It's All About the Oil

I support the President; I don’t think that shocks anyone. I do disagree with him on several issues.

1. Illegal Immigration
2. Taxes (I favor the Fair Tax plan)
3. SSI (Fair tax make the SSI debate a moot point)
4. Oil

This posting is about oil. Today President Bush has asked Saudi Arabia to increase production to help out. I’m not sure that is really going to help and it is not in the US best interests. The reason it’s not going to help bring prices down is supply and demand.

I hear you saying… But Vulture 6, if the Saudis increase the supply, won’t that drive the price down? My answer is no. Production is an issue, but it is one that is mistakenly labeled the most important. If you put more oil in to production it’s not going to help gas prices due to the fact that all that extra oil can not be refined any faster than we are doing it right now.

The last new refinery was built in the early eighties. All refineries are operating at either maximum or near maximum capacity. If we flood the production process, we will have no where change all that crude into gasoline.

Gasoline is currently refined into some 14 different blends for different areas and at different seasons. The same gas sold in Texas can not be sold in California. If we standardize the blends into one national standard then the refineries can operate more efficiently.

Building more refineries would greatly help. Even if we did open up ANWR and the California coast, un-tap all the Texas wells we need new places to process that crude. I suggest we build them in the deserts of West Texas, New Mexico and (Gasp) California. Build them in areas that are wastelands as they are. We can build them with redundant safety precautions to avert any negative natural impact of the areas in which they are built.

It’s time that we start taking responsibility for our own needs.