Gas in your area.....

[Ira]

Cuz some people are to stuck on the political aspect of it because our president is a former oilman. That is just flat out ridiculous and doesn't have anything to do with it.

Well, I'm not in any way convinced that the Prez had any "evil" intentions against consumers regarding this, but I think it's fairly obvious where the loyalties are. I do believe that HE has a genuine belief that's what good for the oil companies is good for America.

I'm not even saying he's necessarily WRONG about this, but I think he believes it.

Let's not also forget that in his first term, when formulating energy policy, he at first didn't even want to reveal the participants of the "fact-finding" group he assembled, and I believe to this day, has yet to release the minutes of those meetings.

Might be wrong, that this info was later released, but he fought tooth and nail against it.

If it walks like a duck...

And Ham--YEAH! Fat jokes ARE funny! And liberalism has nothing to do with it!

[caseydog]

I happen to agree with Beachcamper on this one.

Where was the drilling many years ago when we should have. Instead they put a freeze on it. Where were the new refineries when we should have had them build... NOwhere cuz they put a freeze on them.

We should have planned for this many years ago when the economist told us to do it. We wouldn't be in the position we are now relying on the other countries to drill for us.

Instead now and then people complain about the rising prices and the money the oil companies are making... back then they didnt want them to drill because it would be more profits for the oil companies.... so lets put a strangle hold on them. NOT the right thing to do.

Since the gulf is opened up to start drilling the companies spend Bunches of money to get the rigs going and yes they make a profit but ya know what so do many other companies that I don't hear the complaints about. I can't have healthcare cuz its to dang expensive the dang health care companies are so dang greedy. But we don't hear anything about that like we do about the oil companies...why is that? Cuz some people are to stuck on the political aspect of it because our president is a former oilman. That is just flat out ridiculous and doesn't have anything to do with it.

Please show me evidence that we have enough oil in the US to satisfy our demend. I'd love to see it. Once again, I'm all for opening up land for drilling, but once again, if we put a oil well on EVERY square mile of US soil and US waters, we won't have enough to meet our demand. There just isn't enough here to meet our ever growing demand.

Here is where the oil is.



And, there is no "freeze" on Refineries. Oil companies have not felt that an investment in new refining facilities would be profitable, until recently, with demand and prices soaring. That was a business decision, not a government or other external "freeze". New polution control laws were blamed for a lot of this, but not so much by industry insiders -- it was mostly political pundits. The same pundits say that Oil companies have been chomping at the bit to drill in ANWR, but when oil prices were low for many years, drilling in ANWR would have been unprofitable. Why would an oil company spend $50 per barrel in exploration and production costs when oil was selling for $40 per barrel. It is VERY expensive to explore in ANWR.

This whole gas prices thing can NOT be blamed on greedy oil companies, although they are getting rich at our expence. And we can't pile all the blame on government, although that sure feels good for some people. It is a global market that is experiencing a huge increase in demand. In that last 40 years, the demand for oil in the US is up almost 80 percent, in during the same forty years, demand from China is up a whopping 3000 percent!


CD

[madjack]

as Casey said, it is a global market and the price of oil is not set by the oil companies, OPEC or the goverment directly...although their actions certainly drive prices...the day to day prices are set/driven by the perceptions and actions of speculators in the commodities market and not by the cost of getting the oil out of the ground and into your tank...of course these perceptions are driven by the actions of goverment, oil companies and groups such as OPECand you the consumer...it is all pretty complicated and the only effect we(the people) can have on price is thru conservation...or revolution!!!
madjack

[caseydog]

as Casey said, it is a global market and the price of oil is not set by the oil companies, OPEC or the goverment directly...although their actions certainly drive prices...the day to day prices are set/driven by the perceptions and actions of speculators in the commodities market and not by the cost of getting the oil out of the ground and into your tank...of course these perceptions are driven by the actions of goverment, oil companies and groups such as OPECand you the consumer...it is all pretty complicated and the only effect we(the people) can have on price is thru conservation...or revolution!!!
madjack

Good points, Mr. Madjack. Perhaps semi-madjack should be your real name.

The whole story would make a great movie -- a good "whodunnit".

Keep in mind that OPEC kept oil prices artificialy low for a long time. Why? Well, it's kind of like a crack dealer giving out free samples, in a way.

The US has been the number one consumer of oil, AKA "earl" here in Texas, for the last 40 or so years, and we used to be a pretty good producer. But, the oil we have NOW is harder to get to, and more expensive to bring out of the ground. OPEC knew this, and they also have a HUGE supply of EASY to extract oil. So, they could still make a profit with cut-rate prices, while squeezing US producers. It just wasn't profitable to drill here, when OPEC oil was so cheap.

At the same time, we American consumers had a field day on that cheap oil. We bought bigger cars and SUVs, we bought McMansions to live in, and didn't care how much energy we wasted. Hey, energy was dirt cheap, so why worry, eh?

Along comes China, and India with their industrial revolutions. Oooooo. OPEC likes that. Demand is going through the roof, and they have oil out tha wazzoo. And, we are STILL consuming oil like it's manna from heaven. Oh, yeah, who's your daddy? KaChing. Opec say, PRICE INCREASE, suckers!

So, what do we Americans do? We form a circular firing squad of "who's fault is it?"

Some blame the oil companies, but they are just doing what they do -- make money while the money making is good. Does anyone really expect Exxon/Mobil to pass up easy profits to help us poor consumers fill our Suburbans with gas? Puleeeese.

Some blame the government and its regulations, but regulations didn't make drilling here unprofitable, no matter what Rush Limbausgh says. Drilling screeched to a near halt because the profits weren't there. Only a fool would drill for oil if there ain't no money to be made.

Who do we NOT blame? Well, ourselves, of course. We waste energy like it's salt water at the beach. And now that oil costs what it SHOULD cost, we are shocked.

Man it sucks when the people to blame are staring at us in the mirror.

So, if you want to piss off OPEC and screw Big Oil, trade the Hummer in for a Corolla. Invest in some attic insulation and a few compact flourescent bulbs. In other words, stop buying the drug dealer's crack.

Okay, now I'll put on my flame suit and assume the position.

[Miriam C.]

Casey Dog you are soooooo right. My sister invested in oil spec. a bunch of years ago. Boy did she make the money for a long while.

My favorite way to express my feelings is to not buy gas on Sundays. Course I rarely go anywhere and then it is less than a few miles.

[Hamcan]

Caseydog, there should be no need for a flame suit, you nailed it, anyone still thinking there is another 50 yrs. of cheap oil available, from any source, is living in dreamland. There will be oil on the market for longer than 50 yrs. but it will never be cheap again.

JG

[fornesto]

$3.40 a gallon here....$3.25 if I search for it. Oil prices don't mean much to me because I don't drive a lot. My commute recently jumped from 0.6 miles to 12 miles each way. My sister commutes 50 miles each way. So many people think nothing of racking up 100+ miles per day in their car and at 15mpg (typical SUV), they're burning 6 gallons at $3+ a gallon and spending about 20 bucks a day on gas - more than on groceries, or electricity and gas, or about anything else. If that person bought a Corolla at 30 mpg, they would burn half that and spend 10 bucks a day on gas. If they bought a Prius at 45 mpg, they would be spending about 7 bucks a day on gas. If they took a job within 10 miles of their house, they would cut their consumption by 80% and burn 1.5 gallons/day and spend 5 bucks on gas each day. By changing your lifestyle and getting out of the car, you can save money and improve the quality of life. In short, I'm tired of people who commute 50 miles each way complaining about the price of gas. Around here, a lot of people commute 50 miles+ to San Jose because the jobs up there pay about 20-30% more than here.

[angib]

One twist on your description, caseydog, concerns oil exploitation (extracting stuff you know is there). I've worked on the fringes of several projects like this and the thing that amazes me is that the economic viability of a project always seems to be determined by today's oil price.

Of course any project is not going to deliver any oil for two to ten years, by which time the price is guaranteed to be different - though not necessarily higher, whatever people think. You'd think the oil companies would have some fancy graph showing what they think the price will be and use that to judge the viability of projects, but as far as I've seen they look up the spot price (the market price for a barrel of crude) in the newspaper!

But then I guess if they had a better idea of what was going to happen to the oil price in the future, they'd get out of the oil selling business and just concentrate in making a larger fortune in the oil futures market.

Andrew

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Northern California update....behind the Redwood Curtain.
Yesterdays prices were $3.39, $3.49 and $3.59 for Supreme.
My fill-up ran to $40 for a small car. People with big trucks sure must shudder when they top off their tanks!

TDN

[Podunkfla]

I kinda understand the high fuel prices what with the futures market and all... But I don't understand why in California gas is always $.50 higher than here? Who is getting that money?

[madjack]

BC...we used to stop in Ehrenburg(sp?) on I10 or Kingman on I40 before entering Ca...and hoped Banning was closed when we got there..we could usually make our runs to L.A. upto Salinas and back to Ontario before having to refuel...hit the Bingo there and headed East with enough fuel to get us outta the state and over to Vado N.M...
madjack

[SmokeyBob]

With the cost of fuel being higher than gas I don't see how truckers are making any money.

[madjack]

BC...I think the 76 is now a TA...some of my scariest memories delivering, are to Hunts Poin,t back in the early/mid 80s...before Guilianni became mayor and cleaned things up...
madjack

[Dixie Flyer]

Update ----Gas is now $2.89 in West Ga.

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Gas prices still top the nation's highest in these parts.....$3.75 was today's price for a fill up. And wait until Dean sees his gas bill after hauling his 'glass truck' to Shasta!


TDN