Friday, July 25, 2008

The Suffering Oil Industry

One asks continually if a Garbage conversion to a biofuel will ever be marketable. I have always favored fuel from Sewage over fuel from Garbage, but understand that Researchers possess a great reluctance to study fuels made from Sewage, though a heavier volume could come from Sewage. My main Concern with this article lies, though, within the continuous duplication of Research within such fields, where numerous small companies repeat the same lab techniques of dozens of predecessors to their great Tax Credit, while the actual production of fuel remains remiss. Study of existing facilities may suggest there is an unenviable Production capacity for such fuels which lacks a Market outlet. There really must be a Federal clearinghouse of biofuel information available to Everyone, with little consideration of artificially-construed Patent Rights that are easily discernable, and limitation of Tax Credits to Processes which can be determined by a academic search. Such a Clearinghouse would be valuable in so many contexts of industrial production if it covered all economic activity, and federal law mandated Tax Credits could not be obtained for laboratory research already available from academic research.

One has to admire Putin’s Russia for the brazen criminal intent to maximize their Profits from the Oil Boom. It ranks up there beside Chavez’s Venezuela. Both understand that the World thirst for Oil will allow any level of banditry below Iran’s drive to develop nuclear weapons. I wonder, of course, what will happen when the Consumption of Oil becomes as equally ruthless as amplified by China. It would not be so monstrous for Americans, if all efforts were not fueled by American dollars. Why do all Wars have to be essentially funded by American Consumers–are We the only ones who can afford War anymore?

This article provides some Insight into what is at Stake in the Oil industry, and why Everyone is so dedicated to cutting out a position for themselves within the Market. BP complains about Putin, while posting Replacement Costs of 44% for the Second Quarter (what this would mean is repayment of Capitalization within Four years, with about 85% of the Reserves still in the ground). All Oil companies are claiming a huge increase in Operating Costs, Royal Dutch Shell some 20%, but such Operating Costs are only increasing at Inflation Rates for drilled Wellheads, and new fields are paying for themselves in increased Oil Reserves yet to be sold. Taxes are only the attempts of Government to get a share in the Windfall, and should not be considered as a great effort to destroy the Oil industry. Anyone who can pay for all new Capitalization now from what are basically Sales of older Product is not in financial trouble. lgl

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