Prior to becoming an expedite truck operator, I made my living, for over twenty-six years, in the oil and gas well drilling business. I was fortunate to have done a good deal of traveling about. I met and spoke to a lot of people over the years. The oil business is an area I know something about. Not alot mind you, but I picked up a little along the way.
Regarding George Bush and the price of diesel fuel: Could someone please explain to me exactly what control President Bush is supposed to be able to exert on the foreign nations we purchase our oil products from and how much we're forced to pay for those products.
In my view, the simple answer is: Very little!!
We buy most of our oil from countries in the Middle East. These folks are not our friends. They charge what the market will bear for their oil. We receive no volume discounts.
We buy next from countries in South and Central America. These folks are not our friends either. They too charge us full price for the oil we buy.
Third on the list is Canada. Most Canadian folk are our friends, but they don't discount the oil they sell us.
Regarding the small portion of the oil we use daily in this country that actually comes from wells in this country....Few are aware that well over seventy-five percent of the oil produced in America comes from wells drilled and produced by small, mostly privately-owned independant companies, not from the major oil companies.
Further: In the early 1980's, there were over 4,800 drilling rigs working on oil and gas wells in this country. Last I checked, that number had been reduced to somewhere around 1,800. The reason for the reduction in active drilling rigs was due in large part to the fact that, beginning under the Regan administration, and continuing thru the administrations of George Bush senior, and Bill Clinton, many of the tax incentives that had previously been offered to oil companies to encourage domestic drilling (brought about by domestic finacial investors)were one after the other rescinded.
To the loss of the financial incentives that had, historically, encouraged folks to make the risky investments that allowed other folks to hop around drilling holes in the ground, factor in the additional costs added to drilling wells and producing oil by modern, environmentally-responsable practices, as well as myriad other regulatory issues too numerous to mention. A bleak picture emerged.
For reasons I'll never fully undersatand, drilling wells in America simply became too expensive and too much of a pain in the a--! I don't know if this was by design, or simple happenstance. The result is the same. The people with sufficient knowledge of the technology and of the business and who had the financial wherewithall to do so largely went elsewhere to seek their fortunes. So did their investors. They're drilling wells in locations where they can make money. By and large, so are the major oil companies. Isn't that why you and I are doing what we're doing....to make money?
Additionally, America's ability to refine oil into gasoline and diesel fuel is compromised by our aging refineries. I read recently we haven't built a new refinery in America in over thirty years. Imagine trying to make a living in a truck with a thirty-year old engine and transmission design. I knew it had been a while since I'd heard about a new refinery coming online; but thirty years.......
For these and myriad other reasons, America is currently in a situation where we're producing very little of the petroleum products we use here every day. We're not only buying a huge amount of crude oil from foreign countries, and at really high prices, but we're also paying others to refine a good deal of it into diesel fuel and gasoline for us. We used to do this ourselves.
Blaming George Bush for this kind of nuts. His family and most of their friends were oil people (not a sin in my book, they made lots of money, just like we'd all like to do). He's probably as disturbed by this as I am (and as we'd all ought to be)
Rather than condemning the president for the fact he lacks the ability to control world wide oil prices, let's take a look at one thing he might be able to do to help us out a little.
As president, George Bush does have the ability to encourage congress to address the amount of federal taxes we pay on our diesel fuel. Further, he might be able to persuade the govenors of the individual states to discuss with their respective state's legislatures a reduction in their state fuel taxes.
Oil prices are a little screwy right now. Soon they'll settle down some, I think (and hope). In the meantime, those of us who drive for a living are absorbing a good more than our fair share of the pain.
If the federal and state governments would offer us a little temoprary relief through a reduction in the taxes we have to pay on diesel, the pain would be spread some. Everybody could absorb a little, and one group wouldn't be hurt so much.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
Regarding George Bush and the price of diesel fuel: Could someone please explain to me exactly what control President Bush is supposed to be able to exert on the foreign nations we purchase our oil products from and how much we're forced to pay for those products.
In my view, the simple answer is: Very little!!
We buy most of our oil from countries in the Middle East. These folks are not our friends. They charge what the market will bear for their oil. We receive no volume discounts.
We buy next from countries in South and Central America. These folks are not our friends either. They too charge us full price for the oil we buy.
Third on the list is Canada. Most Canadian folk are our friends, but they don't discount the oil they sell us.
Regarding the small portion of the oil we use daily in this country that actually comes from wells in this country....Few are aware that well over seventy-five percent of the oil produced in America comes from wells drilled and produced by small, mostly privately-owned independant companies, not from the major oil companies.
Further: In the early 1980's, there were over 4,800 drilling rigs working on oil and gas wells in this country. Last I checked, that number had been reduced to somewhere around 1,800. The reason for the reduction in active drilling rigs was due in large part to the fact that, beginning under the Regan administration, and continuing thru the administrations of George Bush senior, and Bill Clinton, many of the tax incentives that had previously been offered to oil companies to encourage domestic drilling (brought about by domestic finacial investors)were one after the other rescinded.
To the loss of the financial incentives that had, historically, encouraged folks to make the risky investments that allowed other folks to hop around drilling holes in the ground, factor in the additional costs added to drilling wells and producing oil by modern, environmentally-responsable practices, as well as myriad other regulatory issues too numerous to mention. A bleak picture emerged.
For reasons I'll never fully undersatand, drilling wells in America simply became too expensive and too much of a pain in the a--! I don't know if this was by design, or simple happenstance. The result is the same. The people with sufficient knowledge of the technology and of the business and who had the financial wherewithall to do so largely went elsewhere to seek their fortunes. So did their investors. They're drilling wells in locations where they can make money. By and large, so are the major oil companies. Isn't that why you and I are doing what we're doing....to make money?
Additionally, America's ability to refine oil into gasoline and diesel fuel is compromised by our aging refineries. I read recently we haven't built a new refinery in America in over thirty years. Imagine trying to make a living in a truck with a thirty-year old engine and transmission design. I knew it had been a while since I'd heard about a new refinery coming online; but thirty years.......
For these and myriad other reasons, America is currently in a situation where we're producing very little of the petroleum products we use here every day. We're not only buying a huge amount of crude oil from foreign countries, and at really high prices, but we're also paying others to refine a good deal of it into diesel fuel and gasoline for us. We used to do this ourselves.
Blaming George Bush for this kind of nuts. His family and most of their friends were oil people (not a sin in my book, they made lots of money, just like we'd all like to do). He's probably as disturbed by this as I am (and as we'd all ought to be)
Rather than condemning the president for the fact he lacks the ability to control world wide oil prices, let's take a look at one thing he might be able to do to help us out a little.
As president, George Bush does have the ability to encourage congress to address the amount of federal taxes we pay on our diesel fuel. Further, he might be able to persuade the govenors of the individual states to discuss with their respective state's legislatures a reduction in their state fuel taxes.
Oil prices are a little screwy right now. Soon they'll settle down some, I think (and hope). In the meantime, those of us who drive for a living are absorbing a good more than our fair share of the pain.
If the federal and state governments would offer us a little temoprary relief through a reduction in the taxes we have to pay on diesel, the pain would be spread some. Everybody could absorb a little, and one group wouldn't be hurt so much.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
