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Because the oil prices spiked over a period of less than a year. Lead times for planning and building additional refining capability (along with associated pipelines, tanker docks, and other facilities) is at least a decade. You can't just put up additional refineries in a year or so. And today the guys looking ten years out are now seeing a large decline in oil usage as the effects of this year's spike take hold in the form of reduced usage, and more efficient usage. They're not likely to start additional refineries when we'll be using less oil in the future.why did world oil production not increase in response to those sky high prices we just saw?
That is actually what I was referring to in my original post regarding previous economic ups and downs. The 'kids' today don't remember it, but some of us 'elders' do, even if we weren't driving yet when it happened. At the time, the news reports made it sound like the end of the world, just as today's breathless reports on CNN, CNBC, & Fox do. This too shall pass.Something else that is forgotten is the gas lines of the 70's.
Because the oil prices spiked over a period of less than a year. Lead times for planning and building additional refining capability (along with associated pipelines, tanker docks, and other facilities) is at least a decade.
. There was no logical reason for $148bbl oil other than the greed of those that can, and do, control the market.HAL
Heyas,
Something else that is forgotten is the gas lines of the 70's.
Even with the run up in oil in the last year, there was NO shortage of actual fuel (except for the brief, localized shortage in the SE due to the hurricane). At any point during the runup, I could go out and buy gas with no line, no hassles. Hardly a shortage.
Back in the day of the 70's embargo, you could only buy gas on even/odd days (based on your license plate), and only if you had less than 1/2 tank. Even then, you'd wait in huge lines and you saw a LOT of stations with "No Gas". And a greater percentage of our fuel was domestically produced.
As an engineer, I hate ethanol. It's a crappy fuel, for any number of reasons. Methanol is no better, and butanol, which is VERY similar to gasoline in heat content, is a pain in the a$$ to make (energy sink).
With that said, the best way to lock out these kinds of run ups is with fuel competition. Someone posted a vid of a very good presentation that mentioned that if we all drove flex fuel vehicles, you remove the pricing power of OPEC, which, IMHO, is a good thing.
Nu
The reason for the lines and even/odd days at gas stations in the 70's wasn't because of a lack of fuel.