Re: [OT] WINNABLE Gas War

HeyBub wrote:
Leon wrote:
An interseting side note, The Shell VP was on the news the other day
and he indicated the supply and demand excuse cutting short of
calling it what it actually is, "what the market will bare. He said
there is no shortage of oil, simply a shortate of a way to produce
gasoline. With no shortage of oil and oil prices being lower than
what they have been, why is gasoline at an all time high? It's, what
the market will bare. He also went on to say that no oil refinery
has been built since 1977, too much governmant red tape and cost.
Awhhhh, what part of business does not have red tape??? If they
built more refineries there would be less restriction on refining.

No business has red tape like energy-related ones. A gas-fired
electrical generating plant was built in my area a few years ago. It
took ELEVEN YEARS to get past all the regulatory hurdles and court
cases before construction was begun. It then took another three years
to actually build the thing.

Gasoline is not at an all-time high, either in actual cost or in
percentage of disposable income. That high took place in 1981.

The last I heard it was a half cent a gallon below the 1981 peak in
constant dollars. However it's my understanding that wages haven't kept
pace with inflation since 1981 so I'd like to see a source for your
contention that it is currently a lower percentage of disposable income.

I remind you that there are five different blends of gasoline
required in the Chicago area. This kind of silliness wrecks havoc in
the distribution scheme.



Another interesting note, a long time friend and neighbor is an
engeneer that just finished working in California. He was the site
cost engeneer overseeing the expenses of revamping a refinery for
Valero. He learned that in California that Valero's cost to produce
1 gallon of gasoline is $1.02 and 1 gallon of diesel is $0.89.

Oil companies claim demand is up and some have even blamed the
earlier day light saving time this year as a reason. If demand is up
and creating a problem I wonder who is sitting in line to get gas? I
remember those shortages in the 70's, those were more real than what
we have today.



I'm not an economist either, but I took a couple classes in college.

What can you do to "win" this gas price escallation? Drive a more
fuel efficient car and take a bike or walk if you're close enough to
the place you're going. If you should be pressuring anybody, it
should be the insurance companies in order to make purpose-based
vehicle ownership cheaper. That way, when you need to haul several
sheets of plywood, you can do it. When you just need a couple
screws, a few pieces of sandpaper, and a gallon of milk, you can
drive a more fuel efficient car to get those items.

Get rid of the need for gasoline altogether. Yes it will affect the
economy, but oil is used for a lot more than producing fuel for cars
and trucks. The typical gasoline engine only makes use of 25% of the
fuel it burns the other 75% is lost to heat. The new hybrid yet to
be marketed cars can operate from electricity for about 2.2 cents per
mile. While converting fuel to electriciey is wastful, it is not
nearly as inefficient as letting the engine in your car convert the
fuel into useable energy. Typically, all things being equal the cost
of electricity needed to drive a car the same distance as 1 gallon of
gasoline, would be 75 cents as compared to gasoline at $3 per gallon.
This information is from the specs on the GM Volt concept car and the
from the Zap motor company that has been producing electric vehicles
in California for the last 10 years. Zap has produced and sold over
90,000 vehicles world wide.

--
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--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)


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