Energy, Energy Service, Natural Gas &amp; Oil Sectors

Top 38. Mar 20, 1999 3:23 PM

» matttheduck - i'm not

confident that the opec countries are capable of making their decisions with the "big picture" in mind. please don't say there will "never" be $20 oil. there very likely will, unless a new energy source which replaces oil becomes available. if that "never" happens, oil will eventually become a rarer and rarer commodity, and the price will inevitably go way up. i'm with those who believe opec can't get its act together enough to keep oil prices artificially high. the market will out.

-- posted by matttheduck

Top 39. Mar 20, 1999 4:41 PM

» Hugs - artifically high?

What price are you calling "artifically high"? It isn't clear if you're meaning $ 20.

-- posted by Hugs

Top 40. Mar 20, 1999 7:15 PM

» Arcane - mattheduck is correct. Crude oil

is not a renewable resource. Seems about ten years ago the panic peddlers were predicting that we then had only ten years of reserves. Any reliable new estimates being bandied about?

-- posted by Arcane

Top 41. Mar 20, 1999 10:45 PM

» DennisL - S. F. Bay Area Gasoline Price Update

Self-serve unleaded regular at Tower Mart in my neighborhood was raised to $1.29.9/gallon today. That makes the increase 30 cents/gallon in less than two weeks. Major brands are now $1.39 - $1.50/gallon.

-- posted by DennisL

Top 42. Mar 21, 1999 8:52 AM

» matttheduck - "artificially high"

hugs, here's what i think i mean by this phrase. the current, normal, market-driven price for oil is something south of $15 per barrel. opec now threatens to artificially reduce its output, and the price goes to $15+. the law of supply and demand can be thrown out of whack by decisions to withhold supply that otherwise would be available to the market. that's what opec wants to do. i define that as "artificial."

-- posted by matttheduck

Top 43. Mar 21, 1999 8:56 AM

» matttheduck - oil reserves

for 100 years, there have been dire predictions about the future availability of oil. the last drop is usually assumed to be taken from the ground anywhere from 25-45 years from whenever the predictor is predicting. imho i don't believe we are likely to run out of oil anytime soon, certainly not in my lifetime (i'm 40). but the day will come, tho' it be 1000 years in the future. my money's on a replacement energy source long before that day, however. then we can let those dead dinosaurs rest in peace.

-- posted by matttheduck

Top 44. Mar 21, 1999 3:04 PM

» Jaybird248 - Chicago Gas Price/Got Glut!

As of yesterday, self serve reg in the burbs was 1.089. Today, it's 1.029. Hey, OPEC, you're going the wrong waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!

On a less serious note, oil shortage? Get real. Widespread hydrogen power is now 10 years away with the intro of the DChrysler/Ballard fuelcellmobile, with promised production in 2004.

And should liquid oil ever dry up, there are uncounted zillions of barrels trapped in tar sands, just waiting for some techie to affordably liberate them. Follow that with coal liquification.

Of course, by then, we'll all be be doing mind travel anyway.

Say, wasn't that done already...in San Francisco, circa 1968?

-- posted by Jaybird248

Top 45. Mar 21, 1999 3:42 PM

» RandeS - Jay,

Jay,

After growing up one block from Golden Gate Park, I'm still tying to find various parts of my mind that decided to travel and haven't yet checked back in. Seriously, the world is AWASH in oil. That's why OPEC, et al is so concerned. Supply (new strikes outpacing low-yield shut-downs) has risen so much faster than demand for so long and the producers didn't get a clue until single-digit dollar per barrel oil was staring them in the face. The fundamentals have not changed. They will out. And even with renewed activity in the Rim (we'll have to wait and see if the recent noise in Japan is more than fiscal-year-end window dressing) and Latin America, the world is in good shape for as far as the eye can see. I also tend to agree with you that, necessity being the mother of invention, alternative energy sources will be available long before we all run out of gas on the freeway.

-- posted by RandeS

Top 46. Mar 21, 1999 6:23 PM

» Gene - Some Other Views

The latest price here on East Coast went up from $.899 for Unleaded Regular to $1.039 this week. I think the reason the OPEC tentatively agreed to limit production is the same reason that companies buy back their stock - limit the amount available.

The latest information I have is there was no 2 million barrels of daily excess oil but that the good old USA with its SUVs aguzzling had been buying it up all along thereby allowing this latest oil manueuver. Methinks that the US saw the Saudian Arabian Royal House heading toward total instability (their currency under siege), the Russians and Latin America figured out that overproducing would only bring financial ruin, therefore for now it was better to go along, limit production and see what happens.

What convinced me to invest in the oil patch companies was the fact that oil production was cut so quickly, (1,000 rigs to 500) with the US producers driven out of the market so quickly. But most of all, Global politics. The House of Saud faced financial ruin and the US would not let that happen ie: instability in the most important Arab ally we have in Middle East. Remember, the West went to war there to protect this "commodity" in 1991.

Not believable yet, well remember the US government also hung our USA elderly savers to dry in 1990 when we started lowering interest rates to bail out the S & L's and our banks thereby allowing them to arbitrage Interest rates for 4 years! That was a great time to buy US Banks in spite of what the Wall Street community said then.

Gene

-- posted by Gene