Things that made you Facepalm today (Political Version)

[Tgo01]

They are shooting themselves heavily in the foot though, this is pushing people a lot more toward hybrid/electric, even commercial. They have 700 mile electric trucks coming soon and a sedan full electric is coming out next model year starting at 30k.

This is another reason it doesn't make sense that oil companies are purposefully limiting production. There was already a big push towards electric and other alternative fuels for cars, having the price be this high is just gonna make the push that much bigger.

And it won't even require everyone to get into an electric vehicle, it would just require 10% of the miles driven being an electric vehicle to really lower oil prices.

[Tgo01]

They would still be selling oil at 130 dollars per barrel, how long that price would last would depend on a lot of factors. Even if companies started pumping out more oil and prices dropped to ONLY 120 dollars per barrel they would still be selling millions of barrels of more of oil per day at 120-130 dollars. Shit even 100 dollars per barrel is still a lot more than oil has been selling for during the Trump years.

But you really think all oil companies all over the world, from giant conglomerates to small mom and pop rigs that is in someone's backyard, they all got together and decided to sell LESS oil at historic high prices because they wanted to keep the price high?

Or is the much simpler explanation that governments all over the world have curtailed oil extraction over the past couple of decades?

Psst! It's the latter.

Another way to look at this. Let's say an oil company is pumping out 1 million barrels per day and they bump that up 20% to 1.2 million barrels per day.

At 120 dollars per barrel and 1 million barrels per day they are making 120 million dollars a day.

At 100 dollars per barrel and 1.2 million barrels per day they are still making 120 million dollars a day.

Which means oil has to drop 17% before they are earning just as much at 1.2 million barrels per day compared to 1 million barrels per day.

It makes absolutely no sense for companies to purposefully not drill for more oil.

The only way these kind of price control schemes work is if everyone involved sticks to the plan, which is also known as a cartel, which is exactly what OPEC+ is, which is almost exclusively made up of our enemies. And rather than increasing competition to OPEC to counter their power, Western nations have decided to limit their ability to compete with OPEC+ and instead allow them to do pretty much whatever they want in the realm of energy production.

[Seran]

This is another reason it doesn't make sense that oil companies are purposefully limiting production. There was already a big push towards electric and other alternative fuels for cars, having the price be this high is just gonna make the push that much bigger.

And it won't even require everyone to get into an electric vehicle, it would just require 10% of the miles driven being an electric vehicle to really lower oil prices.

Oil is a limited resource and their ability to freely produce as much as they want indefinitely is a fantasy. By driving up the cost of oil, they can sell less and make larger profit, while preserving the additional oil to sell at a later date. How in the world does that not make sense to you?

For that matter the actual supply of oil isn't constrained by much at all, Russia is still exporting tons of oil to China and India, some of the world's largest consumers at a sharp discount to Brent and WTI average, which means OPEC and Big Oil either lower their prices, or lose the sales. Since lowering production drives up prices, they are making far more by engaging in illegal market manipulation as they were years ago.

Our country has allowed Big Oil to gobble up competition like greasy finger foods and in doing so control supply domestically. By getting Republicans to repeal the petroleum export ban, they also greatly increased the market of products to further expand the upward price barrier. Any surprise these things happened in the sequence they are? It shouldn't.

[drauz]

They would still be selling oil at 130 dollars per barrel, how long that price would last would depend on a lot of factors. Even if companies started pumping out more oil and prices dropped to ONLY 120 dollars per barrel they would still be selling millions of barrels of more of oil per day at 120-130 dollars. Shit even 100 dollars per barrel is still a lot more than oil has been selling for during the Trump years.

But you really think all oil companies all over the world, from giant conglomerates to small mom and pop rigs that is in someone's backyard, they all got together and decided to sell LESS oil at historic high prices because they wanted to keep the price high?

Or is the much simpler explanation that governments all over the world have curtailed oil extraction over the past couple of decades?

Psst! It's the latter.

I mean, I literally provided you with a detailed video of why they are doing it. If you choose not to look at it then I don't know what to tell you.

[drauz]

There is always going to be a certain demand. Right now, demand is keeping up with the price they are at. If they could get it to 130 a barrel, and even if some demand dropped, but they continue to make more than they are now, they absolutely would.

Yes, there is always a certain amount of demand but there is also a certain amount of competition. Gas unlike oil degrades after a time, so it has a shelf life. If all the competitors over produce then competition sets in and the price goes down. If they keep a supply of just enough or a little under then prices can be steadily increased and you get the most $$ out of the oil you've drilled.

[Tgo01]

I mean, I literally provided you with a detailed video of why they are doing it. If you choose not to look at it then I don't know what to tell you.

You mean the video that talks about supply and demand being a major issue with the cost of oil? The video which (not surprisingly) never once mentioned Biden and other Western nations shutting down oil pipelines and other means of extracting oil out of the ground? You mean that video?

The video which mentioned the Democrat lie that 9000 drilling permits on federal land "aren't being used", without explaining that a drilling permit is vastly different from a permit to actually set up a drilling rig and start pumping out oil? A drilling permit just means that company has the right to explore for oil and start the APPLICATION PROCESS of actually building an oil rig. There is all sorts of government regulation before they can start drilling for oil, including numerous environmental studies, not to mention everyone and their dog, from people near the drilling site to the local, county, state, and federal level, all taking the oil companies to court in an effort to stop the drilling, all clogging up the courts and slowing down the process. Which is exactly what I said...the GOVERNMENT is hindering production. Your initial claim in this argument was that CAPITALISM was to blame for all of this, when capitalism is all about making money.

If oil companies could easily make money drilling for more oil than they would, but Western nations have made it difficulty for "dirty" energy companies to make money. According to your own video it costs US producers twice as much money to produce every barrel of oil compared to members of OPEC. Gee, now what could possibly be the reason for that?

[Gelston]

Yes, there is always a certain amount of demand but there is also a certain amount of competition. Gas unlike oil degrades after a time, so it has a shelf life. If all the competitors over produce then competition sets in and the price goes down. If they keep a supply of just enough or a little under then prices can be steadily increased and you get the most $$ out of the oil you've drilled.

You fail to realize all the oil companies collude with their prices.

[Seran]

You mean the video that talks about supply and demand being a major issue with the cost of oil? The video which (not surprisingly) never once mentioned Biden and other Western nations shutting down oil pipelines and other means of extracting oil out of the ground? You mean that video?

The video which mentioned the Democrat lie that 9000 drilling permits on federal land "aren't being used", without explaining that a drilling permit is vastly different from a permit to actually set up a drilling rig and start pumping out oil? A drilling permit just means that company has the right to explore for oil and start the APPLICATION PROCESS of actually building an oil rig. There is all sorts of government regulation before they can start drilling for oil, including numerous environmental studies, not to mention everyone and their dog, from people near the drilling site to the local, county, state, and federal level, all taking the oil companies to court in an effort to stop the drilling, all clogging up the courts and slowing down the process. Which is exactly what I said...the GOVERNMENT is hindering production. Your initial claim in this argument was that CAPITALISM was to blame for all of this, when capitalism is all about making money.

If oil companies could easily make money drilling for more oil than they would, but Western nations have made it difficulty for "dirty" energy companies to make money. According to your own video it costs US producers twice as much money to produce every barrel of oil compared to members of OPEC. Gee, now what could possibly be the reason for that?

Did you just cry that the source drauz posted didn't contain all of the popular Republican myths about why oil prices are high? They're not there because they're not the cause of high oil prices. Pipeline capacity isn't an issue. Having no land on active lease to drill is not an issue. Oil companies being frightened of the the big bad, scawry wawry fuel efficiency increases aren't an issue. All of the issues you named are smokescreen to obfuscate illegal price manipulation.

[Seran]

You fail to realize all the oil companies collude with their prices.

Big of you to recognize that.

[drauz]

You mean the video that talks about supply and demand being a major issue with the cost of oil? The video which (not surprisingly) never once mentioned Biden and other Western nations shutting down oil pipelines and other means of extracting oil out of the ground? You mean that video?

The video which mentioned the Democrat lie that 9000 drilling permits on federal land "aren't being used", without explaining that a drilling permit is vastly different from a permit to actually set up a drilling rig and start pumping out oil? A drilling permit just means that company has the right to explore for oil and start the APPLICATION PROCESS of actually building an oil rig. There is all sorts of government regulation before they can start drilling for oil, including numerous environmental studies, not to mention everyone and their dog, from people near the drilling site to the local, county, state, and federal level, all taking the oil companies to court in an effort to stop the drilling, all clogging up the courts and slowing down the process. Which is exactly what I said...the GOVERNMENT is hindering production. Your initial claim in this argument was that CAPITALISM was to blame for all of this, when capitalism is all about making money.

If oil companies could easily make money drilling for more oil than they would, but Western nations have made it difficulty for "dirty" energy companies to make money. According to your own video it costs US producers twice as much money to produce every barrel of oil compared to members of OPEC. Gee, now what could possibly be the reason for that?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oil-pro...as-fed-survey/

It's not the Democrats "blocking" production. Oil companies literally don't want to increase production.