OPEC getting uncomfortable with all of this talk about atlernative fuels.
 

I believe this is on topic here... mainly towards the biodiesel and WVO folks....

http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/11300

:laugh3::laugh3::laugh3::laugh3:

Here are a couple of choice quotes:

"We have great concerns about this ... about policies which discriminate against oil"
DISCRIMINATE??!!?

"OPEC is growing uncomfortable with all of the global criticism toward oil and talk of alternative fuels..."

All that comes to mind is...... payback.... what fun!

Exactly!

Policies which encourage the use of biofuels aren't what they're worried about. Its the scientifically unfounded policies which critisise oil producers as somehow being responsible for anthropogenic climate change that they're rightly worried about.

Oil is the lifeblood of the civilised world. People would do well to remember that you can't have progress without it.

No doubt, but if I can in my own little way make them worry a tad bit more, I will sleep much better at night.

It's good for them. The oil companies have pretty much had a monopoly on the fuel market since the get go. Henry Ford's first car was built to run on ethanol, and Rudolph Diesel's first diesel was built to run on peanut oil. But petro fuels became so much cheaper then that the switch was made to gasoline and diesel. The oil companies have had the corner on the market for nearly 100 years. Now they are starting to get some competition from some cleaner burning fuels and they start whining. Maybe they should have started thinking about the days when oil would become too expensive and/or hard to find, and start looking into alternative fuel options. Gasoline here a few weeks ago was more than $3.30/gallon. While biodiesel was just under $3.30/gallon. Makes the ol' biodiesel look a lot more appitizing to people. People are cheapskates, they tend to buy what is cheapest when it comes to fuel. If biodiesel and ethanol become cheaper then people are going to start wanting to use that instead of gas and diesel. Apparently there are enough people that believe the global warming story that they want to start using cleaner burning fuels, maybe the big oil companies need to shift gears, before they become obsolete

In 20 years, ADM will be as big of a fuel supplier as XOM here in the US I reckon.

I have no friggin' problem empowering American agriculture at the expense of foreign shieks. In fact, I wish we'd speed it up. Let the Chinese be the arbiters of Middle East Peace, so they can pay with body count for the oil.

kick em while they are down.. kick em

I don't think they are too worried. Anyone get the Q2 profit reports from say Exxon/ Mobil yet?

If they don't sell it to us here with our emissions standards, they'll sell it in other countries that don't have them or are no where near as stringent. Until the last drop is sucked out of the ground there will be a buyer for it. And most likely it will be a Kyoto-exempt Third World or Emerging economy with few, if any, clean air/emissions laws.

Big Oil will have no problems in the transition. They will simply invest in, or partner with, biofuel companies and the like, and reinvent themselves as the 'clean energy people'.

well if the bastards are so concerned about it, then lower the price...

I hope there will be a day that they have a "Live Aid" for the ME and I can tell them to f-off when they ask for lunch money.

honestly, what can we the consumer do to stick it to these guys, especially if you need a vehicle to get to work? I am one of the fontunate few who can walk to and from work so my gas consumption is very low maybe two gallons a week at most.

Valero Energy Corp. (VLO) is doing OK through all of this.
 

http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/c/5y/v/vlo

Check out the income statement here http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=VLO&annual:
GROSS PROFIT:
12/04 6.8 billion
12/05 10.5 billion
12/06 14.4 BILLION

The article mentioned that Petrobras was thinking about exporting ethanol to other countries. What I wish they would've mentioned is the fact that Brazil no longer needs to import any crude oil. They use alot of ethanol powered vehicles (and maybe powerplants too - don't know) and whatever demand they have for crude, they can meet with their own wells.
That is a scenario that I would like to see here - not so much to prevent global warming....more so, for independence on others.

If OPEC were smart, they might consider aiding with research to help make gasoline and diesel powered vehicles more economical - this way, they can keep us dependent on their fuel, because once again, we'd be reluctant to explore alternative fuels, because they would not be worth the expense; especially if they should sell their crude a little cheaper -or- the available refined fuel finally meets and slightly surpasses demand.

Until demand is lower than the supply, we will continue to have high fuel prices. There is no magic in this - the oil companies have announced that they will not increase production capacity as much as they first said they would (no big surprise there). Some bean counter figured out that if they increased capacity past a certain point, the record profits would fade away - stockholders will not allow such a thing.

Which brings me to a side thought on oil stock holders....One the one hand, if I were to hold oil stocks, I'd be happy with the nice dividends and record profits wouldn't bother me. I can see the benefit of owning oil stocks very clearly. On the other hand, it is oil stock holders, demanding better and better returns, that are in part, indirectly responsible for those record profits - they demanded them, and Exxon put out. The only slight satisfaction I get out of this, is that Exxon (and their brethren) are a bunch of whores, and the stockholders their pimps; while we continue to pay and pay for the same old same old.