WTF oil prices

[ajaxgs]

this just burns my ass that these f@ckers just get away with this shite see the attched story


http://ctv2.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080501.wexxon0501/business/Business/businessBN/ctv-business

[ohgood]

yep. and the dollar continues to fall, all the while people still buy cheap plastic crap at wal-mart, driving it even lower.

the oil companies are one of the few that have to do very little to produce a product that every single household in the US uses, in one way or another. pump it from the ground (not grow it mind you), refine it, and ship it. set their own price and all.

it sucks, but the alternative is investing (and paying a little more per gallon) for corn fuel. keeping the dollars here in the us would be pretty cool, and turning the tide for research into better grown fuels instead of the easy cheese oil drilling.

i'm still happy when i see the prices near $4 a gallon. we're starting to see what the rest of the world pays, and maybe some of the SUV's will get the heck off my roads

[lewismug]

I'm right there with ya man!  I swear!  Currently, I drive 90 miles each way to and from work.  That's 180 miles a day.  900 miles a week..  I have to fill up 3 times a week.  (Volvo car, 28 mpg)  $60 dollars a pop at least.  $720.00 a month........in GAS.  My freakin house note is $870.00/month.  It's pretty damn ridiculous.  Makes me wannasomeone up really, really bad.  

[ohgood]

I'm right there with ya man!  I swear!  Currently, I drive 90 miles each way to and from work.  That's 180 miles a day.  900 miles a week..  I have to fill up 3 times a week.  (Volvo car, 28 mpg)  $60 dollars a pop at least.  $720.00 a month........in GAS.  My freakin house note is $870.00/month.  It's pretty damn ridiculous.  Makes me wannasomeone up really, really bad.  

is your V-dog a turbo-diesel, and only getting 28 mpg ? mmm er, ok, you said GAS, but still, just wanted to clarify things.

we're looking for a replacement wagon for our honda-dog-wagon, and the volvo turbo diesel seemed like it might make sense... once

[beRto]

It sucks to pay so much for gasoline, but there's no point blaming the oil companies (I know, I'm in the minority here). Demand is high and supply is ever-decreasing. The exact same thing happens with everything else we buy/sell.

Another point to keep in mind is that oil company profits (I think it was $11 billion in the article linked by the OP) are still a representative percentage of their cost of doing business. In other words, it costs so much money to explore for oil and drill it out that profits of this magnitude are still a small percentage of the total money involved.

I'm not certain, but I'd bet that on a percentage basis there are plenty of other companies (maybe Microsoft, Google etc.) that are much more profitable than big oil.

No, I don't work for an oil company.



edit: this topic should probably be in Odds and Ends?

[guitarking135]

The fact still remains that it doesn't matter what we do the goverment has to be the ones to stop him. Taxes are another thing thats out of control. a big part  of our American Tax money is going to rebuild Iraq whats wrong wtih that? bring our troops home forget everyone else and focus on your own country. HEy you brits are you guys having problems like this over there?

[ajaxgs]

sorry should have been in odds-ends .......


anyways Berto.....you said"but there's no point blaming the oil companies " come on the a$$-hats are FLEECING us ,do you know that stuff (oil sands) that they are pulling up in alberta is the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world , and we are paying so f****ng much ,how come that in saudi they pay like .10cents a litre , ect ect yes the gas taxes in canada are high and the GST is a tax on a tax , ontario road taxes are high ect ect but the governments (canada / usa ) don't have the Balls to say " NO" ... i feel for the guys across the pond in britan , almost works out to 8$ and change a gallon   now thats getting it to the rotater cuff and no KY jelly!!!!(sorry man not a personal attack on you), i'm just pissed at what is happening and i have written my members of parlement ect


there is a great book to get your hands on ......called OIL Power , all about rockerfeller and the rise of Standard Oil, and how he Dictated to the American government what he was going to do

[beRto]

sorry should have been in odds-ends .......


anyways Berto.....you said"but there's no point blaming the oil companies " come on the a$$-hats are FLEECING us ,do you know that stuff (oil sands) that they are pulling up in alberta is the 2nd largest oil reserve in the world , and we are paying so f****ng much ,how come that in saudi they pay like .10cents a litre , ect ect yes the gas taxes in canada are high and the GST is a tax on a tax , ontario road taxes are high ect ect but the governments (canada / usa ) don't have the Balls to say " NO" ... i feel for the guys across the pond in britan , almost works out to 8$ and change a gallon   now thats getting it to the rotater cuff and no KY jelly!!!!(sorry man not a personal attack on you), i'm just pissed at what is happening and i have written my members of parlement ect


there is a great book to get your hands on ......called OIL Power , all about rockerfeller and the rise of Standard Oil, and how he Dictated to the American government what he was going to do

No offense taken; nothing wrong with healthy debate

I agree that oil companies are making a profit on the product they are selling. Oil companies work for their investors and their job (like every other company) is to make as much money as they can. Nobody complains when Microsoft charges $100 for a copy of Windows and makes a huge profit from consumers (OK, maybe people do complain, but you get my point).

I just don't see how governments can say "NO". It's not up to the government, it's up to consumers who are buying the product. The way we say "NO" is by purchasing less oil. We can't just refuse to pay; the oil would get sold elsewhere to someone who wants it more (e.g. Europe, Asia, etc.).

[ajaxgs]

as a matter of fact CBC had a great program on the other week about the oil-sands and what its doing , 90% of the oil is going to the USA and the rest for canada , they (Canadain /American ) governments are doing their damdest to keep CHINA out of any companys  allowed to mine in the area .......they won't give licences to Peto-China!!!


I do agree with you on micro-soft ect , hell look at what the banks make , nocle and diming us to death with service charges

the big problem too is the fact that as Canadians ....we are THREE DAY COMPAINERS!! 

[dchrist]

i don't post much but hating on the oil companies for profits just burns me up. no pun intended. this from the Washington Post.

"Most financial institutions, such as commercial banks, are routinely more profitable than Exxon Mobil was in its third quarter. For example, Exxon Mobil's gross margin of 9.8 cents of profit for every dollar of revenue pales in comparison to Citigroup Inc.'s 15.7 cents in 2004. By percentage of total revenue, banking is consistently the most profitable industry in America, followed closely by the drug industry.

Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro and other cigarettes, made 22 cents for every dollar of revenue in 2004, and pharmaceutical company Merck made 25.3 cents for every dollar of revenue in 2004.

By other measures, such as profit per employee, return on invested capital and free cash flow, Exxon Mobil is nowhere near a standout."

If you take the price of a gallon of gas and see how much of that equates to profit for an oil company its measured in pennies if not fractions of a penny. its the volume of gallons sold that count up to billions of dollars. oil companies have virtually no control over the price of a gallon of gas. that is controlled in world markets by OPEC which colludes to control (read elevate) price by limiting supply. so blame OPEC. not exxon/mobil.

if you want to get mad at exxon/mobil do it because they have a terrible environmental record. one of the worlds biggest polluters.


d

[beRto]

Well said, dchrist! 

[spc]

Don't blame OPEC.  One of the founding principles of this country is capitalism..........or as we know it now, making a buck for yourself, f%$k everyone else.   That's exactly what OPEC is doing, they're making a buck for themselves because they know we have no choice.  The instant oil can be supplied both immediately and in quantity from a non-OPEC source, prices will plummet.

[Tang]

i two years a oil company can send a team of astronauts into space and land on the moon!!!!  APOLLO i think 14 or 13 cost 22 BILLION

and this pencil pushing oil companys are banking in BILLIONS!

[mojonixon]

A oil company sent a team into space...what?

[Toogoofy317]

As reported on ABC news Exxon mobil made 10.4 billion in profits this quarter alone. The LARGEST in U.S history. I dunno about you but they can cut profits a little right. That's right the common man gotta bend over and we don't even get a roll of tape to help! I don't think bio fuel is the way to go either corn prices are also going through the roof and farmers would rather make the corn for the government subsidies farmers are also making record profits. The average farmer makes about 85,000 a year. Why is our government still subsidizing this. I understand the smaller farmers but our government will not cut the subsidies unless they make over 100,000 profit.

How many of you guys make 85,000 what I thought and we don't get government subsidies shouldn't we all be equal?

But this is why I ride a gs love my 65mpg!

Mary s

[Ronin]

During WW2 Hitler's war machine ran for almost 4yrs on fuel made from coal! We are sitting on one of the largest coal reserves on earth.

We don't get it..it's not about just making a buck.It's about bringing down our standard of living to merge the U.S. with Canada and Mexico.That's what the N.A.U. is about,the North American Union.Or better put the New World Order! And by the way it's a done deal.The light at the end of the tunnel isn't a moped with a flashlight duck taped to the handle bars!! B.O.H.I.C.A. Baby!

The Fourth Reich is well under way.We are being driven in a way that has been pre planed for a long time.WW3 will be the result...

[qwertydude]

Wanna know what really burns me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_Formation

And oil will still go up. I knew a lot of people that laughed at me when I told them gas prices would hit 4 dollars a gallon last year, never did but 3.40 was close, now it is 4 bucks, only one year later. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what gas prices will be next year? I'm guessing $5.25 over here, no kidding. Not to mention biofuels are no longer viable. The price of corn and wheat has tripled in the last 3 years just based on speculation that we'll be starting a large scale biofuel production.

Things are getting expensive fast yet lots of big business continues to make big or even record profits? Somethings wrong here. And as much as I'm for free market capitalism I'm starting to see the US turn back into a developing country. I came from the Philippines and can tell you the way our brand of capitalism is heading, and the gap between the rich and the poor widens we'll soon be staring at trash strewn slums right next to luxurious palaces. It is like that wherever capitalism is allowed to go completely unchecked, China, Philippines, Mexico, Saudi Arabia all have gaps between rich and poor that make us go tisk tisk, you should take care of your people. All the while we are oblivious to our own situation where someone will die in front of a hospital because they are uninsured. Feel free to laugh at my doom and gloom, everyone laughed when I said gas would be 4 bucks a gallon. Anyone care to guess who I voted for?

[spc]

The Fourth Reich is well under way.We are being driven in a way that has been pre planed for a long time.WW3 will be the result...

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
- Albert Einstein

Ronin, if you really believe what you post, you should be very afraid.  Old Al is very, very rarely wrong.

[ajaxgs]

  The instant oil can be supplied both immediately and in quantity from a non-OPEC source, prices will plummet.

canada is not in opec !


hey i'm not agains making a profit , one thing my father taught me is " proffits not a dirty word " but many people here have brought up the fact that banks, cigarette and drug companys have made lager proffits , we have a choice with generic drugs v.s brand name, we can quit smoking and we can switch banks or find alternative means to get money , but we have no choice for oil!!!

[guitarking135]

The fact still is it's not about profits. its about these oil companys sticking in to the working class man. plan and simple they know we need oil and until it gets so out of control that people just don't buy gas cause they cant budget it its going to continue.