Federal Reserve Raises Rate .75%

Yeah, that's total BS.

 

Again, you are immune to facts. You do know that the US is currently the #1 oil producer in the world! And that if you go by the simple definition of oil exported minus oil imported, the US is still "energy independent" under President Biden. Your rants are based on only your opinion, but just like Giuliani said about election fraud, there's plenty of theories, but no facts.

Biden did nothing to force this recession and inflation. Unless Biden controls the entire globe, because just about every industrialized country in the world has seen inflation and current recession! It comes back to this thing called a global pandemic, that fortunately only hits the globe once every century. And this one disrupted everything and everyone around the globe, causing significant shortages in supplies. Also caused a huge shortage is demand for oil during the middle of the pandemic, which caused US companies to shutter oil refineries. These refineries were old, and probably not profitable long term considering the repair costs that were needed to keep them running and compliant.

Speaking of profits, oil companies again posted record ones! Should make people wonder how much of the current oil prices are oil companies manipulating things, or as it's commonly referred to, price gouging. Given the fact oil companies are posting record profits, it makes sense that Biden should take action on behalf of the American public and ask the oil companies is it in the best interest of the country for oil companies are making record profits while ordinary Americans are spending a significant portion of their paycheck to fill up their tank. Does it not?

 

So what. What difference does it make who is the largest producer? What matters is that we could be producing a lot more than we are if Biden had not campaigned on a hostility towards oil production and then immediately implemented policies that impeded increased production upon taking office. Many of the libs here will point to the fact that production has increased under Biden. It has. But it is just now getting back to the levels of production of the pre Saudi-Russian price war. We have one poster here who likes to point to the fact that Trump pressured OPEC to decrease production. He did. But this poster continually refuses to admit that Trump did this only AFTER the Saudis and Russia flooded the market with oil driving the price per barrel to lows unseen in decades.

Biden has done NOTHING to help the the US oil industry meet its potential for output. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve release was a gimmick. That reserve will need to be replaced and it will be replaced in the $100/ barrel price range.

And please stop with the economically illiterate argument that oil companies are having record profits. Of course they are. The revenue they are able to generate at these oil prices is insane. They are not reporting record margins, just total $.

There really is no defending any of Biden’s economic policies or his foolish spending. And for the “But Trumpers” I’ve already shared my thoughts on his foolishness in listening to Fauci and kickstarting this whole shitshow.

 

Finding profit margin isn't as easy as profits, but oil companies in Q4 of 2021 had a 31.3% profit margin. That's about 4X higher than their average around 8% over the years. And that includes difficult quarters when they didn't profit at all.

As for drilling for more oil, what does it matter if you don't have the capacity to refine it? And again, oil companies closed refineries during the pandemic when demand was at its lowest. They could afford to do so at the time, and these refineries were unlikely to be profitable in the future thanks to expensive repairs and retrofitting needed to keep them compliant. And yes, oil companies are reluctant to open up new refineries. But that's nothing new under Biden.

Oil, again, is not a renewable resource. There is a finite amount of oil we can pull from the ground, and eventually all drilling and refineries will be out of business, when wells run dry. Who wants to build a new oil refinery that will likely be out of business in the next few decades because either there is no oil, or more likely, we have found better cheaper, and cleaner sources of energy? It's a poor, long-term investment. Back in 2020, the newest refinery was opened, and it was the first refinery in the US built since 1977. I think another one opened earlier this year. These are small, specialized refineries, and will likely be the last ones opened in the US, maybe forever.

 

When I speak of oil production I am including refining capacity. Crude oil is of no benefit to anyone in its raw state.

And be careful with your margin findings. If oil companies were confident enough that they had an administration that wasn’t committed to putting them out of business they would have had much larger exploration and capital expenses for additional production capacity. As it is, they are passing that revenue right to profit. Put in normal investment and the numbers say something different.

I own ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Shell. They’ve been the only bright spots in my portfolio this year. Do to Biden’s policies, I have seen tremendous price increases and now will get great dividends for at least another year or two.

I wish Biden wasn’t a dipshit, but since he is hopeless I might as well profit from it in the few places I can. Lord knows it ain’t in the other sectors and bonds.

 

So no new refineries between 1977 and 2020. Must be Biden's fault?

Oil is a finite resource. The oil business is moving from a mature market to a declining one. Some time in the upcoming years, we won't need oil to power our transportation needs. Not today, and not tomorrow, but Biden wants it to happen by 2050.

Whether we're successful or not, by 2050, we will be less reliant on oil. If not because there will be less oil in the world, then because oil is dirty and a health hazard. What company is going to open up an oil refinery today knowing it will likely be obsolete in less than 30 years?

Of course, there is a balance to strike. Clean energy two decades from now doesn't help anyone who needs to fill a gas tank today. And gas prices have been dropping now for 6 straight weeks. But the bottom line, regardless who is in office, oil will be obsolete one day. Better to prepare now for that eventuality rather than be stuck in the past when the day comes.

 

Unfortunately for you, this isn’t my first rodeo. I remember being told by so called experts in the early 70’s that the earth would be out of oil by the turn of the century. You know the same experts that said that margarine was better for you than butter, that Y2K would be a horribly disruptive event, as well as a few other gems. Come to think of it, I believe Al Gore predicted the extinction of life as we know it by now.

I’m not worried about oil.

I’m not directly blaming Biden for no new refineries since 1977. Others share as much or more of that blame as he. His ilk, however, have been a major impediment to the construction of refineries with their ridiculous environmental policies and regulations.

I’m also not talking about 2050. Technology will run its course and EVs will dominate before then. I’m still not sure we will have a fully electric truck fleet by then as there is not a feasible technical solution yet in development to powering refrigerated trailers from an electric truck. Not until trailers are topped with solar cells with some way to harness wind resistance and then the battery capacity to store the excess for nights and breaks.

We are however talking about 2022 to 2030. EV are still not practical or economically feasible for the majority of car buyers. Even if enough of the the cars were available there is not enough of an infrastructure of commercial charging stations and not enough electrical power capacity and availability to power them if they were, and certainly not enough to handle the residential power demand for home charging.

As for the last six weeks, this time period has historically been a time of dropping prices as refineries have been able to concentrate on mainly producing gasoline for the last few months as heating oil is not needed. Probably a good idea to hold up on that victory lap for Biden. A hurricane or two in the gulf plus the start of heating oil conversion next month and prices will go right back where they were. Bet on it.

So instead of foolishly trying to shut down the oil industry Biden needs to be taking care of the reality, not of the distant future or the wet dream of no more oil.

 

Give link to this claim you made: "The US has the largest gas and oil deposits in the world." Like most of tour posts, I'm very skeptical.

 

I get it. Peak oil has been a topic for years now. I remember learning about the possibility in the 80s back in school, and how the shale oil in the Permian Basin had hundreds of years of oil. But at the time, we weren't drilling it because it wasn't profitable.

Today, we're drilling it. But there are issues, including major health problems for the 130,000 residents of the area. There are also environmental issues in the area as well. And the oil is only going to get more expensive to drill as we go deeper, causing more environmental and health issues.

And yes today, EVs aren't accessible to all yet. But EVs represent 5% of all new car purchases today, and climbing. EVs have hit a growth phase, and there will be new entrants coming every year for a while. There's a new company Tesla competitor, and Honda has an electric SUV hitting the market for 2024 that will be priced close to an ICE CR-V. Oil days are numbered.