Gas prices: S.O.S.

[Doc Moose]

I'm not dissing any one politician or party - just ALL of them!!!!!!

A university economist has stated that 2 refineries have shut down and a 3rd is scheduled to close. I had also heard that some of the oil companies are selling their refineries to foreign interests. The gas futures markets are forecasting $5.00 this coming winter.
WTF???

Wonder if it's time for the old cliche`s:

1. "The Government is doing everything it can to improve...."

2. "This is a temporary market situation..."

3. "The energy policies in place will soon show an improvement....."

4. "I feel your pain...."

5. "Drilling now will have no effect for at least 10 years...."

6. "We will be appointing a Blue Chip panel to investigate price gouging...."

7. "Your government is taking certain steps to alleviate...."

8. "The new policies will reduce our dependance upon foreign oil....."

9. "When alternative fuel sources come mainstream...."

10. "Drill, baby, Drill!"

Let's see if the Washington rhetoric comes up with something new this time. S.O.S. for about 40 + years. 

P.S. Follow the money!

[BIG--T]

I'm not dissing any one politician or party - just ALL of them!!!!!!

A university economist has stated that 2 refineries have shut down and a 3rd is scheduled to close. I had also heard that some of the oil companies are selling their refineries to foreign interests. The gas futures markets are forecasting $5.00 this coming winter.
WTF???

Wonder if it's time for the old cliche`s:

1. "The Government is doing everything it can to improve...."

2. "This is a temporary market situation..."

3. "The energy policies in place will soon show an improvement....."

4. "I feel your pain...."

5. "Drilling now will have no effect for at least 10 years...."

6. "We will be appointing a Blue Chip panel to investigate price gouging...."

7. "Your government is taking certain steps to alleviate...."

8. "The new policies will reduce our dependance upon foreign oil....."

9. "When alternative fuel sources come mainstream...."

10. "Drill, baby, Drill!"

Let's see if the Washington rhetoric comes up with something new this time. S.O.S. for about 40 + years. 

P.S. Follow the money!

I HEARD THE $5.00 A GALLON WILL BE HERE IN THE SUMMER!   

[..]

In Spetmeber of 2008 gas at a Racetrac station on Windy Hill in Cobb County (NOT a premium location) was selling regular for $3.79 a gallon. Oil was trading at $140.00 a barrel.

Today oil is trading at about $104.00 a barrel and gas is about the same price per gallon even though the barrel price has been consisitently lower than the 2008 high for the past 4 years.

Are there any real experts (I'm NOT being sarcastic) who can explain this anomaly considering US consumption is down 3% over the last 12 months and other countries are seeing lower demand as well.

[BIG--T]

In Spetmeber of 2008 gas at a Racetrac station on Windy Hill in Cobb County (NOT a premium location) was selling regular for $3.79 a gallon. Oil was trading at $140.00 a barrel.

Today oil is trading at about $104.00 a barrel and gas is about the same price per gallon even though the barrel price has been consisitently lower than the 2008 high for the past 4 years.

Are there any real experts (I'm NOT being sarcastic) who can explain this anomaly considering US consumption is down 3% over the last 12 months and other countries are seeing lower demand as well.

Yes it doesn't make sense and I'm not an expert but I can give a good answer.........GREEEEEED!!!

[Doc Moose]

M-A-N-I-P-U-L-A-T-I-O-N

[BIG--T]

M-A-N-I-P-U-L-A-T-I-O-N

 

[solo1]

$4.15 here in NE Indiana this AM.

[R J]

The oil companies want to make a large profit off of their products.

We cut back, they jack up the price to cover the loss of us cutting back.....

I got the old 23 speed bike out, but my knees only let me get about 3 blocks from home before they gave out.   Sure glad I had my cell phone with me and mom hadn't gone to work yet.

The above was about 3 weeks ago and I'm still being ragged by her for my crazy stunt as she calls it.   Oh well, sheet runs down hill.......

[R J]

I think that old bike is 23 speed.

I know it is up there a ways.

I only got about to 6th on my venture.

Daughter rode it on RAGBRAI (Registers, (daily paper) annual great bike ride across Iowa.

I think this July will be like the 38th ride, and that last few years they had to limit the # of permits to ride.    They still get a hell of a lot of stragglers on the ride.    Too much pedaling up and down hills for me.   I know I couldn't ride every day, like 40 to 100 miles, drink all night and get up in the morning and do it again.

Some history on the ride if interested.

http://ragbrai.com/about/ragbrai-history/

2011 route and overnight stops.

http://ragbrai.com/routemaps/2012-route-maps/

[Quicksilver]

Your petroleum companies are selling your oil to other countries, thats why your prices are still high.

[MP]

Your petroleum companies are selling your oil to other countries, thats why your prices are still high.

Correct.  It is a WORLD market. Also, refinery capacity is more limiting right now than production.  We need to build several NEW, highly efficient refineries, but they cannot get permitted.  No one wants them near them.  They want jobs, they want lower gas prices, but are unwilling to do what it takes to accomplish those things.

MP

[old2soon]

This past sunday(3-25-2012)after we came back from taking my daughters B F F back to St. Louis to the airport something told me to fill up the car sunday night. $49.00 at $3.629 a gal. Monday morning i go to the same gas station to fill the can for the lawn mower. It's now at $3.699 a gal.>07 cents overnight.  I am going to refigure my costs on gasoline for Inzane in Eureka Springs Ar. at $7.00 a gal!! I truly hope i'm wrong. I believe in january at this gas station it was $3.099. My brother lives around Chicago and he told me a couple days ago it was past $4 and teens and still going up! Ain't life just wunerful and grand?? RIDE SAFE.

[wild6]

Gasoline futures for April (next week) delivery are trading right now at about $3.37 a gallon.  Add about 0.50 for transportation, tax, markup and you have retail at about $3.87!

Edit: While I was typing this, futures went up by 2 cents!

[BIG--T]

We have a vast supply of oil and supply is way up and demand is down. They say we have enough oil in the Dakotas, Montana, the Gulf and southern states to last hundreds of years. Are we trying to use up the worlds oil before using ours?

Soo, this is nothing but greed and the oil companies brag about it knowing there is nothing we can do about it!

[BF]

Supply and damand my a$$. 

Speculation in the market and the de-valuation of our dollar is at the root cause. 

Wall Street and the market used to be regulated before Washington de-regulated Wall Street.

Obumer and Congress need to re-regulated Wall Street and the market and stop the wild-assed swings in the market. 

The economic health of this nation depends on fuel prices...and Washington is doing notihng about it. 

The reason is....we have a Wall Street Government.....the best money can buy. 

Nothing will change. 

Why am I typing like BigAl?   

[BIG--T]

Supply and damand my a$$. 

Speculation in the market and the de-valuation of our dollar is at the root cause. 

Wall Street and the market used to be regulated before Washington de-regulated Wall Street.

Obumer and Congress need to re-regulated Wall Street and the market and stop the wild-assed swings in the market. 

The economic health of this nation depends on fuel prices...and Washington is doing notihng about it. 

The reason is....we have a Wall Street Government.....the best money can buy. 

Nothing will change. 

Why am I typing like BigAl?   

Yes Wall street drives it up for sure. All they have to do is speculate and walla. They already said $5.00 a gal. and it's om it's way. I even heard $8.00 by fall but I really hope that's wrong! I'll have to trade my Valk in for a Harley moped!!  ....  No comment on the latter!!   

[Big Rig]

In Spetmeber of 2008 gas at a Racetrac station on Windy Hill in Cobb County (NOT a premium location) was selling regular for $3.79 a gallon. Oil was trading at $140.00 a barrel.

Today oil is trading at about $104.00 a barrel and gas is about the same price per gallon even though the barrel price has been consisitently lower than the 2008 high for the past 4 years.

Are there any real experts (I'm NOT being sarcastic) who can explain this anomaly considering US consumption is down 3% over the last 12 months and other countries are seeing lower demand as well.

Any other explanation besides this one would be wrong...

They do it because they can...plan and simple...

[rainman]

I think we all need to go out buy 49cc then build it up to about 75cc you won't have to buy plates or Ins. for it and then go to the bicycle shop and buy a two wheeled cart cause you don't need  plates for it. should get about 80 or so mpg. and then for the winter take a set of trainning wheels and mount them in center of the scut that way if the roads are slick you can get back home. 

[YoungPUP]

SO what happens at $5.00 a gallon when I have to choose between gas to go to work or food for the family, and can't get a second job because the govm't limits me to 60 hrs a week because I drive truck???? 

[highcountry]

Cannot explain the disconnect between the price of oil and gasoline but currently the oil market is being inflated by a handful of oil futures speculators that the world governments don't see fit to regulate.  The winners are the oil companies and oil producing countries; the rest of us are losers.  Oil is an international commodity and priced accordingly, no amount of US drilling will make any difference other than destroy the environment.

[musclehead]

In Spetmeber of 2008 gas at a Racetrac station on Windy Hill in Cobb County (NOT a premium location) was selling regular for $3.79 a gallon. Oil was trading at $140.00 a barrel.

Today oil is trading at about $104.00 a barrel and gas is about the same price per gallon even though the barrel price has been consisitently lower than the 2008 high for the past 4 years.

Are there any real experts (I'm NOT being sarcastic) who can explain this anomaly considering US consumption is down 3% over the last 12 months and other countries are seeing lower demand as well.

psst  inflation   

[cookiedough]

I don't think the American public will tolerate 5.00 per gallon.  It may get close between 4.50-5 bucks in cities like Chicago, L.A.,  and Washington DC, but people will not stand for it no way.  I sure hope I am correct because if it does ever hit 5 bucks near me vs. what it is now at 3.959, I sure wish I would've bought that scooter I wanted that the misses did not let me get and is now just sold as of this morning I checked is gone darn it!!  My 17 mpg truck will be sitting and no long trips for sure with it.

[Paxton]

cookiedough;
I agree with your sentiment but how would the American public will not tolerate 5.00 per gallon?  ???
How would this lack of public tolerance manifest itself?  Would you envision a nation-wide boycott by the public? 

I admire your optimism. I just think that as a nation we are / feel too comfortable to go out there and fight for gasoline prices.  ???
The speculators and the oil companies know that. 

BTW; any one rides a Hybrid Valkyrie? 

[BIG--T]

Cookidough, That is wishful thinking but the reality is that we can do nothing about it!! 

Paxton, If you find a hybrid Vakyrie or know how to build one please let me know! lol.  My Toyota gets a better mileage than my Valk!! 

[G-Man]

This past sunday(3-25-2012)after we came back from taking my daughters B F F back to St. Louis to the airport something told me to fill up the car sunday night. $49.00 at $3.629 a gal. Monday morning i go to the same gas station to fill the can for the lawn mower. It's now at $3.699 a gal.>07 cents overnight.  I am going to refigure my costs on gasoline for Inzane in Eureka Springs Ar. at $7.00 a gal!! I truly hope i'm wrong. I believe in january at this gas station it was $3.099. My brother lives around Chicago and he told me a couple days ago it was past $4 and teens and still going up! Ain't life just wunerful and grand?? RIDE SAFE.

You see, that's what I don't get, and wonder why it's even legal.  They raise the price at the pump, on what is already in the ground below their pumps.  Not on a new delivery, but on what they already have in stock.   

[Paxton]

G-Man;
It is called "Free-Market Capitalism." 

[ComradBlack]

I see a lot of ignorance on this topic.

1st ... no one ever names a speculator filling his bank vault with money by manipulating the markets.

Why ?

Because they dont know what their talking about.

The future market speculators are companies that have contracts to fuel airplanes, trains etc
They compete for ever decreasing limited refinery capacity to refine Oil into other products like Jet-a, Jet-b, Kerosene, Av-gas, Deisel, Gasoline ... etc.

Now add in that it takes a lot of energy to convert Oil into these products.

The EPA has been adding regulation on top of regulation to the refinement process.

Take Diesel for example ... now sulfer free ... the many additives that must be refined as well. ... etc.

And lets not even mention BIO-FUELS and those added costs.

Also these refineries that are closing are mostly the old ones that are not tooled for to burn the cheaper natural gas to heat and refine heavy oils.
They must 1st use the heavy oil on hand  .. refine it into a lighter substance and then use that for the refining process.

They cant compete economicly againts the natural gas refineries who are having enough trouble conforming to Government regulations.

But here is one thing I really dont understand.

Why do Americans let there Government, through the EPA, go to war with energy companies such has Coal and Oil ... all in the name of enviromentalism.

 ... And then sit around wondering why gasoline and electricty cost continue to sky rocket.

[cookiedough]

All gas stations that I know of adjust the pricing based on market conditions of price that day they see on the (stock) market regardless of what is in their tanks already or what they might get it for in 1-2 weeks for an underground fillup.  My local gas station I buy most of my gas from here in town gives 3-4 cents off per gallon if you pay by cash vs. credit card since the merchant fees are like 3.2% he has to pay for using the credit cards called I think membership service fees.  He is usually 1-2 cents lower than most other gas stations around me since he is not in the market to get rich and is a very small 2 pump operation (diesel and 87 octane is all).  I know him and he says he makes like 2-3 cents per gallon profit is all but that adds up even though he has only 1 smaller tank of each underground vs. the bigger gas stations having several larger tanks underground.

I sure hope I am right and it will not get to 5 bucks per gallon or people are going to suffer a lot just to get back and forth to work or go on longer vacations thus putting us into even a deeper recession for not too many people besides the rich will be going on long trips I don't think and lack of tourism and money spent will affect us all.  Damn oil companies and the govt. are in cahoots together kissing each others you know what. 

[steve 3054]

How much of this has to do with the value of the Dollar  ???

[G-Man]

How much of this has to do with the value of the Dollar  ???

That too!    

[Bob E.]

How much of this has to do with the value of the Dollar  ???

That too!    

While I agree that the value of the dollar dropping doesn't help, I don't believe it accounts for the severity of the price hike.  The price of gas has about doubled over the past 3 years, while the general inflation rate has been much lower than that.

[Pacman]

Hi, lucky US riders
Here you are the price of  regular Gasoline in Spain, one of the CHEAPEST western Europe countries

1€=1.32 $
1 US Gallon= 3.78 Liter
Price: 1,32€/L = 4,99€ /US Gallon = 6.59$/US Gallon




You lucky boys with low prices, I will have to go to USA a couple of weeks just for riding my bike

[BIG--T]

If $6.59 is cheap in western Europe, I would hate to see the highest! lol.

The reason we have lower prices are probably because  the USA, China and Japan are the largest consumers. 

[Bob E.]

And our taxes are alot less.