WTI down to $3 ???
- posted
3 years ago
WTI down to $3 ???
A good job diesel is also cheaper as my van decided to empty 70 litres on the road today.
And the replacement broke down on the MWay in the live lane (all lane running).
I believe Russia and OPEC have agreed to reduce output to keep prices high.
On the other hand
An excellent opportunity for the government to ramp up tax of road fuel without those who have to pay seeing a price rise. Which will be very tempting.
WTI dropped to minus $37 yesterday but that was mainly down to a quirk of the market. May's futures (virtual oil) were due today and nobody wanted to buy (the physical) oil as storage is becoming a problem. WTI bounced back to above $20 but is slipping again this morning about $16 ATM.
But only by 10%, nowhere near enough when demand has fallen through the floor.
Price going negative in the US reported on BBC this AM, due to suppliers running out a storage capacity and trying to pay consumers to take it off their hands. Can't the producers just stop pumping/refining, i.e. just turn off the tap? Perhaps not.
But do people buy electric cars because they're usually cheaper on fuel than ICE ones? I would have thought not. They buy them for their zero CO2 emissions (ignoring the CO2 produced during electricity generation, of course).
There are some nice empty salt caverns for sale in cheshire, complete with connection to the GPSS (or whatever it's called nowadays)
Isn't there an absolutely massive underground storage facility somewhere on the NE coast, that was used for oil storage in WW2? Holds the record for the longest echo period or some such. On the TV a few years ago. If the government filled that up it might help defray some of the cost of the lock-down! <Googles> Ah, yes, this is it I think
Actually, that's not as impressive as I first thought. It says in that article that the tunnel's capacity is 32 million gallons. A large Supertanker can transport 2 million barrels of oil*, or 70 million gallons (~35 imperial gallons to the barrel), approximately. So a few Supertankers moored up would hold way more than the tunnel at Inchindown.
PSD Plumley holds 800 million gallons, problem may be that it's had oil, diesel, petrol left sitting in it since the 80's
I went to this talk in Inverness last year:
800m gallons! No wonder they decommissioned Inchindown!
Some of the methods involve an "investment" in materials shoved beneath the ground. To shut down a well, means starting that process all over again.
As a make work project here, the government has just written up a fat package to keep prairie unemployed, cleaning up "old" wells where they haven't been processed properly for dis-use. If smaller oil companies go bankrupt, they tend to leave a legacy behind. Unlike other environmental disasters, this likely involves physical labor, as opposed to "moving mountains of polluted stuff, somewhere". When finished, surface features should be removed. As you don't really want to leave any structures that are going to leak a hundred years from now. There might be ten thousand of these things about.
In the case of primary recovery, you'd be hoping the well is sound, and any excess of pressure building underneath the ground, does not find an alternate path to the surface. I think you can pump drill mud down the well to counter the pressure, and if necessary, pour concrete or such into the pipe. If you think you'll never use it again (or, if it's out of control). They might have to drill a second well with sound materials, to control a defective primary well, and when the pressure is reduced, seal up the primary well.
It all costs money. Money you don't have when the price of oil is negative. This is the whole idea of some suppliers flooding the market, and causing others to tank. Note that the Russians are currently on an exploration drive, likely with the intention of capitalizing on any instability. They might make a gesture to reduce production, but their activities elsewhere show what the real plan is.
"What Russia's $300 Billion investment in Arctic oil and gas means for Canada" Feb 15, 2020
Paul
Won't make much difference. A large part of the price is tax.
Electric cars are not about the price of petrol anyway.
When the Top gear three were in India they came across a lorry that had done this, so the locals were mopping it up with rags and squeezing as much as possible back into a bucket.
Err, everyone who claims they are doing it for 'the planet' is secretly happily enjoying the 5% VAT and no fuel duty, even if the leccy was generated by coal or gas, which it often is.
Errr.. Drivel. Even with various subsidies, electric cars are twice the price of petrol. And depreciate far faster.
I charge mine from my solar PV panels.
But not in October, November, December, January, February and March.
Looked out the window last night and some scumbag was siphoning petrol into my car.
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