Monday, December 08, 2008

Do we have to bail out the oil companies, too?

Remember a few months ago when gasoline was $4 a gallon and the price of everything else we buy went up because of rising fuel prices?

How come prices haven't come down now that gas is below $2 a gallon?

I'm still paying more for a cup of coffee than I was a few months ago. I remember convenience stores announcing they had to add a surcharge to the price of coffee because of rising gas prices. Why didn't the surcharge come down?

My grocery bill hasn't gone down since the summer when food prices began to skyrocket. What gives?

With some experts forecasting that the price of gas will continue to tumble, will we see Big Oil head to Congress asking for help?

From The Christian Science Monitor:
What the price drop does mean is that some oil-patch wildcatters have packed up their drill bits as the rush for new domestic exploration has cooled since summer.

"Six months ago everything was roses, and nobody in this business had any inkling that oil prices would decline virtually $100 a barrel," says Alex Mills, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. Now, he says, "some people have already pulled back on their drilling programs."

No doubt, profits for Big Oil will tumble from this year's record highs. And because of the tightening credit market, many producers – majors and independents – will shut down drilling rigs and trim production in the year ahead.
Read "Oil industry adjusts to lower prices" at The Christian Science Monitor Web site.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS