Better Fill up today

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude Oil continues to trade down at $108.80, down $6.66 and Nov-08 is down $8.73 at $107.12, Oct-08 Natural Gas is at $7.44 down $0.503 and Nov -08 Natural gas is trading at $7.905, down $0.458. We may be in somewhat of an anomaly, with crude trading down, tankers being able to unload but many big volume refineriers shut in, the result is we build some crude inventories but we pull down product inventories, at a time when product inventories are already low, the result can be lower crude prices but higher product prices. The big question is how much refining capacity is shut down, how long it takes to get it back up. The Gulfcoast area is home to a very large amount of our refining capacity.

[Teresa]

Glenn Beck June 2, 2008

[frawin]

I thought this was a good article and worth posting.  The Democrat program is to do nothing, and the clock is ticking, if we don't get started on finding more oil and start the infrastructuer to transport it the Price won't be the big factor, but unstead having a supply at all will be the problem. We are importing almost 70% of our energy needs and much of it is from our enemies that will eventually cut us off.

McCain, Palin Put Energy at Top of Agenda, Papering Over Rifts

By Kim Chipman

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Delegates at the Republican National Convention this week got a laminated card listing their party's principles. The top item, ahead of the economy, national security and fiscal accountability: ``energy independence and lower gas prices.''

The marquee billing reflects the Republicans' push to make energy their hallmark campaign issue for the first time in decades as they attempt to put aside internal rifts over oil drilling and climate change and focus on tapping voters' anxiety over high gasoline prices.

Arizona Senator John McCain -- who will officially become the Republican presidential nominee at the St. Paul, Minnesota, convention -- is betting that an aggressive push for more drilling will give his party the edge over Democrats who are lukewarm about or opposed to new domestic oil exploration.

The platform allows Republicans to recast the energy issue as ``a populist one,'' said John Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. ``Until this year, support for energy production was largely a business issue, but with rising gas prices, drilling is now a cause for the guy at the gas pump.''

Climate Change

The unified Republican front glosses over longtime divisions within the party even as its platform and candidates call for accelerated oil drilling combined with stronger action to address climate change.

The split is evident at the very top of the ticket: While McCain, 72, opposes drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and has long spoken out about the threat of global warming, his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, favors exploration in ANWR and has questioned scientific claims that humans are contributing to higher temperatures and sea levels.

``She's going to have to clarify her position because that's a pretty significant disconnect,'' said Reid Dechton, an official in former President George H.W. Bush's administration. ``It's an untenable situation.''

Still, some Republicans said Palin may be able to sway McCain.

Alaska Drilling

``The governor may very well persuade McCain that you can drill in .0009 percent of ANWR and that this is manageable from both an environmental and security point of view,'' said Robert ``Bud'' McFarlane, national security adviser under President Ronald Reagan.

Others are confident that McCain, who idolizes Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, who built up the national parks system, will stay true to his environmental leanings and lead his party back to its conservationist roots.

``If McCain had not been the Republican nominee I'm not sure the party would have gone as far in the platform as it has because they don't want to contradict what he stands for,'' said Jim DiPeso, policy director of Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Republicans for Environmental Protection.

He said the mention of climate change in the platform -- the first in party history -- and exclusion of a call to drill in ANWR are ``huge'' developments.

Agenda

``It illustrates the power of a candidate to set an agenda,'' he said. ``Once that agenda is set, then you can start pushing harder in that direction. It's like trying to push a car out of a ditch.''

McCain has said he will consider almost any measure that will help end U.S. dependence on foreign oil, even drilling in ANWR, though he has also repeatedly said the 20-million-acre area should be protected.

In June, McCain reversed his opposition to offshore drilling and called for lifting federal rules that prevent states from allowing oil exploration off their coasts. The move prompted his Democratic rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, to shift his position on drilling by saying he would accept it under limited conditions as part of a broader energy plan.

McCain was able to put Obama, 47, on the defensive, reflecting ``the surprising Republican success at taking ownership of the issue,'' Pitney said.

Former Republican Governor George Pataki of New York agreed.

`In Tune'

``Republicans are in better tune with the American people when it comes to this issue,'' Pataki, 63, said in an interview in St. Paul.

McCain has pledged to expand oil exploration and increase the use of natural gas. He and Obama both support a carbon- emissions trading program to reduce global-warming pollution. McCain also says he will encourage development of alternative- energy sources such as wind and solar power. His plan includes building 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030 and upgrading the national electricity grid.

The platform calls for a long-term goal of moving to an energy economy with zero global-warming pollution. That appeal comes just a few years after the Republican chairman of the Senate environment committee, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, called the notion of human-induced global warming the ``greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.''

The document says: ``The same human economic activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.''

McFarlane said most Republicans would embrace that language.

``I think we've put together a very solid platform that McCain can run on that meets the concerns of both the green community of the party as well as those who are more production oriented,'' McFarlane said. ``There is a balance.''

Last Updated: September 3, 2008 00:01 EDT


 
 

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude Oil is trading at $108.15 down $1.56, Oct-08 Natural Gas is trading at $7.20, down $0.061. Due to the Labor day holiday the EIA Inventory reports will be delayed a day. Due to the normal delays in issuing the report verses when the data is gathered, the production loses in the Gulf due Hurricane threats won't show up until next weeks report.

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude settled at $109.35, down $0.36 on the day, Oct-08 Natural Gas settled at $7.264, basically unchanged at minus $0.003 on the day.

[Carl Harrod]

I may have missed this if it has been posted before but I would like to have Frank's thoughts about this algae based ethanol. This is one of the links: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9966867-54.html

[frawin]

Carl, I have mentioned Algae on here before, what you have posted is a new article to me and a good one. It has been proven that Algae will produce  a good quality Ethanol and at a much better yield per acre than Corn and/or Sugar. To me the biggest plus for Algae based Ethanol is that we can raise it in waters that are not used for sustaining life otherwise, we have massive areas that can be utilized and the biggest plus of all is that it is not taking food away from a rapidly growing population that has many people starving in the world. I have always been opposed to using Corn or other food sources to make fuel for people to burn in their Hummers, Big V-10s etc. Anything we can do to reduce our dependence on Foreign Oil is important. The clock is ticking and it is just a matter of time until the Nations of Islam, Russia, Venzuela and others decide to cut the US off from their oil. I don't think people have any idea how bad it will be if we loose half or more of oil supply. One of the biggest concerns I have about Ethanol is the long range damage to the current engines, most articles I have read say it is not as efficent as Petroleum Based Gasoline and Diesel, that we can live with, but there have been several articles written about the damage it can do to the engines with prolonged use. Also given the current engines I think 10% Ethanol is considered the optimum mix, that can no doubt be improved as we use more Ethanol. Again, I am for anything that reduces our independence on Foreign Oil.
CARL, ONE THING I WANTED TO ADD IS THAT ETHANOL IS NOW TRADED IN THE FUTURES MARKET. THERE MUST BE ENOUGH OF IT AVAILABLE NO TO MAKE A MARKET IN IT.

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude is trading at $109.50, up $0.15, no trades showing in the back months. Trading is slim probably due to the inventories coming out today( they are a day late due to the Holiday) and traders waiting to see what the Hurricanes do. Oct-08 Natural Gas is trading at $7.17, off $0.094, the Winter back months are off in the same trading ranges.

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude settled at $107.89, down $1.46 on the day, the back months were down by $2.00 and some change. Oct-08 Natural Gas settled at $7.322, up $0.058 on the day, the back months were up $0.05 or less. Natural Gas inventory comes out tomorrow (it was delayed one day due to the Labor Day Holiday).

[frawin]

Oct-08 Crude is trading at $106.975, down $0.915, Oct-08 Natural Gas is trading at $7.39, up $0.068. The main reason given for crude trading down is improvement in the Dollar verses the EURO.