OK Mr. Big Oil Man...I'm Grabbing my Ankles.

[Dees]

The big oil companies are reporting 1st quarter record breaking profits.
If wholesale and distribution prices are based on the dollar amount (cost)of crude refined, then how can profits be soaring? I believe that gasoline pumped today is being charged out at today's crude prices but actually was a product of much cheaper crude purchased months ago. I don't see any other way of explaining it.

Maybe instead if kissing and hand holding with the Saudis, monster* should be all up in the business faces of big oil. Similar to what JFK did with US Steel.

I understand peak oil, supply and demand, etc. But, it's petroleum that drives our economy now. Why let these sonsabitches off the blame hook?

[AllyCat]

1. But Shrubie said last night...

...that the high prices are because Congress won't pass his energy bill. I heard him say it. It was on TV so it must be true.

The oil companies are making record profits and we are paying higher prices. So, Shrub, can you explain that to me again? I think I missed something.

The way I see it, we are paying higher gasoline prices because the world market (WORLD, not just little ole us) is booming. We are fueling it by buying Chinese and other pacific rim-made goods and by insisting on driving huge cars with crappy fuel-economy.

That's how we solve our problems. No energy bill required!

[MadHound]

2. You actually expect Bush to turn on his corporate masters?

Silly rabbit! This benefits Bush, his family and his wealthy patrons. God forbid he takes them to task for profiteering. Or comes up with a plan that provides relief from high oil prices in the near future.

Might as well face it, we're going to have to do for ourselves on this one. Conservation, switching to alternative energy sources, etc. For the oil corporations, along with their oily politicans, are going to try and squeeze the public out of every last dollar. And it will only get worse.

I would suggest that you look into biodiesel, which is an easy, cheap do it yourself alternative. Also there are wind and solar solutions for the house, along with woodstoves fitted with catalytic converters for heating. And since the high price of gas is passed right along to the consumer, I would suggest growing your own produce if you can.

[Dees]

3. I agree.

I'll be damned if I will play victim to monster* and the fat oil cats. Mother Earth News you just found an old friend.

[MadHound]

4. Another good magazine resource

Is Small Farm Today. Has some very good articles and advertising for self sufficiency. <http://www.smallfarmtoday.com/about.asp>

[Egalitariat]

5. If you're pumping oil out of the ground in Texas and Alaska

for $2.50 a barrel, and the world market price for oil goes to $55 a barrel, then you've got a profit of $52.50 a barrel for all of the barrels you can pump yourself.

Of course, they can't pump all we need, so they buy OPEC oil for $55 a barrel to augment their own supplies.

Then you refine it and sell heating oil, gasoline, plastic components, etc. for whatever profit the market will bear.

So, ExxonMobil and Texaco don't have to buy all of their oil for the price that's quoted in newspaper articles on a daily basis. They pump a lot of it out of the ground for almost nothing. But because they are price takers in a perfect market, the value of the oil they pump is equal to the value that OPEC oil is auctioned for even though it cost them nothing.

They could pass along those savings to their customers, but the don't have to, so they don't do it. Thus, record profits.