Better Fill up today

[DanCookson]

Appears to be going through the roof this morning Frank.  Crude was tapping 148 when I left the house this morning.  Appears everyone sold off some profits a couple days ago and once it broke 138 yesterday it has been like a freight train.

[frawin]

Crude oil is trading higher in overnite access, August us trading at $146.375 up $$4.72, Novemeber crude is trading at close to $150.00 range. Problems with Nigerian workers, the Iranian Nuclear crisis , Brazilian workers unrest and the continued devaluation of the dollar are continuing push the price higher. I would really like to see our goverment announce some test drilling in the OCS and ANWR, at least do enough to define the reserves and the areas.

[frawin]

Good Morning Dan, I was typing my post at the same time you were posting. The present world situation is not very encouraging.
The potential coming shortages are going to make the 1973 Embargo look like it was nothing.

[DanCookson]

I agree about the test drilling Frank.  If nothing else it might be like the "sword rattling" that would quell some of the speculators in the market.  I would also like to see the administration throw a bluff of letting 30 or 40 million barrels out of the reserve to see how the market would respond to that.  Don't know if it is wise to use the reserve oil, but I know that it has been done in the past during national emergencies.  It seems to be getting to that point.

Housing market is taking a beating as well.  Both Fannie and Freddie lost almost 50% overnight and now appears to have deep capital problems making the housing problem even bigger.

[frawin]

The problems with Freddie and Fannie are really mind boggling, I never in my wildest imagination thought I would ever see both entities in this condition. Unfortunately the energy crisis is only going to put more people out of work and cause more failures in home loans and other crdeit facilities. OPEC, gave us a warning shot in 1973 and we ignored it.

[Diane Amberg]

I'm with you! We got through '73 OK because as firefighters we were exempt...if we could find gas at all.  We could buy gas on odd or even days according to the last digit on our car plate. This situation scares me. Everything seems to be falling apart now. Our investments have really taken a hit ( on paper at least) and we moved some money back into a money market just to protect it. Even our bank stocks that were doing well are slipping. It's hard to know how to defend well. Help!

[frawin]

Toyota has announced they will convert their Tundra plant in Mississippi to a Prius plant. That is great news, I think the Hybrid vehicles will get better and better with time. One of the best things about Honda and Toyota is they build a majority of their vehicles right here in the US, the result is jobs for Americans and it doesn't add to the trade deficit.

[frawin]

This article mentions Algae as one of the sources as renewable energy that will be researched, I have read several articles on algae as a renewable Energy source and it seems to make sense. It is fast growing, won't use up land that is needed for raising food and can be grown around the world. I have a problem with using food grains such as corn for fuel, when we have so many people starving in the world.


ConocoPhillips to build big center in Colorado


By ROD WALTON World Staff Writer



ConocoPhillips' decision to build a 432-acre research and training campus in Colorado that could eventually employ 7,000 people will not have any negative effect on the oil giant's operations in Bartlesville, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The site in Louisville, Colo. will be focused on studying renewable energy sources and also function as a global training center, Tracy Harlow said.

Bartlesville, where Phillips Petroleum Co. maintained its headquarters for nearly eight decades before its 2002 merger with Conoco Inc., will remain ConocoPhillips' global operations center for logistics, Internet technology and other services, employing more than 3,000 people, she said. And Houston will remain as world headquarters.

"We want our Oklahoma and Texas audiences to know that ConocoPhillips is still committed to Oklahoma and still committed to Houston," Harlow said. "What we're doing in Colorado is new."

ConocoPhillips, the nation's third largest energy company, announced this week that it signed a $5 million research deal with the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels. The center includes several university research arms and energy laboratories aimed at new ways to covert biomass into low-carbon fuels.

One of the center's first projects will involve trying to convert algae into renewable fuel, according to reports.

"Even without climate change as an issue, fossil fuels are non-renewable," Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said in a statement. "For ConocoPhillips to partner with us to convert biomass to transportation fuels fits in nicely with how we think about the new energy economy in the state."

The Louisville — pronounced "Lewisville" — site between Denver and Boulder is a former Storage Technology Corp. campus. Construction could begin in 2012.

The surge in Colorado research efforts surrounding new fuels is part of what attracted ConocoPhillips to the area, Harlow said.

"It's going to be a place where we're going to look at anything from a new technology standpoint," she added.

The other half of the campus will house a global training center. The company needed such a place to promote special work with every employee level, from senior management to new hires, Harlow noted.

"There's so many reasons we chose that location," she said. "In Houston and Bartlesville, we're really running out of space."

Most of the new hires likely will come from the nearby area, although several hundred people could be moved from Houston, according to reports.

Harlow said ConocoPhillips does not expect it to change the employee head count in Bartlesville, where about 500 contractors also work with the company.

"We're still active in the community, whether it's financial resources or volunteers," she said.




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[frawin]

I thought the below information would be of interest to some, the estimated  captial required by the Oil and Gas industry to deveolp  ANWR could run in to the hundreds of Billions. I would like to see our Government allow some Geological Mapping and possible expolatory drilling to define what the reserves might be. Another big factor in producing ANWR is building the infrastructure to get the oil and natural gas out if it is ever produced, a lot of preliminary work is needed to determine the problems in building a pipeline system that will be safe and workable in the soil and temperature extremes of the area. Everyday we delay just pushes the time frame further and further out. We are importing almost 70% of our curent oil supply and the major portion of that supply could be cut off at any time. Coupled with the Crude Oil Supply problem is an ever increasintg need to import more and more of our Natural Gas supply. Prudhoe Bay has massive Natural Gas reserves that are being reinjected as there is no infrastruture to move the gas to the lower 48 states. The project to build a pipeline to the lower 48 has been on hold for 30 years and the estimated cost has increased to 20-30 billion to build the pipeline. The right-of-way permitting alone for this project could take years, As long as our Congressman are warm and cozy and have plenty of gasloine for their big automoblies these projects will not be a priority.

Investment and Other Uses of Cash Flow by the Oil Industry
Today's oil and natural gas industry earnings are invested in new technology, new production and environment and product quality improvements to meet tomorrow's energy needs. This new Ernst & Young study shows the five major oil companies had $765 billion of new investment between 1992 and 2006, compared to net income of $662 billion during the same period. The industry overall, which includes 57 of the largest U.S. oil and natural gas companies, had new investments of $1.25 trillion over the same period, compared to net income of $900 billion and cash flows of $1.77 trillion. High oil and gas prices in recent years increased oil and natural gas companies' cash flows from operations and net income, which facilitated record levels of investment spending. Download the complete report below (Published May 2007) .

[frawin]

August, the front month, crude and natural gas are both trading flat to down in overnite access.