The High Price of Fuel
Yes, I hate to admit it but, I do work for an oil company in a refinery. Now, I won't tell you which one because I don't especially want to lose my job. It is a small, very small refinery. I used to work at one of the world's largest refineries.
Now that we are seeing $4.00 on diesel pumps the truckers in our country have decided to try to sound the alarm. In certain cities today, several truckers parked their big rigs. They simply cannot afford to keep driving when one fill up costs them more than $1,000. Also today, several oil company executives answered questions from congress. Will this make the price of fuel go down? Absolutely not. The oil companies are greedy and want to make as much money as they can. Besides, the oil companies are supporting many of our congress men and women.
What caused all of this? Well, it all started when Bill Clinton was president. All of the major oil companies began to merge. BP went on a buying spree and bought many of America's largest oil and gas companies and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didn't do a thing about it. Now that Exxon and Mobile have merged, Conoco and Phillips have merged, BP took over Amoco and Arco among others, there simply aren't many big players. Is it a monopoly? Yes and no. No, in that the oil companies are in competition with one another but yes in the fact that they all set their prices according to each other.
When a refinery, every refinery in this country, can make as much fuel as they possibly can, running at maximum throughput every day,, 365 days a year, and then sell every gallon of fuel they make, they can charge whatever they want. Is it ethical when it is destroying our economy? Of course not! Since when is big business worried about ethics anyway? The oil companies should be very ashamed of themselves. But, as long as the CEO's of these companies make their millions, they don't care about you! America needs to brand these men as traitors!
Now, let's go back a little further and give credit where credit is also due. The eco-nuts of our country are certainly partly to blame for the condition we see our country in. No new refineries have been built in this country since 1976 because of the strict environmental laws. Yes, all the refineries in this country have expanded their production capabilities and why wouldn't they when they can make so much money? Also, the eco-nuts have pushed laws through to take the sulfur out of diesel. It used to be that diesel was one of the easiest products to make in a refinery. Just put the crude oil in a tower, add a little heat and the first product you get is diesel. Now, when diesel is made, it then has to be put through a very high temperature and high pressure process using hydrogen and catalyst to remove the sulfur. So that also runs the costs up.
It used to be, that in the very small refinery in which I work, if we made $25 million a year in profits, we had a very good year. Ever since hurricane Katrina, we have made several million dollars a month pure profit. I'm tlaking anywhere from $8 million to almost $50 million in ONE MONTH! This is PURE PROFIT and one of the smaller refineries in this country! Now, what are the big boys making?
Let's face it, the oil company execs don't care about you, they don't care about me (an employee, after all I don't make anymore money and they keep trying to reduce my benefits) and they surely do not care about the state of our country's economy. $$$ is the bottom line for these dillweeds!
Until we are all sick and tired of it and are ready t park our cars for a week, maybe a month, we won't see any change. Right now, I don't think we have that kind of solidarity in America. We all are too worried about ourselves to join together and bring these companies to their knees and they know it. Until we can join together like they have in France in the past, we will not see any change so get ready to see $5 and more at the pump for gas and diesel. And expect everything else we pay for to increase due to increased transportation costs and also realize that almost everything we touch uses petroleum based products or was made by equipment powered by petroleum.
It ain't looking good for us and the oil companies don't care!
Jay Mc
Now that we are seeing $4.00 on diesel pumps the truckers in our country have decided to try to sound the alarm. In certain cities today, several truckers parked their big rigs. They simply cannot afford to keep driving when one fill up costs them more than $1,000. Also today, several oil company executives answered questions from congress. Will this make the price of fuel go down? Absolutely not. The oil companies are greedy and want to make as much money as they can. Besides, the oil companies are supporting many of our congress men and women.
What caused all of this? Well, it all started when Bill Clinton was president. All of the major oil companies began to merge. BP went on a buying spree and bought many of America's largest oil and gas companies and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didn't do a thing about it. Now that Exxon and Mobile have merged, Conoco and Phillips have merged, BP took over Amoco and Arco among others, there simply aren't many big players. Is it a monopoly? Yes and no. No, in that the oil companies are in competition with one another but yes in the fact that they all set their prices according to each other.
When a refinery, every refinery in this country, can make as much fuel as they possibly can, running at maximum throughput every day,, 365 days a year, and then sell every gallon of fuel they make, they can charge whatever they want. Is it ethical when it is destroying our economy? Of course not! Since when is big business worried about ethics anyway? The oil companies should be very ashamed of themselves. But, as long as the CEO's of these companies make their millions, they don't care about you! America needs to brand these men as traitors!
Now, let's go back a little further and give credit where credit is also due. The eco-nuts of our country are certainly partly to blame for the condition we see our country in. No new refineries have been built in this country since 1976 because of the strict environmental laws. Yes, all the refineries in this country have expanded their production capabilities and why wouldn't they when they can make so much money? Also, the eco-nuts have pushed laws through to take the sulfur out of diesel. It used to be that diesel was one of the easiest products to make in a refinery. Just put the crude oil in a tower, add a little heat and the first product you get is diesel. Now, when diesel is made, it then has to be put through a very high temperature and high pressure process using hydrogen and catalyst to remove the sulfur. So that also runs the costs up.
It used to be, that in the very small refinery in which I work, if we made $25 million a year in profits, we had a very good year. Ever since hurricane Katrina, we have made several million dollars a month pure profit. I'm tlaking anywhere from $8 million to almost $50 million in ONE MONTH! This is PURE PROFIT and one of the smaller refineries in this country! Now, what are the big boys making?
Let's face it, the oil company execs don't care about you, they don't care about me (an employee, after all I don't make anymore money and they keep trying to reduce my benefits) and they surely do not care about the state of our country's economy. $$$ is the bottom line for these dillweeds!
Until we are all sick and tired of it and are ready t park our cars for a week, maybe a month, we won't see any change. Right now, I don't think we have that kind of solidarity in America. We all are too worried about ourselves to join together and bring these companies to their knees and they know it. Until we can join together like they have in France in the past, we will not see any change so get ready to see $5 and more at the pump for gas and diesel. And expect everything else we pay for to increase due to increased transportation costs and also realize that almost everything we touch uses petroleum based products or was made by equipment powered by petroleum.
It ain't looking good for us and the oil companies don't care!
Jay Mc
posted by JayMc at 9:28 PM
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