Politics Thread

[XU_Lou]

From Kiplinger:

"First, blame the COVID-19 pandemic, which threw oil markets severely out of whack two years ago. They still haven’t fully recovered from the damage the virus inflicted.

When COVID first hit, it put a deep dent in global oil demand as many normal activities shut down and millions of people who usually drive to work stayed home. As a result, crude oil prices plunged. In fact, at one point in April 2020, benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude prices actually fell below $0 – something that would normally seem impossible.

With oil demand so weak due to COVID-19 restrictions, places to store unwanted crude filled up, and traders in oil futures scrambled to unload their positions in crude. Eventually, some had to pay buyers to take future oil deliveries off their hands.

Negative prices didn’t last long, but oil stayed very cheap for much of 2020. That led energy companies and major oil exporting countries in OPEC to slash their production because no one wanted to give away barrels of oil at such rock-bottom prices.

Since then, the world has slowly gotten through the pandemic, and oil demand has come roaring back, especially in the U.S. Unsurprisingly, consumers who missed out on travel and other normal activities in 2020 and 2021 are making up for lost time now. U.S. oil demand is about back to where it was pre-COVID. But oil production takes a lot longer to restart than oil consumption.

Idled wells can’t be easily restarted. Drilling new wells takes time. And oil producers have been cautious about opening the taps quickly, lest a new price drop burn them again. Here in the U.S., oil output has only partially recovered from its 2020 drop. OPEC and its partner nations are only gradually restoring the exports they took off the market during the worst of the pandemic."

https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-f...still-going-up

Again, this is another manmade disaster, mostly at the hands of Democrats who pushed for lockdowns (I Know there were Republicans guilty of this, but it was mostly Dems who lockdowned their states too hard, and for far too long). High gas prices, inflation, looming food shortages, and persistent supply chain issues are all a direct result of the ridiculous response to Covid. It will go down as one of the greatest mistakes ever made by leaders across the globe.

A response to the bullshit that oil companies are price gouging and not drilling.

https://cnsnews.com/index.php/articl...ncrease-supply

“ Forbes magazine reporter David Blackmon asked ExxonMobil for a response to Biden's criticism and received this reply:

"We have been in regular contact with the administration, informing them of our planned investments to increase production and expand refining capacity in the United States.

We increased production in the Permian Basin by 70%, or 190,000 barrels per day, between 2019 and 2021. We expect to increase production from the Permian by another 25% this year. We’re spending 50% more in capital expenditures in the Permian in 2022 vs 2021 and are increasing refining capacity to process U.S. light crude by about 250,000 barrels per day – which is the equivalent of adding a new medium sized refinery.

"We reported losses of more than $20 billion in 2020, and we borrowed more than $30 billion in 2019 and 2020 to support our investments in production around the world. In 2021, total taxes on the company’s income statement were $40.6 billion, an increase of $17.8 billion from 2020."

Nice post MOR! That has to be factual and blows up any "gouging" BS. Again, Paul is just parroting the Political "shell game" perpetrated by the propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.....the MSM.

Here's something I believe to be factual, or at least the way I understand it.

The Feds issue leases, then the Oil Companies apply for the leases that have good profit possibilities. They then send in their team of experts to determine if crude, is in fact, there AND IF there is enough to make a profit.....because obviously it is very expensive to start up drilling on untouched land.

If it is deemed to be a "Go" and a high chance for profitability, the Drilling Permits are applied for.

Problem is, those permits can always be denied AND Biden and his party are operating on the Obama Doctrine fossil fuel agenda. I am guessing any NEW Leases approved by this Administration is on lands that are known to be void of any significant amounts of Crude. That is why the Oil Companies are asking for more NEW leases in specific areas known to contain large amounts of crude.

The game that is being played here is that Biden says NO to these requests, and points to the "9000" existing leases available. When the Oil Companies balk for the above reasons, he's able to tell the American people they refuse to drill.

Truth Xuper. Thanks for the amplification!
All those lands are not necessarily abundant with crude, or easy to extract.

And there’s this too:

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/02/24/...l-battle-.html

“ The Biden administration is delaying decisions on new oil and gas leases and permits after a Louisiana federal judge blocked officials from using higher cost estimates of climate change when making rules for polluting industries.

The leasing pause is an unintended result of the Feb. 11 decision by U.S. District Judge James Cain, who sided with a group GOP-led states and argued that the Biden administration's attempt to raise the real cost of climate change would hike energy costs and hurt state revenues from energy production.”

Will Paul recognize any of this, or will he ignore for a few days, and then come back and start with the gaslighting talking points once again?

[Masterofreality]

LOL..you realize that twitter is not the real world , right?. I don't think you do. 21% of US adults use twitter..of that 21%, the top 25% make 98% of the tweets.

That’s a big problem with this White House. They actually think that Twitter is the real world and GOVERN by it.
Whenever there is an Adminstration screw up- which happens almost daily- Ron Klain, and Psaki before she left, just Tweets through it.
Those tweets don’t age well.

Example:
The Biden regime marches to the tune of Twitter optics, thanks to the way-too-online tendencies of White House chief of staff Ron Klain and former press secretary Jen Psaki. They're getting DHS to punish border agents over a hoax. No agent “whipped” any illegals. It has been confirmed. But Biden is disciplining them anyway. Great job Brandon!!

https://spectatorworld.com/topic/gov...fake-whipping/

[paulxu]

"We reported losses of more than $20 billion in 2020, and we borrowed more than $30 billion in 2019 and 2020 to support our investments in production around the world. In 2021, total taxes on the company’s income statement were $40.6 billion, an increase of $17.8 billion from 2020."[/B]

I'm not going to feel sorry for the oil companies.
Can't find the 2021 total taxes of 40 billion on their statements. Their statements show $7.6 billion in taxes. However, on 280 billion in sales, 40 would only be 14%.
In the year they show a loss of $20 billion, they also have an "unusual" charge of $25 billion. Can't find an explanation for that so far.

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quot...come-statement

[noteggs]

After watching about 15 minutes of the J6 hearings (OK guess I care a little), does anyone know when the defense will get their turn. Now I know why we have the justice system we have.

[paulxu]

When they stop refusing invitations to appear, and/or ignoring subpoenas?

I feel confident that any of them would get the chance to speak before the committee if they wanted to really do so.

[Strange Brew]

When they stop refusing invitations to appear, and/or ignoring subpoenas?

I feel confident that any of them would get the chance to speak before the committee if they wanted to really do so.

I think he means a defense team not the defendants. In this case that's the role of Cheney and Kissinger so no, there will be no other side presented.

[Masterofreality]

LOL..you realize that twitter is not the real world , right?. I don't think you do. 21% of US adults use twitter..of that 21%, the top 25% make 98% of the tweets.

I'm not going to feel sorry for the oil companies.
Can't find the 2021 total taxes of 40 billion on their statements. Their statements show $7.6 billion in taxes. However, on 280 billion in sales, 40 would only be 14%.
In the year they show a loss of $20 billion, they also have an "unusual" charge of $25 billion. Can't find an explanation for that so far.

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quot...come-statement

Again, to refute Paul’s constant spraying of bull shit with a firehose, this from today’s Wall Street Journal:
” What do you know? President Biden has suddenly discovered that a refinery shortage is driving up fuel prices. Naturally, he’s blaming refiners, even as his Administration doubles down on the policies that created the shortage.

In a remarkable and threatening letter to oil and gas CEOs this week, Mr. Biden seems stunned to learn that prices rise when supply doesn’t meet demand. He’s aghast that gas prices are still rising above $5 a gallon even as oil prices have stabilized at $120 a barrel. Ergo, he says, the problem must be greedy oil companies making too much money.

At least he’s finally noticed the dearth of refining capacity to process crude, which some of us have warned about for years. The U.S. has lost about one million barrels a day of refining capacity in the pandemic. Some new refineries have opened in Asia, but the International Energy Agency recently reported that global capacity last year fell by 730,000 barrels a day.

A major culprit is U.S. government policy. Some older refineries have closed because companies couldn’t justify spending on upgrades as government forces a shift from fossil fuels. They also have to account for the Environmental Protection Agency’s tighter permitting requirements—the agency recently challenged a permit for an Indi*lana refinery—and steeper biofuel mandates. ”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-6-a-..._copyURL_share

The “unusual charges” are for EPA required refinery upgrades that are further designed to crimp fossil fuel production.
Stop the bull shit Paul. You are obviously lobbying for a Venenzuela like Nationalizing of the energy industry.
By the way, most of the energy company profits have come from natural gas sales, not gasoline and oil.

[paulxu]

Gotcha.
Not sure what the other side really would be. That the activities on Jan 6th and the planning that lead up to them are somehow OK?
I'm thinking that would be difficult. Some of the rioters are trying that strategy in federal court, but I don't think it's going so well.

[paulxu]

Wait...my posting of Exxon's profit statements from the Wall Street Journal is "spraying bullshit with a firehouse?"

Who knew.

Interesting about their unusual charge being a refinery upgrade required by the EPA. Would love a link to that.

[Strange Brew]

Gotcha.
Not sure what the other side really would be. That the activities on Jan 6th and the planning that lead up to them are somehow OK?
I'm thinking that would be difficult. Some of the rioters are trying that strategy in federal court, but I don't think it's going so well.

Whether the Guard request was denied.

Other than that I'd like to know what the Committee is actually trying to prove. It's really not clear.