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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Aggie who wrote (68685)	6/23/2000 1:30:00 PM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Although Big Oil and OPEC get all the blame for soaring gasoline prices, history will reveal government as the true culprit The Kansas City Star - Missouri, June 23 Jerry Heaster Column Although Big Oil and OPEC get all the blame for soaring gasoline prices, history will reveal government as the true culprit. Don't expect a public revelation any time soon, though. Everyone in Washington is working overtime to persuade voters that pump pain is caused by those who produce and sell petroleum, not those who tax and regulate it. This is the way it always happens during shortages and price spikes. Big Oil is flayed for gouging, but the question always remains: If gouging is so easily done, why doesn't it happen all the time? Meantime, nobody connects obviously misguided federal policies with marketplace disruptions. 'Twas ever thus, since the first oil crisis in '73. Few Americans, however, ever perceive the line between meddlesome government and roiled energy markets. Let's start with the reformulated gasoline anti-pollution mandate that recently went into effect in some areas. It's costing more to implement than regulators forecast, but nobody knows how much more it will ultimately cost. Why? Nobody knows how much already scarce refining capacity must be diverted to meet mandated demands. So are the feds considering a suspension of the mandate, at least during peak driving season? Silly question. Then there's the federal gasoline tax, much of which is collected but goes to general budget outlays instead of road construction. Thus the highway trust fund has about $25 billion worth of IOUs from the Treasury. Question: If the feds aren't going to use all the pump taxes to fix roads, why not partially repeal the levy and give motorists a break? Nobody talks about government's oil reserve, either. Surging oil prices normally would encourage U.S. producers to bring more oil to market. But what happens if American producers invest a lot of money developing new supply sources and government decides to dump its oil cache onto the market? Prices probably tank, and the industry's investment comes a cropper. Meanwhile, nobody is pushing to develop northern Alaska's fields as a way to counter foreign oil clout. Washington, in fact, seems more interested in keeping potential domestic supply sources out of production rather than using them to increase supply and decrease reliance on predatory foreign producers. Americans don't hear much about how government policies and actions exacerbate an already difficult situation. Instead, they get a lot of congressional grandstanding about how obscene profits should justify legislation to counter soaring gasoline prices. Nobody, however, has profited more obscenely from oil than the federal government. The federal government collects petroleum-related taxes, politicians profit substantially from industry campaign contributions, and regulators enjoy their profit in the form of increased power, which is coin of the realm in Washington. One thing to remember is that no politician or bureaucrat ever wrested a single barrel of oil, and their actions are more likely to make gasoline prices go up than down. Whatever the price of gasoline is at any given time, you can bet it would probably be lower were it not for political lust for money and power. Jerry Heaster's column appears Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. To reach him, send e-mail to jheaster@kcstar.coma

To: Aggie who wrote (68685)	6/23/2000 1:47:00 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Respond to of 95453

I know there is a lot of mexican light crude in the SPR from a recent article telling that a heavy-light swapout had been completed and the heavy mayan? crude returned to Mexico.

To: Aggie who wrote (68685)	6/23/2000 1:55:00 PM
From: Roebear	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

Aggie, Thanks for your two cents, I think its worth more than that! Glad you think Tesco is a well run company (pun pun). They make a point of mentioning they engineer/manufacture quality into their products in their report. As to "You could make up a string of pipe to do both, but why go to the expense?", like Big Dog, I've run out of scope there! Maybe someone more expert (than me anyway) in drilling can help us out on that point. At any rate, I have most of my position in TESOF and am willing to give them some time. Best Regards, Roebear