane. What sort of incentive was there in inventing the internet or the TV?

ethanol is a ridiculous idea using corn. We could use sugar, but the sugar lobby in DC keeps the price artificially high for it to be useful. . .

What needs to happen is Alaska should stop producing oil for a week since drilling domestically isn't significant or important. See what happens with it. How would America feel if OPEC decided that their 'pristine desert' was more important than the oil under the sand? Would you all be saying that Saudi Arabia, Iraq, or Iran shouldn't drill?

As for speculators, it is a GLOBAL marketplace. You can handcuff Americans, but you can't legislate complaince from Arabs (who have the money) or Asians (who need the oil).

Bottom line, drill. We need to use all the resources available to us if we want to be a great nation. Oil, Natural Gas, Nuclear, Solar, Wind, Geothermal. . . ALL OF IT. If we want to start picking and choosing which industries will be successful, we will fail as a nation.

Ms Leah_Beno

It was said earlier by Butrfli

"S.O.S. Stop Oil Speculation! That will solve our crisis. Not off shore drilling."

I agree. Oil speculators have found away to control the market by creating the appearance of a demand for crude that does not exist.

Those involved in this are big players in big business.

Ms Leah I would like to hear your views regarding this. I would also like to see you do a story on this.

We as voters need to send congress a strong message that we are not going to sit still for this. They meaning congress needs to take action to reduce oil prices. we the average citizen can not afford to pay 4.00 plus dollars per gal of gas. most of the congress members and others own oil stock and are getting large dividens from it in my opinion so naturally they are not going to want cut their nose off by agreeing to let oil companies drill off shore.the usa is the third largest producer of crude oil so why are we not using it? People if things do not change then these learned elected officials are going to be out on their colective rear ends and replaced by people who will be for the regular joe whose working 3 jobs just to provide for their family because they need 2 jobs just to pay for gas. last lear gas was around 2 plus dollars a gal now its tripled whats it going to be next year? these are opinions only.

But they’re not.

Recently we saw crude oil supplies rise to a six-year high. Gasoline stockpiles were at a three-year high. Distillates have come back from a steep deficit to inventory levels that are now above where they were last year. Natural gas inventories reside well above their five-year average.

Yet prices go up and up and up.

Still not satisfied?

Okay, OPEC is producing at levels not seen since the early 1970s — and that doesn’t even include Iraq, which is struggling to achieve pre-Gulf War production levels, but will soon be there. Furthermore, global production still outpaces consumption, even accounting for China’s unsustainable economic growth rates.

In short, there is nothing in that equation that says oil should cost what it costs today. Nothing! With one exception — speculation.

The New York Mercantile Exchange is the preeminent energy futures market in the world. It has become the price-setting mechanism for oil. Even OPEC refers to NYMEX when it sets its price targets. Right now it costs exactly $3,375 for anyone to control 1000 barrels of crude oil valued at roughly $67,000. Three grand to control nearly seventy!

The NYMEX sets that margin requirement, or “good faith” deposit, based on a number of factors like volatility and price. Yet despite the fact that crude and gasoline prices have doubled in the past year the exchange has only raised the margin requirement once, and by a token amount. I might add. The reason I remember it so well is because I think I had something to do with it.

Last August I happened to run into Senator Chu

In 1980 the Commodity Exchange Inc. in New York declared a “liquidation only” market in silver. This move was designed to break the back of a corner that was being engineered by a group of speculators. That policy worked. Prices eventually fell to $10 and the specs were ruined.

Moreover, the Federal Reserve can also raise margin requirements on stocks and it has, 23 times since 1934.

As more and more speculative funds buy into the crude, gasoline, and heating oil markets, their price structures are getting distorted. Deferred contract months are selling for big premiums over spot or nearby contracts. Normally that would not be the case in situations of tight supply, as so many say we are in. This tidal wave of speculative buying is fostering the artificial hoarding of oil. It is dangerous, and it should be stopped.

History has shown that sometimes markets can be distorted by manipulation and mania. In my opinion, those times justify intervention. The New York Mercantile Exchange has not shown any responsibility in this regard, but we shouldn’t expect it to: It makes its money off the trading of oil contracts listed on its exchange.

However, pressure should be put on the NYMEX to raise margins high enough to significantly reduce the amount of speculation going on in their markets. Leave the bona-fide hedgers (those who produce or sell the stuff) alone, but for the good of the economy, and for the long-term integrity of the markets, we must make it too costly for funds to play the spec game.

Speculation is responsible for 60% of the inflated price.

Again, how would you all feel if Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran all said that they didn't want to drill for fear of the economic impact? You'd say they were greedy and trying to run up the price of oil.

Look, I've always been wary of Bush for his oil connections, and I've been leary of his close connection with the Saudis (where most of the funding for terrorism comes from - not necessarily the government, but their mosques). But this is a future supply/demand problem.

If the USA cuts demand and gets rid of 'speculators' it won't make any difference in the HUGE Asian countries who want to use oil as much as we have because they want to grow.

I don't understand why you don't want to drill. It's like a tall guy not wanting to use his height to play basketball so he plays on his knees. . . it's just dumb. But it's politics as usual.

We should all go back to walking. Think about what your life would be like if you couldn't fly on a plane. No planes, no oil consumption. . . better world, right?