I would like a link please.
I can provide links that say that there were millions of barrels of oil below production, I don't recall where they said that the oil companies were losing billions of dollars per day.
http://www.atsnn.com/story/165682.html
http://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2005/0830/biz/stories/03biz.htm
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/hurricanekatrina/2002511768_katplatforms22.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/10/28/oil.prices.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/10/27/shell.profits.companies.reut/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/10/12/oil.price.ap/index.html
I could go on and on. Show me where the Oil Companies claimed to have lost billions or millions or even thousands in sales or profit. They all say that production was low and that futures and options drove up the price of oil during trading.
And your theory is right, the administration made millions from oil companies.
</sarcasm>
As an owner of a corporation myself, I know that the SEC has a filing of all shareholders of any company that is publicly traded. So it would be easy to go to www.sec.gov and go into 'public filings', look up Exxon's index name (XOM) and you'll find a list of the shareholders names. Whenever you buy stock, you register it with the SEC. So its not some thing you can hide.


Here are two links:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/04/news/international/bp.reut
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0536,ridgewaycolu,67514,2.html

"BP Plc expects Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to cost it $700 million in repair bills and lost profits and to put its 2005 production goal out of reach, the world's No. 2 oil firm by market value said Tuesday."

"All over the world this summer, oilmen raced to dump surplus into the U.S. market, where the rigged prices made them a killing."

Alas, I could not find a link to exactly what I heard, for it was one of those CNN panels where experts came in and predicted how much the loss per day would cost the oil companies. Which is why I stated "X billions of dollars". I didn't have the exact figures.

But there you have it. The oil people knew EXACTLY what they were doing - Makin' plenty money at the expense of others!

Thanks for the links, but I don't even know where to start. Firstly we agree, as the article said -- they will miss their target production. But they were predicting what it will cost them in expenses, not what it would cost them in sales. I don't know how to explain it without going thru pages and pages of explanation -- but assuming that you have taken a basic economics course, you know that the companies don't set their prices. And even the links I posted said that oil prices increased due to trading.


But anyway, lets look at this rationally. The company that reported the highest earnings was Conoco.

In their 3rd QTR 2004 they reported 35 billion in sales and about 3 billion in profit which is about 8.5 percent. This year they reported about 50 billion in sales and 4 billion in profit which is about 8 percent. They have bigger profits but their profit margin is down. And the year isn't over. Although they have the 9 month listings. Which reflect about the same thing.

The U.S. government said Thursday 68 percent of daily oil production and 56 percent of daily gas production in the Gulf of Mexico remained shut down in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Also lending support to prices were signs of increasing fuel demand in China, the world's second largest oil-consumer after the United States.

U.S. lawmakers on Thursday urged the Bush administration to open an area of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to natural gas development, arguing that just an announcement of this new supply of gas might help stabilize or reduce natural gas prices

http://www.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/10/28/oil.prices.ap/index.html

Says demand increased prices. Not oil companies.

Demand forecasts of a possible shortage of petroleum products into 2006 also sent prices higher, with the International Energy Agency warning that refineries they would need to pump at full tilt to keep pace with demand

well its $4.97 tonight at Esso, the $5 i just put in barely gave me 1 gallon :(

well its $4.97 tonight at Esso, the $5 i just put in barely gave me 1 gallon :(


$4:38 In Freeport:what:

If I am not mistaken was it not VP Dick Cheney and members of the oil industry who formulated plans for the energy policy of the Bush administration. I believe congress was trying to force Dick Cheney into releasing the memos from those meetings but he refused. The bottom line is the big multinational oil companies are in collusion, what do you call OPEC? Exxon, British Petroleum, Shell, Conocco are benefitting tremendously with these artificially high prices. Now I am not a CPA like Mikki Forbes, but if it smells like a rat, looks like a rat, then it is a rat. In addition don't be fooled by the belief that you can find out who are the beneficial owners of stocks in any public company. Most elected government officials have to place their shares in public companies into a blind trust managed by an independent source. These steps are taken to prevent conflicts of interests arising from their work in government. Once they have left government, they are free to manage those shares anyway they like. Dick Cheney and George W. Bush are oil men first and foremost, politician second. They are not going to do anything to jeopardize their holdings in any big oil company by intentionally sabotaging the profits of thier oil friends and business partners.

The price of gas has fallen considerably in Arizona where I am living. I believe it is as low as $2.57 was as low as $1.67 when I got here a year ago but oh well, at least it is cheaper than $5.00/gal in Nassau? Can you say screwed!

Actually, there's still an agency conflict even *AFTER* leaving their jobs. Here's what makes sense to me. A government official owning a company that competes with a larger company who, in an effort to squelch competition, offers him a bargain price for his company. Anybody who would choose triple taxation that can reach 70% versus capital gains tax of 10 to 15%, is just dumb.

That's how George Bush did it. Why do you think he 'rigged' the capital gains tax in 2003 right after going to war with Iraq?? That's how dozens of companies in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and so on are doing it. That's how thousands of americans went from average citizens to millionaires overnight. For instance, they have oil refineries that have been dormant for years, but with the price of oil going up, it is in the best concerns for larger companies to acquire smaller companies. These smaller companies usually have a book value of say 2 to 5 million dollars. But they go out and incur debt of 50 million or they go public. Now, everything's legit. The government can't charge them with anything and they walk away with 52 to 55 million dollars when their companies only worth 2 to 5 million. Any other route is just crazy.

http://www.opec.org/home/PowerPoint/Taxation/taxation.htm
This was interesting.

what do you call OPEC?
why was OPEC founded?

I see that NOBODY wanted to even discuss my suggestions about alternate fuel cars in The Bahamas, using either propane or natural gas.............

One last suggestion, and then I will give up entirely.

ELECTRIC powered vehicles, that re-charge using solar panels on the roof of the car. No fumes, no gasoline to buy, and endless power , from the sun, for FREE. Not a dream, they are available NOW.

Anybody see the point? Or do you all want to find fault with every new idea that is presented here?:confused:

Jim B Toronto.

I see that NOBODY wanted to even discuss my suggestions about alternate fuel cars in The Bahamas, using either propane or natural gas.............
One last suggestion, and then I will give up entirely.
ELECTRIC powered vehicles, that re-charge using solar panels on the roof of the car. No fumes, no gasoline to buy, and endless power , from the sun, for FREE. Not a dream, they are available NOW.
Anybody see the point? Or do you all want to find fault with every new idea that is presented here?:confused:
Jim B Toronto.

I agree with you. :tup: Alternative fuel is the way to go and one day it will be the only fuel around.

We in the Bahamas are slow to change (the computer being one of the few exceptions.) We also lack creative and imaginative thinkers, in sufficient numbers that is, and none of them in Government.

A solar car would be great here but so are solar panels to heat hot water but they have not caught on in the Bahamas. I have them. The guy that sold them to me went out of business, not enough sales. An enlightened government would have pushed the idea of solar to save energy costs.

As for the private sector, they are also caught in the "what was good enough yesterday is good enough for today" way of thinking.

Imagine a solar car in Nassau - the land of sunshine! We could drive all day! :driving: Of course there would be no fuel for the government to tax but perhaps they could come up with a Sunshine Tax!!! :tdown:

No, we will not change until we are pushed "up to the wall" and paying $20.00 a gallon - perhaps not even then!! Sad, but there it is.

I see that NOBODY wanted to even discuss my suggestions about alternate fuel cars in The Bahamas, using either propane or natural gas.............
One last suggestion, and then I will give up entirely.
ELECTRIC powered vehicles, that re-charge using solar panels on the roof of the car. No fumes, no gasoline to buy, and endless power , from the sun, for FREE. Not a dream, they are available NOW.
Anybody see the point? Or do you all want to find fault with every new idea that is presented here?:confused:
Jim B Toronto.

I have a supplier who can provide me with brand new electric motor scooters for $1100 (landed here in Nassau). Parts available and warranty honoured locally.

Anyone interested can email me through this site or at: electriccycles@yorick.org

scooters .. :p

id prefer a mack truck around here ..

The cost benefits of switching from fossil fuels to alternative forms of energy are too high. Not that nobody's considering it. But its not an automatic flip of a switch. Its a long drawn out process of phasing from one alternative to another. And there are better alternatives that are also being weighed.


Secondly, you have to match your inputs with your outputs. On some parts of the planet the sun doesn't shine as much and for as long as other parts of the planet. Take for instance Britain, certain times of the year the inputs will be negative while Great Britain is one of the most productive nations on the planet requiring the outputs to be positive. No matter what you do you can't make the sun shine more in Britain than it does. You'll get into a situation where someplace on earth will have to store solar energy. Creating the same problem we have now. People fighting over energy because one country has more storage of it than another, which means it can get richer than other countries.

America doesn't have an oil problem because it can't produce enough oil. It has a problem because other countries have an abundance of it that they can buy cheaper than making it themselves. Same thing will happen with Solar Energy. Africa will have more of it. So you'll see more wars in Africa than in the Middle East.

I see that NOBODY wanted to even discuss my suggestions about alternate fuel cars in The Bahamas, using either propane or natural gas.............

...or fast food oil?