Who has what theory about the current price of fuel. I have been thinking of taking advantage of it and buying a bunch. It would all be winter grade, though, unless I had a secondary container for just summer.

My thoughts on the cheap gas is that the people in control (ie: govt, opec, etc) are driving down the costs to make the general public forget about the keystone pipeline.

Why not simply buy some ETF's linked to gasoline?

Buy and sell at will.

How would you store any quantity of gas to make a difference in your life if let's say it went up $1?

Holding ETF's, usually the price delta is multiplied by 2, good and bad, so you have some volatility to work with.

If I hadn't already lost my ass with them due to not paying any attention, I'd be buying right now!  

I still might!  

Of course bitcoins might be a better investment...  

Make sure you rotate it.

Depends what you mean by "make a difference"...

First we will make a couple assumptions. #1 You have a place to store gas (not the vessels, but a physical place to put a storage vessel), #2 your storage vessels and methods will assure long-term stability of the fuel (at least a year, if not 2 or 3 years), #3 You can utilize the fuel within the shelf-life time-frame, #4 You can afford to stock up now without putting yourself in financial jeopardy.

At $1/gallon cost savings you can have over 50% of an off-the shelf gas can paid for simply by buying fuel now and using it later when the price is higher. A 55 gallon used oil drum costs ~$10 in my area, you will save $55 by buying gas now and storing it in the drum. A 1,000 gallon fuel tank (not necessarily rated to store fuel under pressure for long-term stability) would net you $1,000 towards the purchase of said vessel and you will have it to use forever. Of course, you could also made your own storage vessel if you have the capability to weld. The raw materials to make a square/rectangular shaped vessel would cost about the same as your cost-savings, you just have to put the time in and you will then have the vessel forever to come.

Of course those are just a few of the scenarios that are rolling around in my mind as possibilities. For me, I have access to free used oil drums (new, clean oil), wherein I know what they contained and how they've been handled, I have no qualms about storing gas in them, and that is what I'm doing. I've been setting back about 25-50 gallons a month (dollar cost averaging the prices) for several months now. I just topped off my latest barrel this week and I'm waiting on another one. I have about 30 gallons of open storage space to pick up a little more gas but then I'm at the hands of waiting for the next barrel to become available. Once prices start to get back "up there" or the time-frame starts to exceed what I think is reasonable storage I will test open the first stored barrel and test it to see how the gas is working out in storage.

If you have a place to keep barrels out of the elements and you have a source for them, I suggest that it may be a worthwhile approach to storing gas. Gas should keep for a LONG time in a sealed drum.

I think of storing a few barrels ---as an investment, Recreational Fuel Storage Investing ---don't get me wrong, that's a GOOD THANG and I've done it in the past.

As well as being FUN and makes one feel like they're doing something.



[Missed out on the great prices when we replenished this year  



But the logistics of serious fuel storage, for me ---even with the location to put it and $10 barrels, pales in comparison to a phone call and the availability of ETF's ---that would be far more efficient.


I know whatcha all are thinking, ETF is just a piece of paper [or bits in a server somewhere's] and worthless until you sell it ---for possibly worthless dollars.



Well I wouldn't recommend buying P-M ETF's UNLESS you are ACTIVELY trading them...

But holding excess to needs physical fuel... Meh, unless you think the world is ending tomorrow...  

Last heard, it was OPEC trying to drive oil below $60 a barrel to put north american operations out of business.

This. The Saudis are lowering their prices to push the US out of the oil market. IF they are successful, expect those prices to go back up again.

I wasn't saying your ETF suggestion was out of place, it's definitely a worthwhile mention. But I don't think that is what the OP was going for.

I think he is thinking more along the lines of: Most preppers store fuel on some level; fuel is really cheap right now, who is investing in storing some fuel?

In my opinion, storing fuel now, even as an "investment" isn't really an investment to grow financial wealth, it's a way to invest in your fuel storage capability, pump up your fuel stocks, and come in somewhere near the "break-even" point when it's all said and done. The "gain" or "growth" in your investment isn't financial, it's what happened to your fuel storage capacity if you chose to invest in more capacity with the idea of that investment paying off later when gas prices are back up there.

IE, for anybody that is really wanting to increase their fuel storage capacity, now is the time because the cost savings on the fuel you can store will in some cases pay for the fuel storage vessels and still save you a little money...

Well, what I was getting at is that I have plenty of room and lots of old 100 pound propane cylinders to store fuel.

I've heard this stuff is great for long term storage. People have even claimed that using it on old fuel will return it to a fresh state.

PRI-G

Why not get a little bit now and a little bit later too? That way you end up with a little of each?

If it really is OPEC driving the markets to try to put a stop to the US oil producers then it's going to be a while before they accomplish that. They may slow down the drilling, but the wells that are already there aren't going anywhere... I think it's safe to say that you can wait until spring to stock up on summer blend.

For those who have not done so, play in the tacked thread about fuel cans and also run some searches on this site about fuel storage.  And a google image search of fuel storage will turn up a lot of various pics.



Also go ahead and research laws and regs and darwin awards for storing x amount of fuel.



Now is a good time for people with empty fuel jugs to fill them.  Now is a good time for someone wondering about buying some of the nato cans to buy em and fill em.  Sure fuel might still go down some more, but this is the time where people who have run stuff empty and could not afford to refill need to go ahead and refill stuff, or get it and fill it for the first time.



I don't get upset with summer and winter blend all that much, in small quantities that I store it will be mixed with fuel at the pump as it gets rotated and if I can't get fuel at the pump I will be happy to have anything even if the vehicle says "hey, this is winter gas and it is summer."  



Now adding on storage, depends on if you have the space and ability to do it safely.  



I don't see an issue doing it now.  I see threads where gas is 1.55 in st louis or somewhere and I just paid 1.95 while about 25 miles from home visiting my uncle yesterday.  So sure, the price should come down some more but I doubt it will really drop a ton more and I can travel to find it a bit cheaper I expect.  



Biggest thing is to make sure your storage vessel is in good shape and not going to hurt the fuel with contaminents or let it evaporate.



I see the fuel I have on hand as being like a silver coin in hand.  It is in hand for a reason.  And really I place fuel in the area of food on hand, silver coins are cool but I need so much other stuff I don't have many on hand.



If I really thought fuel was going to go bonkers then yeah trying to figure out where to put some money in the market to take advantage of that is the approach for if things don't go bad.



People have to also say what they consider a whole lot.



having a dozen 5 gallon cans is no biggy to me.  I live rural and with 3 street legal vehicles and a 4 wheeler and a riding mower and all sorts of other stuff that fuel would not really go that far in normal life.



Having a few drums of fuel added in sounds good, but once again with normal life a daily driver going to work 5 days a week will chew up several drums of fuel for many folks.



Get into the farm storage stuff with 250 gallon tanks or whatever and still having the drums and nato cans and maybe we are getting to where someone has fuel for a fair bit.



I look at a 1k gallon propane tank as being a couple winters worth of propane.



It is hard for me to store a couple winters worth of gasoline.



I no longer own a diesel so I did not get into diesel.



I have some tanks I need to clean up and get settled in place and I will up what I have for fuel on hand.



But if I fill up all my vehicles, those fuel tanks hold a lot of fuel as well.



I know people before were unable to fill some of the tanks on stuff, like the burbans and big trucks people were not driving much due to fuel cost and mileage.  And this is local folks, not people on here so don't take it personally.



They need to start by filling the tanks up on their vehicles.  Then filling up gas cans they have sitting empty.



One fella wanted to really store a ton, but honestly he needs to fill all the barely running vehicles he has I think.  Most will run with a little work and with his family size they need a bunch of vehicles anyway.  No cost on buying storage containers if you use what you already have.

Ya know, if you want to store gas for long time, prepping for some kind of SHTF, I'd say go for it.

We may never see gas prices lower in our lifetime.

Be sure to put some mineral spirits in it to make it last longer.  

People on the internet can say anything they want; that doesn't make it true. Without trying to de-rail this thread I'll keep this short.

I'm in no way bad-mouthing PRI-G, but it's very hard to return a fuel to a "fresh state" if it's non-fresh state is due to volatile compounds evaporating off (one of the most common reasons fuel isn't "fresh"). Fuel additives do very little in the grand-scheme of things. Your money would be much better spent on proper storage vessels.

This ^^^ I figured my annual fuel consumption to be ~1,000 gallons. We live rural, I drive 40 miles round-trip to work, my wife drives 25 miles round-trip. 30 miles round-trip to town for grocery, goods, etc and all of the sudden a few drums of fuel won't last all that long if something did happen.

Hey Rat, look around for some cheap used propane tanks in the 120 gallon size, they'd likely be clean inside and would be more robust than the ordinary 'fuel oil' tanks.

I think I will do that too.

Also, I'd put some pressure relief mechanism on them...

If only a thinned out white PVC plug.

Actually I've heard it come from two people mouths while they stood in front of me. I'll try and quote them the best I can: "I ran some of my stored fuel in my truck (1 year in storage) and the damn thing ran like it was out of gas. So I left some of that PRI in there for a couple days and refilled and she purred like a kitten."

I believe he put in about a 1/4 tank each time.

But hey, this is America, you have your opinion!

I've got access to a dozen or so 100 pound propane cylinders that are not good enough for propane anymore for free. Family used to own a propane delivery service. I have found each one holds about 25 gallons or so.

 

Oil prices will be low for around 2 years this comes from where I work. But almost any thing can drive it back up! And the talk of new taxes on gas while the price is so low!    Gary

good time to put in  A 500 gallon steel tank,  and pump.

Exactly, the cost to most folks to get set up to store a few hundred gallons, unless they already have a line on inexpensive storage equipment, sort of washes out the buck 50 or $2 gas per gallon cost saving.

I.e., spend $3500 for a tank to store 1000 gallons, doesn't make sense. If you planned to store 1000 gallons in the first place, then the extra $1.50 per gallon likely wouldn't have changed your life.

If it would have, then the Prepper likely didn't have the discretionary $$$ to put the storage facility in ---in the first place.

Also think how much all the snake oil you'll have to pour into the fuel would cost  


The low cost of gas now certainly is an advantage if one choses to store it, but likely isn't a reason to start if there wasn't already intention to do so.


This OVERREACTION to fuel prices isn't much different...

Than Preppers OVERREACTION to:

Ebola ---does anyone remember that PANIC a few months ago????????

Folks wouldn't fly, travel, pulling the trigger to lock down in their houses...

Not counting all the runs on DUCT TAPE to seal up their windows for Heaven's sakes...

Oh yeah the thread abt the best long range rifle to deal with infected Ebola Zoombies...




EMP

Plus all the rest of the PREPPER PANICS?


Prepper Chumps never seem to learn ANYTHING


Next thing somebuddy will be posting a thread about ---now there's cheap gas...

"Witch GAS GUZZLER makes the best GGBOV"

[gas guzzler bug out vehicle]





How abt 'witch round is the best for SHTF now that gas is cheap?'"

May I suggest that before you start making blanket statements like this you do a bit of research into the topic you're discussing. You can buy a brand new 1,000 gal. skid-mounted fuel storage tank for just north of $1,000. Look for used and you can probably get one under $1,000. Even if it "washes out" and "they" had no intention of storing fuel later on, the tank could be sold later which would take that from a "wash-out" to a "financial savings"... and in the meantime the person had some pretty good fuel stores...



I see you have one of those fancy high-horses too...

Because somebody else's prep style doesn't match your own they're a chump? Interesting vantage point.... from your high-horse...

Storing large amounts of gas, what could go wrong?

Boy, who pissed in your cheerios?

 

Reading comprehension is everything Rat...  

I also said...

"The low cost of gas now certainly is an advantage if one choses to store it, but likely isn't a reason to start if there wasn't already intention to do so."

You obviously HAD an intention to do so, and I've got no issue with folks storing it. We have done so too, to a very limited degree, and we missed the price drop.

The only problem I see storing LARGE QTYS of fuel, in above ground tanks...

Is the exposure to various threats in the event of a real SHTF.

Then if SHTF bad enuf, folks will likely target your tank, even a few years ago when fuel prices went up, I remember along I5 in CA, farmers were having a lot of trouble with theft of fuel.

Storing large qtys of fuel poses risks from disgruntled or plain evil dishonest folks to mess with it, either steal it or burn it -if they can't have it, some will think you shouldn't either.


Storing fuel like you do in smaller containers that can be distributed around, like the 100 pound propane cylinders, makes far more sense to me, if it's being stored for a SHTF.

Basically, I never liked putting all my eggs in the same LARGE barrel.  

Since Snake-bil is a petroleum based product, maybe the price will go down, too.


Getting started is the hard part.  Paying for a container and then filling it the first time is less tough/painful now. We may bump up another 5 gallons in one gallon size so my wife can top off the generator a little easier if I'm on the road. After the initial pain, rotating and refilling a gas can costs nothing.  

If this was a predictable, seasonal cycle where the cost of gasoline went down significantly every winter, you could make an argument for stocking up every year and using the stores as gas went higher. Then you would refill your containers again when gas was cheap.  I see some people do that with propane.

If not seasonal, then I don't see the point. When you use this fuel, you will probably want to replace it. You will have to replace it at current market price.  So,  you pour your cheap gas into your car, then you refill up your cans with the gas at current market prices.  What's the cost difference between just filling your tank and refilling those cans- nothing.

So as mentioned, it's a good time to increase your rotation stores of gas because of the lower cost. But between the cost of the container and the risk associated with holding large amounts I can't see it making a significant difference from a financial perspective.

I have enough room for a couple 55 gallon drums. I won't store it more than a year. I'm not trying to store for a whole year of use but to have lots of run time on my generator. I could pull water up from my well for years with my generator on 55 gallons. Today would be a good day to go fill a few cans.

I have several 2 gallon cans for my wife.

why don't you guys skip the storing part and just enter into a futures contract with the guy you know at the gas station?

"hi mr gas station owner that i have known for 15 years.  i would be willing to pay $2.00/gallon now for a 500 gallon on-on demand, partial delivery contract, good for one year.  
that is, you get $1000 today and i get 500 gallons of gas for $2.00/gallon any time within the next year.  at today's pump price, i am paying you a premium of $0.10/gal for storage."

ar-jedi

You don't own it in a survival situation if you don't have it in hand.

C&P from page one of this topic...

i've cut and pasted the OP's OP below.
where does it say "survival situation"?  
it sure sounds like an "economic situation".



ar-jedi

http://www.mygallons.com/



good luck. as they say, "your mileage may vary..."

ar-jedi

Survival discussions.