[oiless]

Good enough.
We aren't getting anywhere here. We keep jumping back and forth, from country to country, from retail to production, from regulated pricing, (which only exists in five jurisdictions in Canada, none of which I've ever lived in) to market based pricing.
Unless you're more patient than I, you're about ready to bang your head on the keyboard.

Where are we talking about, US or Canada? I'm talking about Canada.

Which is it, regulated or market based?

What determines profit, production costs or selling price?

Is an oil company's production arm the same as it's wholesale arm?Is the retail arm the same as the other two, or are they separate companies within a corporation? How do they relate to each other? How is their billing and bookkeeping done?

What was that companies name...oh yah, Enron. Different commodity, but did they find it possible and profitable to manipulate prices?

20% tax? You lucky Americans, I wish!

In closing, I'm at sea, I've just come across a shipwreck. My boat will hold four passengers, plus myself. There are five men in the water. How much can I charge for a place on my boat?

Another boat comes along, also with four spots, the captain and I are good friends. There are now eight places for five men. How much can we charge? The same amount? Or did the price go down? (Hint: we can charge whatever we want to, we're selling something the consumer needs, and we can charge as much as they can afford.)
You will say that we will allow a bidding war between us which will lower the price, however if we have any savvy at all we will not allow that to happen.

(No I wouldn't charge someone for rescue, but this seems a better example to me than an auction.)

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oiless', ' ')(No I wouldn't charge someone for rescue, but this seems a better example to me than an auction.)

[KevO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')S Energy Information Administration figures showed that American crude reserves had slumped by 3.9 million barrels in the week to 31 August. Analysts had expected a drop of about 2.2 million barrels.

Meanwhile petrol inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels.

The new head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the high oil prices were sending a message to Opec about the tightness of the market.

Nobuo Tanaka took over as head of the Paris-based agency at the start of the month.

"The price level is a signal. The market is still very tight, but our concern is what will happen in the future," he said.

He added that it was too early to judge what the effect of the turmoil in financial markets would be on demand for oil.

"We will have some kind of assessment by the end of the year."

[NEOPO]

In related news Opec president says no shortage of oil so no worries

[KevO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NEOPO', 'I')n related news Opec president says no shortage of oil so no worries

[Fishman]

Perhaps an announcement at the next G7 meeting will be forthcoming.
Kevo, do these Neocons you speak of include the conservative leaders of Germany, France, and now Hilleary who states we'll be in Iraq a long time?

[Heineken]

I think you're reading too much into the "supply slump." It's probably just part of the endless short-term fluctuation.

We will only know with 20-20 hindsight when the peak occurred.

[RdSnt]

If you regard the political concerns from the perspective of global Realpolitik then the coordination of decisions by the first world countries becomes inevitable rather than sinister. Don't get me wrong, what is going on at the moment is evil and cowardly (I think those two words always go together). yet, what are the power elite to do?
Many of the decisions that must be made should have been implemented decades ago. It is way too late to do much of any about global warming.
Our Canadian Prime Minister, speaking in Australia today say he want's Canada to be a world leader in combating global warming by 2050. What?
Places like New York and London are going to be fighting to keep the water out in 30 years or less. The arctic will be ice free that majority of the year in 30 years.
To truthfully prepare for Peak Oil and global warming, now, will cause the collapse of the first world economies. Compound that with the imminent collapse of the US economy. The populations of these countries will become very violent if the leaders even try. No one is prepared and certainly few are willing to act.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Fishman', 'P')erhaps an announcement at the next G7 meeting will be forthcoming.
Kevo, do these Neocons you speak of include the conservative leaders of Germany, France, and now Hilleary who states we'll be in Iraq a long time?

[Nano]

Peak oil will only be recognised when ALL oil production has stopped, probably around 2100 or 2200. Before that time, people will believe that OPEC or the oil majors or party X are 'holding back' the flow of oil for commercial or geostrategic power purposes.

Also, the major resource wars that will come soon will further cloud the picture: maybe after *they* are finished (around 2050?) then oil production can make a new peak? Who can say? The wars will certainly start that way: politicians saying that if only we can conquer a certain country then world oil production will increase again to new heights?

In short: I don't seriously believe peak oil will EVER be acknowledge by TPTB!

So better start practicing how to survive in a Kafkaian, Orwellian nightmare. Here is a tip: forget all about truth, ethics and morality, concentrate on greed and start kicking some heads in, literally or figuratively! But take care you don't get caught! Look to the Bush/Cheney clique on how to do this most effectively.

[KevO]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Nano', 'P')eak oil will only be recognised when ALL oil production has stopped, probably around 2100 or 2200. .

[Nano]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('KevO', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Nano', 'P')eak oil will only be recognised when ALL oil production has stopped, probably around 2100 or 2200. .

[Twilight]

There is a limit to cooperative international realpolitik on peak oil, and the limit is this: between them the nations in that elite club make up almost all consumption. With a supply ceiling in place and descending, there is no-one to squeeze except each other.

In the medium to long term, international cooperation will diminish, not grow. Conspiracies will increasingly be unilateral. You can already see EU members growing increasingly rebellious in matters energy-related, and the UK is slowly waking up to the fact that its model cooperation is not being reciprocated. One sign of this will be the Large Combustion Plants Directive quietly becoming irrelevant. Anyone up for shutting down all their opted-out coal-fired power stations by 2015? Our needs were greater, they will say. And needless to say anyone betting on a break-up of French and German energy national champions will be disappointed.

[billp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 's')o expect something rather big within 6 weeks.

[Heineken]

Today we reached the $80/bbl milestone so oft ruminated upon. It's happened without any corresponding ejaculation in the gasoline price. Also, it's occurred without the help of hurricanes or any other dramatic events, which obviously gives the event a lot more weight.

Marketwatch link

[skyemoor]

Certainly no US hurricane landing this year, but we did just have PEMEX shutdown their Yucatan facilities for a couple of days, which took some production offline. Gas prices will adjust roughly as the oil purchased at that price is refined and shows up at the pump. Of course, there are other factors to the price...

[jedinvest]

What if the invasion of Iraq had gone as planned?? (Maybe, this is a high-jack of this thread and, maybe, there already is a thread on this topic??) Would it be that our 'way of life' would not be in the process of being compromised (according to Cheney), at least, not yet?

So if Iraq would be pumping their oil to us. Oil would be at, maybe, $40 or $50, or perhaps not as the infrastructure buildup would take years. So, maybe, all a successful invasion of Iraq would have accomplished is to delay peak oil, or plateau peak oil, another five years or so as their production ramped up. Anyone thought about this?

[yesplease]

The invasion of Iraq has done exactly what Chens4w d1ck, by his own admission, thought it would do. Destabilize the region, and, in a surprisingly beneficial side effect, drove up the price of crude significantly. Look at the price of a barrel before 9/11 and the invasion, then look at the price after. You figure out the profit over the past few years, then compare it to the amount spent getting B&C into office in 00 and 04. Excellent ROI if I do say so myself.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('yesplease', 'T')he invasion of Iraq has done exactly what Chens4w d1ck, by his own admission, thought it would do. Destabilize the region, and, in a surprisingly beneficial side effect, drove up the price of crude significantly. Look at the price of a barrel before 9/11 and the invasion, then look at the price after. You figure out the profit over the past few years, then compare it to the amount spent getting B&C into office in 00 and 04. Excellent ROI if I do say so myself.

[seldom_seen]

It seems we'll never reach the inflation adjusted high of 1980. It will always be just out of reach, receding over the horizon.

It was $70.00, then $80.00, now it's like $107.00.

Remember, that no matter how bad things get. Oil will never be expensive as it was in 1980.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'G')eez--You mean it's not all about depleting reserves??