$100 Oil on the Horizon? (Blog Action Day Essay)

(For the Planet – promoted by buhdydharma )

In honor of Blog Action Day, this year focused on the environment:

I’m going to throw cold water on the future with news of possible, impending, $100 oil (that’s £48.97, 70.49 EU) on the horizon, if oil companies don’t move soon pull to back on their current policies. 

Is it because of supply and demand?  China and India?  The Kurds and the Turks?  The mess in Iraq?  All of the above?

Well… Yes and no.

What are the oil companies citing as their next reason for raising prices?

“Lower Profits”

(Now, now, try to not to spit on the screen in laughter)

More below the jump.

The oil companies are complaining that sharp rise in crude oil prices (at $84 a barrel last week) is cutting down the profit margin for the U.S. oil refiners. 

Their solution:  Raise the price at the pump.

hmmm…

I would’ve gone with more solar, more wind power, more alternative fuels.

But hey, oil is their business, so I guess they know better.

(that last bit was snark)

Here’s a story from MSNBC today on this new excuse reason to raise prices:

Drivers aren’t the only ones being squeezed by record oil prices. A surprising casualty of the escalating cost of crude and sagging pump prices turns out to be the oil industry itself.

Even as oil futures set a new record north of $85 a barrel this week, a number of refiners warned that their third-quarter profits won’t be as robust as once expected.

http://www.msnbc.msn…

And then there’s this bit:

Many analysts believe either pump prices will need to rise to catch up with oil’s recent advance, or oil prices will have to fall.

Well, duh.

Which way do you think the oil companies will go?

Surprisingly, some analysts predict the oil companies will pull back on prices to keep from breaking the psychological $100 barrier. Which leads me to ask, if they can do that, why don’t they do it now? 

That is because this comes at a time when U.S. home heating prices are expected to reach record highs this winter.

None of that addresses the issue of the impact upon the climate, of course.  I could bore you with, what are to me, terrifying climate models, but we all know we’re screwed, right?

But there’s no easy answer.  If you go with ethanol, what are you doing to help, really?  Rising prices of milk due to lack of available corn for dairy cows, the extra pollutants put into the air to process the ethanol (though that may improve over time)?  Go with a hybrid (recommended), you’re still using gasoline.  Go with hydrogen power (finger’s crossed), the technology does not, as yet, provide a clean way to create the hydrogen (but that may be on the horizon).  And then there are those battery vehicles that will plug into the household supply, but, wait, where is that household supply coming from??

Ugh, my head hurts.

Here’s a thought:  Walking, bicycling, supporting green power with your utilities, buying food locally, DON’T EAT MEAT, pray the Turks and the Kurds work things out…………………………..

And get ready to shell out for your basic needs this winter, because prices are going up.