The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: September 9, 2006

188 comments on DrumBeat: September 9, 2006

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Euan Mearns on September 10, 2006 - 5:31am

Fishing trip

Or should that be fission trip?

CEO - nice charts - I've grabbed both for my TOD folder that now has so much stuff in I can't find anything.

I'm working on a post on demand destruction - so here's the $50,000 question - at what gasoline price do Americans stop driving, start sharing, trade down to SUVs from Hummers. Where is the pain threshold?

And here's the fishing part - how about doing the same for the UK (I can hear you howling).

There is an interesting paradox about the different tax regimes in Europe and the US. In the US you have low tax, burn gas like there is no tomorrow, but when the price of crude goes up you get the full force at the gas pump - I think your blue line shows a 1:1 correlation - did xl really draw that?

In Europe, we have a lot more tax and this acts to de-gear the price rises at the pump - so crude prices will have to go a lot higher before we begin to howl. In other words there may be different demand destruction regimes in the US and Europe.

UK premium "petrol" is around £1 / litre right now - that's $7 / US gallon (this sum has been checked by all members of my family apart from the dogs).

So here'e the potentially clever part. Higher prices in Europe are compensated for by normally smaller more fuel efficient cars. So on average, does it cost the same for Europeans and Americans to drive 100 miles?

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Oil CEO on September 10, 2006 - 5:52am

Fusion, I'd prefer. 50 megatons and more rocks my boat.

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Oil CEO on September 10, 2006 - 6:05am

On a serious note, I'm considering your questions, each and every one, very carefully. The UK sets a great example that the US needs to mirror if it wants to survive. And it will. It has no choice. You already know this. And you also know we will be working more closely soon.

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geewiz on September 10, 2006 - 6:18pm

Uk is different than most of US, with regards to the transportation infrastructure. Many small towns (pop-50K) also have a bus system, and the trains that will take you into London. Most every town has a highstreet with all the necessary shops, where parking is largely restricted or very tight.
And the parking is metered, where lovely Rita, the meter maid checks your ticket, and may often write you one.

The US is mostly sprawled out, where a car is necessary to get from one point to the next. There is not really an efficient transportation infrastructure, much less a good bus system. New Orleans, Chicago, New York City are the ones that come to mind for me, maybe Boston too, where transportation infrastructure excels.

I don't think the US could reburbish a medium sized town in short order to accomodate the infrastructure. esp. a town of 50K or more.
Clearly most of the US population is East Coast, West Coast and Gulf Coast to some extent Florida.
The rest of the nation is really mostly small towns where a railroad comes through or the Interstate Highways pass by. Of course each state has its populated cities, St. louis MO, or Shreveport, LA. Las Vegas NV, Denver, CO etc...
But the rest of the nation is either farming, forests or desert!
in a nutshell.

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188 comments on DrumBeat: September 9, 2006

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