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An attempt to lower gas prices. (pg. 2)
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| torontotrance |
| quote: | | We have to ruin OPEC somehow. Get the OPEC countries to compete for our business. |
how is that going to happen?
Remember that OPEC countries are mainly countries who really only have one major export and that is oil and that employs a majority of the people in those countries and without that, where would they go?. You can hate OPEC all you want but when you control a needed substance, you can pretty much almost set a price and people will pay for it. |
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| Skipper |
| I know the manager of public relations for Suncor; I'd be interested to hear his response to this. |
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| torontotrance |
| New York's Mercantile Exchange has Crude listed at 36.75 per barrel and that's for May 2004 (remember people they buy on contract ahead of time) |
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| Fir3start3r |
| I heard though it wasn't as much the actual price of a barrel but the lack of large production plants; none have been built in North America in the last 20 years... |
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| Form&Funktion |
| quote: | | none have been built in North America in the last 20 years... |
Clearly the Oil Companies can't afford new infastructure. :rolleyes: |
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| dallasstar |
| quote: | Originally posted by Slag
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kewl |
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| ryanm |
I think the prices of gas are artificially low compared to the rest of the world and in terms of internatinoal suistanible living standards.
Because of the relatively low costs of fuel, development on the fringe of urban areas has been very loose. This is commonly known as the suburbs, an area surrounding major urban centres where single use land uses exist, low densities are very prevalent, and power centres with huge Walmarts, Costco's and Sobeys dominant the commercial sector.
Yes thats right, this is all the result of the auto dependant society we live in. So you ask whats wrong with the suburbs, whats wrong with driving around everywhere. Well I'm sure some of you know, but the short term effects can be seen everyday. A loss of street life and pedestrian activity, a loss of community, and a loss of time due to congestion.
The long term effects are global warming, smog, increased pressures to the health care system because of polluted air.\
As you can see, the effects of an auto dominated society exist and are gettign worse as we continue to let development sprawl and grow uncontrolably. Today 80% of Canadians live in urban areas, and this is a very sustainable way for humans to live and coexist with the earth at the same time. Can you imagine 6 Billion people spread out in rural communities? We wouldn't be able to survive.
There are many obvious efficiencies in the city that exist including proximity to services, public transit, shops, cultural advantages, etc. The list goes on.
One of the most significant ways to deter this uncontrolled sprawl like they have in Europe is to increase the cost of gas. This will make people stop and think about the choices they are making concerning their living situation. Perhaps they would choose a more fuel efficient car rather than the increased usage of gas guzzling SUV's. Perhaps people would choose to live near a subway line, or live closer to where they work. These are all conscious decsions that we should be making anyway but with the attraction of relatively low gasoline prices, development will continue to grow in the current trend and all the problems that we see today will only get worse.
Put a $.10 gas tax on every litre of gas sold and use that money to fund public transit province wide. What would an extra $10/week cost if those who can afford the luxury would be able to drive on roads that weren't as congested as more people would be using a world renowed public transit system
/END[RANT] |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by ryanm
Put a $.10 gas tax on every litre of gas sold and use that money to fund public transit province wide.
/END[RANT] |
Wasn't this already brought to light by the politicians though?
(i.e. subsidizing gas tax for public transit...)
More tax doesn't solve anything and smacks of socialism...
What we need is more alternative fuel sources to break our dependancies on fossil fuels sources.
Happily, the big automakers know this and now it's just a matter of time... |
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| j_spot |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
I heard though it wasn't as much the actual price of a barrel but the lack of large production plants; none have been built in North America in the last 20 years... |
you obviously havent been to northern Alberta have you? |
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| MattVagrant |
oil sands, right?
(still largely untapped/undeveloped by the oil companies, but a work in progress nonetheless, right?) |
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| ahlamalek |
| quote: | Originally posted by USMC_Greg
We have to ruin OPEC somehow. Get the OPEC countries to compete for our business.
This is why Cartels suck donkey dick. |
another bright post, Greg you keep impressing me.
Here's the eleven members of OPEC:
Saudi Arabia (10.69%)
Iran (4.78%)
United Arab Emirates (2.89%)
Nigeria (2.71%)
Venezuela (2.53%)
Kuwait (2.36%)
Libya (1.80%)
Iraq (1.68%)
Algeria (1.40%)
Indonesia (1.27%)
Qatar (0.93%)
Total OPEC oil production: 30.47 MB/d (38.41%)
Some countries that aren't in the OPEC and produce petrol with percentages of world production in brackets:
Russia (10.71%)
USA (10%)
Mexico (4.78%)
China (4.3%)
Norway (4.1%)
Canada (3.77%)
UK (2.87%)
Brazil (2.21%)
Angola (1.10%)
Oman (1.04%)
Malaysia (1.04%)
India (1%)
Argentina (0.98%)
Rest of world oil production: 48.84 MB/d (61.58%)
True that the OPEC sales represents 55% of oil exchanged around the world. It remains that player number 1 and number 3 are non-OPEC countries and their productions are controlled by privatly held companies that play along with OPEC prices ...
So, in other words, if the productions of the world top countries were controlled by govt instead of the private sector then the OPEC wouldn't be able to compete with them and be forced to bring its prices down too.
In Canada for example, we have lots of OIL, still oil prices went up because of hikes in refineries "costs"...
These companies blame heavey taxes and conflicts to excuse the high prices while displaying record profits for a second year in a row:rolleyes:
Reminds me of the Insurance sector who hiked primes to outrageous levels while at the same times displaying crazy record profits.... (and how about those banks too...) |
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| MattVagrant |
BAM!
You're right Malek.
Besides. Say we implement this monkeyish idea of boycotting Shell and Petro. Is anyone going to have the discipline to buy the more expensive gas (Sunoco, Esso, etc.) once this 'competition strategy' has driven the Shell and Petro prices even half a cent lower than the others? Who's going to buy the more expensive gas @ that point?
I, for one, definitely do not discredit the idea of some Sunoco guy concocting this strategy! HHAhAhahHahahAHahHahahaa! |
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