#oil #OilMarket #OilPrices #IranWar #GeopolitialForces #EfficientDistributionOfOil
The worldwide oil market is both fluid and slick.
First, it is fluid because it so depends on geopolitical forces in the world, as the current Middle East war shows.
It is slick because it depends as much on how the oil is transported as much as where it is produced.
In either case, the price depends on world supply and demand. Middle East conflicts affect supply. How much drivers drive and how the weather affects heating are among the demand factors.
Though the U.S. is a net exporter of oil, it still must import oil from Middle East sources. That’s the slickness of the market. Just because we produce a lot of oil does not mean we can distribute that oil efficiently. It’s not easy to get U.S. refined oil to U.S. markets inexpensively. That’s why, for example, the oil produced in Alaska is more economically shipped to Asia, vs. being consumed in the continental U.S.
Emmett Lindner explains the oil market in detail in The New York Times. His article was also published March 12, 2026, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Refineries in New Jersey, for example, might import oil from Algeria or Nigeria instead of buying it from Texas,” Lindner writes.
“Fuel made from imported oil often winds up in U.S. gas stations,” Lindner writes. The type of oil produced in the U.S. tends to be higher quality – light, sweet crude, he said. But U.S. refineries are set up to handle heavy and sour oil. Therefore, it’s often more efficient to sell the sweet crude and buy the heavy, the article says.
Here’s the other issue Lindner cites. If the government decided to open up more fragile areas for oil drilling, i.e. government-owned areas in the West, those actions would take time, up to six months, to get online, he writes.
All this talk of oil and fossil fuels begs the question: why isn’t the U.S. exploring cleaner, more sustainable energy sources, so we are no longer dependent on geopolitically sensitive oil?
The country wax making strides in establishing a clean-energy industry, using solar, wind, electrical even nuclear sources.
Politically, the government decided to focus back on oil and fossil fuels which, in addition to geopolitical hazards, also damage the earth more than the other sources do.
Remember, when oil prices rise, the already rich oil barons get richer and everyone else gets poorer.
For the moment, though, the U.S. needs a mix of fossil fuels and alternative energy, with policies intended to wean the country off fossil fuels eventually.
Tower of Power famously sings, “There is only so much oil in the ground.”
And, what’s still left in the ground depends almost entirely on a fluid and slick market that can send prices all over the place.
The country, and the world, should be aiming for the day when oil and other fossil fuels are NOT the main driver of energy.
If we don’t manage this closely, the volatile oil market could one day, when we least expect it, be tapped out.
Or, the price could be so high, we may lament on what we didn’t do to secure cheaper, more sustainable alternatives.
Peter
Tag Archives: transportation
CLEAN-POWERED CARS BY 2035?
#CleanPoweredCars #GasolinePoweredCars #California #cars #transportation
California wants to ban the sale of new cars solely fueled by gasoline by 2035.
Used gas-powered cars will be allowed, but no new ones can be sold, according to the plan.
Certainly, climate change is real, and California is among the places hardest hit.
But it begs the question: how many used gasoline-powered cars will still be on the road?
It also begs the question: how long will it actually take to eliminate all gas-powered cars? The big issues are having enough rapid-charging stations, and how governments will cope with the decreased revenue from the gasoline tax, according to David Wickert, transportation writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia is poised to become a leader in the manufacture of electric cars and the batteries that fuel them.
Here’s a thought: what if someone could come up with a way to convert internal-combustion cars to electric, hybrid or hydrogen power?
But, first things are first. As previously stated, there have to be more rapid-charging stations before we go entirely non-combustion.
Then, we have to look at auto manufacturing. It appears the big car companies are moving quickly away from internal combustion engines. That’s a good sign.
Then, the price of the clean-powered cars has to come down. The recent bill passed by Congress offers assistance in purchasing clean-powered vehicles, but to qualify, the vehicles have to be priced in a certain range. In other words, there are no subsidies to buy expensive cars, even if they are clean-powered.
Getting back to a previous thought, what does one do with a perfectly good gasoline-powered car? The body may be good enough to last for years. Would you spend, say, a few thousand dollars, or perhaps a bit more, to change out the guts of your car so you can drive your “new” clean-powered car?
Many would, perhaps. But now, there is no technology to do that. One might predict that someone, somewhere is working on that technology.
This news reminds us that transitions are hard. We may all want to do the right thing — the world may command us to do the right thing.
But moving from one era to the next requires infrastructure changes, innovation and the courage to move to something different. It’s also requires government to re-imagine revenue streams, as Wickert points out. All of these things can take time.
California is trying to provide that transition time. Can the innovators pull it off within that time?
Transitions are also messy. For example, if your gas-powered car craps out on you between now and then, and you can’t live without a car, what do you do that will solve your practical problem now, yet comply with the future new rules?
The lesson here is that we should have been preparing for this transition long before we did.
Certainly, it’s easier said than done. Hindsight is always 20-20.
But just because we are starting the transition in earnest later than we should have been doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.
The warming planet certainly isn’t waiting for us humans to act. It will keep warming, causing all sorts of disasters.
We just have to do the hard, messy things as we can. In fact, most of life’s journey involves hard, messy things. What’s convenient at the moment is not always the right thing for the future.
So, if you are not ready to ditch your gas-powered vehicle for something that runs much cleaner, your best bet is to hope you can buy enough time until the technology allows you to convert that vehicle, or the vehicle craps out on its own. Hopefully, you’ll be able to afford the change.
Peter