FlyerTalk Forums - Airlines Plead For Help With Oil Prices

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- Alaska Airlines | Mileage Plan (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan-442/)

- - Airlines Plead For Help With Oil Prices (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alaska-airlines-mileage-plan/843536-airlines-plead-help-oil-prices.html)

I'm disappointed that AS participated in this populist nonsense, but I guess they had little choice.

While I support drilling for oil domestically, it won't make any difference for a long time, and so is irrelavent to the current situation.

The whole issue of the petroleum economy is a bit more complicated than can be put into a political statement like that letter (or in the AS forum, really), but the reality is that the United States hit peak oil production around 1970 (over 30 years ago), and ANWR, offshore drilling, or whatever isn't going to change that. The North Slope didn't, and I haven't seen anything that shows we have those size of reserves lurking out there.

We also have to consider the potential side effects of coal or ANY carbon-based fuel in terms of potential global warming. Coal-based synthetic fuels, at this point have those exact problems.

Quote:

All of these liquid fuel production methods release carbon dioxide (CO2) in the conversion process, far more than is released in the extraction and refinement of liquid fuel production from petroleum. If these methods were adopted to replace declining petroleum supplies, carbon dioxide emissions would be greatly increased on a global scale. For future liquefaction projects, Carbon dioxide sequestration is proposed to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere, though no pilot projects have confirmed the feasibility of this approach on a wide scale. As CO2 is one of the process streams, sequestration is easier than from flue gases produced in combustion of coal with air, where CO2 is diluted by nitrogen and other gases. Sequestration will, however, add to the cost.

Since sequestration is, at this point, wishful thinking, it's hard for me to take this seriously as a solution to the problems of the petroleum economy, given that our current petroleum usage already has some serious risks of us causing massive climate change. In my opinion, current oil prices are more dependent on us hitting peak oil worldwide as opposed to market manipulation. Simple economics tells us that if supply is constrained and demand isn't, price will start going up in a J shaped curve to hit a new balance point for supply and demand. And it ain't just oil- go look at things like copper, too.

Eventually there will be very little oil left and those that have it won't be willing to sell it.

Do you want the US to be left with 0 oil when this happens?

As an American, I find those who want us to drill the little oil we have left to be very short sighted.

Not one for resurecting old threads, GW lifts the executive ban on offshore drilling and look how much oil has dropped. This has no practical benefit at all, but takes some wind out of the sails of those speculating on the commodities market. It dropped what $6 bucks a barrel within a day or so.....

Just a few minutes ago KIRO news was reporting that experts now expect to see $3.50 a gallon or less for gas by labor day.

Now what would happen if Congress did the same thing... As I previously mentioned, OPEC gets nervous and ups volume to placate us Americans. Sure its a short term fix, but if I can save .75 to 1.25 a gallon on gas just by playing on OPEC's emotions, I'm all for it....