Enjoy the Current Gas Prices While You Can

[Tuckerfan]

Get ready for fuel shortages and price hikes, baby!

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Some 24,000 workers at U.S. refineries, chemical plants and oil pipelines were poised on Saturday to start a strike that could affect half the nation’s oil refining capacity and boost pump prices.

Nearly 10 percent of U.S. refining capacity could be idled within days if negotiators for the United Steelworkers union and Shell Oil Co fail to reach a deal by 12:01 a.m. CST on Sunday, when the existing three-year contract expires.

Top U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp and BP Plc say they plan to idle some of their refineries if there is a strike.

But other big refiners like Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp say they will use replacement workers to keep their facilities churning out gasoline and other refined products should union workers strike.

The last nationwide strike by refinery workers was in 1980 and lasted about three months.

Hmm, you don’t think that some of the employees want some of those record profits, do you?

[ASAKMOTSD]

Sounds to me like a repeat of the air traffic controller’s strike in 1984. That worked out well for them.

[Nametag]

@Tuckerfan

Get ready for fuel shortages and price hikes, baby!Hmm, you don’t think that some of the employees want some of those record profits, do you?

A local union official familiar with negotiations said the sticking point appeared to be the USW’s push for stronger worker safety provisions.

“It all comes down to safety,” the official said. “It’s not about money.”

So no, not so much, though one is tempted to ask – what record profits?

[Amp]

@Nametag

So no, not so much, though one is tempted to ask – what record profits?

Exxon for one.

[Nametag]

Dude – that story is from 2006.

[Nametag]

Looking at more recent data, the industry did quite well in early 2008, but slid badly in the second half. While Exxon’s fourth quarter profits dropped 33% from last year, Shell and Conoco actually lost money in 4Q, and 2009 is expected to be miserable, especially for companies that overextended in recent years.

[Amp]

@Nametag

Dude – that story is from 2006.

Whoops, I could have sworn I recently read a story about Exxon’s profits being up recently. I did a google search, picked the first link, gave it a once over and thought it was the story I read. My apologies.

[control-z]

Exxon only made 45 billion dollars.

[Quartz]

My brother’s in the oil industry and they’re starting to cut back on consulting. He’s been told to finish up what he was doing in Gabon. Not a good sign.