Email to Arizona Republic regarding oil (April 21, 2006)

Hello Sir:

I have been following the impact of gasoline prices on motorists with interest for a long time.

Although, your article in Today's Arizona Republic is factual, unfortunately it does tell us the whole story.

I expect a Newspaper to be factual and complete. It is sexy to point the finger at other countries...

Rather than informing the readers "Worldwide demand for gasoline is increasing because of growing economics in China and India, putting stress on world crude-oil supplies. In United States, the capacity of refine oil into gasoline has decreased. Oil companies have closed refineries, and the last new refinery in the United States was built in 1976.",

I for one would like to see facts like

1. Total oil production by all oil producing countries in mbpd

2. Oil consumed by United States in mbpd

Oil consumption per capita by a US Citizen compared to Other Countries

3. What % of Oil Cost goes towards taxes in European Countries

4. % of Oil consumed by United States, which is produced domestically

5. % of Oil consumed by United States, which is imported

6. Major Oil exporting countries to United States and their relationship with our country

7. # of refineries in US. (Reason for the decease over the last 15 Years)

8. Cost to retool US refineries to refine Sour crude from Sweet crude

9. Who is the largest supplier of light low-sulphur crude to US?

10. Why does a major oil producing country tries to sell heavy crude to US at steep discount?

11. What type of oil is in Alaska and the cost to refine that particular oil

12. Numbers of oil tankers in the world

13. Time and cost to ship oil from around the world

14. From where does the refined oil come into Arizona

and finally

15. Impact of fuel consumption, driving @ 55 mph or @ 65 miles per hour, rather than

driving @ 75 or 85 mph.

If these questions are answered factually, I am confident that the general public will understand

why gas prices tend move as we see now, not to mention how the Futures Market work and

relationship between countries.

I will be more than willing to share the information I have for your future article on this subject.

Thank You for your time and looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,