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I realize I'm stating the obvious here, but China and India are already major players in oil consumption, with China posting up double-digit oil consumption increases year over year. Any oil that isn't purchased by the USA is snapped up by other developing nations as quickly as they can get their hands on it.

 

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News and reporting (especially on TV) is a joke these days, especially that network called Fox. There is probably a very good reason why reporters are telling that story to the public other than the fact that they are clueless to begin with. Generally if you want something to be done, such as pushing through some fat government subsidy program to your particular industry, usually the people won't approve unless there is some kind of 'crises' where the people finally say "SOMETHING MUST BE DONE!" and then bam, the industry gets it's subsidy, thanks to the crises caused by the industry itself, or an unrelated event spun to reflect the interests of the industry or government. It's a very old technique, and you can spot it throughout history, including 9/11 where all kinds of terrible draconian legislation got rammed through while everyone was panicked and frightened of the so called terrorism that turned out to be a wild conspiracy theory.

The real question should be: What does the industry want? What are they trying to leverage by telling the masses these stories?

 

The real question should be: If everyone knows the media is telling lies, why do they get away with it? Maybe because either they're NOT lying, or because nobody cares nor believes it in the first place.

 

All news stories are told to present their angle. It's not just Fox but ALL. Look at CBS and Dan Rather, New York Times was one of the most respected newpapers, look at them now. I take most news with a grain of salt now.Kevin

 

Actually here in the Gulf, hurricanes have forced the shut down of production platforms, and not refineries, so there is no glut of oil due to a backlog in processing. One interesting finding is related to the possibly much higher incidence of substantial waves in the GoM during heavy storms. During Ivan last year, 100 ft + waves were regular occurrences, something not considered in the past, and not taken into account in the design of platforms. Apparently some of the heavy damage sustained by production platforms during Ivan was related to such monster waves. Recent publications have also suggested that even higher waves occurred (it was speculated 125 ft +), but not recorded by monitoring equipment.
All that aside, I believe the bottleneck is not refining, but production. COmbine that with substantially increased demand, and a nervous and volatile market (including speculation), and prices go up. Ultimately, I think we might even benefit from that, as higher prices will likely be the only force to depress excessive consumption.

 

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Question, if there is or was a shortage of oil for production why don't we have gas lines or stations shut down. I haven't sen one yet and there is always plenty of gas. This whole thing of high prices smells bad! I'm thinking windfall profits tax again!That won't happen with Bush in office!

 

I don't think the production bottleneck has reached the level of creating any gas lines or stations shut down. The production bottlenecks were not that substantial. Ivan was last year, and you're right Wayne that this year there was not that much damage. However, even without the actual damages from hurricanes, oil companies usually shut down platforms and evacuate them as a precautionary measure, if a hurrican is within a given range. Mexican platforms actually were heavily affected by the recent hurricane to pass over the Yucatan PI.
However, I would think that these effects are exaggerated by the market responding in a jittery way to such events or threats. Combine that with reports on refinery problems - such as the problems BP had in Toxic City (aka Texas City) near where I live, and you have a price hike. There were three incidents at BP chemical plants this year - the deadly blast that killed 14, a mor recent fire and explosion at the same planyt without injuries, and a fire/explosion at a plant in Alvin just last week. None of these likely had any effect on the output of gasoline, but markets nevertheless responded.
M