New Router Will Speed Internet Access

[Limeoutsider]

Cisco Systems is introducing a new powerful router to direct traffic across telecommunications networks. This means that there will be more reliable high-speed Internet access at a lower cost. The CRS-1, their new system, can transfer the entire collection of the Library of Congress in only 4.6 seconds. This new routing technology can connect 3 billion telephone calls in "the blink of an eye." Yay cheaper high speed internet!

 

[Faramir]

I'm all for that, Lime...and cheaper anything else as well...!!

but can anyone else see the domino effect that the rising cost of gas is going to cause?

 

[Limeoutsider]

I found a new article that some arab in the oil industry thinks that the current gas prices are more than fair.

 

[Faramir]

I found a new article that some arab in the oil industry thinks that the current gas prices are more than fair.

(post it)

fair for WHO...??!! they are KILLING me !!

what I meant was, the gas costs are going to cause the prices of other things to go up as well. for example, how do groceries, etcetera, get delivered?

 

[Limeoutsider]

it was on yahoo news 2 or 3 days ago...Ill look for it and post it for you

 

[Limeoutsider]

exxon mobil denies gouging motorists

The chief executive of oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday that the high price of gasoline is out of his company's hands and that political uncertainty in the Middle East will roil prices for the next several months.
Lee R. Raymond said Exxon Mobil — which earned $21.5 billion last year — makes about a nickel per gallon of gasoline at the pump.


"This notion that we're making dollars on gasoline; that's a long way from true," Raymond said. "The two largest elements in the price of gasoline are the cost of crude oil and taxes. We're way down the list."


Raymond made the comments to reporters after Exxon Mobil's annual shareholder meeting in the Dallas symphony hall.


Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, said last week that it would increase output of crude oil beginning next month, but other OPEC (news - web sites) members have declined to publicly support an 8.5 percent increase in production quotas, and prices crept up again.


Raymond disputed the idea that Saudi Arabia has lost control over oil pricing. He also said there is adequate supply of crude oil for refineries around the world.


Raymond said crude prices were being pushed higher by uncertainty over the political situation in the Middle East "and the high price of gasoline in this country pulls the crude price along with it."


Demand for gasoline has increased in the United States, but refinery capacity has grown slowly in recent decades. Raymond said long-term profit margins in refining still don't look attractive enough to encourage new construction.


Asked where gasoline prices are headed over the next six months, Raymond answered: "Up and down. You tell me what's going to happen in the Middle East and I'll give you an answer."


Earlier in the day, Exxon Mobil shareholders overwhelmingly defeated a series of resolutions.


One backed by environmental groups would have required the board of directors to defend the company's position that global warming from fuel emissions hasn't been proven. They said Exxon Mobil will suffer financially if governments around the world place tighter regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.


Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil is coming off a record year, having earned $21.5 billion last year.


Raymond boasted that the company has earned $74 billion in the last five years, equal to the profits of nearly 400 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.


Shareholder Brent Fryer of St. George, Utah, complained however that investors' return on Exxon Mobil stock has been much lower than other oil companies such as ConocoPhillips.


The meeting served as something of a debut for new president Rex Tillerson, widely considered to be Raymond's heir apparent. Tillerson read a speech about the company's operations, but Raymond ran the 3-hour meeting, as he has each year for a decade.


Asked when he might retire, the 65-year-old Raymond said he would do so "eventually."


Exxon Mobil shares had fallen 37 cents, to $43.45, in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange

 

[Limeoutsider]

heres the article I was talking about

Saudi Arabia's oil minister, the most powerful voice in OPEC (news - web sites), said Monday that he believed $30-$34 per barrel was a "fair and reasonable price" for oil in the United States, though he added that the group had no plans to change its preferred benchmark price range of $22-$28. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi also denied any differences within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries over Saudi Arabia's pledge over the weekend to supply up to 2 million barrels a day in additional crude oil if the market demands it. Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest proven crude reserves, wants only to ease concerns about the reliability of oil supplies, he told a news conference in Amsterdam at the end of a three-day conference of oil producing and consuming nations. U.S. oil prices have surpassed $40 a barrel in recent weeks due to fears about instability in Iraq (news - web sites) and other oil-rich Gulf countries, bottlenecks in gasoline production at American refineries, and an unforeseen rise in global demand. Although crude futures retreated early Monday, they recovered and surged ahead later in the day. Contracts of light U.S. crude closed up $1.79 per barrel at $41.72, in in New York. July contracts of North Sea Brent crude rose $1.59 per barrel to $38.10 by the evening in London. U.S. crude typically trades at a premium of several dollars above the price of OPEC's benchmark blend of crudes. The OPEC benchmark stood at $36.40 on Friday, the most recent day for which the group complied information. OPEC members are concerned that prices are too high, Naimi said. He proposed on Friday that the group raise its production ceiling by at least 2 million barrels, or 8.5 percent, when its members meet June 3 in Beirut. In an interview with pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Sunday, he said OPEC should go even further and raise its ceiling by 2.3 million-2.5 million barrels a day. In the interim, Naimi has signaled Saudi Arabia's willingness to provide more crude of its own, independent of what OPEC decides to do. Stable oil prices were the collective responsibility of all crude producers and consumers, and Saudi Arabia was just doing its part, Naimi said.


OPEC supplies about a third of the world's oil, but Saudi Arabia is the only country with significant untapped production capacity. OPEC is currently pumping 2.3 million barrels above its daily production ceiling of 23.5 million barrels.


Nine of OPEC's 11 members held informal talks Saturday ahead of the energy conference in Amsterdam, amid expectations that they would agree to lift the group's output ceiling. The Nigerian and Kuwaiti oil ministers did not attend, and the others deferred action until their Beirut meeting, saying that any decision needed to be unanimous. Although Naimi played down any dispute within OPEC, his independent assurances on oil supplies appeared to have upset his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, and possibly others. Zangeneh said Sunday that it was important for OPEC to reach consensus as a group on oil production levels.Naimi, together with Zangeneh and Qatar's Oil Minister Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, agreed at their joint news conference that OPEC had no plans to raise its desired $22-$28 price range. However, Zangeneh said he preferred to see prices at the upper end of that range. Naimi said that a "fair and reasonable price" must reflect several factors, including an adequate return for oil investors and the cost of exploring for new oil fields to replace those being depleted.