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Report Your Local Gas Prices Here (retired discussion, please see the new one)
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Rocky
Rocky
At the end of the 90's gas was under $1/gal around here.
Let's say $ 0.79/gal....the price difference on grades was ten cents per gallon.
Today our W. Ga. regular is priced @$2.29. Mid $2.39. Prem $2.49.
10 cents difference during each observation period. Pulling out the old calculator, markup was 12.7% in '99 vs 4.4% today.
The markup for grades today should equal 29 cents in order to maintain same ratio for that back in the '90's. Aahaha..
"Pricing of oil is determined above the retail level,,," ??
Rocky
The Japanese save the U.S. from foreign oil.
Rocky
We did get the $2 gas for a while, but the trend now is up. No sign of oil going down yet significantly.
We're still comparatively lucky in central VA: $2.19 for 87, and all 3 of my vehicles use it. Kind of ironic we pay less than Texans!
I drive over 180 miles round trip back n' forth to work 4-5 days a week out of 8 days. "Big Oil" loves me.
Rocky
Rocky
PS
Just last week gas hit the lowest I have seen of $1.79 in Gaffney, South Carolina of all places. It is still $1.89.
Rocky, no excuse for $2.50 gas in TX. I expect it in CA with our Hollywood designer gas.
http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/
Rocky
P.S.
The cheapest I've seen it in over a month was $22.29 but that was a week and a half ago :surprise:
We paid $2.05, the lowest, in 3 places: Kansas City, Indianapolis, and back home in old Virginny!
Rocky
Like when Katrina was being blamed for gas skyrocketing to $3 average for 87 octane. The funny thing is Katrina hit end of August; gas here in Chi-town was $3.09 (at a Citgo, not a major station here)the last week of July, a month b4!! BP, Shell and Mobil were higher, and the closer you got downtown the higher the price. Again, this was pre-Katrina! :confuse:
I tracked the gas increases last summer. From Memorial Day weekend fuel was $1.87, by July 4th, $2.65; week before Katrina, $3.15; day after Katrina $3.25 in the morning, $3.70 that evening. Fuel went up steadily, with a few spikes here and there, at least once a week during that period.
One kicker is that diesel is more than premium in most places here. And E85 is darn near non-existent, but it's a crap shoot due to its energy content and that you may end up paying more anyway in the long-run.
The bad thing is the government announced last week we should get used to the high gas prices and to expect the lowest price to be $2.50/gal. for the coming months. And the next day, fuel shot up 20 cents and has gone up twice times since. :sick:
Why not just save the trouble and tell the companies to stick it to consumers
Premium 93 octane $2.64 per gallon
Diesel $1.83 per gallon. Sounds like the oil companies are pocketing an extra buck in the USA on diesel sales. It would pay me to slip across the border with a couple 55 gallon drums and save a hundred bucks.
PS
I get my Hornitos Tequila cheaper there also...
Rocky
Mexican gas prices
Rocky
Rocky
Certainly they MUST be a part of the equation, but to portray it that "big oil" is sitting there pushing up prices and seeing how much the public will tolerate is kind of silly if you just look at the way the commodity markets set pricing.
Rocky
Interesting you should bring that up. The governor of Hawaii (Republican) did just that over a year ago. Set the price cap at $2.07 per gallon. Soon the cost to the stations was more than the cap. So they could not buy the gas and closed a few stations. The cap was soon lifted and gas in Hawaii is now about $3.18 per gallon. You cannot control prices in a free market economy. Even in a Socialist system like Canada they have the same fluctuations we have. Plus they have more than enough oil for themselves and are our number one source at present. I think you should just feel fortunate that we still have some of the lowest gas prices in the world.
I'm thankful I can afford gas for my vehicles. I am thankful I don't have to ride a moped to conserve on fuel.
I'm not thankful, because we could be buying it cheaper. Last time I checked didn't we take over Iraq ? Gas should be .70 cents a gallon. :surprise:
Rocky
Today, I can buy gas from Costco for $2.41 per gallon and less than 2 miles away the Chevron is $2.94 for unleaded regular. Sure the independent mom & pop stations are all gone. Not from price fixing, from government regulations. How many small stations have you seen where the local government forced the little guy into bankruptcy with every regulation known to man. No small operator could afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars to dig up the old tanks, remediate the soil underneath and install all new modern equipment. That was the death knoll to mom & pop stations across the country. They were replaced by convenience store stations. Ask any operator where the profit is. They will tell you in selling water and sodas, not gasoline.
Either the price is being held artificially low today, or we were getting really screwed in 1998. Taxes are about the same today.
-juice
Also, if you take a look at gas prices vs crude oil prices, you'll notice that one goes up or down when the other does the same, however there's never been a definitive corralation between the two whaeras a person can say "if crude oil prices go up by X amount, then gasoline will increase by X amount. Don't ask me why because I can't explain it, I just know that's how it has worked.
When I can go to 10 gas stations in a 2 mile radius and have a 53 cent per gallon difference I say there is competition. If we could supply all our own oil we might be able to control the price by legislation. Try passing a law that says we will only pay Canada $40 per barrel to keep the price of gas under $1.50 per gallon. The pipeline from Canada would be aimed toward another country before the ink dried from the President's signature. It is all part of a world market. If you want to bad mouth OPEC you might have a credible argument. They are squeezing the oil buyers of the World. Exxon is small potatoes compared to Saudi ARAMCO.
check out the price spread in San Diego
http://www.sandiegogasprices.com/
If the oil companies controlled the price of oil, it would never have dropped from the high prices in the 1970s. Working in the oil field it is interesting to watch BP scramble when the price goes up. They have rigs drilling all over the North Slope of Alaska. When the price dropped they shut down the rigs and they were stacked everywhere. If BP which is second in size to EXXON here in the USA, had the control you are saying they have, why the kneejerk reaction every time the price goes up? When the Alaska pipeline went into operation the price was $32 per barrel. They were pumping 2.1 million barrels a day. As the price dropped they cut back on production. Don't you think if they had control they would keep it flowing at the higher price? With the price at $60 per barrel it is busier than I have seen it in many years.
And I do agree with flyer as well, everything is emotional right now and are playing off of that. Again, late last summer it was always because of Katrina that the prices went up. I thought it was funny when the reporters were saying that caused prices at the pump to go to $3; I was like "It's been over $3 for a month BEFORE Katrina!!" :mad:
I guess now they've become bold and/or just ran out of excuses and raise prices because it's Tuesday, or the sun's not coming out today, or their favorite team got beat. And I think the same thing is going on with E85 as well. Diesel as well, as this used to always be cheaper than gasoline.
I'm not sure in other places, but when that was happening here myself and others started reporting the stations, emailing, calling, mailing our local reps and complaining. They finally got off their duffs and followed up. Many stations were caught gouging consumers and fined.
Let me ask you this. Do you believe the Canadian, Mexican and Saudi governments are in collusion selling us oil? They are the 3 major sources of our imports. I don't think so.
Good read on what is happening with oil, right from where are largest supply comes from.
Take the prices of oil, the stock markets, precious metals and housing. All of these markets are overheated right now.
And in each of those markets, folks are confusing the prices people are willing to pay right now with the true value of the commodity. They're saying it's different this time; here is where true value lies. Then, unfailingly, they subscribe to the "can't miss" theory. In other words, forget everything else, invest in this sector or that commodity and you will participate in wealth beyond your wildest dreams. They think it will never end.
Sorry Bucky, but it doesn't work that way. History is still bound to repeat itself, even if not exactly in the way it previously unfolded. Here's the thing: all commodity markets are cyclical. They always have been and always will be. So this time it's not different. It's the same. And you probably already know that those who fail to heed the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.
Only a year or so ago, oil was almost 50% cheaper than it is today. Oil companies and exploration companies made money at that price, big money.
The change comes from current perception caused by Middle East instability. What is the real value of oil? What is the real value of oil companies that find it, refine it, pump it and distribute it? It's a sure bet that real values don't reflect today's high prices and an even surer bet that those prices won't last.
It's no stretch to believe that oil prices can drop by 50% in the future, however near or far off.
oil prices
crude oil imports in December 2005 has been released and it shows that two countries have exported more than 1.5 million barrels per day to the United States. Including those countries, a total of five countries exported over 1.0 million barrels per day of crude oil to the United States (see table below). The top sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (1.899 million barrels per day), Mexico (1.707 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1.438 million barrels per day), Venezuela (1.183 million barrels per day), and Nigeria (1.174 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Angola (0.425 million barrels per day), Iraq (0.390 million barrels per day), Ecuador (0.340 million barrels per day), Kuwait (0.268 million barrels per day), and Algeria (0.212 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 9.988 million barrels per day in December, which is a decrease of 0.277 million barrels per day from November. The top five exporting countries accounted for 74 percent of United States crude oil imports in December and the top ten sources accounted for approximately 90 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports.
Oil imports
I hate to disagree with the host, but you are only partially correct. We do not put oil in our cars, we put gas in them. The high prices after the hurricanes last year were partially due to reduced refinery capacity. Capitalism works. The price of gas went up so people used less so there were no real gas shortages.
Jim Jubak on MSNBC recently wrote an article about the oil producers, Saudi Arabia for example, getting heavily into the refining business. The implication was that such countries may stop exporting crude oil and only export the value added refined products and then really control the world energy markets. I would if I was them. Americans really need to get out of their SUV's and Pick Up trucks as a Patriotic action. High energy prices are here to stay, and they will only get higher. I do not think that it is a good idea to send many many billions of dollars out of this country every year to buy oil that we do not really need if we just drove more effecient vehicles.
Global warming is real, it is happening and we need to get out of the huge pick-em-up trucks and SUV's.
Everyone can go ahead and do what they want, but if the above post is true(and that might really come to pass I think)then do you all think that the Saudi's are going to charge us soft and fluffy prices per gallon. Say the gas comes imported to us from them all refined at $3.55/gal for 87 no-lead. Is that acceptable to you?
Of course we get most of our crude oil from Canada so as long as we keep our refineries from catching on fire and all copasetic we should be OK. I just think that it is more forward-thinking than not to get out of the huge pickup trucks and SUV's. Y'all agree, or nay?
Besides that they're ugly and take up too much parking space. It's all South Korean in automobiles, my friends. The Americans are coming to the Ball too late and are paying the price for it, now.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Where I disagree is with your assessment of collusion. You seem to think that Canada & Mexico are sitting down with OPEC to fix prices. I don't believe it would be feasible. For one thing Opec is an alliance of countries that can hardly get along with each other. Then try to throw some independent country like Canada or Mexico into the mix. When the dust settles and oil is plentiful the producers will cut each others throat to get your petro dollar. Even if it is back down to $20 per barrel or less. Remember they were making money in 1998 at $10 per barrel.
Must be some late winter storm headed our way that I don't know about :P
About 10 dollars per barrel back in 1998: If only I had 10,000 dollars back then to invest!
What is kind odd is now people are calling 2.00 "a good deal", comapred to 1 year ago, when gas went about 2.19 per gallon one week, then dropped down to about 1.79 Even could get it for a short period, I think , for 1.59.
When it hit 3.19-3.32 or so last year, and now "a relatively inexpensive 2.00" :confuse:
Right!
Next car will get minimum 30MPG hwy, or we ain't buying.