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Its happened. I paid $4 for a gallon of gas today!

Started by action1kid,

161 posts in this topic

JazzMan

JazzMan

Posted
Posted

I drive a beamer and it takes only premium - I just paid $60 to fill up at $3.93 a gallon here in Seattle. Does everyone remember when diesel was like 50 cents a gallon just 10 years ago? Now it's more than $4.25 here! Ridiculous! :screwy:

 

I love driving my car, it's the reason I bought it in the first place, but 5 years ago when I got it and lived in Texas, I could still find 99 cent gas some times. :frustrated: I've been thinking of trading it in for a Prius and be like every other tree hugging Washingtonian around.

 

As an aside - Microsoft has many buildings here in Redmond where I work and employees typically travel from building to building for meetings and such. So they have a private shuttle fleet of Prius' zipping around all over the place.

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Calamerica

Calamerica

Posted
Posted
In no way am I defending the Oil/Gas companies

 

BUT

 

they provide us with the product we need: gasoline to keep the cars/trucks/whatever going.

 

The moderinzation of China and India is the real reason prices are rising - supply and demand.

 

China and India comprise of just over 50% the total world population and they are tired of walking/rickshaws... they earn money and they want modern transportation = motor vehicles.

 

Had China/India remained in the 1700's liek many pol pundits said, gas would be $1.00 a gallon.

 

Just m 2c

 

CAL who is driving less and less

 

Very true.... the price for comic supplies and sportscard supplies from China have nearly doubled from 2 years ago.

 

Jeff who is mad right now. :sumo:

 

lol over the post-ending style!!!

 

I LOVE it!!!

 

CAL lol

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trmoore54

trmoore54

Posted
Posted

My sad tale of woe...

Just finally paid $4.06 premium...4 cars, 2 premium and 2 the mid-level whatever that is, between unleaded and premium...5 drivers, 3 children drivers, 1 adult, 2 still non-adults...insurance close to 5 figures...no wonder I don't have enough surplus cash for comics...!!! :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated:

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Calamerica

Calamerica

Posted
Posted
My sad tale of woe...

Just finally paid $4.06 premium...4 cars, 2 premium and 2 the mid-level whatever that is, between unleaded and premium...5 drivers, 3 children drivers, 1 adult, 2 still non-adults...insurance close to 5 figures...no wonder I don't have enough surplus cash for comics...!!! :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated:

 

uh oh! Gotta change that!

 

Need extra for the comics!

 

CAL :hi:

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted

$3.47 near my house in south central brooklyn for regular. I don't bother with the premium stuff.

 

I've read there's a place in the 3.30s, but it's not worth the schlep.

 

My $3.47 guy will probably be in the $3.50s in the next couple of days though.

 

Out on Long Island I swear I saw $3.97 for regular, but that might have been full serve or something.

 

Thankfully we probably fill up only ever 3 weeks and my tank only holds about 12 gallons anyway.

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the blob

the blob

Posted
Posted

love driving my car, it's the reason I bought it in the first place, but 5 years ago when I got it and lived in Texas, I could still find 99 cent gas some times.

*********************

 

Don't want to be a nitpicker, but I don't think there has been any 99 cent gas in the last 5 years, that's 2003, post war in the middle east and such.

 

When Bush II was yelling about there being no energy policy in the Clinton administration in debates with Gore gas was at roughly $1.50 a gallon, give or take.

 

At some point in the mid-90s we had 99 cent gas, but, actually, that probably was too cheap. It basically wiped out domestic production because it was a money losing proposition to drill for it and pump it here at that price. Also destroyed incentives for fuel economy.

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Calamerica

Calamerica

Posted
Posted

People are going to HAVE TO start driving less.

 

Plan trips, consolidate when possible

 

and

 

CARPOOL

 

I know carpools are a pain in the arse but they should be back big time...

 

CAL doh!

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delekkerste

delekkerste

Posted
Posted
But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

 

Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from

the two biggest companies,

ESSO and SHELL.

 

If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.

If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

 

This is just so misguided, I don't know where to begin. First off, this is obviously just a stupid chain letter written by some nerd in his mother's basement and not by any former executive. Second, and more importantly, crude oil and gasoline are COMMODITIES, folks. By definition, commodity producers are PRICE TAKERS and cannot arbitrarily raise or lower prices - the notion that we could have a "price war" is idiotic.

 

Energy prices are determined on exchanges in the FREE MARKET. The people who participate in this price discovery process include oil companies, but, more often than not, they are SELLING futures to HEDGE the positions they amass through operating their businesses. Those who are buying futures (and, thus, pushing prices higher) include USERS of these commodities (e.g., airline and transportation companies, chemical companies, etc.) and investors/speculators (e.g., hedge funds, commodity index funds, investment banks, etc.)

 

For those who don't know, crude oil (the raw feedstock) is processed into various refined components, including gasoline (the finished product). The margin that refiners and integrated oil companies make from refining crude oil is called the "crack spread". The TRUTH is that, despite all the person_without_enough_empathying here about $4/gallon gasoline, crude oil prices are so high (due to global demand growth outstripping supply growth, but also due to huge speculative and index buying) that refining margins are VERY LOW right now, maybe not even high enough to cover costs in some cases. In fact, refining margins briefly went NEGATIVE recently before rebounding, meaning that oil companies were LOSING MONEY on every barrel of oil they processed. So much for "Big Oil" being able to control gasoline prices - that's just flat-out misinformation and populist propaganda.

 

In fact, a lot of refining companies like Tesoro are expected to report HUGE LOSSES for the first quarter when they announce earnings in the coming weeks (the stocks of all refining companies have been obliterated over the past few months). Major integrated oil companies with large refining operations (e.g., ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Marathon, Hess, etc.) are making big money because of their crude oil exposure, to be sure, but they, too, are reporting DISAPPOINTING results from their refining operations.

 

The fact of the matter is, GASOLINE PRICES ARE TOO LOW at the moment relative to where crude oil prices are. Also, prices are still low enough that aggregate demand has not fallen much, if at all, so it's stunting conservation and R&D efforts into alternative fuels as well.

 

By the way, if you guys want to read a great book on the energy crisis, check out "The Long Emergency" by James Howard Kunstler. I got Red Hook and some others to read it a couple of years ago when it first came out - it may have seemed alarmist and good for a chuckle at the time, but now with $117/barrel crude oil, who's laughing now? (shrug)

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grandz-migration

grandz-migration

Posted
Posted
People are going to HAVE TO start driving less.

 

Plan trips, consolidate when possible

 

and

 

CARPOOL

 

I know carpools are a pain in the arse but they should be back big time...

 

CAL doh!

 

I'd be happy if people would just drive 60 (people driving 55 is a pipe dream) and

use their turn signal, and not cut people off, and not come onto a freeway - then

speed-up.

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sckao

sckao

Posted
Posted

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind if gas was $5 a gallon. If that meant less people on the road, it'd be worth it. It costs over $9 roundtrip for BART into SF from the East Bay (the train). The Tolls are $4-5 for the bridges. Everything's expensive. (shrug)

 

(BTW, I used to own an all-electric Toyota RAV4, but hybrids seem to be the way to go.)

 

 

 

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mr.schomburg

mr.schomburg

Posted
Posted

I thought I read somewhere recently that Shell reported 400 billion profit for last quarter?? I don't remember where or if I have my facts right, but if so my guess it they are making a little bit, and could lower prices....but I am not savey in the way of oil manufacture and distribution.

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