The Russian situation with their oil pipelines is so much worse than you might think — especially with Ural oil in their east. They can’t really just shut off the flow thru because that crap congeals in the cold if it is not flowing — the pressure at the well heads and really along the entire pipelines builds up and it can’t hold it and they will blow. And if it does compromise those lines and well heads it will take years and years to fix and a hell of a lot of money. They can’t really cut off the flow.
And so you understand — Ural oil is just one type of specific gravity they are dealing with — point being that there are different kinds of crude and they all have to run at different kinds of refineries — that they are not interchangeable. That crude of one type will not run in refineries not set up to run it and it is actually a very complex system as to what oil can be sold/refined where. Not really a fungible commodity.
So basically what I am trying to tell ya is that if Russia does stop crude going out of Russia completely they blow up their own well heads and lines. It is business suicide. Will take decades to recover and by the time it might recover the world will hopefully have passed their need for such fuels to a large extent.
Meaning, of course, that there will likely be no business incentive to do it! Like capitalism is going to bite them in the ass in the end. No one ever invests in a dying business model like I think oil will be in the end. Like investing in air ships after the Hindenburg blows up kind of thing.
Maybe in the end we can thank Russia for speeding up the demise of the oil chokehold.
I guess I do know some things about oil companies. I confess, my dad ran an oil company and I spent most of my college years working there. I know I am right about this. And I guess I must have been a spoiled little brat a long time ago before you say it. But I did spend most of my youth at horse ranches — so there is that. I don’t really need a car — I can ride a horse just fine. I really like horses better than cars anyway. Horses have personalities. As anyone who rides here knows full well.
And I guess there are more than a few of us old wannabe cowboys. I was so heartened to hear from some of you guys about this. Made me feel less old. SO I thank you guys for this.
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