Besides the law, there is also a matter of production equipment.
Or lack of it.
The ships that are used, that are needed for deep sea exploration and drilling do not currently exist. The ones that do are in use and new ones are still in dock yards in China being built.

Than there is the matter of once the oil is found and drilled, where does it go?
Companies can sell it anywhere they wish to, just because it is found off of US does it mean that it will go to US market.

And where ever it does go, what about the refineries?

Are there any more of them being built?

List could go on further but as OP said, this is all rather largely symbolic.

FYI:
1958: Gas was .30
2008: Gas over $4.00
Per AutoWeek as part of their 50th anniversary issue.

There is one gas station in my area that is always 10 cents cheaper than everywhere else, so filled up at $3.93 yesterday.

Cool website: http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1958.htm

1958: Average Income: $4,650.00
2006 (most recent I could find): $48201.00

EE-BO, thanks for the explanation

Re: offshore drilling, Bush is a moron to think this is going to solve the problem. It's a temporary solution to a very permanent problem. All environmental reasons aside, it is just delaying the inevitable. This isn't going to decrease our dependance on oil and if he thinks oil is the only thing affecting the economy he's a lot dumber than I thought.

Nobody is looking at this as something that will be responsible for solving the problem. It's something that can and will help out. We will always have a dependence on oil so long as there are no viable alternatives. Thankfully, those are heavily in the works. In the meantime, being able to produce more domestic oil will alleviate some stress for many and absolutely alleviate some of our dependance on foreign crude. Lucky for us, this "temporary solution" is one that could be effective for many, many decades.

Even if they started "exploring" tomorrow, it would take anywhere from 3-5 YEARS for that to affect prices.

And even if this is something that does provide a solution for a few decades, what about after that? And what about the other ramifications this causes?

Considering you have told us on more than one occasion that you are in the oil industry, that doesn't exactly make you an unbiased person.... how much was it Exxon made in profits last year? 92-Billionish?

I agree with you Texas*Princess.
And as I posted, add on at least 10-20 years for equipment and tools needed to work on, work with, and distribute product.

So this week I drove to California from AZ and I was completely shocked :eek:at the prices of gas just crossing the state line. AZ $4.07 CA $4.69. I even think i saw one place in CA with gas was $4.9something

What?? Why would it take 10-20 years to find "equipment" needed to drill and produce oil? That doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe I missed your other post but that is somewhat puzzling.

Ehh, not so juch "exploring" as it is producing. We pretty much know where every drop of oil is on the planet. Immediately flooding our market with more product will start affecting things far sooner than you think. We can drill a well and have it producing in two weeks.

Again, I didn't say provide a solution. I said provide assistance to our current problems. We wouldn't start drilling for more oil and completely stop our other areas of concentration.......especially natural gas and wind. I would hope that in 75-100 years we have the means to provide viable forms of energy not associated with petroleum. Oil will be relevant for much longer than just a few decades.

What other ramifications are you speaking of? Environmental issues? What.....?

And you can save the comments about me being in oil and gas and only caring about making money, being biased, etc.. I provide a service to everyone who, day in and day out, enjoys the things that are made possible by oil and gas. I work my ass off everyday to do that. The money is great, but it is secondary to the drive I have to make things better for everyone. I'm sure the rapidly growing number of people that we deliver royalty and ROW checks to worth hundreds of thousands of dollars aren't complaining. Neither are the areas around the country that are booming and rapidly growing because of the positive affects we have on them.

If you don't think producing more crude for our own country is worth it......then you need to get a clue. It wouldn't be as big of an issue as it is if that was the case.

Brother;
You may have missed it either in this thread or another gas related one.
It would be kind of difficult to start looking for and drilling for oil off shore with out the deep sea boats used for that correct?!

Well, unless I heard incorrectly, those that do currently exist are fully committed and in use.

Rest are somewhere between design work and shipyards in China.

Add to that no up updates, expansion or new building of refineries and that is where the time frame comes into play.

Along with the fact, as I know it or understand it, that even if product is drilled off US shoreline, it could go anywhere.

Which then adds into mix problems with distribution and use by other counties.

Unlike wind or solar power.

I don't deal at all with off-shore drilling so I can't really comment on any of that.

Sure, there is a time frame associated with when oil would make a noticeable impact due to the lack of refineries. That doesn't mean that opening up drilling and immediately producing oil won't affect the speculation markets.....which, as you probably know, is a huge determinant of oil and gas prices. I mean, Bush did nothing more than lift the ban of offshore drilling and oil fell 6$.

Oil and natural gas that is produced can go anywhere, yes. I can't imagine that would take place considering we import 75% of our energy. That all depends on who is doing the drilling, who has pipeline contracts, where the product is flowing to via pipelines, gas marketers, etc. etc. etc.

gas prices here down to about $3.94/reg

Gas prices locally have not topped $4.00 per gallon at all that I'm aware of, with the exception of the station at Denver International Airport where they were $4.40/gal when I flew in on Tuesday.

I don't suppose that has anything to do with people having to fill up rental cars when they return them, and that I've heard that the rental car companies base their really outrageous ($7.00/gal in St. Louis) fee to refuel a car when it's not returned full on prices at the closest gas station(s). This station is surrounded by the rental car lots.

Prices have dropped here some. We're looking at $3.79 for cash at the one up the street from me now. That's down from a high of $4.25 over 4th of July weekend.

I'm in the Bay Area and prices dropped from 4.49 to 4.23 up here!!!! In just a week! :D

We're down to $3.62 here this weekend. Don't know how long it will last, but it's nice!

Prices going down here, too, but not a quickly as they went up.

$3.89 at closeby Safeway.

I like that we are all now thinking that anything under $4 is nice. :) It's definitely a reprieve but I won't be completely happy until it's under $2 again (I doubt it'll ever happen though....).

$3.62? I'm so jealous :p

while driving to and from a family gathering i saw prices from $4.02 to $4.45!

Still over $4.00 here for superunleaded, but it has come down a good 10-15 cents to the $4.25ish range.

I was reading the first couple of replies in this topic and gas seems sooo cheap back then compared to now! I remember in like 8th grade, we read about the gas prices being $1.80 and we all thought that was so expensive. I miss those days

Thankfully, the gas prices has just gone down to $4.09.. from like $4.29 Ugghhh

IM just wondering if anyone has started to see this happening where they live. . . Gas stations are now offering two price points one if you pay cash and another more expensive per gallon price to use your credit card. . . I've seen it be as much as a .20cent difference. It started with just a few stations and is now becoming a trend with most around here. . . Any one else seeing this???

Yep. I've seen that a few times here.

yep; have seen it in several stations.

Ditto. I remember one gas was $1.99 and everyone held their breath praying it didn't go over $2.00. Now, I'm excited to see $4.18.

I got a little excited today when I saw gas had dropped to $3.92/gal. That means I will be paying about $4.18/gal for premium. To fill my tank will be less than $60!! :) :rolleyes:

I saw $3.68 for cash today. This brings up the same question that I had last year when prices spiked and then came down some. When it was first more than $3.50, mentally, we freaked out. Then it spiked up over $4 and we TRULY freaked. Then they lower it some and we don't feel so bad about paying $3.68. Do they do this purposefully to make us mentally adjust to a much higher price? After all, $3.68 is still more than a dollar higher than it was 6 months ago.

It was $.89 for premium when I started driving.

When I was in college, I could fill my 10 gallon tank with $10. I really wonder how gas prices are affecting college students (particularly those at suitcase schools).

gas is $3.71 at Sams. I think I need to fill up before the price goes up!

Major BumP******


So, Refineries have been closed down in Texas due to the arrival of Hurricane Ike. Gas (atleast here in S.C.) is predicted to go up by a dollar over night. I just drove down the road and there are lines out of the gas station, EVERY gas station, that are blocking traffic like crazy...

Sad thing is, people going to fill up their tanks cuts of the supply, and simple supply and demand charts show, the price will rise with the less gas we have on supply!!!




The following is a statement from AAA.

Recently the prices for regular unleaded have been around $3.30 which is down from $4+ that we've seen about a month ago.

Over the last couple of days I've seen it go a little bit up to $3.50ish... I'm guessing b/c of the Hurricane.

$4.17 this morning. That's the lowest I've seen in MONTHS.

oh, we never had a decline, just a hault in decline, we were the lowest in the country, but now we are in the middle.

Diesel just went under $4 this past week for the first time in probably a year.

Of course, we just sold the diesel to buy a bigger car for kid #2.

That's odd.... I was going to post that this morning I saw an all-time LOW: 3.23 on Morris Ave (82) in Union. (this station has the lowest prices in the area) I was so freakin late for an 8AM meeting that I did not fill up. Had to get gas on the way home from work @ 3.62 bc was right off I-78 in like Warren. I just bought $10, figuring I'd fill up at 3.23 in the morning... Wonder what price I'll see on the way in to work tomorrow!

The gas station here just told me that they're going up to around 5 tonight at midnight.

Back into the $3.50's. :( *sigh* $3.19 was fun while it lasted....