From: "Raymond D. Mereniuk" <Raymond@fbn.bc.ca>
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 22:35:49 +0800
To: Petro <whgiii@invweb.net>
Subject: Re: Citizenship silliness.  Re: e$: crypto-expatriatism (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <199809092123.OAA17355@leroy.fbn.bc.ca>
Message-ID: <199809100350.UAA17882@leroy.fbn.bc.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Petro <petro@playboy.com> wrote

>Could it be that certain large players (say, the U.K, U.S. Soviet
>Union &etc) have a vested interest in cheap oil as long as possible, 
>sothey do things (like create the state of israel, and give it lots of
> economic aid) to destablize the region, keep the people of that area at
> each others throats &etc. so that OPEC can't agree to control prices...
> 
> 	Nah, I'm just paranoid.

"William H. Geiger III" <whgiii@invweb.net> wrote

>Most of these countries are economically "one trick ponies" and 
>have little export revenue outside of oil. Because OPEC <sp?> has 
>been a failure at enforcing production quotas there is a surplus of 
>oil on the market thus driving down the cost (supply and demand).

As William stated most of the OPEC nations are economic "one trick 
ponies" whose leaders don't see the big picture and the benefits of a 
cartel where all members co-operate.  Israel was part of the 
justification for screwing the world for more money in the so called 
70s oil crisis.  I would think that if the Arabs didn't have Israel to hate 
they would find some other group.

If you go back to the late 40s you will find many political deals done 
by the British which didn't make a lot of sense.  The British walking 
out of Burma and turning political control over to whoever the goofs 
are that ruined that country made no sense whatsoever.  The British 
turned political control of Malaysia over to the ethnic Malays where 
the Malays are not the original people of that region.  The Malays 
were immigrants much like most of the Chinese, they just got there 
300 years earlier.  

Falling oil prices probably hurt the USA and Soviet governments 
more than any possible benefit.  The Soviets export oil so they are 
hurting.  The US and most other western style democracies tax oil 
products based on its wholesale cost and retail selling pricing so 
they would see reduced revenues.

>There are also large reserves of oil in Alaska, Siberia and 
>elsewhere that are going unused along with other reserves that are 
>too expensive to extract the oil at current market prices. The so 
>called "oil shortage" of the 70's had more to do with Oil Companies 
>profiteering than it did with any actual shortage. I have seen 
>estimates in the past of our domestic oil reserves showing that we 
>have enough oil to last another 100 years at out current rate of 
>increased consumption if we stopped all imports today. Simple 
>economics is that it is cheaper for us to import it than it is to
>produce it domestically.

You can add possible large reserves in the Canadian Arctic.  The oil 
companies started to find it and they tried to think of a way to 
transport it.  The Canadian gov't vetoed all the transportation 
alternatives so the oil companies stopped exploration.

The middle east countries do have the oil reserves with the lowest 
cost of production.  Most reserves in North American are moderate 
to high cost of production.

Now if you want to be paranoid....   Before the 70s energy crisis we 
all drove big cars which had no problem doing the 65 MPH speed 
limit and back then we used to pass on two-lane highways.  The 
energy crisis came and we all accepted gutless foreign made small 
cars which consumed less energy and had a problem with the 55 
MPH speed limit and passing was impossible on a two-lane highway 
even if we found a section which was not double-lined.  

Now we have cheap oil.  Big powerful vehicles are back and we are 
not embarrassed to consume energy any more.  I have no idea 
where society is heading but I do like have a more powerful vehicle 
which capable of passing a vehicle already doing 65 MPH.

>As much as the Greens whine and cry about alternative fuels, the 
>simple fact is that as long as oil is cheap no one is going to switch. 

The whole Greens or tree-hugger thing is a bit hypocritical.  Ask 
them if they have electrical appliances in their home and the answer 
is always yes.  For a number of years the Greenpeace fundraisers  
would show up at the door asking for money to battle the forest 
industry and the evil pulp mills which used chlorine in their bleaching 
process and they would have white paper in their clipboards.




Virtually

Raymond D. Mereniuk
Raymond@fbn.bc.ca