Today, the refineries in America are operating at 85 percent of capacity...Sen. Dick Durbin

[Up2Late]

That's right! The refineries are running at 85% capacity! Why? To make the Gasoline supply short which drives up prices and increases profits for the Oil Companies!

And I challenge all here to find this Floor Statement, by the #2 Democratic Senator, reported in the so-called MSM. I've searched and I can't find it. I only learned about this when NPR used and audio clip of Senator Durban's statement on yesterday's program.

Here's the link to the full statement:

<http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=296989>

FLOOR STATEMENT: Rising Gas Prices

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Delivered on the floor of the United States Senate

Mr. President, it is interesting, the issues that touch the lives of people to the point where they bring them up to a Senator or Congressman. There is an issue now which, whether you live in Pennsylvania or Illinois, you are going to hear about--whether you are going to shop in a grocery store in Springfield, as I did over the weekend, or back home in church--and it is gas prices. It is understandable because this is an economic issue which hits you right between the eyes every time you drive down the street and hits you right in the pocketbook when you go to pay for gasoline. You know what is happening with the price of that commodity. You also know when something is obviously very wrong....

... This morning, British Petroleum, BP, announced they made $7.6 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2008. Royal Dutch Shell announced $9.08 billion in the first quarter. We are still waiting for ExxonMobil.

Understand, these are not the biggest profits in the history of the oil industry, these are the largest profits in the history of American business, some say in the history of all business throughout mankind; the largest profit taking ever. At whose expense? At the expense of consumers and families, small businesses, truckers, airlines, and our economy.

That is the reality. Would you not expect the President of the United States to call in the major leaders of these oil companies and say to them: You are destroying the economy we are counting on for America by your profit taking; you are making it impossible for this economy to grow. We are facing a recession over the housing crisis and now you are compounding this misery with your greediness and selfishness and profit taking from this economy.

:hi:That is fact. The oil companies say: Well, the problem is we do not have enough refineries. If we had more, then we would have more product and we might have a smaller spread and we would not be. Let me tell you what: Today, the refineries in America are operating at 85 percent of capacity. Do not buy this argument that it is about refineries. They have more capacity. They are holding back so they can keep their product dear and limited and short, and so the consumers will ultimately pay more.:hi:

The oil companies have been making money hand over fist as those oil prices have gone up. In 2007, the private oil industry pocketed $155 billion in profits, out of revenues of $1.9 trillion. And the largest integrated oil company, ExxonMobil, reported a profit in 2007 of $40.6 billion, record-breaking numbers....

(More at link) <http://durbin.senate.gov/showRelease.cfm?releaseId=296989>

[Parche]

1. Its Actually The Fault Of The Nigerian Dung Beetle

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

:hi:

[Hydra]

2. I'm glad to see someone telling the truth

Many people are blaming it on peak oil. That only works if:

peak oil = deliberate shortage

[hunter]

9. Yeah, right, sure, that makes a lot of sense..

:eyes:

If they turned up the refineries to 100% capacity wouldn't that increase the demand for oil on the world market and therefore increase the price of oil?

I'll bet if we just drove more and didn't pay any attention to the price of gasoline the refineries would soon be operating at 100% capacity. Can you do that?

Whatever you believe about peak oil, whether it's happening now, or whether it happens in some distant future we need not worry about, the problem has little to do with refining capacity.

I tend to think the oil industry isn't investing in new refinery capacity because they know very well what world oil reserves are and have seen the writing on the walls. There's little point expanding refinery capacity when there isn't enough oil extraction going on to supply that expansion.

Nobody is sitting on some huge new oil field waiting to turn up the taps. The easy oil has already been pumped out of the ground.

It'd be nice if I was wrong, but sometimes it's best to prepare for the worse rather than blame some grand conspiracy for our self-inflicted misfortune.

Founding an entire civilization upon a limited resource like oil was a bad idea from the start. If we are not beginning to pay the price now (I believe we are) then we will certainly pay the price later. If this all turns out to be some great conspiracy that is blown away by some open and honest government, then sometime in the future our descendants are still hosed.

The most responsible thing to do would be to deal with the problem now, rather than leaving it for our children to deal with.

[Hydra]

14. It is nice that you're wrong

Too bad it doesn't change anything.

Saudi Arabia admits it's leaving oil in the ground. The oil companies had a meeting to discuss their low profits and how to deal with that by restricting supply. Cheney was implicated in planning the energy crisis in California, which everyone insisted was based on demand.

I don't want us using oil, but as long as they force us to, they can give it to us at a price we can afford if they want us to go to work.

[hunter]

16. What happened to all the easy oil we had in the ground?

Places like California and Texas once produced all the oil our nation needed.

So we used it.



In 1910 this California well errupted with 8 million barrels of oil, that's about a billion dollars worth of oil at todays prices. The technology at the time was much less sophisticated than it is today. With today's technology deposits like that would be easy picking and extractable without much mess. A small independent company not in league with "big oil" could easly extract it and make lots of money.

So why isn't the continental U.S. crawling with wildcatters able to supply our entire domestic demand?

Because they can't. The easy oil is gone. U.S. oil production is past it's peak, and it seems very likely that world oil production is or is about to reach it's peak.

But again, I don't think it matters if it's now, or twenty years from now. It will happen, and the market reflects that.

Yes, the California electric crisis was planned and executed by thieves, but we are still in a really bad position because so much of our power is generated by natural gas. That's a temporary patch because, like oil, natural gas supplies can't last forever.

[Hydra]

31. 11 Billion in profits is not a mistake

Nor is it a coincidence.

Big oil have forced us to buy their product by blocking alternative energy progress, and now they've cut the spigot down to stretch their profits. Less sold, more profit...I can't see them turning that idea down.

Solar power is making HUGE gains technologically, despite repeated attacks of "not economically feasible." Someone else told me about some kind of gasoline soup that you can make with used plastic. Hemp? Wave power?

Oil is not the answer, IMO, but controlling supply is still supposed to be illegal. Too bad that doesn't mean anything.

[hunter]

32. There's no drop-in replacement for oil.

The oil companies don't have to attack anything. Here in the United States we'll do anything to keep our cars and highways, even at great risk to the environment and the economy. We'll pillage entire nations like Iraq to keep our damned cars and highways.

The oil companies know that, and they also know the game is almost over. At this point they are stuffing as much money into their bags as they can, and when the situation here starts to look too dangerous they are going to flee to places like Dubai, leaving us with an economy in ruins.

You want to lower oil prices? Don't buy oil. Nobody is stopping you. But most of us are dependent in so many ways upon the car culture that we can't see a way out. So now when things start to get uncomfortable we begin to believe in impossible things.

[Subdivisions]

3. Why does Big Oil need so much money? Not to defend them but

is it possible that production, exploration, manpower, and equipment are all on the decline or do they just need more houses and fast cars?

Could the refineries be below capacity because of natural forces, heavier, more sour crude because light sweet is mostly gone and the shitty stuff causes their equipment to fail?

I guess what I'm getting at is that some conspiracies, like Big Oil dry-fucking us to make more money is an acceptable conspiracy theory but oil depletion isn't.

Really. Which is it?

[Johonny]

4. Gasoline supply short

Is the supply short? This isn't the 1970s with gas lines and gas rationing. I have yet to have trouble finding a gas station filled with gas ready to sell to me.

[DemocratInSoCal]

5. So Many Stupid Fucking MORONS In This Country

I hope the price goes to $10/gallon. Maybe then people would get concerned about the situation.

STUPID Amerikans buy SUV'S, GIANT TRUCKS, HUMMERS.

STUPID Amerikans drive 60 MPH when approaching a red light.

STUPID Amerikans won't get the picture until it impacts them directly.

Someday, when oil is gone, people will look back and see their stupidity, but it will be far, far, far too late.

[RC]

10. The price of EVERYTHING is tied to transportation.

When the price of gasoline goes up, so does your beer and corn-dogs.
The high price of diesel fuel is partly tied to ethanol in gasoline because of the way they are made at the refinery. Growing corn for ethanol drives the price of food in general up because other crops cannot be grown in corn fields. The fertilizer needed for growing corn is made from oil, further driving up the cost of oil.

If taxes were the cause for the high cost of gasoline, then things could be juggled to keep the price of essentials within reason. But taxes are not the problem. Greed is.

So no, we do not want $10 a gallon gas, at least not this way.

[DemocratInSoCal]

11. Fine, Let The Shit Hit The Fan

Let the price of everything go up.

Let inflation go out of control.

I just wish it would happen under this JOKE of an administration, instead of next year, which is what they're trying to do.

I really don't care anymore. Something has to wake the rest of this country up. Maybe $5+/gallon gas would make people start to notice.

Even that won't make a difference though, and the STUPID Amerikans will continue doing their thing.

[JANdad]

20. Ummmm...WTF are we supposed to do?

Not go to work...yeah that'll show 'em

[high density]

21. Yes, "God Damn" the Americans for trying to earn a living in this country

I guess???

WTF? Get out and look at the blue sky or something. Our "thing" is built around the car. That's just a fact of our country and a lot of other industrialized nations.

[Obamanaut]

29. I think you may be onto something here.

I ride a bicycle regularly to get coffee at my favorite convenience store which is at an interstate exit. It is not uncommon to chat with folks about the cost of fuel, right after they fill up a huge SUV with an out of state tag and no kids or cargo inside.

[Marrah_G]

22. You realize those who can afford hummers arent the ones who will be hurt right?

It is the working class, the working poor who you are wishing pain upon.

The hummer driver can simply go buy a Prius. The Hummer owner won't be choosing between food and heat, heat and gas. The Hummer owner won't have to quit their job to take a minimum wage one close by because they can no longer afford gas.

Do you fucking see where this is going?

[dysfunctional press]

24. that doesn't change the facts of the situation, though...you realize that, right?

unless the working class finds a magic wand- they ARE going to be impacted the most- and there's not a damn thing that anyone can do about it, so you might as well get used to the idea.

society is in for a painful transition.

[Marrah_G]

26. Wow...just wow.....

Anything else I have to say will be deleted anyway.

[dysfunctional press]

27. what's your solution? to just deny the obvious?

:shrug:

if you don't like my view- what's yours...?

[JimmyJubes]

6. Anyone who doesn't see what's going on here

Profits are better than life to some people.

[L. Coyote]

7. They operate profit streams, not refineries.

[JDPriestly]

8. These guys need to re-read the children's story about

The Man Who Killed the Golden Goose.

[coriolis]

12. I don't believe this tinfoil shit.

Refineries are in business to make money which is directly proportional to the amount of product that goes through them. Another fifteen percent would represent that much increased profit and would not dilute the price appreciably. The refinery that buys my oil is happy to take every drop and would love to have more. If they're operating at less than peak efficiency it's because they can't get enough crude. It's just that simple...no huge conspiracy needed.

[Up2Late]

15. This is NOT "Tinfoil Shit." Here's another aspect that was reported yesterday on "Marketplace"

Marketplace is from PRI:

<http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/29/bush_moon_q/>

Ryssdal: Alright, so let's get to the fundamentals, as the economists like to say: supply and demand. Is that really what's going on here?

Moon: Well, we got a leading industry analyst on the phone, Kai: Barbara Shook at the Houston research firm Energy Intelligence and she begs to differ with the president:

Barbara Shook: The U.S. market is well supplied. Do you see anybody waiting in line at the filling station?

Moon: In fact, analysts have been reporting that gasoline reserves in this country have been on the rise since October and in recent months, we've got more stored up than we have since the early 1990's, so as Shook points out, we've got enough on the supply side. Then you've got demand and that's actually been falling since last July. None other than the Bush administration's own Energy Department now says the demand for gasoline here is on track to see the first annual drop in consumption in 17 years. And I might point out that analysts aren't the only ones who are questioning this supply and demand explanation. Let me give you a quote from the head of Exxon Mobil recently: "In terms of fundamentals, fear of supply reliability is overblown...."

(More at link) <http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/29/bush_moon_q/>

[bbinacan]

13. They could be at 85%

due to downtime for maintenance or to refine gas in a different manner based on state requirements. Just sayin'.:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

28. exactly...as old as the refineries are- to expect them to constantly operate at 100% is naive.

nt

[Up2Late]

17. kick n/t

:kick:

[Up2Late]

18. kick n/t

:kick:

[dbt]

19. K & R

[Echo In Light]

23. K&R

[KharmaTrain]

25. The Question That Isn't Asked...

If you were running a business and all of a sudden your product shot up in value, would you want to bring it down? Would you want to increase production that would hurt your bottom line? Remember, the business of America IS business and profit always comes ahead of public interest or common good.

The oil companies will continue to tell Americans to pound sand as long as we have a regime in power that is making money along with the oil companies. Don't people realize this is all about the Benjamins? Fairness? You can't eat fairness.

And our congresscritters will hem and haw and in the end do very little as lowering oil prices is popular, but the ultimate remedies to getting away from foreign oil dependency isn't. People want to drive their cars no matter what...most consider it a right...and as long as people continue to fill up at $4...the prices will continue to stay high.

C-SPIN had a reporter from Mother Jones on the other day debunking this refinery myth. Production is being held back...and we always get price rises not due to "shortages" but because of changing from one formula gas to another...and I expect the GOOPers next move will be to remove these restrictions...go back to just putting out leaded gas out there and we will be so much happier.

The oil companies are gonna use this crisis to try to ramrod all sorts of legislation in their favor..."in the national interest". And, of course, we'll keep paying and paying.

[bdamomma]

30. kick