This is essentially the case. And right now, the whole world has their hand out asking for more. It simply isn't there to give and you can't just run in the house or the local supermarket to grab more lemons to squeeze.
Any argument that American producers are artificially keeping production low is entirely missing the fact that they could sell their product and, as Biden so tactfully said, 'make more money than God'. Any oil, gasoline, natural gas, or other distillates brought to market right now would sell for these premium prices. Why would anyone not want to produce and cash in as much as they possibly could? It's just not a logical argument.
Like it or not, the West chose to impose these sanctions and cut off Russian supply as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine. This invasion could have been avoided if rational people sat down and discussed their concerns over NATO expansion toward the Russian border. Peace was an option, but due to profound and ultimately self-defeating decisions made by inexperienced leaders who seemed to care more about bravado and personal honor than the best interests of their own people, the entire globe shall now suffer the consequences. This is where the blame lies for the current crisis.
It's like pushing a cart down a hill, screaming at it for going too fast the whole way down, and then acting with shock and disbelief when it crashes at the bottom.
The lesson here is don't push the fucking cart down a hill. Not point your finger at the maker of the cart.
Last edited by Furryrat; 06-16-2022 at 01:35 PM. Reason: typo
I love the chilito that Taco Bell has. Back in high school these suckers were only $0.99 and for every soft shell (that cost $0.59 then) I got, I purchased a chilito to go with it.
Some Taco Bell locations don't have the chilito (now called the chili cheese burrito) anymore, but thankfully my local Taco Bell does. However, they're priced at $2.49 and I swear that they're smaller than they were years ago. I sometimes catch myself when ordering, actually asking for chilitos and most of the time the person taking the order says "You want a what?" because they're too young to know the original name.
You know, maybe Demolition Man gets it right, maybe Taco Bell will be the only restaurant to survive....I'd be okay with that.
And yet the tens of billions of dollars collectively being made per month by United States oil companies isn't being put into restarting existing wells, it's not being put into ramping up the completions of existing, uncompleted wells and it's not being put into exploration drilling on the already existing millions of acres of state and federally owed land currently under existing lease by Big Oil. Chevron's CEO just a few months ago stated in a press release that they would not be putting additional money into new production, but would instead focus on maintaining the value of existing production.
Not only is your wry statement factually wrong, but at least two corporate officers of the biggest oil firms in our country admitted they have no interest in aiding supply issues. Even though it's perfectly within their power to "turn up the dial of production" by unidling of stripper wells alone.
Did you further explore their reasoning for not reinvesting this capital into those areas?
They do not believe this spike in demand to be sustainable due to a looming recession and slowing economic growth. Therefore, increasing operational expenditures at this time could lead to oversupply issues in a deflating market and enormous costs to scale down production when demand abates. An extreme example of this just occurred in mid-2020, right. It's nothing sinister, it just makes more sense to wait and see right now.
Let's circle back to the argument that supply and demand pressures as a result of sanctions due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Between SPR releases and small to mid-sized producers, the 700,000 barrels per day have been completely offset. Worldwide, the reduction of supply from Russia has been reported as being one million barrels per day, due to massive increases in oil purchases by other countries. This is per Russian data released 4/28/22. If our countries and others have already stepped up to offset FULLY the 1M per day loss, just how has the price of oil topped $125? The supply disruption of unrefined oil is this far, completely fictional. Yet Big Oil has increased it's spot prices to what they are now. That's price gouging, profiteering, whatever you want to call it.
https://www.atr.org/joe-biden-we-are...-fossil-fuels/
"Joe Biden: “We Are Going To Get Rid of Fossil Fuels”
"Biden has also said “we should put them in jail” when talking about fossil fuel executives. Biden also endorsed a carbon tax on the American people, which will force households to pay much higher gasoline, heating, and cooling bills. Biden has also endorsed a fracking ban. "
This piece of shit President is forcing this suffering on everyone... stop blaming people for being responsible for their business interests, instead of his poll numbers.
Stop blaming the companies... it's all Joe. This isn't an accident. These are specific steps being taken by those in power to limit peoples freedom of movement and consolidate power.
Get ready in the next 2 months or so, rumblings are already starting... but about 2 months out from the elections, Covid restrictions will be pushed again.