Crude Oil Futures Quotes

The future looks like gasoline. . . . crude oil . . . is the future before it has been refined. It is like a dream of the future, really, and like any dream it ends with a rude awakening.

China’s crude oil imports now average more than thirteen million barrels a day. That’s up from just five hundred thousand in 1997 and substantially more than the U.S oil purchases from abroad, which have leveled off at six million barrels a day, mostly from Canada and Mexico. U.S. crude oil imports were offset on a trade basis by exports of about three million barrels a day of U.S. domestically produced crude oil to Asia and Europe prior to the COVID crisis.

The new GST: A halfway house In spite of all the favourable features of the GST, it introduces the anomaly of having an origin-based tax on interstate trade he proposed GST would be a single levy. 1141 words From a roadblock during the UPA regime, the incessant efforts of the BJP government have finally paved way for the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST). This would, no doubt, be a major reform in the existing indirect tax system of the country. With a view to introducing the GST, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has introduced the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill 2014 in Parliament. The new tax would be implemented from April 1, 2016. Both the government and the taxpayers will have enough time to understand the implications of the new tax and its administrative nuances. Unlike the 119th Amendment Bill, which lapsed with the dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha, the new Bill will hopefully see the light of the day as it takes into account the objections of the state governments regarding buoyancy of the tax and the autonomy of the states. It proposes setting up of the GST Council, which will be a joint forum of the Centre and the states. This council would function under the chairmanship of the Union finance minister with all the state finance ministers as its members. It will make recommendations to the Union and the states on the taxes, cesses and surcharges levied by the Union, the states and the local bodies, which may be subsumed in the GST; the rates including floor rates with bands of goods and services tax; any special rate or rates for a specified period to raise additional resources during any natural calamity or disaster etc. However, all the recommendations will have to be supported by not less than three-fourth of the weighted votes—the Centre having one-third votes and the states having two-third votes. Thus, no change can be implemented without the consent of both the Centre and the states. The proposed GST would be a single levy. It would aim at creating an integrated national market for goods and services by replacing the plethora of indirect taxes levied by the Centre and the states. While central taxes to be subsumed include central excise duty (CenVAT), additional excise duties, service tax, additional customs duty (CVD) and special additional duty of customs (SAD), the state taxes that fall in this category include VAT/sales tax, entertainment tax, octroi, entry tax, purchase tax and luxury tax. Therefore, all taxes on goods and services, except alcoholic liquor for human consumption, will be brought under the purview of the GST. Irrespective of whether we currently levy GST on these items or not, it is important to bring these items under the Constitution Amendment Bill because the exclusion of these items from the GST does not provide any flexibility to levy GST on these items in the future. Any change in the future would then require another Constitutional Amendment. From a futuristic approach, it is prudent not to confine the scope of the tax under the bindings of the Constitution. The Constitution should demarcate the broad areas of taxing powers as has been the case with sales tax and Union excise duty in the past. Currently, the rationale of exclusion of these commodities from the purview of the GST is solely based on revenue considerations. No other considerations of tax policy or tax administration have gone into excluding petroleum products from the purview of the GST. However, the long-term perspective of a rational tax policy for the GST shows that, at present, these taxes constitute more than half of the retail prices of motor fuel. In a scenario where motor fuel prices are deregulated, the taxation policy would have to be flexible and linked to the global crude oil prices to ensure that prices are held stable and less pressure exerted on the economy during the increasing price trends. The trend of taxation of motor fuel all over the world suggests that these items

When we broaden our view from electricity to the energy sector as a whole, we find ourselves staring at a gaping problem. Liquid, crude oil-derived hydrocarbon fuels like gasoline and diesel are essential to keeping our society and economy running. Almost everything that moves runs on the internal combustion engine, which uses liquid fuels. Whether we want it or not, the choices made decades ago made sure that this will also be the case for many decades to come. We built a world that runs on liquid fuels and is slow and difficult to change to other power sources, such as electric vehicles[15] running on batteries.

Next, just for the sake of argument, imagine if, during the first two years of her administration, she achieved stunning successes: The Dow rises 7,000 points after being nearly flat around 18,000 the two prior years. Consumer confidence surges to an eighteen-year high. Black unemployment hits 5.9%, the lowest level ever recorded. Hispanic and Asian-American unemployment also hit record lows of 4.5% and 2%, respectively. Female unemployment is at the lowest rate since 1953 (3.6%). Unemployment among the young is at its lowest in five decades (9.2%), among veterans the lowest in two (3%). Economic growth for the year nears 3% in 2018, for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis. There is a freeze on new regulations, to the relief of American businesses. For every new regulation, about twenty-two are repealed. Jobless claims are at their lowest level in five decades. Job openings outnumber people looking for jobs for the first time on record. The positive job-growth streak is the longest on record. Job satisfaction is at its highest level in a decade and a half, and 85% of blue-collar workers think the country is “headed in the right direction.” Some $5.5 trillion in tax cuts are instituted, with most families seeing savings as a result. The corporate tax rate is lowered as well, since it had been the highest in the developed world and was discouraging investment. The president cleared bureaucratic obstacles to constructing the Keystone XL pipeline and withdrew from the onerous Paris Climate Agreement. The president helped make the United States the world’s biggest crude oil exporter for the first time. ISIS’s Iraq arm is effectively finished off. The United States stops funding Syrian militias with terror ties, quieting that country’s civil war. Military conflicts in other parts of the world are largely avoided. NATO partner nations are successfully pressured into paying their fair share for the alliance, reducing the US burden. Sentencing reductions for nonviolent drug offenders are achieved, a big, libertarian step forward for criminal justice reform. Medical regulations are loosened to allow terminally ill patients to try experimental procedures if they so choose, approvals for affordable generic drugs are accelerated, and employers are permitted to create more flexible and varied health plans. Veterans’ medical conditions are processed faster than ever before. The president entered the Oval Office already a supporter of gay marriage, the first US president of whom that is true. Two solidly conservative new Supreme Court justices are confirmed. Over five million new jobs are created, a half million in manufacturing and over a hundred thousand in oil and natural gas transportation. 95% of manufacturers say they are optimistic the country is headed in the right direction.