We Just Spent $1 Billion in Libya to Supply Europe with Cheaper Gasoline

EIN News says, "Firms Are Eager to Tap Into Libya's Oil Wealth The fighting is not over in Tripoli, but the scramble to secure access to Libya's oil wealth has begun. Before the rebellion broke out in February, Libya exported 1.3 million barrels of oil a day. While that is less than 2 percent of world supplies, only a few other countries can supply equivalent grades of the sweet crude oil that many refineries around the world depend on. The resumption of Libyan production would help drive down oil prices in Europe, and indirectly, gasoline prices on the US East Coast. (boston.com)".

Is this what it's all about? According to an Administration spokesman, we sent money to the rebels and will continue to do so because of "humanitarian" reasons. I suppose the economics of oil can be considered humanitarian, but it's a long stretch. The related aspect is that the US will not see any any advantage in Libyan oil. Ever since the Marshall plan, we have had a program of destroying and then spending more money to rebuild without ever gaining any access to the spoils of war. The spoils of the present Libyan case will be collected by the Europeans, not us, in spite of the fact that EIN News makes a guess that it will indirectly help gasoline prices on the East Coast.

We don't need Libyan oil. We have plenty of it right here. We just can't get to it because Obama won't let us. Fortunately worldwide drilling companies are doing a masterful job and through their activities the price of crude oil has significantly dropped and will continue to do so as more production comes on stream. This is what will reduce the price of gasoline. Gasoline prices have not yet started to fall significantly, because old higher-priced inventories of crude oil still need to be worked off. Logically, refineries and gasoline retailers sell their wares at prices based upon their sunk cost of raw materials, not what they expect raw material costs to be. If they did, they would've been out of business a long time ago and we would be pedaling bicycles.