You know, I just don't get it. Didn't the US just conquer Iraq and comandeer its vast oil reserves? You would think as the supply would go up, the prices would go down... right?

methinks this is typical economic manipulation. yet another reason to ditch the fossil-fuel.

didn't OPEC's President say just the other day that they were overproducing by 1.5 million barrels a day? doesn't that mean the price should go down?

Originally posted by Bobbo
didn't OPEC's President say just the other day that they were overproducing by 1.5 million barrels a day? doesn't that mean the price should go down?

Normally, yes, but this is OPEC we're talking about. their word isn't worth jack.

Originally posted by AlnilamOmega
You know, I just don't get it. Didn't the US just conquer Iraq and comandeer its vast oil reserves? You would think as the supply would go up, the prices would go down... right?

There was a guy on O'Reilly that said the wells in Iraq were already being overpumped. He said it would take about $20 billion to bring the production of those fields up.
They need to drill new holes and do other work on those fields.

[Edited on 5-5-2004 by AceOfBase]

To all those thinking its Iraq for oil or OPEC causing this problem - Think again the answer was in the post that started this thread, we have not built a new refinery in the U.S. in over twenty years due to regulation and enviromental group sponsored laws. OPEC could flood the market and it would not make much difference. Its not a lack of raw crude, its the shortage of the finished products from the refinerys.

Originally posted by Phoenix
To all those thinking its Iraq for oil or OPEC causing this problem - Think again the answer was in the post that started this thread, we have not built a new refinery in the U.S. in over twenty years due to regulation and enviromental group sponsored laws. OPEC could flood the market and it would not make much difference. Its not a lack of raw crude, its the shortage of the finished products from the refinerys.

There is a misconception noted here, not only in this post but also in others in the thread, that oil is merely "manufactured." (Oh, if only we had more refineries.) Unfortunately the problem is that demand is now outstripping supply of the "raw material" - petroleum. For decades, modeling of reserves versus extraction successfully predicted peak production curves. Hence, the life-time of viable oil resources is predictable. The first model to accurately predict maximum production was made by geologist King Hubbart in 1956, fifteen years prior to the US peak. Such modeling, now improved, is indicative of an imminent peak in global petroleum extraction. But because worldwide demand is ever-increasing for an ever-dwindling supply, the cost will do only one thing.

Originally posted by Aeon10101110
Unfortunately the problem is that demand is now outstripping supply of the "raw material" - petroleum. For decades, modeling of reserves versus extraction successfully predicted peak production curves. Hence, the life-time of viable oil resources is predictable.

True. Very true. And I know how cynical this sounds to some people but I just cannot wait for all the damned oil to run out. Sometimes, the only way to break a vice is to deprive the user of the substance that vice is based on. Fossil-fuel technology is over a century-old. It shouldnt exist at the level it does today and should give way to more efficient means of energy consumption.