It all depends on how slow it gets.

When you all used to cry about oil prices, I told you the only way to bring them down was a recession.

Are you happy? Got your wish? Feel good?

On another note, who is going to drill drill drill for $50 a barrel? Answer - nobody. Never again will there be low oil prices in a healthy economy. It's impossible. The oil industry just has to wait this out.

Merill Lynch, Pierce, fenner & Smith was founded by the family of?: Barbra BUSH Sr.

Bushies Maiden Name is Barbra Pierce, So the Bailout directly benefits this Bush Regime in at least this one instance....

The price of Sun & wind never rises or decreases in supply you oil sadist!

Brought to you by Big oil; delivering Air, Water, War & global warming pollution to you 24/7 Oil Wars hurt everyone...What's not to like?

The price of wind & solar never rises....but oil does deliver Air, Water, War & Global Warming pollution

Actually remember when the oil companies said that anything above $40 a barrel made it profitable to drill anywhere in the world. That was only two years ago. Oil companies still made plenty of profit when oil was at $16 a barrel.

There isn't anyone that can value oil obove $40 right now using any demand model. The major oil companies did see record profits but they were not equal to the record rise in oil contracts. The people that made a lot of money off of oil were the hedge fund traders and countries that sold oil to the open market. If oil dropped back to $35 a barrel the oil company profits would remain fairly close to what they are now.

The problem is that the oil companies must buy oil on the open market at a set price in order to refine enough gasoline to meet demand. This price is so far removed from the actual cost of getting it out of the ground right now that we have a huge oil price bubble. It is why you have oil towns springing up all over Russia with insane lifestyles. Little companies could drill for a cost of around $10 a barrel and sell for $147.

US oil companies could do the same thing but they cannot meet demand becuase of drilling bans and are forced to pay the inflated price for oil they refine. However the profit margin has been built into the price of refined gasoline so they always make the same percentage of money.

The game is rigged and has been for a very long time.

Until 2003, oil prices were exceedingly suppressed. It was a carryover from exploration days long played out.

It will never return - unless there is a global depression.

Nobody is going to drill offshore into a depression. Think about it, the day rate for a deep-water rig can be as much as $600,000. That would come way down if the rig count drops way down, but that would also mean that each barrel sold would lack any meaningful attempt at replacement.

No matter how you slice it, it's 85 billion barrels per year and growing in a healthy economy. It's estimated there is 90 billion barrels on the US continental shelf - 1 months of global demand.

A depression will hold oil down, but that is transitory - unless the depression is perpetual. In a healthy economy, the price is going to shoot through the roof. People can forget having cheap oil fuel the economy. It can never happen again. The supply cannot catch up with a world burning 85 billion barrels per year.

Wow, some very inteligent post. Bet these same posters would never of guessed that oil would go to what it did. Who knows but God. All i can say is i am personaly happy it is headed back down.
the end is near

It oil falls low enough it could possibly pull us out of this recession. If oil keeps falling the way it is now, we could soon return to less than $1.00 a gallon at the pumps, all we need is oil to fall to $20.00 a barrel. That would sure positively impact my business and most others I would think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKlMl4II3_0