On Thu, 29 Oct 2015 10:54:24 -0700, Califbill billnews wrote:

The financial rags have been talking about this for a while. Oil
production costs are not a state secret.
I agree it is a manipulated market but the biggest manipulators are
the Saudis and the gulf states. Everyone else is just hanging on and
hoping it will stop.
Since the Russians are one of the countries hurting the most and they
support Assad, it does make some immediate sense but the oil producers
also like the idea of stifling alternate energy programs, Keystone and
fracking.
This is also the classic behavior of a drug pusher. The first one is
always cheap.
When gas is $2 a gallon, people are more likely to buy an SUV and not
a Leaf. Once they own it, they are hooked.



Years ago when oil was $2.50 a barrel, we paid Saudi's $0.25 a barrel.
Estimated production cost at the end of the pipeline at the wharf was
$0.10. Their costs have gone up its inflation, but not much more than
inflation.

I will defer to people who do this for a living to decide what it
costs the Saudis but the real issue is what it costs everyone else.