Citing energy costs, Dow raises prices

Thursday, May 29, 2008

From an Associated Press story that appeared in numerous newspapers, including The New York Times:

The Dow Chemical Company, the chemical giant, said Wednesday that it would raise its prices by up to 20 percent almost immediately to offset the soaring cost of energy, and the company’s chief executive criticized Washington for failing to develop a sound energy policy.

“For years, Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America’s manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy,” Andrew N. Liveris, Dow Chemical’s chairman and chief executive, said in a written statement. . . .
Of course, addressing the issue of rising energy costs usually means opening more U.S. lands and offshore sites to oil drilling. However, another AP article about North Sea oil provides some insight into the limits of trying to reverse the inevitable depletion of world oil supplies:

LONDON, England (AP) -- Britain is granting licenses for two new North Sea oil fields as part of an attempt to encourage major oil producers to help stabilize the world's energy markets.

John Hutton, Britain's business and enterprise secretary, authorized two new oil field developments and said Wednesday he plans to help companies extract reserves from previously unprofitable parts of around 30 existing fields. . . .

Hutton's ministry says the two new fields have an estimated total output of 50 million barrels and additional daily production in the existing fields could produce up to 20,000 extra barrels per day.
The U.S. uses about 20 million barrels of oil each day, meaning the "total output" would only satisfy the U.S. oil addiction for two and a half days!

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