A little off topic, but on the radio this morning a person calling in (no name given) claimed that no alaskan crude traveling on the pipeline is refined in the United States because it is too high in Sulphur content. I was suspicious of the caller, so when I searched on the web for any info, I was not successful in finding out whether or not this was true, but I suspect the caller was misinformed. If the refined oil is shipped internationally, the shut down of BP's pipeline should not affect gas prices in the US, I think.
Any oil and gas engineers out there who know what the facts are? Just curious.

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stori...J.4f40833.html

Yeah, figures.

According to news reports, 8% of our fuel supply comes through this particular pipeline. While 8% may not sound like much, futures prices jumped on the news. That means gas prices are sure to follow.

-Tim

2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD
Black with Pebble interior
Premium Package with Nav & Moonroof



Current ODO: 26,152
Typical Drive: 20 min crosstown in heavy traffic (3.5mi there and back twice a day)


532 Gallons of gas saved
That's 10,642 lbs less CO2 emitted

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

BP seems to really have cut back on maintenance to improve the bottomline, apparently way too much as they seem to constantly be in the news lately with something going wrong. Last year it was the explosion at their refinery and now this year it turns out that 70% of their pipes at Prudhoe Bay need to be replaced.

One thing I think this does is it brings to light somewhat just how ridiculous our whole fossil fuel energy system is.

Up until recently, it was illegal for Alaska crude to go anywhere other than a domestic refinery.......that changed a few years back, but I think has to be balanced by commitments to ship crude from somewhere else so that there is "no net loss" to the US. It does allow on savings on shipping by, say, avoiding a trip through the Panama Canal by sending crude from AK to the Far East and balancing it with something closer to the lower 49. The majority is sent to the Pacific NW and California.

It doesn't really matter.....crude is crude, and a change in what Venezual is able to send to China will bump prices in the US as well. It is efficiently traded on a world market, so expect prices to rise unless the government dumps some of it's holdings onthe market to make it up.....which they have said they will, cause....you know, we're pretty close to an election. At $5 a gallon, even some of that 30% might vote for something other than an incumbant.

Here's whats really funny

http://us.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/08/08....ap/index.html

You may remember that when they announced that there would be like 20 major hurricanes, gas prices went up. But with this announcement, will we see the opposite effect? Not likely since coincidentally BPs pipeline burst in the same week.