What is with fuel prices?Follow

Here are the headlines today on Yahoo News regarding the cost of fuel. Something is just not cricket...

Oil Prices Slip Below $64 Per Barrel

Gas Prices Jump Nearly 15 Cents Per Gallon

I am beginning to think that high fuel prices are mutually exclusive from the cost of oil, which is a direct contradiction of what the oil companies would like us to believe. Double-ewe tee eff man.

Learn to read, that thead has a theme regarding high prices. My theme is about the disconnection between oil prices and fuel prices. Also, that thread is in OOT, not the asylum and therefore does not matter.

You lose at teh interwebs. Go back to OOT and stay there moran.

So Katrina actually hit 1-2 weeks before the news reported it and gas prices were just sky rocketing due to the pre-forecasted shortage right?

Baaaaah Baaaah ......

Don't forget the record profits in 2005 from Exxon, Shell and ConcoPhillips. Thirty-six billion in 2005 profits for Exxon alone, setting historical records.

I always have to wonder about the "The price of gas is just now keeping up with inflation" argument when the fuel companies are making enough cash to buy out Scrooge McDuck and Richie Rich combined. Was it just massively overpriced to begin with? Because they sure ain't feeling the pinch now after years of "not keeping up with inflation".

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Draw whatever conclusions you want from the following story, but it seems fishy to me. I was living in Tallahassee at the time and as soon as Katrina hit, all the Circle K/76 gas stations (the most common station in town) closed down. For the next few days, people rushed the other stations, the prices went up, and eventually every other station in the city (at least the ones I saw) ran out of gas. At one point during this, I paid about $3.10 per gallon and had to sit in line to get it. I saw people backed up probably a half a mile waiting for gas at locations throughout the city.

As soon as the other stations ran out of gas, Circle K/76 mysteriously opened back up and were the only game in town. They were selling gas around $3.20-$3.30 per gallon and there was nowhere else to get it. As far as I could tell, Circle K/76 had enough gasoline at this point that no one was having to go without gas.

It wasn't much longer before all those stations had been rebranded, the "76" part was gone from all the signs, and the attorney general was investigating the events. I never heard how the investigations turned out.

I see your point. I'm left feeling like it's a related issue, but not the same issue. I think SUV demand would slack after awhile due to there being sufficient market penetration as well as because of gas prices.

I'm lacking a proper word. If people stop driving SUVs, it doesn't mean the personal demand for gas has gone down (people keep driving their cars everywhere), but it does lower the strain on the system as a whole. I guess the effect would be indistinguishable.

SUVs haven't fallen off the roads, though. People aren't buying new ones, but neither are the old ones all gone. The demand on the market is still play, right?

I agree there is something fundamentally wrong with the way they justify the price of fuel, and frankly, my 50 mile/day drive makes me cuss at the gas station teller on a weekly basis. (under my breath, of course)

I wish they would be straight forward about the price hikes, but it just comes down to oil is only the base of inflated prices. Debalic is partially right that fuel prices are slow to react to oil prices, but that has little impact on the increased prices at the pump the last few months mainly because of other factors.

First, with Iran flexing their oil-peen because of possible sanctions, that's making our market analysts very cautious of forcasting favorable markets.

Second, despite the oil-producing countries making 1.2 MILLION barrels a day MORE than demand, we have severely limited refining capabilities because refiners are enjoying these record breaking season of profit instead of investing in beefing up their operations.

Third, we, as a country (US that is) are very resilient of the high prices because we use a lot less oil for each dollar of national income. Basically, we are getting so wealthy off of other non-energy commodities (steel, rubber, uranium) that we are proving we can handle the outrageous price without economic impact. This goes hand and hand with the fact our wealthiest people are getting more wealthy, so who's going to change the direction? Mr. Abu at the Gas Stop?

Lastly, well, I really don't have a lastly cause I could go on and on, but MTBE bans, ethanol standards, and 1970s oil crisis comparisons are other reasons they feel they can continue to rake us over the coals.

My point? It appears we will have to live with this until a real threat comes along that could plunge us into an economic crisis. Or if those poorly laid out plans to boycott a major oil refiner ever worked and drove say Exxon into a crisis, we could start to see a competative market again. Start sending your chain mails today!!!

PEACE

Katrina did not affect the cost of crude oil. It affected the availability of refined gasoline since it was oil refineries that were knocked offline. That's going to have an immediate effect on the price of gas at the pump.

Totally different situation.


Also. It's realy easy to look at Oil company profits and get a big dose of "BNS" (big number syndrome). After all, 36 Billion (with a B!) seems like a lot. But the net profit rates for the oil companies are not particularly high. They're lower then the average for most businesses operating in the US in fact. They're just much bigger companies, so the numbers are bigger.

I remember buying gas for around $0.80 in the mid-to-late 90s. There was a station in my home town that pumped the gas for you. I would never go there because their normal price was around $1.20 per gallon and I thought it was ridiculously high.

Two years to get to level 38? You fail at teh interwebs.

You're right as far as that being below par for the course, assuming my time was spent on one char. Of course, when you assume, you make an *** out of u and me.

Needless to say, this was the kind of welcome I'd expect to get making my first Asylum post; your reputation prevails. Touche!

Edit: f's and r's should be moved from each other on the keyboard.

Edited, Mon Mar 27 17:33:12 2006 by MassiveHeadContusion

Edited, Mon Mar 27 17:35:17 2006 by MassiveHeadContusion

Do you lick your dog's balls with that tongue? Shame shame. I'm suprised you didn't make a reference to the Darwin Awards with that uber original comeback.

I really don't know what to think of this.