The prolonged reporting in the mass media about “high” oil prices has prompted large numbers of people to consider investing in oil ventures, and the vultures are feasting again. We saw a lot of investor money disappear down the holes back in the 80’s, and it’s made a comeback. Back then both the honest and dishonest promoters had a number of tax advantages to talk about. Even without tax shelter sugar, though, it seems folks are still willing to hand large sums of money over to people they don’t know for projects they know nothing about. The crooks haven’t even bothered to come up with new offering materials. Many of the “private placement memorandums” (yeah, I know, it’s “memoranda” plural but it just don’t sound right) are word for word the same as 20 years ago. What amazes me is that even with the capabilities offered by today’s computers, many of them still look like they came from manual typewriters, lacking the snazzy graphics that are so easy to produce these days. Yet, it would appear they’re no less effective. Maybe it’s reverse psychology which, frankly, always was a promoter’s most effective tool (though many didn’t actually realize it). There’s nothing like telling a guy with an inflated ego that this is REALLY REALLY RISKY that’ll work faster to part him from his money, especially when coupled with the magic word: OIL. He can hardly wait to tell his buddies in the clubhouse after a round of golf about his oil wells. In a way, it’s hard to feel sorry for them sometimes. Trouble is, it makes life that much more difficult for the real oilmen who are, in fact, prospecting for oil, not just prospecting for easy money.

So, it occurs to me I ought to write about how to tell the difference between a legitimate drilling program and a paper drilling program. Problem is my lack of time, as evident from the lapses thereof between my articles here. Fortunately, there are other places to find this information, and I’ll try to mention a few in the next article, whenever I find time to write it. For those who can’t wait, however, just Google “invest in oil wells” (without the quotes). Seriously, it’s a terrific eclectic themed adventure with stops you’d never have expected.

I’m in the process of updating the Oil and Gas Links page of my site. This has become far more time consuming than I anticipated (or wanted). The plan was wean dead links, update changed links, and organize them, if possible. However, I’ve found myself following links, reading stuff with more links and following them, and generally not making much progress with the plan. Now I’m even posting to the blog instead of getting the page done.

What prompted this interlude was a brochure I found at the Energy Information Administration entitled A Primer on Gasoline Prices. For the past few months, there was hardly a week I didn’t hear a debate on some talk show or another, about who was responsible for the conspiracy behind gasoline prices. People love a conspiracy. It’s more satisfying (or, more likely, just requires less thought) to demonize a person/group than try to understand economics and markets. So, this seemed a timely item for the blog, although now that prices are back down people aren’t too worked up any more. To tell you the truth, I haven’t actually read it yet! After all, I have my links project to finish, and I’m running out of daylight (metaphorically – I just mean I’ll need to hurry unless I want to still be working on it tomorrow, and I don’t). So, while I’m working on my links page, y’all can check out the official government line on gasoline prices.