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Back here at home, the Shell station on my way to work is down a bit, to $1.939 a gallon for 87. I didn't notice the Citgo sign this morning, but I think they're still around $1.969 a gallon. They seem to be reacting slower than the Shell station.
Everybody seems to be reacting to EVERY piece of "news" as if things are going to go in the direction of that news, good or bad, forever.
A collective deep breath might help things...
Oh yea... State College, PA $1.79 for 87
PF Flyer
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As pf_flyer noted, the price of oil in relation to any news is not always intuiitive. Further, people in general need to get away from this concept of x news=y reaction in oil prices=z change in gas prices tomorrow. Oil traded today is sold as a futures contract. That means whatever oil is trading for today is for oil to be delivered months ahead.
That also means there's a lag between a change in oil prices and a change in gas prices. I don't read too much into anything oil prices do because it doesn't tell me anything about what gas prices will do.
It's big picture: China is rapidly becoming a monster user of oil and that diverts a lot of crude that could be turned into gas here. Iraq's production is all over the board. Their total production is 2% of the world's daily use--doesn't sound like a lot--but take 2% of the available product out of the mix and you've got an issue. Political turmoil in Venezuela--another strike means 5% of the world's supply gone for however long (doesn't look now like that should be a problem). In addition to Russia's by-far-#1 producer being threatened by bankruptcy. They can still pump lots of oil out--they can actually produce (i.e., yank out of the ground) a lot more than they can pump out of there to the world market. Not an issue for now in reality, but the market gets scared when a producer like that just stops producing oil (if that were to happen--Yukos (sp?) produces nearly as much as Iraq can on its best day).
Compounding the problem is most of OPEC has entirely disregarded an quota that exists now and are pretty much at full hilt. The Saudis can produce more, but it's not flipping switch from slow to fast. It means literally bringing additional production capability on line. And they're basically the only country that can do it now.
Finally, add in the fact that winter nears closer, more and more crude will be refined into heating oil and other products and less into gasoline. Demand should drop as driving lessens here, but it doesn't really apply to China, who still will be sucking oil like there's no tomorrow.
Like I've said before, it's uncertainty/instability that riles these markets and the prices. Fortunately, despite a $10 bbl increase since late June, we really haven't seen a comparable increase in pump prices--at least in most places.
87 - $1.839
89 - $1.939
93 - $2.039
94 - $2.089
diesel - $1.779
kcram
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Scientific American, September 1904
"The world's petroleum production for 1903 stands at 20,000,000 tons... The demand for production greatly exceeds present production."
While I'm not suggesting that oil is an infinite resource, technological advances and discoveries of new sources DO come around.
PF Flyer
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What's next?
2)I have been hearing dire predictions that oil will run out by the year ... 1968, 1970, 1973, etc. Those fold espousing such views do themselves a disservice by overstating their case.
3) On a personal level, I am not going to buy a hybrid until 1) the technology has been proven to be reliable, 2) the cost of the vehicle is in line with similar gas-powered vehicles, etc. An extra 0.50 a gallon equates to about an extra $3.50 in the HH budget a week.
The wife paid $1.75 in Altoona this afternoon. The market seems chaotic to say the least.
PF Flyer
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87 octane $2.179
89 octane $2.269
93 octane $2.359
$2.049, more or less, is about the cheapest I've seen 87 here in the past week or two.
PF Flyer
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2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
I heard of hour long gas lines on the turnpike and some local stations...while most had no power to pump the gas. The 3 ports in Florida were also closed for the storm, then state troopers were needed to get the gas to the stations!
I've been through some nasty hurricanes in my 35 years living in South Florida. We were pretty lucky this time. Those north of us weren't so lucky.
Please everyone, join me and say a prayer for all those who are suffering still through Frances and Charly!
The Sandman :-)
Happy our family survived with minimal discomfort
But it's still around $1.90 here in the "NYC" part of CT (SW Fairfield county/Stamford area).
Please say a prayer for us Floridians...we need all we can get right about now!
The Sandman :-(
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Two more days, then back home to Ft. Lauderdale!
The Sandman :-)
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
PF Flyer
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Chat is on TONIGHT. Check out the schedule
Looks like the fuel's flowing cheap again! Hemis and tailfins forever!! ;-)
The gasoline in this area seems to be from 3 suppliers. BP, Marathon, and Shell. There may be a fourth now with Mobil/Exxon having entered with their UDF stations.
Marathon has a lot of stations under its subsidiaries names. They all raise their prices at the same time along with the ones that are supplied by Marathon. Then they start dribbling back down in price at different rates. Other companies rise and fall in response to the group that Marathon controls. Krogers I haven't figured out yet, but I would guess it's a private supplier from east of Cincinnati for this area. I've never seen a truck delivering at Krogers.
Two years ago it was clockwork that the gas prices went up early Thursday and down on Sunday. But the publicity with the gas pricing has changed the pattern. I think it just changes so that the obvious pattern is broken -- to avoid the controlled competition and pricing complaint.
The price does fluctuate some now based on bad news -- like oil wells in Gulf being down. But good news doesn't seem to have much effect.
Note that Gasamerica, Speedway, Marathon are all the same company. The first two add alcohol to the fuel, which I don't buy. The company supplies some others which sometimes don't have alcohol and some of them do. Watch who goes up at the same time and you'll see who is supplied and controlled by Marathon. Watch Meijers, Clark, along with the three above.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
There's an area here where Kroger's has opened two stations with their stores and a Sam's Club and gas is always lower there shortly after it rises all around. It may go up in the region but some stations are quicker to drop back down.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
State College, PA
PF Flyer
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Anaheim $2.08
And back home again in State College, PA
$1.95