FEMA taps Halliburton subsidiary, Shaw Group, Bechtel for cleanup

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Originally Posted by Squirt

Halliburton is not just an oil services company. It's an outrage that a company who is paying our vice president is being awarded multiple billion dollar contracts.

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So then you were outraged at the contacts Halliburton won under the Clinton administration? It's just a company. It's always been working big government contracts, including no-bid contracts.

It's been a significant contractor for decades. I think you are simply taking a Biblical Judgmental stand.... which essentially that Halliburton is "evil" Nothing less nothing more. Thou shalt. And it's written in Romans somewhere. Amen.

Oh, and of course that Dick Cheney is "evil." Gotta put a face to a cause.

I've met two guys who have worked for Halliburton. One is an engineer and he would go out to oil fields in East Texas and Arkansas and help them thump the ground to pull more oil up. I met another guy who would go out to those rigs in the Gulf and measure viscosity of oil samples that comes up. Frankly, I have no problem with people who keep oil rigs pumping oil, or building public works projects. Although I'm sure they aren't angels and walk on water either... after all nobody's perfect.

And were you seriously posing the question about what is Cheney's experience in politics?

And the price of oil is set by the worldwide market. It's a commodity like gold. It is not set by Exxon or Shell or Pemex. Demand for oil in Australia may stay constant, but the price comes from demand and supply at a worldwide level. And if 30% of Australia's oil is from Exxon and Shell... I'll bet a lot of Australia's oil comes from Indonesia, which is an OPEC country. What many people do not fully appreciate is how state-owned oil companies make Exxon and Shell look like peanuts, and they completely dominate oil affairs.

Steve

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Originally Posted by desslock

So then you were outraged at the contacts Halliburton won under the Clinton administration? It's just a company. It's always been working big government contracts, including no-bid contracts.

It's been a significant contractor for decades. I think you are simply taking a Biblical Judgmental stand.... which essentially that Halliburton is "evil" Nothing less nothing more. Thou shalt. And it's written in Romans somewhere. Amen.

Oh, and of course that Dick Cheney is "evil." Gotta put a face to a cause.

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Oh you're trying to pin the Democratic "Businesses shouldn't make money" thing on me. That's not where I'm coming from. I don't think Dick Cheney is evil, I think he's greedy. I think that a company which is paying the vice president, while he's in office, deferred or not, should not be given multi billion dollar contracts. Period. It's common sense.

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Originally Posted by desslock

And the price of oil is set by the worldwide market. It's a commodity like gold. It is not set by Exxon or Shell or Pemex. Demand for oil in Australia may stay constant, but the price comes from demand and supply at a worldwide level. And if 30% of Australia's oil is from Exxon and Shell... I'll bet a lot of Australia's oil comes from Indonesia, which is an OPEC country. What many people do not fully appreciate is how state-owned oil companies make Exxon and Shell look like peanuts, and they completely dominate oil affairs.

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After researching on my own I've found something interesting regarding oil/gas in australia, direct from the Australian Institute of Petroleum:

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In 2000-2001 ( the only figures they give on their whole website ) Australia produced 42,753 million litres of liquid petroleum (crude oil, condensate and Liquefied Petroleum Gas) which is 95% of the demand for liquid petroleum products – 44,671 million litres.

Australia has eight major oil refineries which are capable of producing enough petroleum products to easily supply the domestic economy and some exports as well. However, these refineries only source about 40% of their crude oil requirements from Australian fields. This is partly because Australia crude oil is generally light and getting lighter. Some heavier crude oils are required to produce heavier products such as lubricating oils and bitumen, and as this occurs Australian refineries (which are in general not designed to process large quantities of the very light crudes), must resort to heavier crude imports.

Over time imports of crude oil have been sourced increasingly from the Asian region – largely due to the cheaper freight from Asia to Australia (compared with crudes from the Middle East). Asian crudes also generally have lower sulphur levels than Middle Eastern crudes (which in turn makes them more expensive than Middle East crudes), but adds to the attractiveness of Asian crudes as sulphur levels in Australian diesel and petrol are regulated downwards. The single largest supplier of imported crude oil to Australia in 2000-2001 was Vietnam at 12%. The largest supplier of Middle Eastern crudes to Australia was Saudi Arabia at 8%, although the Middle East as a whole supplies 18% of our requirements.

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The supply and demand is perceived, a perception controlled by the major corporations involved in the oil/gas industry. A good example of this is when the two planes flew into the twin tower oil/gas futures went through the roof, as they are now. Pokemon cards, perceived supply/demand. Cabage patch kids, perceived supply/demand.

The problem here in Australia is price fixing, based on perception, by major corporations that are American owned or have substantial American interests.

You cannot justify raising the price of oil/gass, while supplies are constant, and tell me it's supply and demand, when demand hasn't increased.

You should post some exact figures and speculation on oil supply/demand. I'd be interested in seeing how the corporations are justifying their actions.

Regarding FEMA and Halliburton, I stand strong on my discourse with our vice president being paid by a corporation being awarded multiple, multi billion dollar contracts. Cheney isn't evil, he's greedy. He was greedy at the peril of pensions with his last corporation and I'm sure he's just as greedy now. Unless of course, you believe that he has no benefit being Vice President of the United States and he's a man of the people.... a man who took $25 million out of workers pensions at his last job and pocketed $20 million. A real humanitarian

steve - i object to ANY one company getting the bulk of the contracts, no matter who they are. that i find it objectionable that the company has ties to our vp is actually secondary.

american companies ALL deserve these big contracts, not just one.

Well I know I don't like paying the high prices that suddenly happened and we produce our own damn gas... so a pox on all oil companies for that one.

But I think the way I read Steve's post is that it is the system that needs to be condemned and not just the political party currently in power. It appears to me, in my opinion only, that too many rewards are available for political cronies rather than those who are best suited to do the job... and frankly it doesn't matter which government you talk about, USA or Canada, or anywhere... it is the system that needs to be changed and to have the outrage directed at.

I know that since our scandal of patronage broke, changes are being made to the value of any government contract to limit the amount a political cronie could steer to a friendly source. In BC the previous provincial government hollered blue murder that government contracts under a million could be given without public tender and/or notice, and then promptly upon election upped that limit to 10 million... so it really isn't just one political stripe but all of them..

but hell just my pennies worth
Ian

the system may well need to be condemned, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

just because the system is flawed should not be an excuse to give a single company virtually ever major government contract with no other companies even allowed to bid against them.