Title: Congresswoman Kaptur Explains How Oil Companies Have A Crisis Every Decade To Gouge Us Source:
YouTube URL Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzpyheU-kz8 Published:May 3, 2011 Author:MoxNewsDotCom Post Date:2011-05-12 22:12:19 by GreyLmist Keywords:Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Oil Companies, Price Gouging, Misery Index Views:67 Comments:4
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic senators called for a federal probe to determine if U.S. refiners are cutting gasoline production to keep pump prices high, the latest in a series of political measures seeking to combat $4-a- gallon gasoline that critics say is largely political theater.
The request for the Federal Trade Commission to look into possible price- fixing, which the agency is not required to conduct, is the latest effort to shift the blame for near record pump prices to big energy companies and speculators.
The senators said the evidence of possible malfeasance are the unusually strong refinery profit margins and the fact that plants are running at only 82 percent of their capacity -- their lowest for the pre-summer driving season since 1985.
"Why are they producing less gasoline for the American consumer?" asked Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who supports ending oil industry tax breaks. "Maybe it's because they decided to reduce supply in order to increase price."
But oil traders and analysts said the low runs are largely the result of diminished demand for gasoline caused by the recession, high unemployment and greater ethanol use. The high margins are available only to a select few refiners that can take advantage of a glut of cheap mid-continent crude.
If domestic refiners were colluding, they argue, then foreign traders would be quick to ship more gasoline to the U.S. market. At the moment, however, U.S. refiners are exporting it in near record volumes.
FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said his agency takes the senators' concerns about the competitiveness of petroleum markets very seriously.
"The FTC is always on the lookout for potential price-fixing in this sector, and we will take action whenever we find wrongdoing," he said.
The demand for a probe comes a week after a separate group of senators called on the U.S. futures market regulator to speed up new rules to limit speculation in commodity markets.
It also comes as debate heat up over expanding offshore drilling, the repeal of Big Oil tax subsidies and a new government task force that includes the FTC to tackle oil market manipulation.
Analysts and traders say none of those measures would be likely to materially change the course of oil prices, which rose earlier this month to the highest level since 2008 on fears over war in Libya and unrest in the Middle East. They have since fallen by about 16 percent as traders took profits.
Wholesale gasoline prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have been particularly volatile as traders bet last week that flooding on the Mississippi could disrupt supply from 10 Gulf refiners. After officials opened a spillway, however, that threat dissipated and prices fell back below $3 a gallon for the first time since March.
"Dozens of investigations of gasoline price fixing over the years have generated plenty of headlines and political hyperbole, but have failed again and again to find any evidence of wrongdoing," said Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.
"This is political theater," he said.
One of the FTC's more recent investigations in May 2006 concluded that companies did not cause the run-up in gasoline prices starting in 2002 by restricting refining capacity or cutting petroleum inventories.
HIGH MARGINS
The senators seeking the FTC investigation, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, cited recent Energy Department data showing U.S. refiners are operating only at about 82 percent capacity. That makes the refinery utilization rate so far for this May the lowest since 1985.
Senator Charles Schumer said the profit margins of some refiners have not been this high since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when supply disruptions caused fuel prices to spike.
Schumer said it does not make sense for refiners to have low production levels and also export record amounts of petroleum when U.S. prices are high.
"Sounds like a recipe to keep prices high. We don't know if this is a smoking gun but it sure requires a close look," he said.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, while not responding directly to allegations of price-fixing by refiners, criticized Democrats for not taking action to boost domestic oil production to lower gasoline prices.
While refiners are operating at lower capacity, U.S. gasoline inventories remain high, rising almost 1.3 million barrels to about 206 million barrels, based on the department's most recent weekly data. Total U.S. gasoline inventories are just 1 percent below the prior five-year average.
"We're seeing a pretty well supplied market, so it doesn't make sense to run at full capacity and keep on stockpiling if you don't have an end user to supply to," said Rob Kurzatkowski, futures analyst with OptionsXpress in Chicago.
Bill Day, a spokesman at Valero Energy Corp, the largest U.S. independent refiner, said oil plant capacity is low now because refiners do annual maintenance in the spring to gear up for higher demand during the summer driving season.
Refiners would be missing out on big profits right now if they were holding back their gasoline production, because profit margins for making oil products are high.
"It would be self defeating to limit production at a time of high margins," he said.
U.S. refinery margins in the Gulf Coast for example were $32.91 per barrel last week, much higher than they were last year according to Credit Suisse.
The request for an FTC investigation comes as U.S. gasoline prices fell for the first time in eight weeks, according to government data released on Monday.
Energy analysts said they expected retail gasoline prices to drop significantly over the next few weeks, possibly as much as 50 cents a gallon, as oil prices fall sharply.
(Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; and Matthew Robinson and Selam Gebrekidan in New York; graphic by David Sheppard; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sofina Mirza-Reid)
[Edited for spacing and to bold the sections on Libya and the Missippi spillway/flooding to spare refineries]
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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
May 19 (Reuters) - The smallest of eight
Louisiana refineries closely monitoring the swollen Mississippi River was
shutting down units this week because of rising flood waters, a
source familiar with refinery operations said on Thursday.
[ID:nN19131598]
Alon USA Energy's (ALJ.N) 80,000 barrel-
per-day (bpd) refinery in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, about 44 miles (70 km)
west of the state capitol of Baton Rouge, is the only plant
among the eight that sits next to the Atchafalaya River.
The other seven refineries continue to operate, although
output has been reduced by at least 10 percent at the nation's
second-largest refinery operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) in
Baton Rouge, sources told Reuters.
Scores of U.S. heartland rivers from the Dakotas to Ohio
have flooded following a snowy winter and heavy spring rains,
feeding near-record crests on the lower Mississippi River.
There are 10 refineries located along the Mississippi River
that can process 2.4 million barrels per day of oil, or 13.7
percent of the country's refining capacity.
*Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) Memphis,
Tennessee: 180,000
*Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) St.
Charles, Louisiana 185,000
NUCLEAR FACILITIES AT RISK FROM FLOODS
* Entergy's (ETR.N) 1,176-megawatt
Waterford nuclear plant
in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana.
* Entergy's 978-megawatt River Bend nuclear plant in West
Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
* Entergy's 1,268-megawatt Grand Gulf nuclear station in
Clairborne County, Mississippi.
TERMINALS SHUT:
Magellan Midstream Partners (MMP.N)
said operations would
restart at its 2.8 million-barrel storage terminal in Marrero,
Louisiana. Magellan's 50,000-barrel storage terminal in Gibson,
Louisiana, remained shut. Water levels have crested at Marrero
on the Mississippi, while water levels were rising on the
Atchafalaya at Gibson.
PIPELINES SHUT:
Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) Pipeline Co has
shut two 12-inch
(30.5-cm) crude line segments of the North Line system north of
Baton Rouge and one 16-inch segment of the Southwest line
across the river from Baton Rouge. The lines were filled with
water and will remain so until flooding ends.
SHIP TRAFFIC:
The Mississippi River reopened at Natchez, Mississippi, on
Tuesday. Travel through a 15-mile (24-km) stretch of the river
near Natchez was restricted. Fifteen vessels were waiting to
transit that section of the river on Wednesday, the U.S. Coast
Guard said. That portion of the river may be closed if the
river level at Natchez reaches 62.5 feet (19.05 meters).
[ID:nN17181374]
BARGE TRAFFIC:
Barge traffic is moving along the Mississippi River with
some restrictions. Barges were running near Baton Rouge, but
facing difficult river conditions.
OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION AT RISK BY MORGANZA SPILLWAY
OPENING:
(Source: Jefferies & Co and La. Dept. of Nat. Resources)
May 20 (Reuters) - The smallest of Louisiana's refineries was shutting down this week because of rising flood waters along the Mississippi and Atchafalya rivers, a source familiar with refinery operations said on Thursday. [ID:nN19131598]
Alon USA Energy's (ALJ.N) 80,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, about 44 miles (70 km) west of the state capitol of Baton Rouge, is the only plant next to the Atchafalaya River.
The other refineries, all located along the Mississippi continue to operate, although output has been reduced by at least 10 percent at the nation's second-largest refinery operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) in Baton Rouge, sources told Reuters.
Scores of U.S. heartland rivers from the Dakotas to Ohio have flooded following a snowy winter and heavy spring rains, feeding near-record crests on the lower Mississippi River.
There are 10 refineries located along the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers that can process 2.4 million barrels per day of oil, or 13.7 percent of the country's refining capacity.
(Graphic: r.reuters.com/gyt49r)
[Article continues with various category listings as above]
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"They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
Wholesale gasoline prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have been particularly volatile as traders bet last week that flooding on the Mississippi could disrupt supply from 10 Gulf refiners. After officials opened a spillway, however, that threat dissipated
"last week" would be this timeframe below, which was a week after Congresswoman Kaptur's presentation above (at the top of the thread) on price gougings by oil industry interests, unemployment because of it, etc. Didn't get much press coverage that I know of but "damage control" did thereabouts...flood damage control...and maybe even in the interests of oil industry-image damage control, among other such financial interests.
Yesterday, they blew up a damn in Missouri to save the town of Cairo, IL..
[sic]
Downtown is a ghost town…therefore, it has to be preserved because the flood waters might just wipe it out.
[sic]
Monday night, the Army Core of Engineers blew up the damns and flooded the Mississippi over 150,000 acres of prime Missouri farmland, in order to save the town of Cairo. Over $100 million dollars in crops will be lost, over 300 homes,
[sic]
So, today, a group of 25 southeast Missouri farmers is suing the federal government over its decision to blow a hole in the levee. The Southeast Missourian reports that the lawsuit claims that the government violated the farmers’ rights by taking their land without adequate compensation. The lawsuit seeks class-action status.
Most of these farms will be flooded till August. They will probably have to sell the land to the government at a loss. Food prices will go even higher because this is a corn belt. India is already starving due to LAST year’s floods.
So nobody asks, why save a dead town and destroy MILLIONS of dollars worth of food for our nation and the world, along with good hardworking decent folks lives, in order to save a ghost town, filled with people living off the government? After all, how many of those 3,000 people live right on the river? And if they did, the government would surly come and rebuild ALL their houses..as they always do.
Why? It makes no sense.
Is this all about race? Or is it about destroying the little farmer and putting all food production in the hands of a few big government farms? Could these rains been “seeded” like they do in China? Is there a bigger agenda here?
No, Joyanna…you conspiracy nut. How could you even suggest such a thing?
Yes, I'd say that it is about destroying the little farmer and putting all food production in the hands of a few big government farms but it's probably about the NYMEX interests, and refinery interests, and more than that too -- like maybe engineering famines and a Great Depression II for further destabilization and takeover here, as well as around the world, by the financial goons and their Police_State.guv-lackeys.