On the way home from pickin' up the wife I looked up to see what price Exxon had on their sign. My God, I nearly fell out of the car. It was $1.92 for regular. Hell, just last week at the same station I got the same gas for $1.84. What in heck is going on, that's .08 cent a gallon higher in a week. I think we need a good ol' fashion boycott on gas. For a week everyone that can needs to stay home and not drive. Unless you are in a job like LEO , Fire Dept. or work in a job that you can't miss then you should stay home and let em' keep their high priced gas. I know that's probably not the best idea but if someone has a better one I'd like to hear it. Something needs to be done and done fast. One thing that's really makin' me mad is that a big chunk of what we're paying at the pump is taxes. I think it's time for the damn government to cut some of the taxes on gas and give us a break.

Its upwards of $2.30/gal here in Seattle Metro areas...  Sucks big donkey balls.  Wheres that cheap gas we were accused of going to war over?????

When prices break, expect a "sneaking in" of increased gas taxes as they drop.

I've heard that a tremoundous spike in oil price indicates a depression is on it's way soon.  Dunno, but I hope thats wrong.

And the fuel companies are recording record profits...

Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes.

Quoted: And the fuel companies are recording record profits...

Correct! Exxon/Mobil is #2 in America for profits now. Makes you wonder.

On the Team Forum about a month ago, some guy asked what he should do with $7000 he just took out of a CD.  I advised him to buy at-the-money call options on unleaded gasoline, with a July or August expiration.

After giving him that advice, I did a paper trade about bought July 10000 calls @.1635.  Today's closing price is .3481, a 113% gain.

As for the price gains, a few months ago there were lots of articles about the Saudis and OPEC squeezing production.  Prince Abdullah made TWO trips to Russia last fall, I am sure they discussed oil production.  And China's becoming an ever-larger consumer of commodities, including gasoline.

2.06 for regular
this is killing me, we need to invade another oil country --------------

Here in Orange County they are stable if not down a bit.

What you need for a good comparison is cost per gallon before taxes.

But I've seen close to a 50 cents spread over a few miles.  The closer to freeway offramps and/or Disneyland the higher it gets.

Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes.

What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high?



This oughtta be good...

Basic economics....there is no price gouging going on....it's all the free market economy at work....sleeep...sleeeep...sleeep
Let's see here, this time last year prices went up because the fate of the oil fields in Iraq was in question.  We now control them and prices move to record levels.
I feel so sorry for the big oil companies.  How will they ever be able stay in business, they must be getting by on so little.  their CEOs probably have bus passes now and the lights are off in the offices etc...etc...

I'm still suprised that we're not seeing some tanker trucks getting hi-jacked. With prices like they are gas would make a criminal more money then drugs right now.

Quoted: Its upwards of $2.30/gal here in Seattle Metro areas

Dam, that sucks! Guess I really should not complain about $1.84 for the cheap stuff.

You know what would be terrible. If somebody forgot to remove the gas nozzel from their car's tank and drove away from each and every pump at a gas station where they are price gouging. Thank god for those break away hoses.

Quoted: Quoted: Basic economics....there is no price gouging going on....it's all the free market economy at work....sleeep...sleeeep...sleeep Hey!  We've got one here who can SEE! Now, what about Shell shutting down it's most profitable refinery, after claiming that refining capacity was driving prices, and then NOT allow anyone else to buy it?

Kinda makes you wonder doesn't it?

Quoted: Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes. What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high? This oughtta be good...

Think it through. Look at the per barrel price for crude (even given the media crap about OPEC supply) and then compare it with the current retail price per gallon for refined compared to historical numbers.

Look them up yourself, the internet makes it easy.

Where is the money going? Who's family (and friends) own those businesses?

Quoted: What in heck is going on with gas prices?

They are going up ?

Quoted: I'm still suprised that we're not seeing some tanker trucks getting hi-jacked. With prices like they are gas would make a criminal more money then drugs right now.

Yep, Looks like a Road Warrior future for us all.

The C in OPEC stands for CARTEL

Walk away, just walk away and no one has to die, just walk away.
That's about as close as I can get to what that goofey guy said in Mad Max.
If anyone has it word for word go a head and post it, I'd like to know what it is.

Quoted: Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes. What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high? This oughtta be good...

He could stop goverment stock pile buying and release some of the national reserves to lower prices. Its worked in the past to lower gas prices. The price eventually goes back up, just not back up as high as the original price. President Bush has already stated he will not do it. Why, his buddies are making record profits.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes. What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high? This oughtta be good... Think it through. Look at the per barrel price for crude (even given the media crap about OPEC supply) and then compare it with the current retail price per gallon for refined compared to historical numbers. Look them up yourself, the internet makes it easy. Where is the money going? Who's family (and friends) own those businesses?

I don't see an answer in that answer.  I asked what Bush is doing to keep the prices up.  I know that prices are higher.  What businesses do the Bush family own that they are making such big bucks off of high gas prices and what exactly is Bush doing to keep gas prices high?

The simple facts that OPEC has cut production AND some Asian countries (Japan/China) are buying MUCH more oil now than they ever have has nothing to do with the higher prices, I'm sure.  Not to mention the fact that SOME experts believe we have already gone past the point of "peak oil".  

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes. What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high? This oughtta be good... He could stop goverment stock pile buying and release some of the national reserves to lower prices. Its worked in the past to lower gas prices. The price eventually goes back up, just not back up as high as the original price. President Bush has already stated he will not do it. Why, his buddies are making record profits.

Ever think he's stock piling it because he knows something you don't and it's not all about him making a buck?

I saw a 20 cent jump at the station on the corner. it's a newly reopened station though and their prices flucuate like mad. it's possible that the low price I saw was them having a sale as I've seen tem drop prices 5 cents for half a day. but they normally have a sign up for that and they didn't when I saw the low price which then went up 20 cents to the high price I saw there a few days ago

Oil is selling for $41 a barrel. A year ago it was $23. Also, environmental NAZIs have managed to stop the building of new efficient refineries. Old refineries break down (often resulting in major fires). Had any oil refinery fires near you in the last year?

Something more is going on then we know at this point. I'd be willing to bet that something big is on the horizon, either they're about to introduce that hydrogen fuel cell car or they're trying to force everyone to give up their gas guzzling SUV's and buy Hibryd cars, but something more is going on, I can feel it. Prices going up like they've been doing just isn't normal, even for the greedy gas companies.

I am told you wish to take the gasoline out of the wasteland...You set out this morning to find a vehicle. A vehicle strong enough to haul that fat tank of gas ...There has been too much violence ... much pain. None here is without sin. But, I have an honourable compromise. Give me the gasoline and I'll spare your lives. Just walk away. I will give you safe passage in the wasteland ... Walk away and there will be an end to the horror ...

Quoted: Quoted: And the fuel companies are recording record profits... Correct! Exxon/Mobil is #2 in America for profits now. Makes you wonder.

I just read Toyota's profits are up 550% so far this year!

If that Prius wasn't so ugly, small, & underpowered I would get one to get that 60 mpg!

But I doubt it has room for a 6' 7", Homeland Defense Rifle Carrying, ARFCom surfin' Texan!

BigDozer66

LOL, thanks DarkStar, you da man.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Bush is taking care of the family fortune. Between their newfound super riches and the brothers breeding with hispanics expect a Bush as emperor of atzlan within our lifetimes. What exactly is Bush doing to keep the prices high? This oughtta be good... He could stop goverment stock pile buying and release some of the national reserves to lower prices. Its worked in the past to lower gas prices. The price eventually goes back up, just not back up as high as the original price. President Bush has already stated he will not do it. Why, his buddies are making record profits. Ever think he's stock piling it because he knows something you don't and it's not all about him making a buck?

Nope, hes a politician with a long history of ties to  big oil companies. Those same companies that are now making record profits.

Quoted: that's .08 cent a gallon higher in a week.

Sounds kinda mild to me.

I'm in the San Gabriel Valley area, 10 miles east of L.A. Kali-fornia, and I paid $2.17/gal 87 octane. Each grade up cost roughly 10¢ more.

You can thank your arab buddies in OPEC for your $50 fill up.

It's crazy, just crazy I tell ya'. Something is going to have to break, people can't keep paying as much for gas as they are. You can't make a living paying that much if you have to drive any amount of miles to work. What's even worst, not only is gas going up buy milk, eggs and meat have gone up a bunch too in the last few months. People are going to have to make more money and that'll snowball and make everything else go up, I'm not sure what the future holds but it's not looking too bright right now.

Quoted: this is killing me, we need to invade another oil country --------------

Venezuela.  It's closer and the women are prettier.

The sky is falling.

Quoted: this is killing me, we need to invade another oil country --------------

Venezuela.  It's closer and the women are prettier.  Soldiers would be fighting to get there.

NO, the sky isn't falling but prices are going up and that makes it hard for some people to make ends meet.  I've been out of work taking care of my mother ever since her stroke 3 years ago, my wifes income and what little bit that mom gets from social security(or insecurity) and her pention is all the money that we have coming in. Kind of a "fixed" income kind of deal. It's hard getting by on what we've got coming in and we drive a 4cyl. mini-van that gets 26-30MPG. I just can't see how someone with an SUV that gets 12-16MPG can afford to drive the darn thing.

Basic economics....[snip]....it's all the free market economy at work....sleeep...sleeeep...sleeep

Wake-up and tell me what free market economy traits that our US gasoline industry have?

Republicans take your money and give it to big business by letting them rape the public, democrates give your money to some guy laying on a couch all day by raping you for more taxes.  Either way, we're screwed.  

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119845,00.html

Crude Price Hits Record Price of $41 on Surging Oil Demand

Thursday, May 13, 2004

NEW YORK  — U.S. oil prices hit an all-time record high Thursday amid concerns over thin gasoline supplies ahead of peak demand driving season and tight global crude stocks.

 

Benchmark U.S. light crude futures for June delivery climbed to $41.17 a barrel in after hours trade -- the highest level since October 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. It settled the regular New York Mercantile Exchange (search) session up 31 cents to $41.08, while London Brent gained 54 cents at $38.49 a barrel.

Dealers said crude rally's was fueled in part by a rise in U.S. gasoline futures to a record $1.4015 a gallon hit in the regular session as dealers eyed a year-on-year supply shortfall in the run-up to vacation season.

The Memorial Day holiday weekend at the end of May marks the traditional start to U.S. summer driving season, when motorists take to the roads in greater numbers and account for roughly 12 percent of the world's oil consumption.

The worries over motor fuel come against the backdrop of robust global growth that is thinning available supply, continued turmoil in the Middle East and doubts about whether the OPEC cartel will cool off the sizzling market.

"This is not a spike in the oil price due to a single factor," said Paul Horsnell, an analyst with Barclays Capital.

"Indeed, given the erosion in spare oil production capacity, the loss of flexibility in first, U.S., and now, increasingly global refining, and the massive destabilization that has been created in the Middle East, $40 no longer looks at all outrageous," he said.

Analysts have said that instability in the Middle East and fears that a terror attack could disrupt oil flows from the world's leading oil producer Saudi Arabia had added a price premium of between $8 and $10 per barrel.

Allowing for inflation, prices are still only half of where they where during the oil price shock that followed the Iranian revolution in 1979.

World oil demand is proving far stronger than expected, thanks to booming economic growth, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. Incremental growth in fuel consumption this year looked set to hit a 16-year record, it said.

According to U.S. officials, the oil spike does not appear to have stunted that growth. Gregory Mankiw (search), the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, told Reuters the U.S. economy remained on track for a robust recovery and current oil prices did not pose a significant risk.

Saudi Arabia's attempt to cool prices by proposing an increase in OPEC supply quotas has yet to have any impact. Riyadh has already signed off on more supplies to U.S. and European customers in June.

"That suggests that there are some fairly powerful forces at work, and indeed the price response seems to represent the raising of a degree of scepticism about the ability of producers to counteract those forces," said Horsnell.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (search) will decide output policy on June 3 in Beirut after discussing options on the sidelines of a forum for petroleum producer and consumer countries in Amsterdam on May 22-24.

Already pumping more than 2 million barrels a day in excess of its official limits, traders say OPEC's proposed increase in quotas of at least 1.5 million bpd will do little more than legitimize existing production.

Spare capacity in OPEC is limited largely to Saudi Arabia, with some spare volume also available in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, analysts say, noting those three producers will need to open the taps to add real extra supplies.

Prices also found support for a fifth day from below-par Iraqi crude exports following a sabotage attack on a pipeline near the Gulf port of Basra, fueling jitters over the security of supply in the Middle East.

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119782,00.html

Riding out the Gas Spike

Wednesday, May 12, 2004
By Peter Van Doren and Jerry Taylor
With gasoline prices hovering around $2 a gallon, the blame game has begun and political partisans are looking to settle scores. As per usual, however, the political theatrics are drowning out the real but complicated story behind the price spike.

 

Rising crude oil prices explain some of the price increase. Since November, the price of West Texas crude has climbed $5.60 a barrel; translated into gasoline prices, that's about 13 cents per gallon.

But gas prices have jumped by more than twice that — by 29 cents per gallon.

The crude-price increase is not the result of production cutbacks. Despite OPEC's announced cuts, cartel production rose by about 1 million barrels a day since last year. Non-OPEC production is up another 1.5 million barrels a day.

But demand is increasing faster than production, particularly in China. Red-hot economic growth in Asia is driving the world crude market.

If we accept that about 13 cents of the price increase for a gallon of gas since November is because of surging demand for crude, that leaves 16 cents unaccounted for. Some of the price spike can be attributed to the temporary rise we see about this time every year, when refineries switch from making winter-time gas blends to more expensive but environmentally friendly summer blends.

Tight oil-refining capacity is also playing a role — not because environmentalists have shut the door on capacity expansions, but because demand for gasoline in the Far East is claiming almost all the previous unused capacity.

A tight market, however, means suppliers can charge more for gasoline. Profit margins in the refining sector are up, which means investment in new refining capacity will follow.

New environmental regulations, however, threaten to dampen the incentives to invest in new refining capacity for the American market. Of particular concern is a new federal rule that began to take effect this year requiring refineries to strip most of the sulfur out of gasoline (search). Retooling refineries to meet the new standard is a major one-time expense. Refineries in Europe and Japan have already done it to comply with similar regulatory standards. Many U.S. refineries will lay out the needed capital, but others are expected to simply close — and some already have.

Another Green hammer threatening the refining sector is the prohibition of MTBE (an oxygenate made from petroleum) that takes effect this year for gasoline sold in the California, New York and Connecticut markets.

The background: Federal law requires areas that are in violation of national clean air standards to use oxygenated fuel. Now that MTBE (search) is out of the picture, the only oxygenate left to those areas is ethanol (search). But ethanol costs more than MTBE-mixed fuel to make and transport; those costs will surely show up to some degree in gasoline prices this summer. Moreover, carving-up special gasoline regulations for different parts of the country increases the chance that unforeseen supply disruptions will send prices in those "island markets" soaring.

There's little we can do about world crude prices — and little we should do about the new sulfur rules. But the federal oxygenated-fuel requirement is another matter.

Before computer-controlled fuel-injection cars came along, the oxygenate rule did indeed reduce pollution. But 20 years later, the rule serves no environmental purpose. Instead, it is simply a welfare program for the Midwestern corn-based ethanol industry.

New York Gov. George Pataki has asked the EPA for a waiver of the oxygenate rule, but the EPA has not acted on his request. Not only should the EPA provide the waiver, Congress should scrap the oxygenate rule altogether.

That having been said, there's little else we can do but ride this price spike out. High prices will induce new supply faster than will governmental bureaucrats or politicians. There's no conspiracy afoot — just the periodic gyrations of Mr. Supply and Ms. Demand on the economic dance floor. Getting in their way will only prolong and worsen the spike.

Peter Van Doren is editor of Regulation magazine, published by the  Cato Institute. Jerry Taylor is Cato's director of natural resource studies.

Gas prices are futures driven.  Right now gas and oil futures are going thru the roof.  Gas and oil inventories are tight and even as prices go up demand is not falling off.  I am starting to think the people who predicted $3 gas last winter were right.

The good news is that sustained high oil prices make all sorts of oil supplies more economical.  There are all sorts of capped wells in the US and elsewhere because sub-$20 oil make them uneconomical.  Right now we are in a transitional period between when prices go up and additional supplies come to market.

GunLvr

Two days ago I saw a rig that can haul that tanker.

Quoted: I am told you wish to take the gasoline out of the wasteland...You set out this morning to find a vehicle. A vehicle strong enough to haul that fat tank of gas ...There has been too much violence ... much pain. None here is without sin. But, I have an honourable compromise. Give me the gasoline and I'll spare your lives. Just walk away. I will give you safe passage in the wasteland ... Walk away and there will be an end to the horror ...

Quoted: Every damn year people complain twice per summer about how high gas prices are.  Can you say summer holidays?  Prices always go way up when a holiday is coming up.  Then they go back down much slower.  Most people can't remember yesterday, so what prices they paid for gas last years is a distant non-memory.

Yup, every year. Now why isn't it that these brilliant economic giants don't make sure there is plenty of gas for those yearly peak times ?
Could it be because they make a shitload of cash off those times ?
Also, yes the price does go back down after peak use times but never back to what it was. Just back enough to quiet the sheeple untill next years increases.
BTW, how many people know how much of that $2.00 gallon of gas is taxes ?
Fed, state and local.  You would be surprised.

Is whatt we need to do is stop going to exxon stations. If nobody bought gas from them they would be forced to lower thier price,and hopefully so would everybody else.

<AustinPowers>We're getting screwed, baby!</AustinPowers>