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bush moves to resolve oil crisis .....President Bush unveiled an aggressive initiative Monday that would make the U.S. free of petroleum dependence by the year 4920, less than three millennia from now.
"Our mission is clear," Bush said in a speech delivered at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. "We must free ourselves from dependence on fossil fuels within 85 generations. A cleaner, safer America is my vision. And it is our great, great-great-times-80 grandchildren who will realize that vision."
Bush promised a legislative package that would mandate severe cuts in oil-production subsidies and provide new funding for alternative-energy research and development. According to the timetable he presented, these bills could be introduced as early as 3219, and U.S. energy consumers could start to see radical changes by the early 42nd century.
"If we don't end our dependence on oil by 4920, when will we end it? 5580? By then, it may be too late." Bush said.
Bush called on both Democrats and Republicans living 1,200 years from now to work together to pass the program.
"It would be a shame if, by the 33rd century, these bills were still tied up in committee. I urge the 712th Congress to pass this legislation with minimal partisan gridlock," Bush said.
The president's science advisor, John Marburger, provided more details of the energy plan in a press release issued late Monday.
"It is the president's hope that hydrogen fuel cells, nanotechnology, or the recycling of human beings into fuel will hold the key." Marburger wrote. "Whatever the people of the 50th century feel is appropriate."
Above: U.S. soldiers prepare to withdraw from Iraq in the unfathomably distant future.
In a detailed policy statement, Bush elaborated on the plan, expressing the hope that a third party, perhaps one comprising robots or super-intelligent, genetically engineered man-beasts, will help reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels.
"I am calling on the popularly elected cyborgs of tomorrow to support this sensible measure to ensure the security of the nation." Bush said.
Some industrialists, particularly major auto manufacturers, expressed reservation over Bush's initiative.
"As admirable as Mr. Bush's visionary pronouncement is, I worry that the timetable he proposes is far too ambitious," General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner Jr. said. "It is simply not realistic. The automotive industry would require an additional three or four thousand years to develop engines that can run effectively on renewable or cleaner-burning fuels."
Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond said the petroleum-producing company shares Bush's hopes for a cleaner environment "well before the sun turns into a red giant and dies."
"Mobil Oil has already made great strides in protecting the precious air and water within the television-commercial environment. And we plan to golf closely with the U.S. Department of Energy and oil-industry lobbyists to ensure that President Bush's initiative comes to pass in the unimaginably distant future."
Responding to reporters' questions, Bush admitted that our progeny could face challenges in pursuit of the goal, such as the earth's degrading orbit and eventual destruction of the moon by tidal force, or the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
"Our distant relations will have some hard work to do," Bush said. "But hard work is what built this nation, and I have every faith that they will succeed."
The proclamation comes on the heels of Bush's plans to pay off the national debt by the early 6300s, and win the war on terror by 7450.
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Win the war so soon?
cooking us with gas .....
‘ConocoPhillips, the No. 3 U.S. oil company, said third-quarter profit jumped 89 percent to a record $3.8 billion as supply disruptions and rising demand lifted prices to unprecedented highs.
Net income rose to $2.68 a share from $2.01 billion, or $1.43 a share, a year earlier, the Houston-based company said today in a statement. Per-share profit was 11 cents higher than the average estimate from 19 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Revenue increased 43 percent to $49.7 billion.
Oil, natural-gas and gasoline prices, already near record levels because of rising demand in Asia and the Americas, set new highs after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted supplies from Gulf of Mexico wells and U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Oil futures in New York averaged $63.31 a barrel during the third quarter, up 44 percent from a year earlier.
“The economics of oil are great right now,'' said Phil McPherson, director of research at investment bank C.K. Cooper & Co. in Irvine, California. “When oil prices go up, it's supposed to stop demand, but that hasn't happened.''
ConocoPhillips is the first of the major U.S. oil companies to report third-quarter earnings. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, is scheduled to release its results tomorrow. Chevron Corp., the No. 2 U.S. oil producer, plans to report earnings on Oct. 28.’
Supply & Demand
a criminal racket .....
‘Exxon Mobil Corp. had a quarter for the record books. The world's largest publicly traded oil company said Thursday high oil and natural-gas prices helped its third-quarter profit surge almost 75 percent to $9.92 billion, the largest quarterly profit for a US company ever, and it was the first to ring up more than $100 billion in quarterly sales.
Net income ballooned to $9.92 billion, or $1.58 per share, from $5.68 billion, or 88 cents per share, a year ago.
Exxon Mobil Posts New Record for Profit
bush's energy plan .....
Bush's Energy Plan
The Euro-cat with nine lives... First Saddam, then...
Iran oil bourse:a threat to the petrodollar?
By Emilie Rutledge
Thursday 03 November 2005, 13:10 Makka Time, 10:10 GMT
Iran's decision to set up an oil and associated derivatives market next year has generated a great deal of interest.
This is primarily because of Iran's reported intention to invoice energy contracts in euros rather than dollars.
Read on at Aljazeera,net
same old carpetbaggers .....
‘Top executives from five of the world's largest oil companies will have some explaining to do Wednesday on Capitol Hill as they try to fend off attempts by some U.S. lawmakers to tell them what to do with their record profits.’
Big Oil Defends Windfalls at Senate Hearing
Sweet Texas tea
‘The Bush administration's covert plan to help energy companies steal Iraq's oil could be just weeks away from fruition, and the implications are staggering: continued price-gouging by Big Oil, increased subjugation of the Iraqi people, more US troops in Iraq, and a greater likelihood for a US invasion of Iran.
That's just for starters.
The administration's challenge has been how to transfer Iraq's oil assets to private companies under the cloak of legitimacy, yet simultaneously keep prices inflated.
But Bush & Co. and their Big Oil cronies might have found a simple yet devious solution: production sharing agreements (PSAs).’
Mission Accomplished: Big Oil’s Occupation Of Iraq
Sweet oil...
From the NY Times
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: March 27, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 26 — It was after midnight and every lawmaker in the committee room wanted to go home, but there was still time to sweeten a deal encouraging oil and gas companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"There is no cost," declared Representative Joe L. Barton, a Texas Republican who was presiding over Congressional negotiations on the sprawling energy bill last July. An obscure provision on new drilling incentives was "so noncontroversial," he added, that senior House and Senate negotiators had not even discussed it.
Mr. Barton's claim had a long history. For more than a decade, lawmakers and administration officials, both Republicans and Democrats, have promised there would be no cost to taxpayers for a program allowing companies to avoid paying the government royalties on oil and gas produced in publicly owned waters in the Gulf.
But last month, the Bush administration confirmed that it expected the government to waive about $7 billion in royalties over the next five years, even though the industry incentive was expressly conceived of for times when energy prices were low. And that number could quadruple to more than $28 billion if a lawsuit filed last week challenging one of the program's remaining restrictions proves successful.
read more at the NYT
Safe risks...
From our (how long for?) ABC
G8 backs nuclear power development
Eight of the world's most powerful countries have pledged to promote open, transparent energy markets and pursue alternative energy sources, including nuclear power.
The statement is aimed at addressing record high oil prices and limited fossil fuel reserves.
The Group of Eight (G8), which includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US, is meeting in Russia to try to salvage a global trade liberalisation campaign and discuss energy security.
The say the application of fair and competitive responses to energy problems "will help preclude potentially disruptive actions affecting energy sources, supplies and transit".
"Ensuring sufficient, reliable and environmentally responsible supplies of energy at prices reflecting market fundamentals is a challenge for our countries and for mankind as a whole," they said.
The G8 nations have singled out nuclear energy as an important component of any strategy to increase global energy security.
They say access to nuclear power should be available to any country that wants it but needs to be based on "a robust regime for assuring nuclear non-proliferation".
The statement takes account of Germany's aim to phase out nuclear energy by the early 2020s, saying "we are committed to further reduce the risks associated with the safe use of nuclear energy".
It also acknowledges complaints from producer countries that refinery capacity development is important in solving the surge in the price of oil.
"We encourage construction and development of hydrocarbon-processing facilities to increase energy market flexibility and confidence," it said.
see more of this at your ABC