Don't want to rain on your guys parade, but shouldn't off-topic posts like this be in the drumbeat thread? Thats its purpose afterall.

And by the way... (yes I am hypocritcally adding to the off-topic conversation!!) how do you argue with cornucopians who say that production is down because "demand has dropped due to higher prices"??

And by the way... (yes I am hypocritcally adding to the off-topic conversation!!) how do you argue with cornucopians who say that production is down because "demand has dropped due to higher prices"??

I also hesitate to add off-topic material to a very interesting opening essay, but the Drumbeat threads are pretty large by this time of day. It's hard to have a conversation based on new news. Maybe a new thread just based on the new numbers would be in order?

Anyway, I am not a Cornucopian, but it is no suprise at all that demand was down in March. Spring turnarounds were in full swing, and refinery capacity was quite low at that time. You can see a graph of that here:

http://www.petrostrategies.org/Graphs/refineryutilization.html

But mark my words, production will climb from here for at least a bit longer. Mark that prediction down and file it away, and we can revisit it in the summer. You can call me out if I am wrong about that.

RR

Mike,

Please, no 'down to earth' explanations. It must be the end which is near, otherwise I read this site for nuttin'

;-)