Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 2235422)

Bless your heart, you are missing some important facts. Where do I start?

Yes gas prices were higher before Russia invaded Ukraine, but that was because of a rise in gas demand, due to a return to the road after Covid lockdowns, according to Forbes. You do understand supply/demand I hope? In late 2021 the administration pushed to release some oil reserves to push down prices. If you check Forbes again, they have a great article on energy independence. (Forbes, being a conservative news source.) If you consider energy independence to mean we produce more energy than we consume, there was a shale boom that unleashed huge amounts of domestic oil and gas, and by the time the previous administration had taken office, our net energy imports had fallen, and by 2019 NET energy imports turned negative, due to the SHALE boom. Now with a new administration, numbers for 2022 show that US energy exports have been the highest on record, and total US energy production was the highest on record.

We have always imported oil. The reason for this is that there are different types of oil that are used for different purposes. For example, crude oil is a better fit for our energy systems rather than the shale oil which is lighter. So we export the shale oil while refiners import the heavy crude they prefer. The idea of energy independence is to export more than we import.

It goes without saying that renewable energy has great potential to reduce prices and dependence on fossil fuels in the future. We are in a transition phase.

I have a hybrid car, that gets 50 MPG around town. You wouldn't have seen that 10 years ago.

Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 2235442)

Russia invaded Ukraine because the two have at odds since Ukraine declared itself independent in 1991. Since then, Putin has denied that Ukraine is even a country. He considers it Russian, part of the Slavic brotherhood, and is threatened that Ukraine has aligned itself with the West in recent years, particularly with NATO. And Ukraine has supplied much of Russia's coal, steel, etc, over time. Russian experts say Putin wants to see himself as a great Russian leader restoring Russian lands. He took a break when the previous administration was in power, due to our president's favoritism towards Russian, and also the Covid pandemic played a part, since Putin was much more isolated. But again according to experts, He thought western leadership wasn't capable, and that there would be no opposition to his aggression. Of course, that assumption turned out to be wrong.

A look at actual FACTS regarding approvals for permits to drill on federal land, show that the present administration has approved more permits at this point in time, than the previous administration. In fact environmental advocates want that statistic to go down, but the government is holding fast.

There has been a decrease in leases to the oil companies, which the government counters by saying that companies could increase production using the many thousands of permits already available to them which have remained unused. The federal government will continue leasing land to oil drillers as long as there is demand, but look around. With the proliferation of electric and hybrid vehicles, solar power, etc., surely the demand is shifting away from fossil fuels.

And the oil companies continue to make record profits while they whine about the drop in leases. Cry me a river.

Originally Posted by rsmurano (Post 2235445)

Forbes is a left leaning magazine, no conservative part about it. I cancelled my subscription a while back because they are woke.

12 years ago, I had a diesel car that got 52 mpg and I paid less than you did. IMO, hybrids are rather useless because you only get 20-30 miles on electric power so why have a hybrid?

During the pandemic, we had a glut of gas, everybody was home bound. Nobody traveled for vacations, work, no fishing, waterskiing, no airline flights. So if we had a high demand for gas during the pandemic, where did it come from? During the pandemic, cruise ships were shutdown, airlines were hurting, and it took over 2 years for these institutions to get back on their feet. I’ll bet 1/2 the employees of this country are still telecommuting so the demand is still weaker than before the pandemic.

Originally Posted by rsmurano (Post 2235445)

Forbes is a left leaning magazine, no conservative part about it. I cancelled my subscription a while back because they are woke.

12 years ago, I had a diesel car that got 52 mpg and I paid less than you did. IMO, hybrids are rather useless because you only get 20-30 miles on electric power so why have a hybrid?

During the pandemic, we had a glut of gas, everybody was home bound. Nobody traveled for vacations, work, no fishing, waterskiing, no airline flights. So if we had a high demand for gas during the pandemic, where did it come from? During the pandemic, cruise ships were shutdown, airlines were hurting, and it took over 2 years for these institutions to get back on their feet. I’ll bet 1/2 the employees of this country are still telecommuting so the demand is still weaker than before the pandemic.

Originally Posted by mickey100 (Post 2235442)

A look at actual FACTS regarding approvals for permits to drill on federal land, show that the present administration has approved more permits at this point in time, than the previous administration. In fact environmental advocates want that statistic to go down, but the government is holding fast.

Originally Posted by Maker (Post 2235577)

Lets say you are a cattle farmer and want to lease farm land for your herd of cattle. The government is offering you lots of land. Unfortunately it's in the middle of a desert. Unsuitable for a farm.

This is what the leases that the government is offering oil companies are like. Land that is useless for drilling productive wells.
They say "Why don't they use the ones they already have?"
They say "We are not stopping new leases."
Technically both are true statements, but they severely lacking accurate context. The news media parrots their talking points without the slightest bit of understanding. Something like describing Everglades swamp land with beautiful "waterfront views" when someone who wants to buy a beach condo.

Originally Posted by NoMo50 (Post 2234777)

Well said, and correct, but probably too much for some non-deep thinkers to grasp. To make it simple, folks should just remember that everything starts with, and hinges upon, the cost of energy. It wasn't that long ago, think 5 years, that our country was energy independent, and a net exporter of oil. Everyone benefited during those times.