Fuel shortage (eastern states)

[TheSneakiness]

I made mention to this in another thread elsewhere here and seems appropriate to put here now.

I have it on good authority that Shell is looking to bail on the country. There are a number of consortiums looking to buy it.

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by Rapid_Axe

I made mention to this in another thread elsewhere here and seems appropriate to put here now.

I have it on good authority that Shell is looking to bail on the country. There are a number of consortiums looking to buy it.

Just read on 9MSN finance agreement has been reached to sell all Australian assets to Dutch company Vitol. $2.9 billion dollars.

[kaniSS]

Mad MAX !!!

Who's putting MFP stickers on their Fords?

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by new2ford

I think we'll need more than few fuel cans, more like a nuclear bunker with 100 years supply of food and a big toilet, because we won't be going anywhere! It won't be a sudden zombie apocalypse, but Cootes are just giving us taste of what it could be like.

Just looking at it soberly: yes, the picture you paint is correct. It'll slowly dwindle and become more expensive.

I think that is where people are horribly wrong. It wont be a slow dwindle. At one point it will fall off a cliff. Oil production is just like eveything else, you do it until it makes sense, and then you pull the plug. Ford didnt announce they were stopping production in Australia because they saw that between now and 2016, production was going to reach one unit per day.

The Oil produced at the top of Alaska gets piped 1200 kilometres to a shipping terminal (no other way to get it out). The pipeline made sense when they were piping 2 million barrels a day, but now they pipe circa 400,000 barrels a day. At some time in the near future, that pipeline will shutdown, even tho they still have 200,000 plus barrels a day to ship out of it. Why - because at such slow flow rates, the oil cools down, the waxes from the oil impede flow, and requires alot more maintenance. You can imagine that the costs of running drilling rigs in alaska, running a 1200 km pipeline and running an export terminal at the other end of the pipeline require alot of oil thru put to make it viable.

Secondly, money is the same everywhere (if it can be converted). If the middle east can sell their oil to countries closer to it, at the same price than a country further away (ie australia), then it will.

Thirdly, oil exporting countries only export the oil that they have left over after domestic consumption. As oil producers get wealthier, they use more of their own oil and as production has barely increased over the years (or even declining), they have less to export, a double whammy.

There are around 1 million oil rigs working in the world today, producing circa 80 million barrels of oil a day. Some majors produce 10's of thousands of barrels a day, but a very large percentage of them produce only a couple of barrels a day. The production rates (or upkeep) of these only need to drop/ rise a small percentage before the well is sealed. Times that thousands of times over and a large percentage of the worlds production can just disappear.

And then you have the middle class of China and india expanding at a rate never before seen in earths history. In a couple of years, the only way you will be able to get oil is if you have a well in your backyard.

[new2ford]

That's why you need an energy security policy. What resources does Australia have that can fuel transport (in large, viable quantities, not boutique stuff)? Not oil. Gas and coal. Gas can fuel motor vehicles, power stations, heat etc etc. Coal can generate electricity. Electricity can power trains, trams and trolleybuses.

So we can do quite a bit with those two resources. Are we? No, we're exporting them to China. We haven't purchased vehicles from the manufacturers that will provide gas-powered vehicles, so they've gone down the drain. Electric powered public transport is stymied by lack of investment due to lack of government support.

There's a few things we can add up there and come to the answer zero.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by new2ford

That's why you need an energy security policy. What resources does Australia have that can fuel transport (in large, viable quantities, not boutique stuff)? Not oil. Gas and coal. Gas can fuel motor vehicles, power stations, heat etc etc. Coal can generate electricity. Electricity can power trains, trams and trolleybuses.
.

But thats a view without taking into account quite alot of other factors. Alot of the coal and gas gets out of the ground thanks to one thing - oil derived products. I still havent seen FIFO workers going to the gas or coal fields in their coal or gas fired airplanes. Without oil, coal and gas will sit in the ground and be completely useless.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

But thats a view without taking into account quite alot of other factors. Alot of the coal and gas gets out of the ground thanks to one thing - oil derived products. I still havent seen FIFO workers going to the gas or coal fields in their coal or gas fired airplanes. Without oil, coal and gas will sit in the ground and be completely useless.

I know, I was just feeding out a little at a time so as not to cause too many heart attacks at once.

As another example, how do tram drivers get to their depots for the early shifts, or how are supplies and lubricants delivered to the depot (and where do the lubricants come from) etc etc?

And there won't even be any gas Falcons.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...rticleId=51749

Do we or don't we pay people in Canberra to think ahead about these things?

[mik]

No doubt cootes would be spending more money on maintenance if they where rolling in dough, they are probably in the same boat as manufacturers suppliers with rates cut to the bare bone, just another sign of industry in distress.

[nb_351]

If they had more money to spend on maintenance they would have done so
It's all run on budgets
Which are made by managers and bean counters driving 6 digit cars
I used to work in the workshop of a national road freight company and it was quite bad
Having to pay for parts out of my own pocket on the premise that the money would be paid into my bank on payday
All because the budget was stretched and there was no credit on accounts
The first people to get new jobs are the directors, last people are the drivers and warehouse personnel
I know for a fact the cootes trucks are not like the media are making out, having seen them in person in a few workshops I visit through work

[MercurySilver]

still no gas at my local as its delivered by cootes
i put 40 bucks of fuel in last week and she said she hasnt even got much fuel left
ill pop past this arvo and see how she is going
she was out of gas at 1.06 per litre
i drove another 20 odd kms and got it for 90c no worries

[mik]

Shortage doesn't seem noticeable my local...... melb north.

[timeout]

Noticed cootes tankers with cootes painted out with same livery in Sydney today. They still had door placqards .

Others with McAleese on the side.