Oil prices are up because a small U.S. ship shot a couple of rounds as a warning on a Iranian ship. So goes international politics. (and oil prices)(we will pay at the pumps for this).

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I thought they quit giving us reasons....

The next time though it may not be a warning shot

Gary

Please... It was not an Iranian SHIP. They were single outboard engine BOATS. We get screwed at the pump because some Persian dumbasses want to play chicken with a Navy ship. Nice.

You can look no further than Washington DC and Wall St for our fuel price woes. I can't wait for Fox News to report about oil traders start jumping off buildings to their death when the prices crash. These prices are unsustainable.

Oil prices are up because the enviro nut weenies prevent drilling, refining, and exploration of any new, domestic sources.

Read this - I hope they drill the $hit out of it.

Matthew


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/america ... /brazil.oil.ap/index.html

updated 6:49 a.m. EST, Fri November 9, 2007
Oil discovery rocks Brazil
Story Highlights
Petrobras president: Oil found would give Brazil the world's eighth largest reserves

Petrobras: Tupi field has equivalent to 40 percent of all oil ever discovered in Brazil

Brazil became a net oil exporter only last year

Presidential chief of staff: Oil find will put Brazil on level of Venezuela, Arab nations



RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- A huge offshore oil discovery could raise Brazil's petroleum reserves by a whopping 40 percent and boost this country into the ranks of the world's major exporters, officials said.


A gas station worker refuels a taxi with natural gas at a Petrobras gas station Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said the new "ultra-deep" Tupi field could hold as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable light crude, sending Petrobras shares soaring and prompting predictions that Brazil could join the world's "top 10" oil producers.

Petrobras President Sergio Gabrielli said Thursday the oil from ultradeep areas, including the Tupi field, would give Brazil the world's eighth-largest oil and gas reserves.

"Brazil's reserves will lie somewhere between those of Nigeria and those of Venezuela," Gabrielli said at a news conference.

Petrobras says the Tupi field, off Brazil's southeastern Atlantic coast, has between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels -- equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil.

Brazil's total oil reserves currently rank 17th in the world, with 14.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Gabrielli said.

Thursday's news of the discovery rocked a country that became a net oil exporter only last year but must still import light crude oil for the refined products it needs. Brazil produces -- and exports -- mostly heavy crude oil, which has to be mixed with the light oil in refineries.

Petrobras' American depository shares jumped $24.03 to $116.77 on the New York Stock Exchange to close at a 52-week high. In Brazil, Petrobras shares ended 14.1 percent higher Thursday at 80.17 reals ($45.94) in Sao Paulo.

"If this is confirmed, we will no longer be a 'medium' country, pursuing self-sufficiency and exporting a little. It will transform the nation to another level, with exporting properties like Venezuela, Arab nations and others," said Dilma Rousseff, presidential chief of staff.

For a country that went deeply into debt buying foreign oil in the 1970s and '80s, "this has changed our reality," she said.

Rousseff also announced that Brazil was withdrawing 41 blocks of underwater territory from an auction of 312 prospective oil blocks to be held this month. The country still will put the remaining 261 blocks up for auction but will reserve the most promising areas around the Tupi field for itself.

The Tupi field lies under 2,140 meters (7,060 feet) of water, more than 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) of sand and rocks, and then another 2,000-meter (6,600-foot) thick layer of salt. The company drilled test wells that lie under 2,166 meters (7,100 feet) of water, 286 kilometers (177 miles) south of Rio de Janeiro.

Getting that oil out of the Earth's crust is a formidable challenge, but most of Brazil's oil lies off its Atlantic coast, and Petrobras has become a global leader in ultradeep offshore oil extraction.

Felipe Cunha, an oil analyst with the Sao Paulo-based brokerage Brascan, said the Tupi field guarantees Brazil's oil output will continue to grow.


"If the best-case scenario happens, this discovery would make Petrobras' reserves overcome those of Shell and Chevron and put Petrobras behind only Exxon and British Petroleum," Cunha said.

Petrobras has a 65 percent operating stake in the field, Britain's BG Group PLC holds 25 percent, and Petroleos de Portugal holds the remaining 10 percent. E-mail to a friend

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I agree we should be drilling the bejezuz out of northern alaska.

its all excuses, first it was hurricane katrina, then it was some other reason, and blah blah blah blah blah...

What we need is the green berets to go into all coorperate HQ's and kill ALL the higher ups all the way until no one knows who is in charge then assign a person and warn them this may happen again if prices go back up.

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That is the popular and completely wrong position.

The government makes more money than the oil company off a barrel of oil

The oil company's margin is 9%

The dollar is down.

Environuts have more to do with it than the oil companies. I see no one wanting the green berets out to the local greenpeace office.

Well all I know is that one of dem bastages got like a 30 billion bonus as the CEO and dats just BS

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It was $40 Million BFD.

still alot of money...it may of well been billion

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IMO wrong time to take such a bonus when most of us are already infuriated at the ever rising cost of fuel!

They always overhype those new oil discoveries. And also exaggerate the exising supply.

Personally I think the guberment is holding off on our oil reserves until everyone else runs dry. Sounds like wise thinking! We have 3 huge oil fields and plenty of untapped reserves, but the quality isn't as good as some places.

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40 million is pretty small really. These $150 billion worth of "tax relief checks" will do more damage to the consumer than that guy getting a 10% bonus. (Har, har har!)

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Why?

lol, it's not like Mr. CEO gives a crap what you think of him. Every hates him yet still buys his product!

You guys haven't even scratched the surface of what the issue is. Everything else is minor.

Two factors that would make a difference in pump prices:

Cut out Wall Street.

Tell the sierra club to GO F*** themselves and start building refineries that can crack the US grade crude oils.

Maybe not in that order.............

ok, all seeing one. What are we missing?

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My opinion is that as soon as GWB is out of office, this oil problem will go away. You mess with the middle east, the people of the world pay at the pump.

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There was an interesting article in the Times a week or so ago. This company does off shore drilling near Pt Magu. They made a deal to trade off some of their coastal land and their off shore wells to build side drilling rigs. They can get at more of the crude without pissing off the eviro freaks.

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The two big issues that have everything to do with it.

Inflation and the dollar. The US dollar is worth shit. Look at the price of gold. Our economy is garbage, and it has nothing to do with the war in iraq. We as a nation are spending more than we have or could ever hope to have. Our personal debt in unsecured debt is outrageous.

Secondly, for whatever reason we want China and India to develop. These people are buying cars at an alarming rate. And plus China is needing raw resources for manufacturing purposes.

The BS of turning corn into fuel is garbage. It takes an acre of corn to produce 55 gallons of usable fuel. How much fuel do we as Americans use per year?

Those of you who want Alaska drilled in ANWR, well I got news for you. It's to late. The current pipeline has been on the downward slop of the production curve and can only stay online for so long before they run into issues of pushing oil through the pipe. To get ANWR up and running IF you started today would be 8 years at the quickest and 10 years at the latest. The American public has been sold a bill of shit by the Sierra Club and the other enviro groups that ANWR is this pristine place of beauty. Well it is, if you like perma frost ground, weeds and nothing else. They always show shots of the mountains. Well, the sad part is, nobody will ever go there.

I never said corn was the answer. Personally, I think gas to liquid has merit. There are simply tons upon tons of natural gas reserves, unused and untapped just begging to be turned into a usable fuel.

The only upside to corn (I prefer soybean based bio-diesel) is that it gets farmers farming again. And in time, if we let the genetic brains at it, they could increase the sugar in the corn and get more per acre. Don't think they can't either.

ANWR is a major cluster. First off, DRILLING for oil is a rather safe and not so messy enterprise. Sure, there is mess, but since we don't want to waste it, there won't be epic messes.

What we really need is refinary capacity. If the oil companies were investing in new refinaries, I would feel much better about things... but they are not. Is that because SC doesn't want them? Or they don't want to spend the $$$.

China and India can develop. I think it's arrogent to beleive they should not be allowed. It's absurd to think otherwise. It is against our own mantra of do it yourself and get rich at it. However, they are their own worst enemies. India is so class biased, that as soon as someone gets a little wealth, they will knock them back... same with China, but there, once the wealthy get mouthy, they will start to disappear from the streets.

I disagree about Iraq. As long as oil prices are fixed by OPEC, and OPEC is a middle eastern centric organization, the prices will be screwed by Iraq.

From what I have figured, even at the current rate of consumption, there is well over 200 years of oil left. That's a lot. The Gwar fields in Saudi are still about half full. That's a lot of oil, and they have been tapping that for the last 100 years. The upside is that it gives us time to find the next thing. I would prefer to see the focus directed at the big problem - electric plants and factories - not cars. Cars are an easy target, but we forget that a major part of our pollution and energy problems start at the big power plants and factories.

Yes, our economy is in a shambles. I blame easy credit and GW Bush. He has been sitting there fiddling whilst DC burns. Inexcusable. And what is the crap with the "economic stimulus?" It's all about SPENDING. Not saving, not paying off debt. From my estimations and the Bush perspective, the worst thing one can do with that check is use it to pay off credit card debt with it. Bastet and I have been doing just that - paying off debt - for the last 2 years... and have nearly zeroed everything!!! I don't know about the rest of you, but a moral for the younger folks - don't hold debt, it will only hold you back.