Fuel price INSANITY!

[Pat Germain]

You make a very good point, Belinda. I'm wondering if oil companies indeed raise prices during natural disasters simply because they can, or if other factors are involved.

I'm going to research this.

[Pete Clifford]

Here in Canada, some cities have had significant price hikes based on the potential threat from Hurricane Ike. I find it hard to believe that our gasoline prices have anything to do with the Gulf Coast refineries, since we have Alberta and her refineries, as well as Ontario refineries. Current prices in my town are around $1.44 per litre, which works out to the equivalent of around $5.48 per gallon. We haven't seen $3.50 per gallon in a long time.

[Clifford Mescher]

"The answer to the first question is that over the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy. "
I would not kill the Golden Goose. Clifford

[Belinda Barfield]

I would not kill the Golden Goose. Clifford

Okay, so we can't kill him. Can we at least put him on a diet?

Diesel went up 0.30 overnight.

[Gary Garmar]

Me thinks you have your anger directed to the wrong perp. The majors are mostly (almost exclusively) on the procurement side of the equation, not on the retail end of things. The majors don't set the price of oil per barrel. In a way you do. The distributors and retailers are the ones who set the price of a gallon of gasoline. Just because a retailer carries the name of a major, doesn't mean that they are owned by that major. Just last month Conoco/Phillips announced that they were selling 600 of their stations, more to follow. Its such a complex situation, not a single entity to bare the blame.

[todd johnson]

Got a call form a guy at work yesterday morning right before I left. His daughter manages a shoppette on FT Campbell and told him that their gas was going to run out and that he should fill up. He called me to pass on the word. Yesterday morning at about 7:00 am, the local gas station was already out of the 87 octane. I filled up on 89 octane at about 3.53 a gallon. Don't know what the price is now. Hopefully I can hold out until the refineries get back online and the supply is reestablished.

[David Fairfield]

Well, look on the bright side, high gas prices are good for R & D and economy. I get about 40 mpg in my Civic Hybrid. Toyota has a 100mpg hybrid in the testing phase. BMW is testing a "water powered" car that converts water to hydrogen using a solar panel on the roof.

And check out the Tessla electric sports car. http://www.teslamotors.com/ I want one!

Dave

[Belinda Barfield]

Me thinks you have your anger directed to the wrong perp.

Gary, this didn't start out really with anger directed at one entity (or entities), just frustration with the situation. The discussion naturally took a turn toward the "big guys". I wasn't happy about the price increase, but expected it. The "insanity" came in with the response of people in the area to the increase, the long lines at the pumps, the ensuing arguments, etc., and even a panic on the part of some when the rumor about a pipeline rupture really took off.

It still seems wrong to me for whomever is in control to incresae prices during a disaster. I don't know what happened with prices in Texas when the evacuations started, but I can vouch for what happens here in such a case. Once there is even discussion of mandatory evacuations fuel prices start to rise. Many people don't have family or friends and are forced to stay in a hotel. That is a big expense for some. Then factor in the increase in fuel prices and evacuating becomes a hardship they just can't afford. I think increases would be a little easier to bear if prices actually dropped in such situations, and rose afterwards.

[Belinda Barfield]

Got a call form a guy at work yesterday morning right before I left. His daughter manages a shoppette on FT Campbell and told him that their gas was going to run out and that he should fill up. He called me to pass on the word. Yesterday morning at about 7:00 am, the local gas station was already out of the 87 octane. I filled up on 89 octane at about 3.53 a gallon. Don't know what the price is now. Hopefully I can hold out until the refineries get back online and the supply is reestablished.

I met a guy from Tennessee when I was filling up yesterday. He was about to get on the road for home when his wife called to tell him he better fuel up and get a spare can of gas because of the situation in the Carolinas. I'm sorry to hear that you guys are having this issue as well. I hope he got home okay.

[Jason Roehl]

Well, now we're up to $4.15...

[Derek Tuchscherer]

Hmmmmm...here in Saskatchewan we are supposedly in an "oil boom" and there is a major refinery right in my city, and yet because a hurricane "might" do damage to rigs andrefineries thousand of miles from me, our prices got hiked yesterday...to the point that I am now paying the equivalent of $5.51/US Gallon ($1.459/Litre)! I'll take all of your 3.XX and even 4.xx per gallon prices right now in a heartbeat!

[Neal Clayton]

Hello,
The price of crude dipped below $100 a barrel.
If figures they'd raise the price of gas.
Oil goes up - gas goes up.
Oil goes down - gas goes up.

Once - just once - I'd like to hear one of those #%*&$'s from an oil company just come out and say the price is going up - "because we can".

I've been hearing all these excuses for close to 38 years.
It's gotten real old.

Really - how can the price of crude oil drop 40% and the price of gas go up?

if only they would've broken up the oil companies from their refining businesses rather than ATT back in the 80s.

would've done us a much bigger favor.

[Casey Gooding]

$5.45 for Regular unleaded in Tallahassee last night.
What I'm sure people don't realize is that making the run on the gas stations and sucking it all up is what really caused the shortages and price hikes....not the hurricane.

[Belinda Barfield]

$5.45 for Regular unleaded in Tallahassee last night.
What I'm sure people don't realize is that making the run on the gas stations and sucking it all up is what really caused the shortages and price hikes....not the hurricane.

That's what we're hearing Casey. We hit $4.60 last night and I haven't been out yet this morning. According to the owner of a significant number of convenience stores in our area he just refilled his tanks and his cost, including all fees and taxes, was $5.07 per gallon. That's before he takes the hit for credit card fees. Refineries are supposed to be down for eight days or so, probably longer, and we're already seeing stations out of fuel.

http://savannahnow.com/node/573135

[SCOTT ANDREWS]

Plenty of fuel here in So. Cal.Where I live prices have dropped 9 cents per gallon in the last 2 days to 3.61 per gallon.