Gas prices

king_biscuit · #1 01-18-2009, 11:40 PM

Oil prices continue to decline, and yet gas prices are creeping back up. Can anybody explain this?

hbarcat · #2 01-18-2009, 11:46 PM

The price of gasoline at the pump depends on a lot more than just the cost of crude oil.

king_biscuit · #3 01-19-2009, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hbarcat

The price of gasoline at the pump depends on a lot more than just the cost of crude oil.

I know that it depends on futures, and other assorted voodoo, as well as greedy officers and CEOs... I saw an interview with Donald Trump last year and he said that the CEOs for the major oil companies all belong to the same country club.

Stumbo · #4 01-19-2009, 12:20 AM

War in the Middle East.

T-Bird · #5 01-19-2009, 12:29 AM

Hi.

We had a 20% drop on gas prices a month or so ago, now it has gone up again a bit.

We have to buy all our oil, no wells of our own

. And the climate doesn't allow the production of bio fuels in any reasonable level.

Regards
Sam

Deacon_Blues · #6 01-19-2009, 12:50 AM

It's funny, last summer when the gas price had steadily risen up to around 1,60 €/liter, they anticipated the price would reach 2 €/liter by the end of 2008. Well, the price went down even below 1 €/liter at certain places. Now it's up at 1,15 again...

The finance crisis brought at least one good thing with it.

ADbassman · #7 01-19-2009, 01:11 AM

I won't even pretend to be educated on the subject.

mike_v_s · #8 01-19-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADbassman

I won't even pretend to be educated on the subject.

Everyone else does, you may as well join in.

Mike

mike_v_s · #9 01-19-2009, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

I know that it depends on futures, and other assorted voodoo, as well as greedy officers and CEOs... I saw an interview with Donald Trump last year and he said that the CEOs for the major oil companies all belong to the same country club.

a) gossip....Donald Trump gossip b) even if it's true, what's your point? I eat lunch with my competition weekly.

Mike

armywalaby · #10 01-19-2009, 07:46 AM

Yeah I think high gas prices are bad.

AmazingGracePlayer · #11 01-19-2009, 08:06 AM

It's a natural cycle... Like the temperature gets hot, then cold, then hot again, then cold again, same for as prices.

Geddyfleaharris · #12 01-19-2009, 08:24 AM

IMO there is no reason for gas prices to be rising at this time. Demand is weak because of it being the winter months and the world economy is crashing. Oil and gasoline supplies are stable. Yes there is fighting in the middle east but I don't think there are many oil wells in Gaza.

Once again, IMO, the oil companies are not making much if any money on a barrel of oil with a price point of between $35 to $40. I personnally believe they are trying to jack up their revenue and profits by charging as much as the market will stand on a gallon/litre of gasoline. In my part of the world we are paying $0.86/litre or about $3.01/U.S. gallon. The last time a barrel of oil was in the $35 range we were probably paying $0.20 or $0.25 less per litre. Some of the input costs the oil companies have to pay have certainly risen in the 5 years since oil was this low in price but I don't think that accounts for the price difference.

The oil companies basically do what they want and charge what they want. Very frustrating.

Thunderitter · #13 01-19-2009, 09:59 AM

Gaza - oil popped up over $50p/b when the bombs started and hence the rise. It's now back to $43 but I expect we'll need to wait a few weeks before that's reflected at the pumps.

It's a really specialist job to change the numbers on the boards outside the gas station. I've heard that while there is now a surplus of folks trained to raise the prices, getting hold of the folks trained to lower the prices is really hard, which explains why the prices go up almost instantaneously but why there is always a lag getting them down.

I say enough it enough! The gas companies should be forced to train more price reducers!

flakeh · #14 01-19-2009, 11:32 AM

Gas going up?

All the pumps here are at an all time low. It's been ages since they where as low as 58.4c/l (Canada). Right now they are up at around 63c/l, But that is still is mighty low.

Jeff K · #15 01-19-2009, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderitter

Gaza - oil popped up over $50p/b when the bombs started and hence the rise. It's now back to $43 but I expect we'll need to wait a few weeks before that's reflected at the pumps.

Isn't it funny though how when the per barrel price goes UP, we see the increase almost instantaneously. If it goes down, it takes a few weeks to be reflected at the pump. My guess is that they're just waiting for some excuse to raise it even higher.

mkrtu9 · #16 01-19-2009, 06:54 PM

there is an excuse for everything when it comes to gas...haha

mike_v_s · #17 01-19-2009, 07:03 PM

Really, as a corporation whose sole purpose is to generate money, they don't need an excuse to raise prices. They can raise them as high as the market will bear (and further, but that would be a dumb business model).

What amazes me is the sense of entitlement everyone seems to have. Nobody owes you cheap gas. Ask Europe. I wish I could find a car that ran on "people bitching about the price of gas".

Mike

Thunderitter · #18 01-19-2009, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike_v_s

Really, as a corporation whose sole purpose is to generate money, they don't need an excuse to raise prices. They can raise them as high as the market will bear (and further, but that would be a dumb business model).

What amazes me is the sense of entitlement everyone seems to have. Nobody owes you cheap gas. Ask Europe. I wish I could find a car that ran on "people bitching about the price of gas".

Mike

What's interesting though is most of the cost of gas in Europe is tax!

cassanova · #19 01-19-2009, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geddyfleaharris

IMO there is no reason for gas prices to be rising at this time. Demand is weak because of it being the winter months and the world economy is crashing. Oil and gasoline supplies are stable. Yes there is fighting in the middle east but I don't think there are many oil wells in Gaza.

Once again, IMO, the oil companies are not making much if any money on a barrel of oil with a price point of between $35 to $40. I personnally believe they are trying to jack up their revenue and profits by charging as much as the market will stand on a gallon/litre of gasoline. In my part of the world we are paying $0.86/litre or about $3.01/U.S. gallon. The last time a barrel of oil was in the $35 range we were probably paying $0.20 or $0.25 less per litre. Some of the input costs the oil companies have to pay have certainly risen in the 5 years since oil was this low in price but I don't think that accounts for the price difference.

The oil companies basically do what they want and charge what they want. Very frustrating.

+1

Someone has to pay that $150,000 a day (thats right, a $150K a day) salary that the CEO of Exxon makes and since the oil companies know we need the oil they can more or less make the prices as high or low as they want.

T-Bird · #20 01-20-2009, 03:04 AM

Hi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thunderitter

What's interesting though is most of the cost of gas in Europe is tax!

It's been my understanding that it's the case everywhere, especially with the countries that rely on import only.

In the north, the roads also take HUGE amounts of money for the maintenance and still they're like CRAP.

The tax here in Finland is ~70%

Regards
Sam