Weird shit in oil

[ThomWV]

Europeans have switched over the diesel vehicles in the past several years because diesels are much more fuel efficient than gasoline power internal combustion engines. As a consequence the world demand of diesel fuel has increased. Europe, unlike the US is not faced with a lack of refinery capacity but like the US it has limited storage facilities. So the europeans are shipping their excess gasoline to the US to take advantage of our high prices and ease the strain on their overflowing storage capacity. In the meantime back in the US demand has decreased so much that it eclipses the increases in demand from India and China so that overall world wide demand has decreased. While all that was going on investment banks got into the oil business, or the oil finance business, and started buying up all the fuel oil they could get their hands on, further decreasing the world supply of diesel fuel, which is the same thing as fuel oil. More importantly the storage of that speculative diesel fuel further ties up limited storage in this country.

In the meantime the 'peak oil' folks have helped spread the hysteria that has allowed the very same speculators that have driven the price of crude up to more than twice the price it would be were supply and demand to rule the day; it is, after all, simply the fear of scarcity that is driving up prices, there isn't a shortage of oil anywhere in the world. At this very moment world-wide supply has outpaced demand.

Oh, and even if we were at 'peak oil' why would anyone think that if it took us 100 years to use the first half that we will go through the second half between now and the 4th of July?