Oil and Gas

Oh boy another “social” issue comment.

How do you determine who is affected by carbon emissions and to what amount? Who makes that decision? What if that person affected is a carbon producer?

No way can we place a value on carbon effects individually. And who the hell doesn’t use carbon based fuels in some capacity? This is an area that can hurt the poor significantly. People with money will just move on a not feel a thing.

How about we move forward with renewables and other non carbon producing products without all the BS pointing of fingers.

And on top of it there’s India and countries like them that will not and cannot do what needs to be done.

If only we lived in a bubble and didn’t scare the atmosphere with other counties,,,,,

 

You don't think the wealthiest nation on earth should show a little leadership when it comes to saving the planet?

 

All makes perfect sense if your goal is to sharply increase the price of energy and continue the destruction of the lower and middle class.

 

Keystone spilled 500k gallons into the Kansas watershed this week. But Drill baby drill!

Federal data: Kansas oil spill biggest in Keystone history

 

You have accidents in commercial
Aviation, but it’s still safest means of transporting people.

 

There have been two deaths in the past decade from aviation, it’s remarkably safe. So sure, but if you want to make that comparison, the keystone pipeline alone has had 22 spills in that timeframe.
Keystone Pipeline Spill History | Bold Nebraska
but the point I will continue to make, and what I was alluding to with my previous post, is that continuing to focus on oil is not in our interest in any meaningful way. Environmentally it’s awful, this spill is just one example. But pollution, greenhouse gases, economic and environmental cost of transport etc.
Reliance on it gives disproportionate power and money to a whole lot of countries we don’t want having more or power - Russia, Iran, SA etc.
Its also very much a finite resource, so depending on something we no will go away isn't logical, but we will also see prices spike as it dwindles.
But most of all, the continued reliance on it is holding us back from leading the world in creating the next generation of energy sources. China and other counties have made a real effort to get out ahead, and they going to hold the patents and the political and economic power for whatever powers the world for the next 50 or 100 years.
But all we hear is “drill baby drill”, or “we are energy independent” (which is dumb because our production and use happens in a global economy, as OPEC cutting production shows).
Not that I would expect anything more or less from today’s America, but we will come to see in 100 years that this was one of the most myopic policy paths we have ever taken.

 

I will respectfully disagree. Oil and gas bring abundant and cheap energy to every corner of the world. We sit on the world largest reserves of both. Maybe in another 50 years the technology will be there but we should not cut ourselves at the knees in the hopes of something in the future. Especially when our biggest rival scoffs at limiting their economy in similar fashion

 

good question. Can you explain why the current market has it at $75

 

Oil closed almost at $70 and looks like it’s headed down. Oil companies will start pulling back production soon, especially new shale wells.



Prices needed to be profitable by well type:

 

It is one of the good things about oil: it's is the great equalizer, creating Keynesian objectives.

Economy gets too hot, oil goes up and provides headwinds. Economy tanks, oil gets cheap and provides support.

 

It is in our interests to move way from fossil fuels, but not faster than we make substitutes available. It is going to take time before we get to a point where most of our auto transportation is electric, and perhaps even longer with trucking. Much of that relies on battery production and batteries for the next couple of decades will come mostly from China. We end up moving from one geopolitical vulnerability to another. We still won’t be energy independent.

The transition needs to be one where we don’t put ourselves at a disadvantage. We want to go to all renewable on the grid, and at the same time we want move most of all transportation to the grid. Nuclear to the extent it’s a part will be slow and an immaterial factor. So I suppose the goal is to have mostly driven by solar and wind? I don’t have any evidence that we can rely on solar and wind for a vast majority of our power.

 

To me it's not necessarily so much a need to "move away" from one source or another. We need to move away from wasting energy as the first priority. And the best way to do that is put an economic incentive for saving energy, and an economic penalty for wasting energy. People that drive Humvees, Expeditions and Suburbans are usually wasting energy when they don't need a vehicle that big. Many sports cars and muscle cars and heavy luxury cars also waste energy. Make them pay enough of a price at the gas pump to get them to reconsider their vehicle choice they next time they replace their vehicle. Maybe they could rent a big vehicle on the rare occasions that they need a large vehicle. Use the gas tax to repair and improve the roads, and to finance alternative modes of transportation like high-speed rail (in the Northeast corridor). We could easily reduce motor vehicle gasoline usage by 20-30% in a few years by doing this.

Here is an article on how bigger and bigger vehicles are stalling progress on fuel efficiency.

Bigger cars are stalling progress on climate change, EPA study finds

 

I totally agree with that and have always supported a much higher gas tax, but it’s just a political non starter.

 

How about. Eat what you want to eat, put your house at whatever temperature you wish, put whatever size motor(s) on your boat that you please, and drive whatever car or truck best suits your personal, Family and business needs. Don’t ask me to pay for any of those choices and in return I’ll do the same.

 

LOL, thanks for that quaint notion but it's pretty obvious personal freedom means absolutely nothing to libs on THFSG and in the country as a whole.