There's no reason the US should be paying much much less than anyone else. US fuel has always been cheap. Even at $6/gal you are getting it at an insane discount. You want to save money? Buy a more fuel efficient car.
There's no reason the US should be paying much much less than anyone else. US fuel has always been cheap. Even at $6/gal you are getting it at an insane discount. You want to save money? Buy a more fuel efficient car.
If your happy with the Oklahoma infrastructure going down and a higher percentage of Oklahoma Citizens on unemployment, I'd guess a person could be happy at the misfortune of others.
People left low paying jobs to join the oil patch knowing it would give them more money. Not many knew it would be cyclic like it is. They just don't follow the ebbs and flows.
The majority of folks don't look back at how the patch has worked over the years.
I can't fault them for looking at the better life and a higher standard of living. That's what we all strive for.
That's the problem with about 98.7% of the world's population.
tR, it's a mind blowingly complex undertaking to understand the intricacies of energy pricing. Each company has it's own cost structure and I'll just give you a simple example. Take a well at any given spot in the world. Then take another well 15 miles from that one. The oil produced out of each well can require totally different requirements to refine it. The products you can make out of one well may not even be possible from the oil out of the other. That's an extreme example but you get the gist if you are talking an 8% - 10% profit margin, yes that's pretty close to what they make in good times.
One of the reasons we have issues is caused solely by our government and it's meddling. Most of our refineries are set up for heavy sour oil while our shale oil is of the light sweet variety. Go see whats involved in getting all the EPA permits for a new refinery and you'll see why we haven't built a new one since the '70s. That's just one of 40,000 things oil companies have to deal with.
If I were thinking of starting a brand new oil company, once I got into the real study of all that's required, I'd blow it off so fast that we don't have the technology to measure the time increment, it would be that friggin fast.
True. I've tried to keep it generic but your post breaks it down even further. Then we get into the refining process for the mandated ultra low sulfur and the engines that require additional chemicals now. Its a crazy business.
Ok... so no one is answering the question. The complaint is - "low oil prices have put people out of work in high-paying jobs in the oilfield."
So again... SHOULD we voluntarily pay more for a product so that we can employ people in high-paying jobs to produce that product?
People are acting like I'm rejoicing that people in the oilfield are out of work. Gimme a break. I'm happy less of my paycheck is going to the gas pump, so I can spend it on other things I find useful, necessary or enjoyable. THE MONEY IS STILL GETTING SPENT.... it is going into the economy. But not as much is going to oilfield workers, more is going to gun and ammo producers, lately. More is going to pay off debt. More is going into my retirement... into lots of things. I'm paying a couple of local craftsmen tomorrow to put in some new granite and a plumber to change the fixtures. Wouldn't have been able to do that if I were paying 3x as much for gasoline the last 2 months.
So... should I skip out on improving the value of my home (for when I sell it) and supporting my local craftsmen and just take that money and send it to an oil company so they can support one of their rig guys for another week?
So again... SHOULD we voluntarily pay more for a product so that we can employ people in high-paying jobs to produce that product?
People are acting like I'm rejoicing that people in the oilfield are out of work. Gimme a break. I'm happy less of my paycheck is going to the gas pump, so I can spend it on other things I find useful, necessary or enjoyable. THE MONEY IS STILL GETTING SPENT.... it is going into the economy. But not as much is going to oilfield workers, more is going to gun and ammo producers, lately. More is going to pay off debt. More is going into my retirement... into lots of things. I'm paying a couple of local craftsmen tomorrow to put in some new granite and a plumber to change the fixtures. Wouldn't have been able to do that if I were paying 3x as much for gasoline the last 2 months.
So... should I skip out on improving the value of my home (for when I sell it) and supporting my local craftsmen and just take that money and send it to an oil company so they can support one of their rig guys for another week?
It's not just the refinement. In addition to the cost of the well, operating companies have to invest heavily (and pay engineers to design the system) in surface production facilities. Refiners dont like things like salts, H2S, and water in the product they are going to refine.
Long story short... everyone thinks E&P companies are these greedy companies pulling in insane profits. If you look at the investment(costs for you people that get confused), the profit is not much more than any other business.
nobody said your rejoicing that people are out of work in the oilfield.
We are trying to say that even though its a personal bonus for you, its a bust for folks in another line of work. Nobody that I know of wants to see another suffer in life.
No just be aware that the price of energy affects EVERYTHING you touch during any given day. If the price is this low, you know the economy isn't doing well at all, I don't care what they tell you on CNBC. It could be argued that its a better indicator of the world's economy than the stock indices.
I still don't understand why people get hung up on someone else's salary. I also don't get why we think its only roughnecks getting laid off. What about the IT guys, the analysts and the techs who are only making $40-50k, who are degreed?
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