Record Oil Company profits...

[gales0678]

scuds - worldwide demand has outstipped supply , either demand has to fall or supply has to increase for px to fall - also oil is px in usd - as our currency get weaker the px in usd goes up which hits us in the pocket - bernake is cooked he can't keep cutting rates to help the consumer in this country who is already overexteneded to help prop up the housing mkt

ths will weaken our currency even more and make oil more expensive , we are in a tough spot here

o'rielly had clinton on last night and she says eveyone is to blame - funny eneough she did not answer some of his questions about why she voted against certain new drilling projects and he didn't press her on it, but, dennis miller came on and told o'rielly he did press her hard eneough on the issue

[zippyneedsawin]

Originally Posted by gales0678

scuds - worldwide demand has outstipped supply , either demand has to fall or supply has to increase for px to fall - also oil is px in usd - as our currency get weaker the px in usd goes up which hits us in the pocket - bernake is cooked he can't keep cutting rates to help the consumer in this country who is already overexteneded to help prop up the housing mkt

ths will weaken our currency even more and make oil more expensive , we are in a tough spot here

o'rielly had clinton on last night and she says eveyone is to blame - funny eneough she did not answer some of his questions about why she voted against certain new drilling projects and he didn't press her on it, but, dennis miller came on and told o'rielly he did press her hard eneough on the issue

So, you believe world demand has jumped at least 4X what it was just 10 years ago? I find that hard to believe. A gallon of regular gas was under $1 in most places in the U.S... as low as 70 cents ... now it's pushing $4... there's more to it than 'demand'... IMO.

[gales0678]

demand has increased i don't have the exact figures, but, take a look at a chart between the usd and the px of a barrell of oil, seems to me that as the dollar drops as it has been for the last number of years the per barrell price of oil has increased - there is a direct corelation to a weak dollar leading to higher oil prices - when the foreigners sell us there oil they get paid in usd. if the usd is falling the only way to cover their losses on the usd is to raise the prices per barrell that with demanded outpacing supply pushes the price higher -

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by gales0678

demand has increased i don't have the exact figures, but, take a look at a chart between the usd and the px of a barrell of oil, seems to me that as the dollar drops as it has been for the last number of years the per barrell price of oil has increased - there is a direct corelation to a weak dollar leading to higher oil prices - when the foreigners sell us there oil they get paid in usd. if the usd is falling the only way to cover their losses on the usd is to raise the prices per barrell that with demanded outpacing supply pushes the price higher -

The thread is about record oil company profits? O.K....The reason there are record oil company profits is because they don't have to compete for your business.They all agree to keep the price as high as possible.It's not like airfares where you have airlines competing for your business.Whatever the price of gas should be (based on competition in the market place) will not be known until this problem is tackled.There are a lot of things brought up here to explain why the price of gas is high.The price of gas is one thing,and the profits of oil companies is another.The latter will always be very high if they don't have to compete.I can live with high gas prices,but I am tired of the lack of competition that exists between a limited # of oil companies in this country.We refuse to make them compete with each other.With that fact,how can there ever be anything but huge oil company profits? It will remain huge until there is competition involved in the pricing of gasoline.This is not hard to understand.You will never ever know the price you actually should be paying for gas until you have free-market competition involved in the pricing of gas.Maybe it should be $4 $3 $2.75 ,or whatever,but you won't know until competition is involved.All you have to do is compare it to the airline industry.If you have free market competition,then you will be able to "shop" for the price you pay to fly somewhere.Try flying to Cincy sometime.Guess what? It's outrageously high to fly into there(or it was last year.)Why? No competition.Delta has a monopoly.Is it still this way,Cannon?

[gales0678]

but scuds other indutries have had record profits and the public wasn't against them

a couple of years ago the banks and mortgage co's made record profits and nobody said a word because eveybodies house went up in price

when the gov't broke up the standard oil trust back in the early part of the 20th century they thought it would be better , but, in fact rockefeller became the richest man in history after the break up of standard oil - why not go back to 1 oil co with 1 guy controlling it , it seemed to work better that way as he kept everyone in line

[gales0678]

the other thing scuds profit margins are around 7 % for most of these co's do you think that is absurd?

if you want to start regulating industry look out there are a lot more out there that have profit margins higher than 7 %

[SCUDSBROTHER]

Originally Posted by gales0678

the other thing scuds profit margins are around 7 % for most of these co's do you think that is absurd?

if you want to start regulating industry look out there are a lot more out there that have profit margins higher than 7 %

Obviously,their profits are absurd.They wouldn't be if there was price competition.There is very little competition going on.There are a lot of reasons for high prices,but only one real main reason their profits are this high(no price competition.)Regulate? How about it works like other free market systems,and have many companies competing by offering the best prices possible for the consumer?

[gales0678]

scuds the price for the barrell of oil goes up every time the usd falls

until the falling usd gets fixed the px of oil goes higher in my opinion

oil is px in usd - middle east needs to sell at higher price if usd is worth less

we need to start supporting our currency

[timmgirvan]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

Obviously,their profits are absurd.They wouldn't be if there was price competition.There is very little competition going on.There are a lot of reasons for high prices,but only one real main reason their profits are this high(no price competition.)Regulate? How about it works like other free market systems,and have many companies competing by offering the best prices possible for the consumer?

Their profits are absurd..but most of their profits comes from overseas oil sales...they put 30% back into R&D(as per an Exxon stockholder and employee I heard on radio last night). In Nigeria, gas is 6.50 a gallon,Europe is as bad or worse! I know, I know...they keep flashing those huge numbers but they actually made less that Wall Street projected. It's a pickle for sure, but windfall profits tax just put more money at the govts disposal...and we know how well that works!!