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From financialsense
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/lalani/2007/0531.html
.............
But this reality has not sunk in with the public. It is quite possible that if Gas Pains increase we will see Big Oil CEO’s dragged into the senate to answer the same inane questions.
One can only hope it will play out as it did in “A Few Good Men”
We start with Lt. Kaffee interviewing Rex Tillerson on why he has not built new refineries.
Kaffee: Just one more question. If you plan to increase capacity to 5 million barrels per day and Exxon always executes on time then why aren’t you building any new refineries? Mr. Tillerson? You stopped building refineries because you knew there is not going to be enough oil to run through them didn’t you? You saw your own discoveries and that of other companies, you saw that accelerating treadmill you were climbing just to stay in place and you knew we were in deep trouble. Fearing windfall taxes from hell and nationalization everywhere you spun this yarn that peak oil will arrive after 100 years. Mr. Tillerson are we at Peak oil?
Mr. Tillerson: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to them.
Mr. Tillerson: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Mr. Tillerson: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world of petroleum products and those products have to be produced in increasing amounts to keep our economy alive. What are you gonna do it with? Corn ethanol? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom as the acknowledgement of peak oil will itself have grave consequences for the world economy. You weep at the gas prices and you curse the Oil Companies. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that gas prices though higher than before are still cheap. And Exxon’s existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, produces 4 million barrels of oil a day for you NASCAR morons. You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me producing all I can. You need me producing all I can so that your American Idol obsessed culture can be spared the truth for as long as possible.
We use words like oil, rigs, refinery...we use these words as the backbone to the American life you have got used to living. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who consumes petroleum products 24/7 and uses those very products to protest against oil companies! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a shovel, dig yourself an oil well and build a refinery in your bathtub. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Kaffee: Are we past peak oil?
Mr. Tillerson: I am doing the job you want me to!
Kaffee: Are we past peak oil?
Mr. Tillerson: You're goddamn right we are!
fireangel:
That's an interesting fantasy, Tom Cruise acting like Perry Mason to force Rex Tillerson to admit we are past peak oil. But its a fantasy. What you fail to realise is that the Exxon-Mobil guys actually believe their own stuff, and to a certain extent they are right. It depends purely on your definition of oil, which they keep changing. But if you include bitumen and kerogen (tar sands and oil shale) we've got enough to last through my grandchildren's lifetimes, and my son isn't married yet.
But it isn't going to be cheap enough to use wastefully in internal combustion engines. At $100,000 per level barrel of syncrude production capital investment, plus $20-$30 bbl. production costs, I suspect light, sweet crude will have to be in the $200/bbl range for the economics to work.
"That's an interesting fantasy"
Hey that is a more palatable choice than facing the crap our politicians are doing. No?
fireangel:
I'm with you on the politics of oil depletion. But my problem is with desseminating a work of fiction using a real live person as a character on this site unless it is clearly labeled as a fiction. We've already got plenty of enemies who label us as nuts, and I can see in my mind a talking head or propogandist for the corporatocracy like Glenn Beck totally warping the point made by that fiction to discredit us, calling us liars and frauds. They've already started by labeling us peakists and cultists.
I enjoyed fireangels fiction. Got to throw in a bit of humor now and then. WRT to the Exxon (and CERA etc...) drinking their own kool aid, I think you are right. You probably have to drink it, or hop into the peak oil closet, if you are going to go very far in these organizations. And the same applies to americans in general -- the vast majority haven't a clue, and those that do frequently love that tropical punch flavor.
oilmanbob:
This is on drumbeat isnt it? Doesnt anything go here? Now if it was an official oildrum post your concerns may be warranted.
I think the pain of peak oil acceptance is so high that a little humor may help. JMHO.
Budr, I agree we need humor, especially to offset the Spinners of the Webs of Doom that so often frequent this blog, I'm just urging caution, particularly at the top post.
As far as drinking the KoolAid, I knew the guy who mixed up the first batch in British Guiana then slugged it down. His best friend in High School was my best friend's older brother, plus his youngest sister was in my elementary school class at Edgar Allen Poe. Spooky!
Looks similar to my post the other day(Friday):
Friday morning delusion
Definitely a fantasy scenario, but fun to muse on.