15 August 2006
High Gas Prices? - It's the environmentalists' fault!
Inflation Adjusted Gasoline Prices Near All Time Highs - 20 July 2006
Gee! How'd that happen? Silly consumer! It's the environmentalists' fault!
PETROLEUM CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 1970 - 2000
Description:
The impact of environmental compliance costs on U.S. refining, increased capital expenditures in response to the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, modest growth in product demand and volatile crude oil prices caused a wave of joint ventures, mergers, and restructuring of the U.S. petroleum industry during the latter part of the 1990's. These actions were in response to cost cutting measures by some petroleum companies to reverse the downward trend in U.S. petroleum industry profitability experienced throughout most of the 1990's.
The Impact of Environmental Compliance Costs on U.S. Refining Profitability
"The profitability of U.S. refining operations in the 1990's has been low and generally declining."
Industry Action/Reaction:
Joint ventures was one of the options used by some the major U.S. petroleum companies to consolidate their downstream petroleum operations. Joint ventures provide an easier way for companies to reduce costs by sharing assets and operations without some of the problems of a full-scale merger of the two companies involved. In addition to forming downstream joint ventures and alliances in the United States, some companies even formed alliances with foreign companies abroad.
The U.S. Petroleum Refining and Gasoline Marketing Industry
"The U.S. refining and marketing industry has been characterized by unusually low product margins, low profitability, selective retrenchment, and substantial restructuring throughout the decade of the 1990's... In total, the U.S. majors' refined product margin increased by almost 70 percent between 1996 and 1997."
Mergers provided another popular option for U.S. petroleum companies to dramatically reduce operating costs without sacrificing profits. Although merging two companies had to overcome many obstacles, this option provided the benefits of combining the stronger elements of two companies into a single company that would be better able to compete in both the U.S. and in foreign markets.
Restructuring of motor gasoline marketing was transformed during the 1990's from the traditional service station format of the 1950's and 1960's, to a mega service station format that often combined a convenience store with a fast food outlet, such as McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and Subway sandwich shops.
Restructuring: The Changing Face of Motor Gasoline Marketing
"...motor gasoline is the most widely consumed petroleum product of U.S. households..."
Results:
Some integrated refiners sold or acquired assets to reduce their operating costs by refocusing their efforts on those regions of the country in which they had significant market shares. By the end of the 1990's, some integrated refiners operated in far fewer parts of the country, which limited their marketing operations to more regional territories. During this same time, some non-integrated refiners were moving in essentially the opposite direction and expanding their focus from regional markets to more national markets by acquiring the retail outlets and refineries from the integrated petroleum companies.
The role of mergers and acquisitions dramatically changed the composition of the U.S. major energy companies during the 1990's. The number of major U.S. energy companies dropped from 19 in 1990 to 10 in 2000. With the 2001 merger between Chevron and Texaco, the number of major U.S. energy companies was reduced to less than half of those operating in 1990. Notably, the merger between Exxon and Mobil created the worlds largest publicly traded energy company.
During the 1990's, 47 U.S. petroleum refiners were shutdown while total crude distillation capacity during this same period rose by about 6 percent. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of retail service stations fell from 210,120 to 175,941, a 16 percent drop. But this same period saw retail gasoline sales increase by 7 percent. The increase in sales was achieved through using the remaining outlets more intensely, as indicated by the growing number of mega service stations that replaced the smaller more traditional services during this period.
9/30/2000
US Debt Liability: $20 trillion (www.gao.gov)
Gasoline PPG: $1.42
US dead - terrorism: 0
US dead - KIA: 0
NOW
US Debt Liability: $47 trillion (www.gao.gov)
Gasoline PPG: $3.03 (113% increase in 6 years)
US dead - terrorism: 2,996
US dead - KIA: 2,601 (plus an average rate of 5 per day)
Gee! How'd that happen? Silly consumer! It's the environmentalists' fault!
PETROLEUM CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 1970 - 2000
Energy Information Administration, EI 30Consolidation, Concentration and Restructuring 1995 - 2000
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585
phone: 202-586-8800
email: infoctr@eia.doe.gov
Description:
The impact of environmental compliance costs on U.S. refining, increased capital expenditures in response to the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, modest growth in product demand and volatile crude oil prices caused a wave of joint ventures, mergers, and restructuring of the U.S. petroleum industry during the latter part of the 1990's. These actions were in response to cost cutting measures by some petroleum companies to reverse the downward trend in U.S. petroleum industry profitability experienced throughout most of the 1990's.
The Impact of Environmental Compliance Costs on U.S. Refining Profitability
"The profitability of U.S. refining operations in the 1990's has been low and generally declining."
Industry Action/Reaction:
Joint ventures was one of the options used by some the major U.S. petroleum companies to consolidate their downstream petroleum operations. Joint ventures provide an easier way for companies to reduce costs by sharing assets and operations without some of the problems of a full-scale merger of the two companies involved. In addition to forming downstream joint ventures and alliances in the United States, some companies even formed alliances with foreign companies abroad.
The U.S. Petroleum Refining and Gasoline Marketing Industry
"The U.S. refining and marketing industry has been characterized by unusually low product margins, low profitability, selective retrenchment, and substantial restructuring throughout the decade of the 1990's... In total, the U.S. majors' refined product margin increased by almost 70 percent between 1996 and 1997."
Mergers provided another popular option for U.S. petroleum companies to dramatically reduce operating costs without sacrificing profits. Although merging two companies had to overcome many obstacles, this option provided the benefits of combining the stronger elements of two companies into a single company that would be better able to compete in both the U.S. and in foreign markets.
Restructuring of motor gasoline marketing was transformed during the 1990's from the traditional service station format of the 1950's and 1960's, to a mega service station format that often combined a convenience store with a fast food outlet, such as McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and Subway sandwich shops.
Restructuring: The Changing Face of Motor Gasoline Marketing
"...motor gasoline is the most widely consumed petroleum product of U.S. households..."
Results:
Some integrated refiners sold or acquired assets to reduce their operating costs by refocusing their efforts on those regions of the country in which they had significant market shares. By the end of the 1990's, some integrated refiners operated in far fewer parts of the country, which limited their marketing operations to more regional territories. During this same time, some non-integrated refiners were moving in essentially the opposite direction and expanding their focus from regional markets to more national markets by acquiring the retail outlets and refineries from the integrated petroleum companies.
The role of mergers and acquisitions dramatically changed the composition of the U.S. major energy companies during the 1990's. The number of major U.S. energy companies dropped from 19 in 1990 to 10 in 2000. With the 2001 merger between Chevron and Texaco, the number of major U.S. energy companies was reduced to less than half of those operating in 1990. Notably, the merger between Exxon and Mobil created the worlds largest publicly traded energy company.
During the 1990's, 47 U.S. petroleum refiners were shutdown while total crude distillation capacity during this same period rose by about 6 percent. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of retail service stations fell from 210,120 to 175,941, a 16 percent drop. But this same period saw retail gasoline sales increase by 7 percent. The increase in sales was achieved through using the remaining outlets more intensely, as indicated by the growing number of mega service stations that replaced the smaller more traditional services during this period.
9/30/2000
US Debt Liability: $20 trillion (www.gao.gov)
Gasoline PPG: $1.42
US dead - terrorism: 0
US dead - KIA: 0
NOW
US Debt Liability: $47 trillion (www.gao.gov)
Gasoline PPG: $3.03 (113% increase in 6 years)
US dead - terrorism: 2,996
US dead - KIA: 2,601 (plus an average rate of 5 per day)
Halliburton Stock Price 03/19/2003: $10 per share
(One day before the invasion of Iraq)
Halliburton Stock Price NOW: $33 per share
(Halliburton shares split on 7/17/2006)
Dick Cheney's approximate net worth 12/31/2005: $92 million
JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press)
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com
"Well, Duh... Byah!" -- JR Ford, Jul 2006.
04 August 2006
The NORAD Tapes
VANITY FAIR : The NORAD Tapes
The tapes...
At this point, someone at NEADS apparently switched the from the shopping channel to CNN.
So the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon, the U.S. Air Force, NORAD, the Attorney General of the U.S., the FAA and the Department of Transportation all lied about 9/11?
Donald Rumsfeld's Actions on 9/11
The Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies about War and Terrorism
Nah. Didn't happen.
JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com
"One day soon, it will not be difficult for anyone to decide which was the greater disaster: 9/11 or this administration." -- JR Ford, Aug 2006.
"The real story is actually better than the one we told," a NORAD general admitted to 9/11-commission staffers when confronted with evidence from the tapes that contradicted his original testimony. And so it seems.
[...]
At 8:14 a.m., as an Egyptian and four Saudis commandeered the cockpit on American 11, the plane that would hit the north tower of the World Trade Center, only a handful of troops were on the NEADS "ops" floor.
The tapes...
[...]
08:37:08
O.K., a couch, an ottoman, a love seat, and what else … ? Was it on sale … ? Holy smokes! What color is it?
08:37:52
BOSTON CENTER: Hi. Boston Center T.M.U. [Traffic Management Unit], we have a problem here. We have a hijacked aircraft headed towards New York, and we need you guys to, we need someone to scramble some F-16s or something up there, help us out.
POWELL: Is this real-world or exercise?
BOSTON CENTER: No, this is not an exercise, not a test.
At this point, someone at NEADS apparently switched the from the shopping channel to CNN.
[...]
08:51:11
ROUNTREE: A plane just hit the World Trade Center.
WATSON: What?
ROUNTREE: Was it a 737?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (background): Hit what?
WATSON: The World Trade Center—
DOOLEY: Who are you talking to? [Gasps.]
WATSON: Oh!
DOOLEY: Get—pass—pass it to them—
WATSON: Oh my God. Oh God. Oh my God.
ROUNTREE: Saw it on the news. It's—a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center.
DOOLEY: Update New York! See if they lost altitude on that plane altogether.
So the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon, the U.S. Air Force, NORAD, the Attorney General of the U.S., the FAA and the Department of Transportation all lied about 9/11?
Donald Rumsfeld's Actions on 9/11
The Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies about War and Terrorism
Nah. Didn't happen.
JR Ford
UP (Unsubstantiated Press
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com
"One day soon, it will not be difficult for anyone to decide which was the greater disaster: 9/11 or this administration." -- JR Ford, Aug 2006.
