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Big Shots and Oil and Gas

TexasBred

Well-known member
The large hedge fund run by Texas energy king T. Boone Pickens has lost $1 billion this year. He bet that oil would go up. Instead, it went down. That makes his push for wind power and the use of natural gas to run cars look a little silly.
According to The Wall Street Journal," the downturn in energy has blindsided the industry veteran, leaving one of his hedge funds that focuses on energy stocks down almost 30% through August." Pickens says that oil will move back up unless the global economy goes into a very deep recession.

Oilman T. Boone Pickens has publicly campaigned for an end to the United States' growing dependence on imported oil through the use of domestic enewable energy resources.

The loss make Pickens look like a fool. He has been lobbying both in Congress and in public that high oil prices are killing the U.S. economy. The U.S., he says, needs to move its energy consumption to natural gas and wind energy. His big push is to cut America's dependence on foreign oil.

His plan relies on converting the auto industry's manufacturing process to one that builds cars that use natural gas. The industry is moving toward electric power. He also wants to set up windmill farms all over the U.S. How these will connect into the current electricity power grid still has to be worked out. In other words, it may not work at all.

If oil prices keep going down, oil may still be the least expensive way to power cars and industry. The huge cost of turning the nation's infrastructure to operating on other energy sources is simply too great. And Pickens is losing his credibility as an energy expert if he can't even forecast the price of crude.

So out of one side of his mouth he says "quit using so much oil". Out of the other side of his mouth he tells his hedge fund manager to "Invest in Oil on the bet that it will go up".....Now who is T-Bone really looking out for????
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
I got lucky on the gas (no secrets here) and stand to profit from Pickens plan. But it is a very bad plan. It is not what is best for my fellow Texans or America in General.

Wind generators are fine, but there is no means to control vars with wind generators. You actually need more power to coincide with wind generators to sustain the required vars on the grid. Texas (ERCOT) essentially has a closed grid so the power will not be exported across state lines. Gas will be exported and it is still regulated. With gas being regulated and electricity not being regulated, there is no level playing field.

Nuclear power is the best resolution for both short term and long term growth. The problem there is the repository that all the plants have paid millions and millions to build. The money was spent for other things (just like the Social Security). Each nuke unit pays 10 million a year towards the repository. Consumers of course pay higher electric rates because of this or else nuke would be even more cost effective. Nukes have been paying this 10 million a year for over 30 years for most plants. There are what - 103 units I think? Do the math. Where did the money go? There should be a surplus to build the repository with. There is no surprise that Pickens and his cronies want to circumvent the repository.

Texans are going to pay millions for the new grid to get Pickens wind power delivered in a closed system. That means higher rates for a deregulated industry. It frees up gas from power? Not really because we need vars from either nuke, gas, or coal plants. But it will free up a bit of gas for the rest of the U.S. who is not paying for the Texas grid and gas is a regulated industry.

I will benefit financially from Pickens plan. However I am totally opposed to it. In the end, it will not work the way he says it will.

Biden has already made a fool of himself because he does not understand vars. I have not heard Obama's take on power and vars so I do not know what his position is. THis is an opportunity for McCain to make a complete fool of Biden but he did not take that path for some reason or another. Likely because the most Americans don't truly understand vars or alternating current so it would be a pointless effort.
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
TexasBred said:
Don't know that much about the Pickens plan but I was doing great with natural gas long before he even had a plan.

Ah. But you have bought a car or truck and paid $800 to $1000 "delivery and destination" charge. When it comes to electricity, you pay the gas delivery charge for those folks back in Detroit who charged you to get that car here. Fair? There is a long list of comodities besides cars. That gas delivery probably affects your royalty check too unless you have provisions in your lease clauses. It amounts to about a 25% cut in your royalty check.

TB I could go on and on with these. Bore you to tears with it. Pickens plan will benefit Pickens and not Americans in general.
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
backhoeboogie said:
TexasBred said:
Don't know that much about the Pickens plan but I was doing great with natural gas long before he even had a plan.

Ah. But you have bought a car or truck and paid $800 to $1000 "delivery and destination" charge. When it comes to electricity, you pay the gas delivery charge for those folks back in Detroit who charged you to get that car here. Fair? There is a long list of comodities besides cars. That gas delivery probably affects your royalty check too unless you have provisions in your lease clauses. It amounts to about a 25% cut in your royalty check.

TB I could go on and on with these. Bore you to tears with it. Pickens plan will benefit Pickens and not Americans in general.

BH..anything not manufactured in my back yard will have a delivery charge of some kind on it. And then there are fuel charges on fuel charges. lol....I have an "expense free" lease and a consulting firm who audits everything concerning the wells to make sure it remains expense free, as well as ensuring that I am getting the "initial" price on the gas that I should. To much at risk not to have someone keep an eye on these guys.
 

jodywy

Well-known member
part of what Pickens want to right for eminent domain to get land for connecting power lines from wind farms into the grid….there money in owning the power line…
 

backhoeboogie

Well-known member
jodywy said:
part of what Pickens want to right for eminent domain to get land for connecting power lines from wind farms into the grid….there money in owning the power line…

It is the same for the water rights and water lines he wants as well. This is more of the things I could "go on and on about and bore everyone to tears" with.

Some of my Republican state legislatures let me down on this one. Now Biden and the Dems are all over it too. No one has really looked into the details of what is involved. Biden is pumped full of bad info. The media didn't push the fact that he didn't know what vars were and I can only assume all those cheering in the background were complete idiots as well.
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
Its kind of like the ethanol mess, no one questions its efficiency, cost or transportation problems.

The sound of it made people feel all fuzzy inside and it does nothing but hurt the economy. If it can not stand on its own then it needs to fail!
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
aplusmnt said:
Its kind of like the ethanol mess, no one questions its efficiency, cost or transportation problems.

The sound of it made people feel all fuzzy inside and it does nothing but hurt the economy. If it can not stand on its own then it needs to fail!

I'd consider just about anything stupid that used "food items" to make ethanol.
 
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