And Folks Wonder Why WTI Crude Went Up Nine (9) Percent in One Day

The talk on the morning talk shows following the nine (9) percent rise in oil prices over the weekend focused on Libya, a country from which the US gets no oil. The "talking heads" never mentioned a few facts closer to home that possibly, just possibly, might have contributed to the sudden spike.

I repeat myself:

• Alaska pipeline running under capacity ... any less, the pipeline will have to shut down ...
• BP and Shell both deferring any more drilling off Alaska ...
• "Permitorium" continues in the Gulf of Mexico ...
• EPA regulations hanging over domestic drilling ... like the sword of Damocles ...

What is interesting is that no one on the national stage is able to connect the dots.

Even "the face of the Bakken boom" is concerned that North Dakota leaders may not be thinking strategically.

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(Note: Libya produces about 1.5 million barrels/oil per day. With infrastructure in place, analysts estimate North Dakota could produce 1 million barrels/oil per day by 2015. According to CNBC, Libya "controls" three [3] percent of the world's total oil reserves/production. The fear of losing three percent of global production resulted in a price spike. That speaks volumes. Can  you imagine where the price of oil would go if the EPA shut down drilling in the US?)

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It's possible I missed someone mentioning the US energy policy (or lack thereof), but I doubt it. I was watching MSNBC, FOX, and CNBC.

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Note: minutes after posting the above, I was sent this article on "Spare Capacity Theory" from SeekingAlpha.

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With every new report on CNBC or MSNBC, the amount of oil that Libya has historically shipped has been dropping. First we were told as much as 2 million bopd; then we were told 1.8 million bopd. I thought 1.5 million bopd was the right number and now "they" say that the Saudis will have no trouble meeting the 1.2 million bopd gap caused by the Libyan disruption. We're now down to just 1.2 million bopd -- and all that oil goes to Europe, none to America.

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Wind energy ideologues see this spike in the price of oil as wonderful news. This may explain the lack of any sense of urgency by the administration. Something has to explain the lack of urgency and I can't figure it out, but ideologies may be the driving factor. The new White House economic czar has a huge interest in success of wind turbine business.