Is it really as bad as they're making it look...
- Thread starter GipsyQueen
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Lol, I'm not in the business, but my *family* is. Well, oil and natural gas, that is. From managing all the way down to a bunch of roughnecks. Most work for the same company but a bunch work for contractors. All the drilling is domestic, independent companies. No Exon employees or anything.
I'm just a poor, broke college student.
I'd have to pester my father, but every time you talk to him he starts spouting off that gas prices are even higher overseas and then pointing out the price of milk per gallon, lol! According to him that if gas prices had risen the amount that milk had over these past however many years then the price should actually be a lot higher- around the $8 or so Europe sees now.
i think a lot has to do with the fact that many large countries are really industrializing now. (China and India, for example) A lot more people have cars and thus need gas. There's a LOT of drilling going on, but still not enough. I know the region (TX/OK/CO area) my father works at is doing so much more work than they had been. Lots of offshore rigs. I'd imagine drilling in the middle east isn't as easy nowadays, but I don't know. Then drilling in Alaska is always a controversy.
Another issue is the amount of workers going into the oil field. There's really not too too many and a large portion of the employees are reaching retirement age right now or taking early retirement....
All I really know was the oil field had it terribly not too long ago (80s were really bad). No jobs, no money, and no work. I know the local office basically sat around for a year it was that bad. So many people were laid off and no one is wanting to revisit that again. But all the young engineers don't realize that the field does this all the time. The business will be great, then something like the eighties happens again.
I'm just a poor, broke college student.
I'd have to pester my father, but every time you talk to him he starts spouting off that gas prices are even higher overseas and then pointing out the price of milk per gallon, lol! According to him that if gas prices had risen the amount that milk had over these past however many years then the price should actually be a lot higher- around the $8 or so Europe sees now.
i think a lot has to do with the fact that many large countries are really industrializing now. (China and India, for example) A lot more people have cars and thus need gas. There's a LOT of drilling going on, but still not enough. I know the region (TX/OK/CO area) my father works at is doing so much more work than they had been. Lots of offshore rigs. I'd imagine drilling in the middle east isn't as easy nowadays, but I don't know. Then drilling in Alaska is always a controversy.
Another issue is the amount of workers going into the oil field. There's really not too too many and a large portion of the employees are reaching retirement age right now or taking early retirement....
All I really know was the oil field had it terribly not too long ago (80s were really bad). No jobs, no money, and no work. I know the local office basically sat around for a year it was that bad. So many people were laid off and no one is wanting to revisit that again. But all the young engineers don't realize that the field does this all the time. The business will be great, then something like the eighties happens again.
thats my biggest thing...
i can understand gas prices going up IF the gas/oil companies wernt raking in millions in profits...
however right now they simply keep raising the price because people are still willing to pay for it...
and by that i mean the US public transportation system is so severly crappy the average us citizen (even on a hybrid car or gas sipper) is FORCED to pay the prices at the pump or simply not work or buy groceries or get their kids to school/practice or simply have any life outside of their home...which of course they would loose because they cant get to work cause they refuse to buy gas...
the only way to get the prices down would be total boycott...the only way to do that is to shut down the us...and we know...the gas companies can hold out way longer than an entire country.
i saw $3.50 and 9/10 today at the gas pumps...needless to say, i shop around for gas!
i can understand gas prices going up IF the gas/oil companies wernt raking in millions in profits...
however right now they simply keep raising the price because people are still willing to pay for it...
and by that i mean the US public transportation system is so severly crappy the average us citizen (even on a hybrid car or gas sipper) is FORCED to pay the prices at the pump or simply not work or buy groceries or get their kids to school/practice or simply have any life outside of their home...which of course they would loose because they cant get to work cause they refuse to buy gas...
the only way to get the prices down would be total boycott...the only way to do that is to shut down the us...and we know...the gas companies can hold out way longer than an entire country.
i saw $3.50 and 9/10 today at the gas pumps...needless to say, i shop around for gas!
Well, think about it this way *plays devil's advocate*
Any good/service price is based on supply and demand. More demand for gas nowadays than there previously has been. There's a lot of inflation over the years as well. The price of EVERYTHING has gone up but people generally notice gas prices moreso because they buy more of it more often. Most people have to.
any economy is driven by profit. you can't expect gas companies to make little to no profit.
Also, people tend to start saying the 'gas/oil companies' are making millions, and it's true. Definitely true, but the companies are made of so many people. There's a lot of jobs in the field that don't pay much at all. Not all the oil industry workers are big wigs sitting up in an office. Many are manual laborers. There's people that own the rigs, piping companies, selling drill bits, landowners, etc.
There's a lot of complexities in drilling as well. They're trying to keep costs low and drilling as environmentally friendly as possible. Offshore wells, horizontal wells can cost a lot more. Drilling in certain kinds of rock formations is really challenging. Trust me, they try to cut costs as much as possible, but it's just plain expensive. Takes a lot of people and a lot of work to get oil or natural gas out of the ground let alone refined and ready for use.
There's a ton of work that I've seen first hand. You have to find the oil first... geologists have to locate promising looking areas. Companies must pay landowners if the well is on private land. You have to come up with a plan to drill into that formation. This can be challenging. They were drilling near an airport recently and thus had to run a long horizontal well to try a spot because they couldn't drill directly on top of it. Horizontals = more money. Engineers are to come up with the safest, most cost efficient way to drill a well. To drill you need a rig, which most companies don't actually own themselves but rent out from other companies. On a rig you'll need a crew of roughnecks.... which you hire. If you have a blowout or anything awful like that, then cost is even higher. Say the bit gets stuck somewhere or the piping fails (I forget the drilling terminology) but this can also cause cost to go way up. And then what if the well is dry? You do your best to avoid this, but it still happens and then you're out millions and millions of dollars like that. And that's not even scratching the surface really!
True, there is a lot of money in drilling right now. But it's a cycle, it always is. The VPs and such are getting very rich. It's been good for everyone in the oil field but not all people in the field are now millionaires.
Any good/service price is based on supply and demand. More demand for gas nowadays than there previously has been. There's a lot of inflation over the years as well. The price of EVERYTHING has gone up but people generally notice gas prices moreso because they buy more of it more often. Most people have to.
any economy is driven by profit. you can't expect gas companies to make little to no profit.
Also, people tend to start saying the 'gas/oil companies' are making millions, and it's true. Definitely true, but the companies are made of so many people. There's a lot of jobs in the field that don't pay much at all. Not all the oil industry workers are big wigs sitting up in an office. Many are manual laborers. There's people that own the rigs, piping companies, selling drill bits, landowners, etc.
There's a lot of complexities in drilling as well. They're trying to keep costs low and drilling as environmentally friendly as possible. Offshore wells, horizontal wells can cost a lot more. Drilling in certain kinds of rock formations is really challenging. Trust me, they try to cut costs as much as possible, but it's just plain expensive. Takes a lot of people and a lot of work to get oil or natural gas out of the ground let alone refined and ready for use.
There's a ton of work that I've seen first hand. You have to find the oil first... geologists have to locate promising looking areas. Companies must pay landowners if the well is on private land. You have to come up with a plan to drill into that formation. This can be challenging. They were drilling near an airport recently and thus had to run a long horizontal well to try a spot because they couldn't drill directly on top of it. Horizontals = more money. Engineers are to come up with the safest, most cost efficient way to drill a well. To drill you need a rig, which most companies don't actually own themselves but rent out from other companies. On a rig you'll need a crew of roughnecks.... which you hire. If you have a blowout or anything awful like that, then cost is even higher. Say the bit gets stuck somewhere or the piping fails (I forget the drilling terminology) but this can also cause cost to go way up. And then what if the well is dry? You do your best to avoid this, but it still happens and then you're out millions and millions of dollars like that. And that's not even scratching the surface really!
True, there is a lot of money in drilling right now. But it's a cycle, it always is. The VPs and such are getting very rich. It's been good for everyone in the oil field but not all people in the field are now millionaires.
many places do not have public transport because it gets voted down when it is proposed because people don't want higher taxes to pay for it. Reap what you sow..pay now or pay later.
This being in larger towns and cities as opposed to BFE type places.
My city is a major one...between two even bigger ones...each bigger one has PLENTY of PT....we don't...know why? "buses allow freer travel of a criminal element to residential neighborhoods, and depress property values" not making this up...real reason it's been voted down MULTIPLE times.
Just because you or I am willing to pay more in taxes...to fund PT...doesn't mean the bulk of voters, will agree. PT isn't free...and one has to ask if the towns without it are without it because they cannot afford it or don't want to afford it.
This being in larger towns and cities as opposed to BFE type places.
My city is a major one...between two even bigger ones...each bigger one has PLENTY of PT....we don't...know why? "buses allow freer travel of a criminal element to residential neighborhoods, and depress property values" not making this up...real reason it's been voted down MULTIPLE times.
Just because you or I am willing to pay more in taxes...to fund PT...doesn't mean the bulk of voters, will agree. PT isn't free...and one has to ask if the towns without it are without it because they cannot afford it or don't want to afford it.
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Main reason oil prices are going up is because OPEC wants it to from what I think.
OPEC just recently told Bush to go %^$##### himself. well not in those exact words.
He asked them for more gas to be produced by opec, also asked saudi's to open up their oil taps. They both ignored him and did nothing.
"OPEC decisions have had considerable influence on international oil prices. For example, in the 1973 energy crisis OPEC refused to ship oil to western countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War or October War, which they fought against Egypt and Syria"
OPEC isnt an organization they're a friggin Cartel.
Economy here in southern california isnt noticeable to the "eye" but everyone seems to be feeling a bit different. Depressed, worried, stressed, etc etc...
Father doesnt talk much about work with us, but i do know one of his exec's went over sea's last week to try and lock down a contract.
Economy isnt my cup of tea, nor do i look into it. Just hope hope for the best, expect the worst.
Just need to change your living style a bit more. No more 4 dollar coffee's at starbucks, drink the 88cent ones at 7-11, no more dinners out, eat at home, 87 octane gas instead of 91, take showers instead of baths, car pool, car pool, car pool..
wait those are all California problems!
OPEC just recently told Bush to go %^$##### himself. well not in those exact words.
He asked them for more gas to be produced by opec, also asked saudi's to open up their oil taps. They both ignored him and did nothing.
"OPEC decisions have had considerable influence on international oil prices. For example, in the 1973 energy crisis OPEC refused to ship oil to western countries that had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War or October War, which they fought against Egypt and Syria"
OPEC isnt an organization they're a friggin Cartel.
Economy here in southern california isnt noticeable to the "eye" but everyone seems to be feeling a bit different. Depressed, worried, stressed, etc etc...
Father doesnt talk much about work with us, but i do know one of his exec's went over sea's last week to try and lock down a contract.
Economy isnt my cup of tea, nor do i look into it. Just hope hope for the best, expect the worst.
Just need to change your living style a bit more. No more 4 dollar coffee's at starbucks, drink the 88cent ones at 7-11, no more dinners out, eat at home, 87 octane gas instead of 91, take showers instead of baths, car pool, car pool, car pool..
wait those are all California problems!
the lack of pt is sooo strange for me because im from the UK, we take busses and trains EVERYWHERE lol! if a bus doesnt go there its simply not worth going!
we budget like crazy, NEVER eat out, buy clearance and day old and damaged cans ect, we buy in bulk to try and knock the cost down, and make alot of our own stuff, coupons are our frineds and my dad is in a deacently paying position...mum works too, me and my brother both work and pay rent and put towards food costs, pay our own bills and gas and such...
and its STILL not enough.
ill tell you the truth...
while gas in the uk may be so much more exmpnsive...i have thought about going back multiple times since things started going down hill, and if it wasnt for the Bf, i probably would, just need to get rubies pet passport finnished (the chis are already done and covered!)
we budget like crazy, NEVER eat out, buy clearance and day old and damaged cans ect, we buy in bulk to try and knock the cost down, and make alot of our own stuff, coupons are our frineds and my dad is in a deacently paying position...mum works too, me and my brother both work and pay rent and put towards food costs, pay our own bills and gas and such...
and its STILL not enough.
ill tell you the truth...
while gas in the uk may be so much more exmpnsive...i have thought about going back multiple times since things started going down hill, and if it wasnt for the Bf, i probably would, just need to get rubies pet passport finnished (the chis are already done and covered!)
My college town is the first town I've ever been to that has a decent PT system and it's still extremely lacking IMO. Doesn't go to a great portion of the town, just where the students are most likely to live which is understandable because it's the college's bus system, not the cities. But everyone uses it, college student or not.
But in other cities? No such thing as a public transportation system in most cases. You HAVE to use a car or you can't get where you need to go to make the money to live and support the same economy that's screwing you over.
I really wish Texas would scrap their TransTexas corridor system they're putting in and instead put in a good rail system and light rail system around towns. Would be much more beneficial and you could commute between cities with about a 30 minute train ride instead of an hour drive (IE CS/B and Houston or CS/B and Austin). Once that was in place the cities would have to improve their bus systems or they'd lose out on a lot of money from potential shoppers that now have easy access to the city from a train but no other method of transportation once they get there.
But instead they're putting in some super highway that Texans get to pay for with our tax money but we're STILL going to be charged to use the **** thing while everyone else gets to benefit from it for just the usage fee. And we can't vote it down, it's not up for vote.
Edit: Erm sorry that was kind of a tangent there lol.
But in other cities? No such thing as a public transportation system in most cases. You HAVE to use a car or you can't get where you need to go to make the money to live and support the same economy that's screwing you over.
I really wish Texas would scrap their TransTexas corridor system they're putting in and instead put in a good rail system and light rail system around towns. Would be much more beneficial and you could commute between cities with about a 30 minute train ride instead of an hour drive (IE CS/B and Houston or CS/B and Austin). Once that was in place the cities would have to improve their bus systems or they'd lose out on a lot of money from potential shoppers that now have easy access to the city from a train but no other method of transportation once they get there.
But instead they're putting in some super highway that Texans get to pay for with our tax money but we're STILL going to be charged to use the **** thing while everyone else gets to benefit from it for just the usage fee. And we can't vote it down, it's not up for vote.
Edit: Erm sorry that was kind of a tangent there lol.
Yep Arlington also has voted down a thru route for the T running from Ft Worth to Dallas...even tho it's right between them. Truly f'ed up with people will pay for and what they won't. Now there's a BRAND NEW HUGE stadium about to be up n running...HOW pray tell are they going to manage the folks? rented buses?...erm...yyyeah.
Mind you...voters voted yes to that stadium and the Ballpark before it...but no to PT
Mind you...voters voted yes to that stadium and the Ballpark before it...but no to PT
But they lease the stadium to the teams and for concerts, so they should (...) make an eventual profit.
Oil companies are doing their job, making money. Its not entirely OPEC's fault, we have gas coming in from other places (more of it comes from non OPEC than OPEC- http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm ) Its their job to make money too.
This is one thing you can't have both ways, either find a way to socialize/subsidize it (we need it to get to jobs?) or bear the brunt of supply and demand. Stop demanding so much and the price will come down.
Oil companies are doing their job, making money. Its not entirely OPEC's fault, we have gas coming in from other places (more of it comes from non OPEC than OPEC- http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm ) Its their job to make money too.
This is one thing you can't have both ways, either find a way to socialize/subsidize it (we need it to get to jobs?) or bear the brunt of supply and demand. Stop demanding so much and the price will come down.
Yah but that's the problem. We can't stop demanding so much of it because there's too many complacent people who don't vote (because it doesn't make a difference right now because people don't vote because it doesn't make a difference because people don't vote because it doesn't make a difference because...) or simply don't care. We can't live without oil right now. It's not a luxury like it may have been back in the day where people would just cruise up and down a strip of land the entire night, it's a necessity to get around now a days. You can't just burn it like nothing now a days.
The only time I burn it for leisure is when I go out motorcycling and only because it's fairly cheap for a couple hours of fun.
The only time I burn it for leisure is when I go out motorcycling and only because it's fairly cheap for a couple hours of fun.
The problem I personally have are people that I see around that complain a lot and yet do nothing. Either adjust your lifestyle (at least try!) or don't complain.
For example, my roomie. She drives a huge SUV with like 17 mpg. As GO said, we have a fairly decent transportation system here. You can at least take it to school if need be. Heaven knows it's already paid for by our student fees.... Anyways, she drives a gas guzzler, drives to campus 2-3 times a day (and back!), refuses to take the bus to school, then drives 3 hours away every week (sometimes twice a week) to visit her boyfriend at the army base. Then she complains about gas prices. I have little sympathy for those kinds of people. If it's really a problem, then why refuse the bus system? The only real sacrifice you're paying is you have to leave 5 minutes earlier. You've already paid for it.
I think a lot of Americans just really refuse to compromise at all in regards to lifestyle when it comes to anything. I think this is a fairly large group. They expect the oil industry to work differently than any other, they have some media influenced picture of an evil corporation rolling in the dough, they have some overly simplified view of what drilling actually is (you don't magically set a rig down and drill straight down and you have gasoline)... They want more oil, but don't want us to drill in new places...
Oil's a tricky business. It's something we HAVE to have, yet it is a good like anything else and thus subject to inflation and supply and demand. We have no real feasible alternative energy source right now. Hybrid cars and such are really expensive and out of the everyday person's budget.
For example, my roomie. She drives a huge SUV with like 17 mpg. As GO said, we have a fairly decent transportation system here. You can at least take it to school if need be. Heaven knows it's already paid for by our student fees.... Anyways, she drives a gas guzzler, drives to campus 2-3 times a day (and back!), refuses to take the bus to school, then drives 3 hours away every week (sometimes twice a week) to visit her boyfriend at the army base. Then she complains about gas prices. I have little sympathy for those kinds of people. If it's really a problem, then why refuse the bus system? The only real sacrifice you're paying is you have to leave 5 minutes earlier. You've already paid for it.
I think a lot of Americans just really refuse to compromise at all in regards to lifestyle when it comes to anything. I think this is a fairly large group. They expect the oil industry to work differently than any other, they have some media influenced picture of an evil corporation rolling in the dough, they have some overly simplified view of what drilling actually is (you don't magically set a rig down and drill straight down and you have gasoline)... They want more oil, but don't want us to drill in new places...
Oil's a tricky business. It's something we HAVE to have, yet it is a good like anything else and thus subject to inflation and supply and demand. We have no real feasible alternative energy source right now. Hybrid cars and such are really expensive and out of the everyday person's budget.
We Canadians for the most part are even more sparsley populated than our southern neighbours, we have less public transit (minus the big cities like Toronto). We NEED to be able to drive. Our gas prices are much higher than the US prices.
I agree its supply and demand. Some very good schemes have came out to try to lower the gas prices, but not enough people do it. (if everyone did they would have to lower thier prices)
Really I don't blame them. Ever heard of peek oil? I bet lots of oil companies want to make as much now as they can. 'cheap' easily gotten oil will run out.... they what?
I agree its supply and demand. Some very good schemes have came out to try to lower the gas prices, but not enough people do it. (if everyone did they would have to lower thier prices)
Really I don't blame them. Ever heard of peek oil? I bet lots of oil companies want to make as much now as they can. 'cheap' easily gotten oil will run out.... they what?
I try to adjust my lifestyle the best I can esp with higher oil prices, but in some cases there's not much I can do. My work is at least an hour drive away. I'd like to find a job closer to home, but finding one that will pay as well isn't very likely. Northern Virginia is a ridiculously expensive place to live. If it weren't for my BF living here I prob would have moved away from here long ago. There is the option of riding the metro to work, but 1) they're overly crowded now because of the higher gas prices adding a much longer commute to work since you have to wait in line to even board and 2) it adds an extra hour each way of commuting. I can't leave Bamm at home that long every single day.
It sucks. Though... it's been kinda nice now that I don't have a car anymore in some retrospects. I've been carpooling with my coworker Tim which gives us access to the HOV lanes. We would have done carpooling prior to the accident anyways, but we work seperate shifts. He works 8-4 and I work 9-5. I've temporarily changed my schedule to 8-4 since I don't have a car, but that has to be temporary because my boss is not very happy about it.
It sucks. Though... it's been kinda nice now that I don't have a car anymore in some retrospects. I've been carpooling with my coworker Tim which gives us access to the HOV lanes. We would have done carpooling prior to the accident anyways, but we work seperate shifts. He works 8-4 and I work 9-5. I've temporarily changed my schedule to 8-4 since I don't have a car, but that has to be temporary because my boss is not very happy about it.
Wow! Thats alot of replies! Sorry, I wasn't able to post; I was in school!
This morning on the news they said it could hit Germany even harder than the US, at least they are expecting it to. I have no idea how gas prices could get any higher... they're already at about 1,45 EURO a LITER; So yeah the gas prices over in the states would be almost luxury to us over here. Milk prices are outrageous at the moment as well... but other than that; clothing has gotten cheaper?
This morning on the news they said it could hit Germany even harder than the US, at least they are expecting it to. I have no idea how gas prices could get any higher... they're already at about 1,45 EURO a LITER; So yeah the gas prices over in the states would be almost luxury to us over here. Milk prices are outrageous at the moment as well... but other than that; clothing has gotten cheaper?
Right now today gas here is $3.58 a gallon and $4.18 for diesel.
It's definitely had an effect. Nobody is driving unless they have to, and that includes going shopping and spending money. And now our idiot governor wants to add some $7 tolls to major highways. What the heck!?! Why don't we depress the economy even more?
As for me, we have a saturn that gets nigh unto 40 mpg, and it still costs me $6 to visit my best friend. $4 to go to the nearest park. With me home with the baby all day and Robert working a minimum wage job because it was the only thing he could find in three months of job searching, we are pretty much living on rice and beans and I am homebound. As soon as Strider hits 1 year we're teaching him to cart so I can at least go buy groceries.
It's definitely had an effect. Nobody is driving unless they have to, and that includes going shopping and spending money. And now our idiot governor wants to add some $7 tolls to major highways. What the heck!?! Why don't we depress the economy even more?
As for me, we have a saturn that gets nigh unto 40 mpg, and it still costs me $6 to visit my best friend. $4 to go to the nearest park. With me home with the baby all day and Robert working a minimum wage job because it was the only thing he could find in three months of job searching, we are pretty much living on rice and beans and I am homebound.
As soon as Strider hits 1 year we're teaching him to cart so I can at least go buy groceries.