Re: Various CL Pickings

Posted by MJG On 2022/6/11 8:31:32
Quote:

Tim Cole wrote:
That misses the point of operating leverage. Refineries have a break even point and once you go below that losses skyrocket. They can't afford to have falling demand for any of their products.

Consider a slaughterhouse. They don't throw anything in the garbage. I knew a girl who worked in one and she never wore make up because she knew where it came from. If they throw away anything they start to fall below break even.


That wasn't always the case, consider when Kerosene was the primary end product and highly combustible gasoline was dumped in the river. 100% utilization is the end-product of years of innovation. Perhaps we'll go back to dumping?? Probably not, but I don't see how you eliminate a product that is so integrated into our society - plastics, cosmetics etc.. The demand will still be there, but the prices will shift upward... wait isn't that happening now? Get use to higher, much higher prices. That's the truth some don't want to talk about but you can't consider doing this "evolution" without passing on massive price increases to the buying public.

I have a few employees on my team based in India. A couple weeks ago, one of them had to drop a morning call unexpectedly. I inquired later what happened: "Sorry Mike, we have had rolling blackouts.. very bad heat wave and we have had to convert passenger trains to coal carrying." I guess when we ban petroleum countries like China will continue to make plastics and maybe we'll just stop manufacturing altogether and buy from them??

Two weeks ago I was helping a friend at his hunting property modify a shipping container to store his tractor (needed ventilation holes in sides). He bought some tinker toy battery powered cutoff wheels. I told him they didn't stand a chance.. sure enough two minutes in. I finally got him to go back to town buy a generator and some real tools, job done.

I'm not even going to go there with my boat.. guess I'll have to tow a flotilla of batteries.

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