This is all we need now. We’re already worried about foreign supply, and now we’re short on our own production due to problems in one of our pipelines. Why didn’t the operators catch the problem sooner?
BP officials said they didn’t know how long the Prudhoe Bay field would be off line. “I don’t even know how long it’s going to take to shut it down,” said Tom Williams, BP’s senior tax and royalty counsel.
Once the field is shut down, in a process expected to take days, BP said oil production will be reduced by 400,000 barrels a day. That’s close to 8 percent of U.S. oil production as of May 2006 or about 2.6 percent of U.S. supply including imports, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Let’s just hope they fix it quick. $5 a gallon gas, anybody?
Yeah, at 5 a gallon it will cost me 75 a tank full. and at eleven an hour i earn, I guess I’ll have to quit eating, going to have to cut the power, and move out of my apartment. but I can afford a tank full of gas
Reailty, restrict the drivers license to ONLY those between 21 & 75 + 2 Cars per household
EVEN JAY LENO
I was in Australia some time ago and it was something like $6.85 a gal.
I remember thinking it was expensive because the pump kept dinging so much… I think the fillup was $95.00! The car I was driving was called a FORD Falcon! but it’s just like a 5 series BMW. Got great gas mileage and was fast sweet ride. I remember driving only when I had to. Maybe it’s a view into the future… Trains, ferrys, bus’s, and a lot of walking. and an occasional weekend drive. We’ll survive.
oh, yea… they charge by the litre! so each ding was 1/4 gal!!
Umm,
Isnt the oil from alaska have to much sulfer in it, so we SEND it to other countries??
So, we are going to PAY for oil they CANT SELL??
with the Profits they ALREADY make?? Is this fair??
OK, we need a protest. 1-3 days aweek, GAS costs to much…so we stay at home and DONT drive. Think that could slow things DOWN abit??
My bike gets great gas milage.
People In US need to know that they are wasting too much oil for too little price
>#5
Ya, my feet do too.
Actually they were on this pretty quick. If it hadn’t been for the big spill back in March they might not have caught this until it was a disaster.
ECA….the oil pumped at Prudhoe Bay accounts for 8% of our daily domestic use and I think 1% of the worlds daily total.
I walk, run or bike everywhere here and in England. The only time I even have to use public transport in England is when I take the train up to London.
just as with every other shortfall in the oil supply, we all know that the only solution to problems with the Alaska pipleline is to start drilling in the ANWAR.
oh, wait …
WOW That explains why the local gas stations here in Georgia jumped their prices by $0.12 a gallon in a 1 hour period on Saturday morning!! They knew this was coming obviously! Drove by befor breakfast and its $2.85, after breakfast $2.97.
Amazing the fortune tellers these oil companies have.
Here in Michigan on Friday the price of gas jumped from $2.98 to $3.19! 21 cents in one day!
Were I suspicious in nature, I would look at the following facts and wonder:
— $75/barrel cannot be sustained as our inventory of crude is reaching capacity
— The devastating hurricanes predicted for this fall have not yet materialized; gulf production and refining is in good shape
— The summer driving season is coming to an end and the refineries are stopping production of summer’s “boutique” blends; gas prices were poised for a dramatic fall.
— The 70 to 81% wall corrosion in the pipeline represents 20 to 30 years of use; how can this suddenly come as a “surprise”?
But of course I am not a suspicious man and would never accuse Big Oil of price manipulation.
I don’t know what all you guys are complaining about. Americans have had it too good for too long. Up here ( In Canada ) we pay 1.25 per litre. So you can do the math $1Cdn = 90c U.S. and 1 U.S Gal = 3.78 L, which makes it $1.13/L or about $4.30U.S per gallon. Back when Americans were paying $1.50 per gallon, we were already paying 60c per litre or over $2.50 per gallon
Why are people so fixed on the price of gas. All you have to do is buy less. i.e. drive a smaller car.
Or go hybrid or electric
What worries the analysts isn’t the repair time, but problems that may arise from restarting the system. Apparently restarting the flow is a bit tricky, and can reveal other maintenance problems.
#12: We have to subsidize our high standard of living somewhere, might as well do it through lowers gas prices.
I trust that this problem will be resolved with in days and they’ll be up to full capacity in a week. My Engineering 101 professor at UAA was one of the designers of the pipeline, and in that class I learned that, while there are few redundant systems on the North Slope, all systems are built with the expectation that they will break and need major repair because of the cold.
That’s a good thing, right?
In the mid seventies I was hauling 60′ rebar steel and 38″ pipe elbows from the lower forty-eight to Fairbanks; I would imagine it’s time for an overhaul.
I’m trying to fulfill my conservational duties: I’m moving, reducing my thirty mile commute to a five minute walk.
Don’t blame the oil companies. If we were allowed to drill for oil in other places (besides Anwar), then this wouldn’t hurt us as bad.
Thank you hippies.
1% world Wide?? WOW..
And they could charge 0.01 Extra and pay for it, in 1 day.
I wonder WHY we need to pay for THEIR BROKEN material/hardware.
They Make enough profit to fix it.
Funny also that in countries that dont USE alot of gas, prices are HIGH.
Prices in countries that use ALOT prices are HIGH.
It turns our that they discovered corrosion only after federal regulators ordered it to inspect the lines.
So I guess some regulation is good. Imagine what would have happened if the pipeline ruptured.
World gas prices per litre:
http://tinyurl.com/qqff7
I guess the US as cheap gas..
It’s not the gas that is cheap, it’s just that we don’t use taxes to control behavior to the extend that other contries do.
What’s funny is that if those other countries lowered their taxes, the demand would (as expected) increase, and so would the base price of the gasoline to compensate. So the taxes, by keeping the total price artificially high, is working to keep the base price artificially low. Thank goodness for the US that Europe taxes the hell out of their gasoline.
Looks like this could be a bigger deal than first thought!
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – BP PLC said Monday it will replace 73 percent of the pipelines from the nation’s largest oil field and that production could be closed for weeks or months, crimping the nation’s oil supplies at a time of peak demand. BP, the world’s second-largest oil company, began shutting down the pipelines on Monday and said it would replace 16 miles of the 22 miles of transit pipeline it operates in the Prudhoe Bay field following a leak discovered Sunday.
Smartalix, they’re all set up to handle a rupture. Hell, the local shit kickers go shoot at the pipleline with rifles all the time.
19. Um, no. More oil would mean more $75/barrel oil for the big oilcos. Note that world events cause the price to spike without regard to the actual amount of oil taken off-line, if any. With China soaking up as much as it can get its hands on, increasing supply won’t decrease price.
The oilcos don’t want more drilling so they can reduce the price, y’know.
ECA, ever hear of the concept of a world market?
Smith, people who espouse your conspiracy theory are demanding investigations in Congress. Strangely these are the same people that oppose drilling in Alaska.
By rupture, I meant rupture. Corrosion in the pipes so severe as to entail a major shutdown already pointed at a potentially large amount of damage. I envisioned several hundred feet of pipe splitting. There are some comments that played the issue down, but my concern was always along the lines of serious damage and significant impact to our economy.
I wish we taxed the hell out of gasoline. The increased price will reduce demand, increase conservation, and inspire the use of alternatice energies. The revenue could be used to either give us roads like those in those countries whose gas taxes we laugh about, or we could take some of it and pay down the ridiculous amount of debt we’re in.
27,
YEP…
Ever hear of NATIONAL pricing over WORLD pricing…
OK, I will STOP driving IF I can have WORLD priceing on my computer equipment… OK!!!???
If we are going WORLD pricing, I know ALOT of farmers willing to QUIT.
distributours willing to Jump the ship…WORLD pricing ALL the way….PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE…
ASUS Mobo’s ALL CHEAP…
I want German BEER, at GERMAN prices…
I want India Metal, at India PRICES…
I want SPICES for DIRT CHEAP…
I want Mexican Leather at 1/10 the US price…
You think Saud sells Oil in THEIR country for the International PRICE??? NOT.
If your local gas stations are raising their prices like that…..thats illegal and you can call in the state and feds.
All gasoline is made from oil that was purchased many months before it becomes gas…..legally there can be no rise in price until the oil bought at this w/e’s prices is refined.