GAS...in your area again!!!

[Kens]

Went down a few pennies now I can find it for 3.25

[Leon]

At least when it goes up, I'm making money in the stock market

[bg]

$3.099 today, most places are $3.159

We have bulk tanks (buried) at work for the truck fleet, 100k+ gallons of diesel on hand, don't want to see that bill.

[angib]

It will only divert attention from the real problem and that is absolute greed.

I think the real problem is that we are reaching the point where oil demand is equalling oil production - there is some spare capacity in the system, but a lot of it is high-sulphur heavy crude that nobody wants very much.

This used to be a fringe view, but it's now becoming mainstream. Even Dick Cheney was saying it last week:

"High oil prices reflect primarily the reality of the marketplace," Cheney said in Iraq at the start of his trip. "There's just not a lot of excess capacity worldwide."

Today's price will no doubt seem quite reasonable in 5-10 years' time when there's only enough oil production to meet 90% of the demand and those willing to pay the most get that 90%.

I don't think there is a price that people won't pay for gas - they may buy less but they will still pay. Just come and look at what we Europeans buy at $8/gallon!

Andrew

[mikeschn]

At the rate Bernanke is pumping currency into the system, and the resultant inflation, we could be paying $8 sooner than you might think...

Just come and look at what we Europeans buy at $8/gallon!

Andrew

[caseydog]

It will only divert attention from the real problem and that is absolute greed.

I think the real problem is that we are reaching the point where oil demand is equalling oil production - there is some spare capacity in the system, but a lot of it is high-sulphur heavy crude that nobody wants very much.

This used to be a fringe view, but it's now becoming mainstream. Even Dick Cheney was saying it last week:

"High oil prices reflect primarily the reality of the marketplace," Cheney said in Iraq at the start of his trip. "There's just not a lot of excess capacity worldwide."

Today's price will no doubt seem quite reasonable in 5-10 years' time when there's only enough oil production to meet 90% of the demand and those willing to pay the most get that 90%.

I don't think there is a price that people won't pay for gas - they may buy less but they will still pay. Just come and look at what we Europeans buy at $8/gallon!

Andrew

I was on the same page, until you quoted Dick Cheney -- now I'm not sure.

The problem we have here that you don't have in Yurrip is massive urban sprawl with no mass transit to support it. In places like Dallas, most people live in the suburbs, and most of the major suburbs do not support DART, Dallas Area Rapid Transit. So, if gas prices double again, like they have since 2001 (hmmmm, who took over the white house in 2001???), people in the burbs may be willing to give up the daily drive for mass transit, but they will have to wait another ten years for it to be functional in the suburbs where they live.

London and Paris are huge cities, but you can get around without a car. New York is that way, too, but New York is an exception in the US. Most cities here don't have much, if any, real mass transit system. Certainly not like London or New York.

Another problem is that oil companies did not invest much in new refineries, until very recently. Older refineries can't refine the really "heavy" or "sour" crude that is cheaper, and found in some of the remaining new discoveries. The oil prices they report on the news everyday are for a particular grade of oil. A refiner can buy cheaper oil, but only if they can refine it.

Valero has a refinery in Corpus Christi that was designed and built to refine high-quality distillates from really low-grade crude. It was one of the first of it's kind back in the 1980s. When oil was $25 per barrel, that refinery had very little cost advantage. But with higher oil prices in general, there is a bigger price advantage to low grade crude, and Valero can make more profit from each barrel they refine at that refinery -- they could also sell gasoline at a lower price, but why, as long as demand allows them to sell it at a higher price.

CD

[Leon]

So, if gas prices double again, like they have since 2001 (hmmmm, who took over the white house in 2001???),.....

CD

Double? In early 2002 I was making weekly trips to Bakersfield, CA and was paying .99/gal on the south end of town. Now it's $3.57 at the same place. I wish my pay went up that fast!

[Miriam C.]

It will only divert attention from the real problem and that is absolute greed.

I think the real problem is that we are reaching the point where oil demand is equalling oil production - there is some spare capacity in the system, but a lot of it is high-sulphur heavy crude that nobody wants very much.

This used to be a fringe view, but it's now becoming mainstream. Even Dick Cheney was saying it last week:

"High oil prices reflect primarily the reality of the marketplace," Cheney said in Iraq at the start of his trip. "There's just not a lot of excess capacity worldwide."

Today's price will no doubt seem quite reasonable in 5-10 years' time when there's only enough oil production to meet 90% of the demand and those willing to pay the most get that 90%.

I don't think there is a price that people won't pay for gas - they may buy less but they will still pay. Just come and look at what we Europeans buy at $8/gallon!

Andrew

So that explains billions in profits and bonuses. So the less oil we have the more profit we make. Sorry dear, that sounds suspiciously like "blaming the victim" to me. Greed in it's purest form.

[LMarsh]

The CHEAPEST I can get it for is $3.31. Its been around $3.30 for months. Another reason I hate NY. When we went on our road trip across the country NY was the most expensive for gas. We didn't make it to CA, which I'm sure was a little higher, and FL was pretty high too I think. Otherwise it was cheaper in every state.

[Oregonian]

Andrew
I will go along with no truck strike, but where is it going to end. The people have to stand up and let those Greedie persons know what the general public will not put up with. If the people, as a whole, let those companies know what we are up against, and keep the pressure on, maybe something will happen. Now you find me 100,000,000 million people that will do anything. Everyone complains about the fuel prices, including myself, but no one does anything to slow it down. It is going to take at least that many to turn those people in the right direction. A hand full will not do it.
Am I wrong?????
Bruce JSC

[Miriam C.]

Bruce if everyone in the country or better yet the world would not buy gas on Sunday or any other day, as long as it is the same day you would send a rolling signal around the world that the days of extreme profiteering on the backs of working people is at an end.

Just one day every week!

The trucks can keep running and people keep eating but the greed gets a shock wave. That might work.

[angib]

....until you quoted Dick Cheney.....

Hey, be fair - I didn't quote "Dick Cheney" - I quoted "even Dick Cheney"....

Andrew

[Miriam C.]

....until you quoted Dick Cheney.....

Hey, be fair - I didn't quote "Dick Cheney" - I quoted "even Dick Cheney"....

Andrew

[caseydog]

It will only divert attention from the real problem and that is absolute greed.

I think the real problem is that we are reaching the point where oil demand is equalling oil production - there is some spare capacity in the system, but a lot of it is high-sulphur heavy crude that nobody wants very much.

This used to be a fringe view, but it's now becoming mainstream. Even Dick Cheney was saying it last week:

"High oil prices reflect primarily the reality of the marketplace," Cheney said in Iraq at the start of his trip. "There's just not a lot of excess capacity worldwide."

Today's price will no doubt seem quite reasonable in 5-10 years' time when there's only enough oil production to meet 90% of the demand and those willing to pay the most get that 90%.

I don't think there is a price that people won't pay for gas - they may buy less but they will still pay. Just come and look at what we Europeans buy at $8/gallon!

Andrew

So that explains billions in profits and bonuses. So the less oil we have the more profit we make. Sorry dear, that sounds suspiciously like "blaming the victim" to me. Greed in it's purest form.

The free market giveth, and the free market taketh away.

BTW, if ExxonMobil were losing money, the CEO would still be taking home millions. That's the reality of modern American capitalism.

Another reality -- when we continue to buy big, gas-guzzling SUVs and Pickups, we are "enablers."

They make money off of us because we let them. We want what we want, and they take advantage of us.

Yes, they are greedy. I agree 100-percent with that. But, there is also no doubt that oil USED TO BE more plentiful than demand. But now, the reality is that the demand is quickly outpacing supply. That makes the greedy happy, because it makes what they have more valuable.

Reality 101 for the rest of MY life is this: Oil ain't getting any more plentiful. So, I can wish things were like they used to be, or I can adapt.

As for me, I am an optimist, believe it or not. I believe we CAN develop ways to live a great life, and not use so much oil. I'm a car nut, but I don't believe we will have to all drive tiny, unsafe tin cans in the future.

In 1976, I was driving a Pontiac GTO, with a 400 CI (6.6 litre) V8. In 2006, I was driving a 2001 Audi with a 1.8 litre four cylinder engine that was quicker, faster, safer and would run circles around my GTO in any kind of race. The GTO got 8 MPG, the Audi got 24 MPG.

I remember during the last gas crisis in 1979, I was one of the millions of Americans who was certain that we would all have to drive tiny, unsafe tin cans with tiny engines with no power, because of government regulations that were taking away our big-engined, heavy metal cars. Boy, was I wrong. I learned from that lesson.

The same exact talk is going on right now. Fool me once... well, you know the rest.

The future of the automobile will be whatever we DEMAND it to be. If we keep hoping for gasoline to be a buck-fifty again, the automobile will stay just like it is.

Hey, I get 100-percent of my income from the automobile. The only thing that worries me are people (and auto companies) who can't look forward.

CD

[Nitetimes]

Bruce if everyone in the country or better yet the world would not buy gas on Sunday or any other day, as long as it is the same day you would send a rolling signal around the world that the days of extreme profiteering on the backs of working people is at an end.

Just one day every week!
That might work.

Nope, won't do a thing. This logic has been floating around for years, the flaw in it is that people just buy the gas they would have bought that day on another day. You actually have to quit using gas and a significant amount, not a couple of gallons a week. And even at that you need to get a very large portion of the population to do it, not likely to happen. Nobody wants to stay home, they run out for everything they think of instead of combing trips.