I followed a link left by a commentor and came on his blog and this very useful information on oil production. Go read the whole thing. A great overview on production and cost breakdowns.
Country Rank & Production1999– Early 2002 Rank and Production
1. Saudi Arabia 7.7 million barrels/day– 3. 7.7 mb/d
2. Former Soviet Union 7.1 million barrels/day– 1. 8.6 mb/d
3. USA 5.9 million barrels/day– 2. 8.1 mb/d
4. Iran 3.6 million barrels/day– 4. 3.7 mb/d
5. China 3.2 million barrels/day– 7. 3.3 mb/d
6. Norway 3.0 million barrels/day– 6. 3.4 mb/d
7. Mexico 3.0 million barrels/day– 5. 3.6 mb/d
8. Venezuela 2.8 million barrels/day– 8. 2.8 mb/d
9. United Kingdom 2.7 million barrels/day– 10. 2.6 mb/d
10. Iraq 2.5 million barrels/day– 11. 2.4 mb/d
(Canadians who have been advocating a “turn off the oil tap” retaliation for BSE border closure, take note…)
The larger chart is here.
update – Roo has pointed out in the comments that he’s now put a piece on refinery facts.
Dammit, Kate. It completely takes the fun out of an argument when you introduce logic into it. Stop that! x-(
Nice link. I suspect that this is the most important factor:
QUOTE: The US deficit, around $500 billion in 2004, causes the value of the dollar to decline. Because oil is priced in dollars, no matter where in the world it comes from, producers want higher prices in order to maintain their income. UNQUOTE
In the 1970s, the oil “crisis” was also caused in a large part by rampant inflation in Western countries, as they printed more money to pay for their brand new “entitlements”.
And why would anyone want to do something stupid like retaliate for the beef embargo by cutting off oil?
If Canadian beef producers would stop whining for government help and concentrate on using their own money and brains to produce a superior product (e.g. by testing every slaughtered animal for BSE), it would find a ready market in the USA one way or another. It could be the “BC Bud” of steak.
The precautions taken today are already overkill. The problem with testing every animal is the low margins and cost of tests. I’ve heard estimates that the average profit on a feeder calf for a feedlot is around $25 – BSE testing every animal – at an age when the disorder doesn’t manifest- would put them out of business overnight.
The biggest hypocrites in this whole thing are the Canadian Cattlemens Ass’n. Don’t get me wrong, because I’m a staunch supporter of their work at opening the border – but when BSE first came on the scene they were at the front of the line demanding 7 year border closures to foreign beef from BSE countries.
When the tables turn, they cry foul?
The bottom line is that BSE is a trivial, absurdly insignificant risk even in an environment where no precautions are taken.
Millions of Brits consumed infected beef for years. Only just over 100 have been diagnosed with BSE – there is a pretty high certainty that a genetic predisposition is required for one to even develop the disease.
In sheep they are already breeding scrapie immune animals. A single recessive gene creates susceptability in that species, and its been identified.
This is a case where public education has to get serious, and the nanny state mentality has to be shoved back, and hard. Trying to protect people from risks as insignificant as “mad cow” at the absurdly high cost, is going to eventually cripple our economies.
Hi kate,
Thanks for linking my little bloglette.
I put up the other part today, if you want to look.
http://atrainwreckinmaxwell.blogspot.com/2004/11/first-crude-facts-now-refinery-facts.html
I decided not to ruin it by rewriting it.
The reason The first post looks like that is that I just couldn’t force anything looking like a chart over there.
P.S. Mail is comming back as undeliverable this AM
My mail seems to be working. Did you try a second time?
Just checked before going to bed. At 10:30p my mail said you had undeliverable mail, but you have the link.