Oil Prices

[Play Angry]

EDIT: I'm starting to be of the opinion that what we are seeing is simply a market correction from a 5-10 year bubble. I'm not going to dig up the links or datum, but I have read recently that the inflation-adjusted price of crude over the last several decades is roughly $50/bbl. The crude oil market acts like a sine wave with respect to price, with the wavelength measured in 10-20 year intervals. We are just on the downward slope of the last peak.

This is my take also. I will be pretty surprised if we see $100 again soon (caveat: my wife will be happy to remind you i am wrong as often as i am right).

[shocka khan]

Shizzle, the question should be more 'is this an efficient use of capital'.

I get the trap you're setting regarding private enterprise doing these projects.

The most important parts of project management are a full and thorough assessment of major risks and plans and alternatives to mitigate them as well as a talented group of people to execute them.

NASA was a government project that succeeded. So was the building of the Astrodome.

Whether it's a government or corporate enterprise is irrelevant, unless you're hiding a boogeyman somewhere.....

[SHOCKvalue]

Shizzle, the question should be more 'is this an efficient use of capital'.

I get the trap you're setting regarding private enterprise doing these projects.

The most important parts of project management are a full and thorough assessment of major risks and plans and alternatives to mitigate them as well as a talented group of people to execute them.

NASA was a government project that succeeded. So was the building of the Astrodome.

Whether it's a government or corporate enterprise is irrelevant, unless you're hiding a boogeyman somewhere.....

I guess since it is private dollars at work then the owners of those dollars can likely perform due diligence on their own like big kids, but what the eff do I know.

[shocka khan]

I guess you weren't arount to read my post about the $42 million dollar software write down at a previouss employer, or, even going way back, Packard's disastrous acquisition is Studebaker. Sometimes it's easier for a CEO to pack the board with their friends who rubber-stamp all their decisions.

Kind of like Brownback did during the run up to those 'wonderful' tax cuts. To the hell with due diligence! Or better yet, let me produce an idiot (Arthur Laffer) and pronounce him as an 'expert'! That oughta satisfy all that due diligence BS!

Speaking of Brownback's tax cuts, how's that little expiriment going for youse guys? Sorry, I know Brownback is your Governor, butI couldn't resist that one, especially in light of Kansas's continued support of him.

[wu_shizzle]

Shizzle, the question should be more 'is this an efficient use of capital'.

I get the trap you're setting regarding private enterprise doing these projects.

The most important parts of project management are a full and thorough assessment of major risks and plans and alternatives to mitigate them as well as a talented group of people to execute them.

NASA was a government project that succeeded. So was the building of the Astrodome.

Whether it's a government or corporate enterprise is irrelevant, unless you're hiding a boogeyman somewhere.....

And what if it isn't an "efficient use of capital"?

Who are you to tell someone else how to invest?

[SHOCKvalue]

Shocka kahn still stunningly tone deaf with regards to the concept of public dollars versus private dollars. Not his first go 'round at that rodeo of logical irrationalism.

[shocka khan]

Shizzle: Who are you to tell someone else how to invest?

Me: I'm no investment advisor but let's just say that a fool and his money are soon parted,

[shocka khan]

SHOCKvalue, I'll say it again, you are NO consultant, either. But I suspect you're a member of the Brownback Lemming Society.

[SHOCKvalue]

SHOCKvalue, I'll say it again, you are NO consultant, either. But I suspect you're a member of the Brownback Lemming Society.

You're right I am no consultant. You've always had that correct, mostly because I'm not and never said I was.

Anywho... I'm no hard-on for Brownback. If the GOP would have given me a decent alternative in the primaries I would have happily checked that box. Similarly, I would have given my hanging chad to the libertarian candidate in the general, had I any hope that candidate would have had a chance of succeeding, and I wouldn't have effectively been voting for another of the left's emotion-over-logic, math-challenged limpdicks.

[wufan]

Oil prices are down because those that control the oil (OPEC) have decided to flood the market in an effort to make other means of extracting cost prohibitive, thus maintaining/gaining market share for the foreseeable future. Futures are down because those that speculate on oil know that this will work.

I don't know why we have a gap in regular vs premium or diesel.

[shocka khan]

I've been told that some of the rationale for diesel and premium being so high is that oil companies are trying to protect margins (by keeping Diesel and premium so high), but I don't really understand that logic.

After watching this strange pricing behavior, I've decided to make sure the car I'm buying later in the year is both economical and burns regular unleaded only. I know gas prices will be cheap for awhile, but I also know they'll go back up at some point.

I usually try to buy 50% Of my gas from the big boys, as it is usually better quality, but I haven't wanted to bring myself to pay $1/gallon more for shell or chevron.

[Play Angry]

Oil prices are down because those that control the oil (OPEC) have decided to flood the market in an effort to make other means of extracting cost prohibitive, thus maintaining/gaining market share for the foreseeable future. Futures are down because those that speculate on oil know that this will work.

I don't know why we have a gap in regular vs premium or diesel.

Eh, it's not quite that simple though.

The Saudis merely derailed the attempted OPEC production cut to defend the $70 price barrier- they didn't boost production to flood the market. Non-OPEC countries now produce almost 200% as much oil as OPEC and they have been the ones bringing production online at faster rates in recent years. This partially explains why the cartel is far less effective at controlling price now versus the late 1970s/early 1980s. It is true, however, that the Saudis (along with many other producing nations) plan to dramatically increase their refining capacity, but the bulk of that increase isn't scheduled to hit until 2016/7 and beyond. Those additional refineries are old news and would not have provided any sudden shock to the market, and they do not affect the production caps OPEC countries supposedly self-police.

So, if Saudi Arabia was not the cause of the initial plummet but rather licensed an additional leg of the drop from 70 to 50, what caused the initial plunge from 110 to 70 when geopolitical events were screaming instability and turmoil in and around heavily producing regions (Russia; ISIS; Boko Haram; failure of progress re: Keystone)?

A slowdown in China? People have been screaming that for quite a while- it hit rare earths and other minerals a long, long time ago. Unlikely.

Further troubles in the EU? Not really buying this either. The EU goes through a mini-crisis every 10-15 months, and it's not like the current round of extortion is that dramatic compared to some of the earlier ones.

Slowdown in the US? Nope, we're expanding.


Sometimes the answer and timing just aren't clear and never will be, because sometimes huge price swings are initiated by the folks at the tippy top of the pyramid unraveling a giant position and the managers below trampling each other on their way out the same door. Us peasants usually never get to find out the details.

[1979Shocker]

MD, VA, PA and CA all increase state gas taxes... Federal tax hike proposed too!

With WTI crude oil dipping below $50 per barrel and retail gasoline prices slipping lower and lower... it would be easy to enjoy the euphoria of pump prices more than $1 lower than last year if only politicians weren't so determined to take more money out of our pockets.

Effective January 1, states like Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania are raising their state's respective gasoline taxes. So in effect, even though the retail prices are declining, the state(s) and federal government each want more of the revenue going directly to them. In California, it's an increase in the state's emissions tax that is being applied directly to the wholesale price of gasoline, so in effect, it's a hidden gas tax increase of a minimum 10 cents per gallon.

Maryland gasoline and diesel taxes will go up by 2.9 cents per gal. each, raising the state tax on gasoline to 30.3 cents per gal., and 31.05 cents per gal. on diesel.

Pennsylvania wholesale taxes on gasoline and diesel are set to rise 9.8 cents per gal. and 13.2 cents per gal., respectively. The new state taxes will be 50.5 cents per gal., for gasoline and 64.2 cents per gal. on diesel.

Virginia's gasoline tax climbs 5.1 cents per gal., from 11.1 cents per gal. to 16.2 cents per gal. 2015 marks the first time in 29 years that Virginia has raised its gasoline tax.

In each state increases are expected to be passed along directly to consumers.

Read more at https://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/MD-V...gU24EeJTmB4.99

[wsushox1]

WTI down $2.61 today.

[Play Angry]

Read more at https://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/MD-V...gU24EeJTmB4.99

What an incredibly regressive tax hike by 3 democratic governors and 1 republican one.