Better Fill up today

[frawin]

Waldo, it wasn't only that people got used to it, the price of crude wnt from a high of $39.50 during the embargo back down to $10.00/Barrel in 1986, and people went right back to their pre-embargo habits. There was an excess around in the late 80s and 90s but that begin to change with the Industrial revolution in India and China, which was fueled by the US sending massive amounts of business to both countries.

[Tobina+1]

Frank, I agree with the need to decrease use of fuel and move to more efficient vehicles, but I would suggest this tax be only for private-use vehicles, and not commercial or agriculture use.  The American Farmer is having hardships enough already, without further taxing the vehicles they drive to put food on our tables.  Talk about making food prices go higher... that would do it!

Maybe that list of vehicles was only a partial list?  For some reason when I purchased my Honda Pilot, I thought I had the choice of a hybrid.  But I looked at Toyota Highlanders, too, so maybe that was what I was thinking.

[frawin]

Tobina, there could and should be some allowances for business vehicles but I also think that Farmers and Ranchers and other businesses should be forced to down size some as well. Thousands of Dodge Pickups were used in Farming and Ranching in the early day and Dodge did not build an 8 Cylinder engine until 1955, the same with Chevrolet Gmc pickups, no V-8 until 1955. In those days many of the 2 ton trucks that were used by local truckers were 6 cylinder, they hauled cattle to Wichita, Sand from Wichita, Grain  you name it, they had to shift down more often and they didn't have to run 70 MPH. Times will have to change for everyone and with will come some downsizing, adjustment and discomfort.
In regard to the Hybrid Pilot they did build some but abandoned it, their push now is for the Civic-Hybrid. My wife drives a Pilot and I drive a Ridgeline, we are a Honda Family as our Daughter is a Unit Manager for Honda Motor Corporation in California. I went from V-8s in my cars and pickups to V-6s and I know that someday I will go to 4 Cylinder and they will work fine just won't accelerate as fast.
Frank

[frawin]

I am going to mention a subject that I have been putting off for a long time, maybe it will make you understand why I am so adamant about energy conservation. Maybe I should start a new thread and call it " THE ACHILLES HEEL OF THE US".Our Achilles heel is our waste, consumption and need for Petroleum Based Energy. My concern is that terrorists and/or unfriendly Nations will cut off our oil supply and or destroy some of our refining. Over half of our energy needs come from foreign sources, and we are vulnerable to disruption in that supply at anytime. If any of our refineries are destroyed it could take years to replace that capacity. If someting like that happens it will bring mass problems, crime and shortages of food and other necessities and services. I hope and pray that we can get control of our consumption and supply and reduce our consumption before this happens. Hopefully we will develop better Hybrids, Hydrogen Fission, Perpetual Motion, etc and remove this Achilles Heel that our Children will face.
Frank

[frawin]

I meant to post this under the "ACHILLES HEEL POSTING"

Listed bekow are the Crude Oil Imports from other countries to the US. Look at who we are depending on for our supply.

The numbers below do not include the 1.1 to 1.3 Million barrels/day of Finished product that is imported, i.e., Gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel.


Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries
April 2008 Import Highlights:  June 13, 2008
Preliminary monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in April 2008 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1.50 million barrels per day to the United States. Including those countries, a total of three countries exported over 1.20 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 69 percent of United States crude oil imports in April while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 89 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top sources of US crude oil imports for April were Canada (1.952 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.453 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.259 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1.115 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (1.019 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (0.679 million barrels per day), Angola (0.579 million barrels per day), Algeria (0.393 million barrels per day), Brazil (0.201 million barrels per day), and Kuwait (0.176 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.921 million barrels per day in April, which is an increase of (0.303) million barrels per day from March 2008. Total crude imports for April include 0.017 million barrels per day for Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in April, exporting 2.476 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.542 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.462 million barrels per day.

Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Apr-08 Mar-08 YTD 2008 Apr-07 YTD 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CANADA 1,952 1,795 1,902 1,909 1,846
SAUDI ARABIA 1,453 1,535 1,519 1,458 1,358
MEXICO 1,259 1,232 1,230 1,460 1,471
NIGERIA 1,115 1,154 1,105 891 1,089
VENEZUELA 1,019 858 990 1,182 1,070
IRAQ 679 773 693 562 488
ANGOLA 579 384 469 514 556
ALGERIA 393 247 300 530 495
BRAZIL 201 188 182 175 174
KUWAIT 176 199 218 126 187
ECUADOR 160 231 203 159 200
COLOMBIA 149 135 168 79 100
CHAD 133 101 110 80 76
RUSSIA 106 108 77 269 137
LIBYA 85 75 68 45 56
     
Total Imports of Petroleum (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Apr-08 Mar-08 YTD 2008 Apr-07 YTD 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CANADA 2,476 2,542 2,518 2,479 2,425
SAUDI ARABIA 1,462 1,542 1,533 1,488 1,379
MEXICO 1,357 1,358 1,338 1,572 1,601
NIGERIA 1,214 1,174 1,152 948 1,135
VENEZUELA 1,176 1,033 1,158 1,412 1,311
IRAQ 679 773 693 562 488
ALGERIA 628 441 524 798 718
ANGOLA 591 388 478 526 571
RUSSIA 398 402 410 550 401
VIRGIN ISLANDS 331 290 338 322 353
BRAZIL 232 191 206 246 222
UNITED KINGDOM 207 218 199 386 285
KUWAIT 181 203 222 135 196
COLOMBIA 169 165 192 90 112
ECUADOR 167 238 213 159 202

Note: The data in the tables above exclude oil imports into the U.S. territories.

[Catwoman]

Frank, where do you get your facts and figures?  I have found reading this information to be fascinating!  I have tried to locate this type of information online before but have come up with a ton of basically unreadable stuff (looking like doctoral dissertation stuff).

[frawin]

Catwoman, I market Crude Oil and Natural Gas all day everyday and I subscribe to some of the Reporting Services as well as I get information from the Energy departments of some Major banks that I do Energy Hedging for operators with. Also, some of it is from the Federal Government  reporting agencies and some from International reporting agencies. I start looking at the overnite access crude and natural gas futures at 6:00 A.M. every Morning. I have been involved in Crude Oil Transportation, Marketing, Purchasing, Trading, Futures and Hedging for 35 + years and I still find it fascinating and fun. I am 67 and I hope I can do it for many years to come. Catwoman when I first started with Phillips Petroleum, in 1970 Crude Oil was $2.73/Barrel at the lease, and Natural gas was going for 15cents to 25Cents an MMBTU. I was in Tanker Chartering in the 70s and one of the US big suppliers was our friends and allies NONE OTHER THAN IRAN. My how it has all changed.

[greatguns]

I don't understand what the advantage of me trading my 8 cylinder that gets 28 miles to the gal. , and paid for, for one that is 6 clyinder with no better gas mileage and I would have payments on.  Please why you think I should be paying a big penalty.

[Lookatmeknow!!]

Sally, just have to ask, what type of 8 cylinder do you drive that gets 28 miles to a gallon.  I drive a V-6 2000 Pontiac Montana Mini Van and it only gets 21 miles to a gallon.  And on Sunday it was on around 3/4 a tank or so, and it took almost 60.00 to till it up.  Just wondering.  I don't blame you one bit for keeping it.  If it works don't fix it!!  Especially at 28 miles to a gallon!!!

[frawin]

Oil Falls as Stronger Dollar Limits Commodities Appeal as Hedge

June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil declined as a stronger dollar dulled the appeal of commodities as an inflation hedge, canceling the impact of an oilfield closure in Nigeria.

Oil has lost about $4 from its $139.89 a barrel record, set three days ago, as speculation the Federal Reserve will resist further interest rate cuts bolstered the U.S. currency. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it shut down the Bonga oil field in Nigeria following the first a militant attack on the deepwater facility.

``Oil prices were a little lower this morning, with the strengthening dollar outweighing fresh supply concerns over Nigeria,'' said Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at Sucden (U.K.) Ltd. in London.

Crude oil for July delivery fell as much as $1.16, or 0.9 percent, to $135.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, trading for $135.57 at 11:47 a.m. London time.