gas prices

[PJgunner]

I didn't have any problem getting gas last night other than the sticker shock. Went to fill the pick up truck and it was $2.60 a gallon for regular. In the roughly five minutes it took me to get back home, pick up my wife's Explorer to fill it up gas was $2.79 a gallon. I stuck my credit card in and it told me I had to go in and pay inside. They guy said the satellite was updating the prices again, to $2.90 a gallon as that is what it ended up at. Two price hikes in less than 15 minutes. OUTRAGEOUS!
There is a town about 50 miles away from Tucson that was charging $3.00 a gallon and limiting sales to ten gallons a customer.
Katrinais the big break big oil has been waiting for. Now they can get away with charging whatever they like for gasoline and there there isn't a hell of a lot we can do about it. you can bet that once those prices are up there, they'll never come dome. With both the president and VP oil men, you'll see no real help from that quarter. The Congress? Hell! Big oil and big business own them too. Have you seen any of them on the news saying they have to do something to alleviate the problem? I sure haven't.
Just goes to prove, we have the best government big business can buy.
Paul B.

[fabsroman]

Is everybodies memory so bad? Look at what happened in the late 70's/ early 80's. Something called the Honda Civic was created by the Japanese and Americans started trading in their gas guzzler cars for smaller cars. I think there is pretty stiff competition between the auto makers right now that whoever can produce the most fuel efficient cars will make out big. I know I am starting to seriously look toward a hybrid for our next car purchase and the wife is seriously thinking about transferring to a Target a lot closer to home (i.e., right across the street). If she transfers to that Target, about the only driving we will have to do is to see my family or for me to visit clients. The rest of the driving will be pleasure driving that we can take or leave as we see fit.

If Americans would stop crying about the price of gas and do something positive about it, big oil might just be crying more than Americans are right now.

What can Congress do about the price of oil and why should they do anything? This is a free trade economy and if the oil companies can get this kind of money, why shouldn't they.

People need to start living closer to work and consuming less oil anyway. The consumption of less oil will be better for the environment.

People need to trade in their SUV's for a nice little small car. Could you imagine if everybody traded in their cars for a hybrid that gets 40+ mpg. The oil crisis would be over.

[BILLY D.]

fabs, last sentence"and the oil crisis would be over". my answer.

"and the prices would go higher to make up for the oil companies losses."

you ain't seen nothin' yet. the oil companies have wanted $5 a gallon gasoline for awhile. they will get it. watch the economy crash then.

[fabsroman]

Billy,

What you do not understand is that if we no longer need as much gas, the oil companies cannot charge as much. Simple supply and demand. If we aren't using what they have stock piled, then they will have to lower the price. The problem is that we Americans do not curb our driving at all when gasoline prices rise. We merely pay for it and complain the entire time.

If, all of a sudden, nobody needed gas, the price of gas would drop drastically and the oil companies would be out of business. Then, we would probably see an economic disaster too.

We cannot move away from oil too quickly without giving these companies something to diversify into, otherwise they will be bankrupt and there will be plenty of people without jobs. It is kind of like a fine line.

However, I can guarantee you that the next car I buy will be a hybrid and while I hate buying anything but a Ford, I might break tradition and buy the most reasonably priced hybrid.

[Rocky Raab]

PJ, all that "big oil" conspiracy talk is bull chips.

Oil costs them how much a barrel? Let's say $66 for argument's sake. There are 33 gallons in a barel of crude, so they are paying $2 a gallon for it. Now they have to pay to ship it to the US (liberals and environmentalists won't let us drill here, remember), then transport it to the refineries (which are shackled hand and foot by liberals and conservationists ;aws) then they refine it. Which isn't free. They have to build the refinery and pay union wages to those who work there.

That barrel of crude doesn't make 33 gallons of gasoline. Even if it could, where do you think jet fuel, diesel, heating oil, plastics and even medicines come from, huh? Crude oil, bud.

So they end up paying more than $2 a gallon for the gasoline they refine.

Now, they have to pay to ship it to service stations. The poor guy who owns the station has to feed his kids (and pay taxes!) so that gets added to what you pay at the pump.

'Scuse me, but where's the huge profit?

[DogYeller]

What's In A Barrel of Oil?

The market price today is about $70 a Bbl. Reg. gasoline is about $2.85 before additives, reformulated is higher. Stations mark it up 10 or 12 cents a gallon. You get about 20 gallons of gasoline from a bbl of oil and you sell it for $3.00 a gallon, that's $60. Gas doesn't pay for the oil let alone allow you to make a profit. The profit has to be made on the remnants of the original 42 gal.

[fabsroman]

Do the oil companies like Exxon, Citgo, Mobil, etc. actually drill the oil out of the ground or do they just buy it from the Middle East OPEC Nations at the $70 price?

Does anybody know where the majority of crude oil comes from and which companies/nations are selling this crude?

[Tater]

People make fun of me driving my minivan instead of my truck but the price difference makes it worth it. Especially when they're paying $90 to fill their trucks and I'm paying half that for my van.

[DogYeller]

OPEC countries have nationalized their oil fields. They decide how much each member country will produce. They put their oil on the same market with everyone else. If they flood the market the price goes down if they decrease production the price goes up.

They really want to sell us finished product and if we don't build some refineries in the US, OPEC will have control of the price of gasoline, not just oil.


This site has a lot of good information.
Oil Price History and Analysis
The Prize by Daniel Yergin , is the best history of international oil exploration I've read.

[skeeter@ccia.com]

go to www.howstuffworks.com and type in how gasoline prices work. ( this is my favorite hang out on the web by the way) This also takes you to the Department of Energy that explains more. I have put an opinion in our local news paper soon to be printed about this. I have contacted my reps, congressmen, etc too on what they can do to help in this time of 'need'. Quick rundown: In July05 the cost of a gallon of gasoline breaks down like this. crude oil=55%. Rifining 18%. Distribution and market 8% and the taxes 19%. Since the cost of a regular gallon of gasoline varies month to month so does the TAX % alone which varies from 19% to as much as 32%. Taxes include federal, state, local, sales taxes. So our gov can help out by cutting a few % from the cost at the pumps...even if this is a temp fix...why not?..Contact your locals on this....bring it to their attention....
Fabs and anyone else saying get a hybrid..what the hey..ever load your tools, equipment be it hunt or work or camping into a VW?..Oh I forgot the wife and kids....I have....and it isn't pretty...Jobs are so easy to find anymore too that you can give up your pension, senority, benifits and move down the street for a job....where have you all been?....People are lucky to find an opening at the local sheets store after the Mills all closed down...Yea I think I will sell my (what I paid for it) house and move down the street to be closer to Mc D.....and then buy the same kind of house for 4x as much as I paid for mine...daaaa?...Let me see $200 month house payments at mill worker prices opposed to $800 month payments at McD wages...???? I wll tell ya too house payments at $400 went to $800 because of TAXES....We need to start over in America..Revolution..get rid of the taxes remember the reason we left England to begin with....And get rid of those that pray on the public and some of the reasons we all have to pay so much for everything to begin with....I know who they are....and sure you do too....

[M.T. Pockets]

I live in Minnesota, near several ethanol plants. For years we've been hearing how ethanol would be the answer to our nation's fuel problems. It very well may be, but don't count on it lowering your fuel costs.

For example, last year at this time gas was about $1.75. E-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gas) was about $1.45.

Today, gas is $3.11 and E-85 is $2.79. So lets say that the 15% gas portion of this product has doubled, and shipping/transportation is probably another nickel, and cost to produce ethanol another nickel, this should put the price of E-85 at around $1.80. Where is the rest of the price mark up in ethanol coming from ? Demand for the final product.

By the way, ethanol is made from corn. Last year corn was selling for around $1.80 a bushell. Today, it's selling for $1.52 a bushell.

So, as big of a backer of ethanol as I am, I've come to realize that it's not going to help the final user with any substantial savings, nor is it going to profit the corn producer. I do believe there are substantial profits to be made in ethanol between the farmer and the gas pump, and ethanol producers, such as Archer Daniels Midland, are heavily subsidized.

I believe most of us are capitolists, and like it or not, this is capitolism at work.

[DaMadman]

Bottom line is, there is no gas shortage, there is no crude oil shortage.... There are billions upon billion gallons of oil being pumped out of the ground every day. OPEC and the United States Government control how much is released to the public and at what rate the refineries are pumping out finished product (GASOLINE), None of the refineries are producing at 100% and a lot of the crude that is being pumped isn't going into the market, it is going into stockpiles.

For everyone that says HOW IS THE GOV"T SUPPOSED TO CONTROL IT??

Got news for you, THEY ALREADY DO !!

If The Gov't and OPEC and the Big oil companies would quit freaking stockpiling crude and run the damn refineries at somewhere near their able capacity there would be so much gas that we couldn't use it all and prices would go down.

Like I said there is not shortage, just like there was no shortage back int he 70's.... TRhe Crude is there, get the **** to the refineries and bump up production and quit gouging the hell out of the American citizens.

As far as all that crap that Fabs spewed about living closer to work and working closer to home.... Yeah OK I drive an hour one way because I like to sit in traffic...... Oh wait a minute maybe it is because The area I work in is not safe to live in, much less fit to raise a child, much less send my son to school with a bunch of gang banging hoodlum drug addict thugs. Oh and Yeah I am certainly going to give up a gov't job with full benefits and all my retirement to go to work for a private company closer to where I live now. Sure that is totally feasible.. Let me get right on that

[DaMadman]

oh I forgot one thing, Let's everone run out and sell our SUVs and Trucks (I don't know who is supposed to buy them but...) lets all run out and sell them right away and buy a hybrid.... now so that in 5-10 (if they last that long) when all the batteries start going bad and need to be replaced then we can have that problem on our hands. What are we going to do with all the lead and acid that comes out of all those dead batteries

Recycle them? Yeah ok...because the recycling thing is working so well in the United States now......

[Rocky Raab]

The only problem with that argument, Madman, is that we ARE limited in capacity.

They haven't built a new refinery in 30 years due to environmental whackos and NIMBY types.

Existing refineries were all operating at about 98% of full capacity round the clock (except when they would go down for maintenance).

We've just lost something like 20% of our total refining capacity due to the hurricane. Nobody knows when it might get running again - or if the whackos will LET them get running again.

If Bush would declare a national emergency and suspend enviro-laws so we could build 15 or 20 new refineries, and also allow development of Alaskan oil, we'd be fine in a year or so. Will he? I doubt it. So much for the idea that Bush's main goal is to support the oil industry.

[Steverino]

I have been following along on this post and was just getting ready to essentiaaly post what Rocky just put down...

Gas refining in this country is the biggest bottleneck in our country's gas supply and is what is currently driving up the price of fuel. Refineries have not been built (much like nuclear plants because nobody seems to want them in their backyards but everyone b*tches and complains about higher energy costs) and have gotten by only through improvements in refining that have made them more efficient through the years, however, this has only kept pace as demand for fuel has risen in the last decade.

Contary to popular opinion, refineries are running at capacity. It wouldn't matter if OPEC sent a daily gifted boat-load of sweet crude over to the US with a lovely hand-written note and a fruit basket! We wouldn't have any more capacity to refine it and with the lost refining capacity in the Gulf now after Katrina, this situation will not rectify itself permanantly until more refining capacity is added in this country.

I fully agree that if the government truly cared about this issue they would support the building of additional refineries. I personally feel though that we should also strive to lower dependance on foreign oil and the government has not taken a leadership role in this arena.