Yes, the world situation suggests that there are no threats to the U.S. oil supply, so squirreling more away is a terrible idea. Furthermore, the most important thing that we can do is to make sure that oil prices fall so that we forestall incentives to move away from petroleum as the primary transportation energy source.

Bu$h can't do anything right. You're supposed to do that in late October.

The entire strategic reserve would last 8 weeks.
It's symbolic. This is pure political horse twaddle.

/carry on
//my Chevy Volt. where is it?

it's a good thing all of the economists are predicting that this will in any way affect oil prices. wait, it won't? not at all? well, as long as it has the possibility of severely crippling our ability to respond to the inevitable threat to our oil supply then i'm all for it.

Yes, the world situation suggests that there are no threats to the U.S. oil supply, so squirreling more away is a terrible idea. Furthermore, the most important thing that we can do is to make sure that oil prices fall so that we forestall incentives to move away from petroleum as the primary transportation energy source.

But I have to get my kids to soccer practice in my Lincoln Navigator and don't want to pay what europeans have paid for a decade....
so there.

Oil get over it.

The end times, they be upon us like a motherfarker.

How much will this move save the consumer? Article didn't say.

I do not understand why politicians do this token bullshiat that has no hope of making any impact.

This is going to make no progress, and this is not going to earn them any votes.

I'm moving to Laos.

I don't want to be in this country in 10 years.

thomps: it's a good thing all of the economists are predicting that this will in any way affect oil prices. wait, it won't? not at all? well, as long as it has the possibility of severely crippling our ability to respond to the inevitable threat to our oil supply then i'm all for it.

It won't though. As been said, at best, there are 6 to 8 weeks of supply in the reserve. Compare that with the roughly 6 month timeframe of oil entering the US and ending up in your gas tank. If supply is disrupted 100% (Will never happen, there will at least be a trickle from domestic and friendly suppliers), there's still 6 months' worth in the processing pipeline.

Yet another sign of peak oil, although I totally agree that this "reserve" we have is symbolic at best. Do they honestly think that 2 months' worth of oil (at our current rate of consumption) would save us if we were cut off from the Middle East's supply?

Kinda scary when you think about it.

As for the article, it makes no difference what they do either way as far as the reserve goes. We use way too much oil at present to make a reserve of any practicability whatsoever.

I was just wondering at lunch - how much of the rise in gas prices at the pump is due solely to the war machine's role in limiting the amount of refined petroleum ordinarily available for domestic use?

Maybe we could put the all the oil speculators into those strategic reserve caverns, that might help bring the prices down more than some extra oil in circulation.

elburritobandito: But I have to get my kids to soccer practice in my Lincoln Navigator and don't want to pay what europeans have paid for a decade....
so there.

But we also buy/consume more oil than anyone else in the world so we get a better price

Europe also has a kick ass public transportation system, so the high gas prices are an incentive for people to use public transit

Unlike in the US where if we all stopped driving and hopped on the trains, no one would get to work because our public transit infrastructure can barely handle the workload today

idrow: How much will this move save the consumer? Article didn't say.



It won't. Prices are going to stay high.

So that's what the kids are calling it nowdays...

It is 97% full currently, Bush wanted to top it off. I would be quite satisfied to get 97% of what I want. This is not Congress materially differing from Bush, it is show for the media.

Cubist Robot Party: It won't though. As been said, at best, there are 6 to 8 weeks of supply in the reserve. Compare that with the roughly 6 month timeframe of oil entering the US and ending up in your gas tank. If supply is disrupted 100% (Will never happen, there will at least be a trickle from domestic and friendly suppliers), there's still 6 months' worth in the processing pipeline.

right, so if there was a halt in the supply for a few weeks it wouldn't be felt for 6 months, but there would still be a gap at some point down the line before new oil gets into the production pipeline, no?

I would ride a bike except I am too fat. And rising food costs are making it harder for me to stay fat. So either way I have to shell out more money.

This is incredibly stupid. Oil is not in shortage. Increasing the supply isn't going to have the effect people think. Iran is floating tons of the stuff because they just can't sell all their oil.

The problem is we lack capacity to use the oil to make the products people buy with it. Oil is actually in massive surplus. I think some market manipulation has occurred to reach this end. Instead of the US having a massive stockpile of oil, the world has one, and if we attack Iran, it would have a much lesser impact on the economy that if this surplus didn't exist.

But we haven't had to tip our hand to do this. Kinda sneaky.

This is stupid... yeah, that reserve won't get us through an extended period of time if our oil supply was cut off, but what message does that send? One one hand, this administration is claiming that we're under constant threat from 'turrists' and then they turn around and basically say we're secure enough to stop preparing for any future problems to lower the price of gas a penny for a few days.

If you really want to do something, regulate the speculators that have inflated the price of oil anywhere from 30%-60%.

Either that, or this is some Rovian ploy to get the Dems to sign off on and then Bush (and McCain) can blame them when the Saudis cut us off (coincidence that this comes while Bush is in Saudi Arabia dn the King just told us to fark off?)

/conspiracy theory ftw!
//slashie inflation

Are the reserves like the 16mb buffer on 1TB drive? Useful only in buffering, but about it...

+1

lostcat: I'm moving to Laos.

I don't want to be in this country in 10 years.

Judging by your comment and your profile, I would say that you kidnap cats to eat them, collect the posters as souveniers, and now want to move to Laos because that sort of thing is socially acceptable. Jeez you're a true sociopath, aren't you?

BIG OIL, my cheeks, let me spread them for you.

The US does something positive to lower oil prices and still gets criticized. Liberals truly hate America. They are scorpions killing the frog taking them across the river...

tuxmaska: We use way too much oil at present to make a reserve of any practicability whatsoever.

My bet is that they probably should be calling it the Military Oil Reserve.

Isn't the strategic reserve meant to keep essential infrastructure running in case of an embargo, blockade, war, major disaster for just long enough to try to solve the problem by military or other means? You know things like trucks so there won't be any food riots and stuff like that.

Doing away with that type of insurance at a time like this when it seems more relevant than ever is just stupid.

elburritobandito:

But I have to get my kids to soccer practice in my Lincoln Navigator and don't want to pay what europeans have paid for a decade....
so there.
==========================================

Whaaaat! The Europeans pay through the ass for gas already? Well, shiat why didn't you tell me sooner? I would have stopped complaining a long time ago if I had known that other people were doing it. I hope that we can soon match the number of cameras that they put up to spy on civilians, too.

degreeless: BIG OIL, my cheeks, let me spread them for you.

Did you mean for that to sound as gay as it does?

Farque Ewe: The US does something positive to lower oil prices and still gets criticized.

You might be new here but after this little move the next headline will be:

US refineries working at 100%, oooops! FIRE!! Prices spike to $140

Farque Ewe: Liberals truly hate America.

0.0001/10

All this does is...

1) delay the day when we have to develop our own alternative energy sources.

2) Give us even less of a strategic reserve, which is already too small.

3) fool people into thinking this will help somehow, speculators will reap all the profit from this.

Percent of global daily oil consumption placed in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: 0.1%

An ineffective but feel-good, all appearance, no substance proposal put forth by Congressional Democrats to score political points among dimwits. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

/horse is what i do to these friggin gas prices.
//hemp for fuel...corn for tummies.

FTA: The contracts were for 76,000 barrels a day.

By the latest data from the DOE in 2006, we imported 10 million barrels a day. 76,000 is a freakin' drop in the bucket.

Also, why does everyone say that we would use the Strategic Oil Reserve in two months? That oil isn't for civilian use. The oil is for the military in case we go to war and our oil gets cut off for a length of time.

If we really got cut off from oil, the Strategic Reserve would go to the military to kick whoever's ass was blockading our oil shipments. That's why it is there. Not for Joe 6-pack to drive to Walmart.

BlorfMaster: I would ride a bike except I am too fat. And rising food costs are making it harder for me to stay fat. So either way I have to shell out more money.

I would ride a bke but my father never taught me how to. :'(

/My father is a computer geek.

FishingWithFredo: Percent of global daily oil consumption placed in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve: 0.1%

An ineffective but feel-good, all appearance, no substance proposal put forth by Congressional Democrats to score political points among dimwits. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you.

Both the House and Senate by lopsided votes this week directed the president to suspend the oil SPR shipments with both Republicans and Democrats saying it made no sense for the government to take oil at today's prices.

You fail.

now everyone run to the gas station as this will cause gas prices to fall, I dunno, say 1/10 of a penny per gallon?

Reward: my kingdom.

bronyaur1: Yes, the world situation suggests that there are no threats to the U.S. oil supply, so squirreling more away is a terrible idea

Its 97% full.

What's kind of funny to me know is I remember when he started filling it as oil pushed past $40/bbl and people were screaming that he was a freaking idiot to be paying the highest price in decades for oil only to stick it into the ground again.

And for those of you thinking an oil disruption would have them pumping it out to meet the current need volume - you're nutz. That stockpile is there to insure the military has enough oil to fight another war to get some more - not insure you can drive your SUV in stop and go freeway traffic 50 miles each way to work.


One last pearl of wisdom - past a certain point (we're not close yet) it doesnt matter if gas costs $10 or $100 a gallon for auto driving - there are plenty of practical technologies that would cover 95% of the driving we do each day - their only drawback was they were not competitive with $2/gal gas.

tuxmaska: ...Do they honestly think that 2 months' worth of oil (at our current rate of consumption) would save us if we were cut off from the Middle East's supply?...

If you could please take a look at some facts (new window) about our oil sources, you will see that the Middle East accounts for a very small fraction of our supply.

So small in fact, it boggles my mind how we all have it in our minds that we are "slaves to the middle east" and they somehow "control our oil". The mind, it boggles.

/going to convert my 1972 VW to 2H0 one of these days

6-8 weeks reserve might sound like a trifling amount, but its actually quite a bit when you consider that we still have a large domestic production of oil. Assuming we are cut off from the middle east, the reserve will serve to supplement domestic production, not be the sole supply of oil we have. Its like having a twenty folded up and stuffed in your wallet that you don't use unless you find yourself short. Its a stash, not a bank account.

That being said. This is just a symbolic action. Real action would be to drill for more oil and allow the construction of new refineries and nukes.


"Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason." - Samuel Adams



lostcat: I'm moving to Laos.

I don't want to be in this country in 10 years.

Bye!

This is a symbolic gesture but the reserve itself, however, is not.

Hint: Its not for YOUR gas tank...

KarmicDisaster: All this does is...

1) delay the day when we have to develop our own alternative energy sources.

2) Give us even less of a strategic reserve, which is already too small.

3) fool people into thinking this will help somehow, speculators will reap all the profit from this.
=======================================


Will everyone please STFU with the "high prices will cause us to find a better source of energy"?

No. They. Won't.

Everyone who was concerned about finding alternative fuels has been in the lab for years and they came up with the idea that we should burn food.

NO one is increasing their R&D, especially not the oil companies (I'm looking at you BP), to find anything. Too many of the people in positions to make change have a vested interest in seeing us pay through the nose. They are getting us while Bush is in office and they have the "terrorism" excuse to fall back on.

See you in '09 $2.50/gal.

Baron MuchHumpin': Farque Ewe: The US does something positive to lower oil prices and still gets criticized.

You might be new here but after this little move the next headline will be:

US refineries working at 100%, oooops! FIRE!! Prices spike to $140

You are correct when you say that every refinery trash can fire causes oil prices to spike. They are bastards.

It's not there to provide 8 weeks of business-as-usual.

This is if we have the mideast or Venezuela totally cut us off and we can only get like half the imports we usually get. 16 weeks.

And it'll probably mean declaring martial law or close to it, where only essential vehicles- police cars, ambulances, military transport, etc- get it. Because face it, if police cars can't get gas we're basically screwed. That's anarchy there and cities may start burning. So going back to emergency rationing to keep us from dropping to the anarchy stage, that could last 6 months or a year or even two.

I thought the strategic reserve was for primarily for military resources, and probably never meant for public consumption in the first place.

Won't change prices anyway. S'no big deal.