Saturday, January 06, 2007

Gas to Pass.


Since the gasoline prices have been growing by leaps and bounds, motorcycle sales of all types have been going up. Will the trend continue on or will it bottom out with the new gas to pass? Large passenger cars and truck sales have been getting hurt and they are looking at doing away with the large behemoths. To me it doesn't matter how low the price tag comes down on a Yukon, Escalade or a Frontier because the cost to run it is still sky high.

We've all heard that we are to dependent on foreign oil and what a concern it has caused. All news about our oil is not bad so I thought a note about the recent discovery of a vast deposit might be welcomed.

There has been a recent discovery of a large deposit around five miles below the floor in the Gulf of Mexico. If calculations are correct it should give a boost to U.S. oil reserves by a 50% margin that would yield an additional 750,000 barrels a day to crude oil production. Last summer, Congress approved an energy bill that included a 300 million barrel expansion of our reserve. The federal government maintains the largest strategic Petroleum Reserve; the worlds largest emergency oil stockpile. The new expansion of oil from the bill will give the boosting capacity to a swelling one billion barrels. [ A barrel of oil is equal to 42 gallons and not the 55 gallon barrels most of us think of. Also, a barrel full of crude will not yield the same gallons of motor fuel.]

More good news is that since the price of oil is based on global supply and demand, greater U.S. output will help lower the price of oil. [ That remains to be seen. wb] From the United Press International, 9/06, Daniel Yergin, author of "the frontier for world oil" predicts a positive impact on prices could come in about five years.

Of course, a lot can happen over the course of five years but I'll take a positive outlook over a bad one. What about you? The big oil companies will still play with our wallets and test our patience. Should this new found supply end our search for alternative fuels? I, for one, should hope not and would hope that we continue the search and testing of new ideas and fuels. The new found deposits have given us a better window of opportunity in which to try new things and experiment. Let's not waste this valuable time.

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