Since Canada provides the vast majority of the oil used in the states. Why then is the oil industry gouging us

Question

Canada provides the vast majority of the oil consumed in the States, and yet when there is the smallest problem in the middle east they (the oil companies) jack the prices' up and far beond what would be reasonable for any other company?

Answer 1

The demand for oil world wide is much higher than it was a few years ago. Most of the new demand comes from China. The world wide supply and the world wide demand are what influence pricing ... middle east tensions have something to do with the speculative side of the short term commodity trading. But the biggest story is the industrialization of China.

Answer 2

Now, first of all, Canada provides the U.S. with 18% of the imported oil which is not the "vast majority", we here in the U.S.
use 25% of the world oil consumption, and 45% of the world
gasoline consumption. 67% of the oil is imported. It is imported by
companies that are in the bussiness of making money by selling their oil based products to the American consumer, you and me.
As long as you and I are willing to pay the price, no matter what that price is, these companies will use whatever excuse is available, or no excuse at all, and raise their prices to increase their profits..It's all about the rich getting richer, and the rest of us
picking up the tab....We also have an oil industry person running our country at the moment, (George W) so don't expect and help from the government. They are the major problem, here.

Answer 3

Canada provides 80% of all oils used in the US. The military uses US oil reserves (about 5% of total consumsion) and the rest comes from Venezuala, and the far east and Russia. The oil companies rely on the fact that most Americans don't know this (because the politicians and news media all tell us that oil comes from the Mid East). This way, they can use the excuse of Mid East issues to raise gas prices to the rediculous level we see them at today. Just 3 years ago I though $1.46 was high!! Boy was I wrong!!! I think it's time the public got educated to the truth and prices were forced back down. Stop letting OPEC dictate our oil prices (considering we don't even use their oil). If only the fools of this nation would listen to reason instead of politicians and news media! You and I are heretics in this contraversy. The oil companies are making a HUGE profit off of this and are paying off politicians to keep up the ruse of oil being short. Cry me a river, guys. I know the truth, and so does this guy!!

Answer 4

Because oil doesn't come from Canada or anywhere else. It is in a big pool called oil commodity from every oil producing country in the world. How much oil is in that pool controls pricing. If speculators think that pool will decrease from shortages caused by war or declining drilling, then the price goes up before the actual event takes place. Speculators are guessing the future.

Also, government is taxing gasoline at the pump. If Democrats or Socialists control your government, your price of oil will be much higher because they add a tax, sometimes a huge tax on price of oil. Moreover, if your government overtaxes oil company profits, the oil companies can't afford to look for new oil, so there are shortages that cause price increases.

It's simple economics.

Answer 5

Oh for Pete's sake. Prices go up. Its a fact of life. This isn't ridiculous, we just don't like it because it changed. Compare it to the price per gallon of other things you use, and you'll get a little perspective.

We said once that if it went up to fifty cents a gallon we'd quit driving. Well we didn't, and we won't now, either. When postage stamps went to six cents each we said we'd quit writing so many letters. We didn't. It was change, and we thought it wasn't fair, if we'd gotten it so cheap all along, then it should stay cheap.

The men that risk their lives drilling that oil make increasingly higher wages because the job is one of the most dangerous around. My husband drills the stuff, and four men in his company were killed just this week. This isn't a rare or isolated thing.

There are reasons for high prices that reach far beyond your petty little conspiracy theories.

Prices go up. It'll always be that way because the making of, creating of or gathering resources for these products cost increasing amounts of money - wages, insurance, etc. And insurance costs alone in the drilling field are astronomical and rising steadily.

Look at the whole range of facts instead grabbing one idea and running with it blindly.

Answer 6

HAHAHAHAHAHA pass me the bong yer smokin on ey?