Well, I guess I can go back driving my diesel crew cab 4x4.................

FYP :D

LMAO

:( Sad but true.

An update...

"EIA projects a U.S. average retail price in the $2.90s during June and July, after averaging above $3.00 per gallon in May. This projection assumes no significant unplanned refinery outages or crude oil production losses.

Prices could rise back again above $3 per gallon in August, should demand at the end of summer surge, as it often does. Whether gasoline prices set a new record (in nominal dollars) next week is still in doubt. What is clearer is that gasoline prices are expected to remain at or close to $3 per gallon for much of the summer. Although many oil market analysts have talked about the potential for retail gasoline prices reaching $4 per gallon this summer, EIA does not expect the U.S. average price to get anywhere close to that level as long as the oil infrastructure remains largely unaffected this summer. This year is certainly shaping up to be one in which consumers will likely see high gasoline prices throughout the summer months."

Yay.

I underlined that for a very specific reason.

$4.00 is already here. It may reach $5 at this pace all the while the oil companies keep getting richer and the average American keeps getting bent over.

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/2...9KvWH1TxgDZw--

As I'm sure you know, $4.00 as a national average, not spot-pricing from California (I assume).

As I said, many things will need to happen in order for the national average to reach $4.00.

Average retail is now at $3.09, BTW.

Gas prices shot up again today in Iowa.

It's from 3.09 to 3.14 here in NW OKC. Yesterday was the first time I had seen three dollars a gallon. I have to get gas tomorrow...looks like my truck won't ever be full again.

I topped my truck off today. 3.19. $64.

My little shit hole town here in MO it went up .15 cents in one day. It is ****ing ridiculous.

You watch the oil companies will have record profits this quarter while the average American keeps getting screwed by these POS mother****ers.

Gas in Kansas City is .46 cents higher than this time last year (currently $3.13 average)....we're also now higher than the national average - normally we're around .10 cents under. :deevee:

http://kcgasprices.com/

Well, that depends on how much gasoline 'average Americans' buy this quarter, doesn't it?

Honestly, I would be surprised to see them make record profit this quarter. Crude isn't at extremely high levels.

You can thank that asshole that drove by me in the SuperMaxDuty Dodge Cummins Turbo F850 truck on the highway, repeatedly punching the gas to the floor.

Until you clowns adjust your driving habits and start buying vehicles that get more that 15mpg it's just going to keep going up.

The average I seen this weekend from Hutchison to Hugoton was $3.29. I did have to pay $3.39 out in BFE western Kansas.

What are the oil companies supposed to do? Intentionally make less money than they can? If I'm selling something on E-bay, should I put a price "ceiling" on it just so I won't feel bad about "screwing" the buyer?

I just can't believe how fast gas has gone up over the last few days. People really need to start convserving and driving less because IMO that is the only relief we are going to get. I wish Congress would put a temporary halt on the gas taxes but they want to spend money so that will never happen.

Anyways I know where I next war will come from and isn't Iran.

hickies will be making a comeback and
STDs will be going through the roof

I agree Simplex that is why I drive a Toyota Corolla that gets 35+ miles to the gallon.

Before we go to war for oil, we better damned sure be utilizing every bit of the oil we have right here in the USA.

They could, but I doubt they will unless it goes up considerably. I think the federal excise tax is $.183/gallon.

Actually, I think the next war could come against our refineries.

I agree but that will never happen

If I was a terrorist that would be the first place I would attempt to strike

the Amish could be setting on a goldmine
Elway should stop sellling furniture
and start pushing horse and buggies

Man, do you actually get 35+ or is that what it's rated at? I have a 2001 300M with a V6, even grannying it around I can't seem to get over 24mpg.

We can't do THAT! NIMBY!

:shake:

Why haven't domestic oil companies used some of their monster profits to fix up existing refineries, or even God forbid, open new ones? Wasn't it reported that America is running only in the 80% range with its own refineries?

If your E-Bay sales have a cascade effect on the rest of the economy, then it woud probably be a good idea.

LMAO

"sigh"

I think it is 32 in town\35 on highway

In this hypothetical example, it actually does. By charging more for my product, there will be an increased demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, thus lowering air pollution.

Why, when you can bring in record profits every year?

I'm sure all these people wanting the oil companies to charge less also work for businesses that charge far below what they can for their goods/services and do so simply because it's the right thing to do.

They would bring in record profits whether or not people conserved or not. They charge what they want because they can and their is basically nothing that can be done about it. The basic economic principles of supply and demand don't apply to them. It's the only industry where profit margin increases dramatically even when it's costs go up. Basically, oil companies are just fucking everyone in the ass because they can.

LMAO

Okay, so why do rates ever go down? Why don't the oil companies push it to $20 per gallon?

Ah oh, now we're ****ed.







I'm sure it's been discussed in the board rooms, but it was probably pretty hard to hear with all the greedy palms being rubbed together.

I think it is different when it is a utility company, and oil companies fit into that IMO.

I would also say that they have no real competition, because obviously the price in one company isn't holding down the price in the others, like what happened to long distance telephone companies in the 90's.

I wonder why the parts manufacturers haven't got into that kind of reasoning yet? Let's just limit the amount of parts we make until the price goes through the roof, and then clean up.

Hell, why not farmers? Gotta eat too. :hmmm:

Haven't you asked this question before and gotten the answer?

The reason that they've been making record profits is because their refining costs don't increase with the price of crude, which they don't control mind you.

Oh, and last I checked, their profit margins are still right around 10%

At this point, nobody in the general public cares about that little stat you like to bring out. If you can't understand that the petroleum industry and their rising price has more negative effect on the economy than any other industry out there, I can't help you. Nobody can.

The price of gas goes up, everything goes up.

Some things are more important than profit margins and 400 million retirement packages.

there are so many people who live on the edge
of their incomes -bought the bigger house -nicer car
people will be hurting quickly

I'll believe that when SUV sales start plummeting and people are trading them in for Civics and Corollas.

I only mention their profit margin when someone brings up oil company profits. It's just a fact. Sure, when they make a profit, it's huge because of the size of the market (you and me and everyone else that buys gasoline). But, there are plenty of other industries out there that make vastly higher PM.

I realize that high gasoline prices have an effect on most prices, thanks. Should the oil companies be selling gasoline below cost?

a Caddy Escalade would be nice
and it wouldn't have to be licensed
like I could afford to drive it

You have me confused with someone else. That is the first time I've asked that.

He asked a similar question, but he got the answer to that one as well in post #136.

Okay, that's certainly possible. I've answered that question multiple times in many threads. I think I answered it in this thread, too.

* EDIT - Post 104

Correct. There two reasons why the oil companies haven't built one: profit and red tape. A new refinery would be a huge capital expense. Sure, they presently have the cash, but realizing a profit from a new refinery would take years. Also, our government has made building (let alone getting one approved) a refinery an extremely painful process. Environmental regulations, politics, etc. Instead, they have chosen to expand existing refineries to meet demand (and import refined gasoline).

Sorry, for some reason I thought you had asked it before.

Thank you for checking, and thanks for the answer.

After giving it some thought, here's what I think -

I really do understand Economics 101, and I can't blame a single person for wanting to make money. If I were in a similar position, I'd want as much as I could get as well. The thing I'm hung up on is the fact that there is no viable mass produced energy alternative to gasoline. Knowing this, I think that the petroleum business needs some sort of regulation and oversight. Gasoline has become a necessity to modern day life much like electricity, and should be somehow regulated. But certainly, we can and should all try to adjust our lives accordingly to ease the stress of higher prices at the pump. There are few other products we know of that can have such a ripple effect on our economy and daily lives than gasoline and its cost. As it stands now, it seems petroleum companies have carte blanche to do as they wish with the prices when they want.

Thanks for your response.

However, I disagree about regulation. It was tried once before, and it was a VERY bad idea. Think about it: let's regulate pricing in the US on a product that is derived from a globally-traded commodity that we import a lot of... Don't forget that utilities generate their power mostly from coal, which we have plenty of. Besides, I'd rather there be no regulation of utilities either. But that's another discussion.

As to there not being an economically-viable alternative to gasoline, yes, that's true. There isn't. Gasoline is still, BY FAR, the most energy efficient and inexpensive method of powering our cars. Until that changes, I fear that the impetus to find the alternative will not happen.

And, to a certain extent, the oil companies ARE already regulated. Look at how many times the FTC has investigated (and I mean THOROUGHLY) them and found NO evidence of gouging or price fixing. None. They don't just pull a number out of their asses and "stick it to us." That's why I always bring up their profit margin. It varies between 8% and 10% That's not "excessive," IMO. The fact that their PM stays relatively constant tells me that aren't just raising prices "because they can."

I understand your frustration, but I'm still enough of a capitalist to accept that the oil companies are going to make profits when they can.

I'm just glad diesel is 30 cents cheaper per gallon than regular. I may be keeping my big truck afterall.

3.11 here in nkc, i dont remember it being this high...

i dunno...

just off the top of my head i would think that a nuclear power plant would make the best target...

even if the terrorists don't succeed in their attack, they still will have demonstrated that they can reach that kind of target and have the capacity to attack other nuclear plants as well...

forcing us to spend more billions "hardening" all the nuke plants...

just like we spent billions on airport security after we were attacked with our own planes on 9/11...

Gasoline and diesel refineries are much softer targets. Containment vessels at our nuclear plants are, well, rather strong.

you're right about refineries being softer targets and attacks on them would no doubt have a significant impact on our whole economy...

i guess i was referring to the "terror" part of terrorists' activities...

even though there might be neglible effect on a nuclear plant (because of the containment vessel), the mere fact that the terrrorists can reach those targets would cause us ordinary people a lot of worry about a potental release of radiation from damaged nuclear plants...

other targets make cause greater damage to the ecomony, but the fear of radiation contamination on a widespread scale causes a lot more, well terror, if you will...

Dumb, panicky animal syndrome?

It's virtually impossible to create a Chernobyl-like disaster in the United States, even intentionally. Our plants are vastly superior with regards to design and engineering.

I don't care about other industries profit margin, mmmkay?. Maybe you didn't understand that in my previous post. No other industry has such a negative effect on the economy than the oil industry with rising prices.

They have a long ways to go before they sell it below cost. About 125B worth before they hit that point from last year alone.

Really, because you only have a Conoco gas pipe running to your house? Congress would love nothing more than to prove the oil companies are colluding but they just can't seem to find any evidence.

ROFL

Put a couple of the oil companies out of business and see what happens to the price, dumbass.

ROFL

Last I looked, 125 Billion in profits doesn't put anybody out of business, dumbass.

Have you bothered to calculate their EXPENSES there Mr. "Oh their profits are high"? Yes, their profits are high, but at 10% margin their risk is astronomical.

Nobody else moves nearly as much product. Nobody else has so many eggs in one high risk basket. With incredibly slim margins like that all it takes is one bad day and they're in the red for months.

Once again, if this is such a lucrative deal and you're being f**ked so hardcore, go buy some stock and quit bitching.

Well, you should. How else can you judge the oil companies relative to other industries?

And, if you cared about profit margin, you'd know that, no, they don't have a long ways to go before they sell it below cost. Only about 10%

What drives me nuts is the inconsistency in prices throughout a city. Topeka is not very large and yet we will see $3.09 in one part of town and $3.39 just a few miles away for the same grade. If this were LA or NY or even KC I wouldn't say much about it but TOPEKA? I would think all the stations would be able to stay within say 10 cents of each other.

Has this been posted yet? I thought of using it for my avatar, but figured I’d share instead.

You’re welcome. ;)

We passed Peak light sweet crude a year ago. That means we have used more of it than what is left in the ground. The Saudi's are not increasing their output for one simple reason - they can't.

This explains everything that is happening right now. The news media is talking about how the US is having refining problems - that is true and untrue at the same time. If there was an ample supply of light sweet oil, there would not be a refining issue.

The US refiners are however trying to add equipment like mad to be able to refine heavy and sour grades of oil. The equipment is very expensive and cannot produce like a refinery running on LS feedstock.

Sour oil is high in sulfur and produces sulfuric acid during production it destroys equipment the faster you run the process. The harder you run these refineries the more fires and accidents you are going to have.

how 'bout 3 mile island?

and who you callin' dumb and panicky anyway?

well, one out of 2 ain't bad... :p :p :p

The problem with Nuke energy is ROI.

Forget waste, 3 mile island, etc., the fact of the matter is that it takes a nuke plant 15/20 years or so to pay off the initial investment. By then it is ready for decommission.

3 Mile Island was nothing compared to Chernobyl.

Probably already said, however......DO NOT buy gasoline tomorrow....They have been saying on all the radio stations to go with the emails you all got. People are pissed and time to act!

What is that going to accomplish?

If all people in all the states protest and not buy that speaks volume! Then write to your govenor and senate and ask them "What are you going to do about this"? Asking them prior to their new election...That speaks loud!

Are all you people actually going to skip a fill-up, or just delay it by a few days?

And, what do you expect/want the government to do?

<DIV>Just one day is all....You email your Govenor,

You can't be seriously trying to walk her through this are you? Don't you have better things to do, like an auto-vasectomy with a spork?

This is why I wonder why I come back here.

There are 230+ posts in this thread. If you would have read them you would have seen this very thing has been hashed and rehashed ad nauseam in this very thread.

It's been shown time and time again that the "gas out" won't work and it's been shown time and time again why govt. controls don't work.

So, you are going to delay filling up by one day, not skip an entire fill-up? In other words, you aren't going to reduce your demand at all?

Sorry, but that does absolutely nothing.

What am I supposed to email my governor about?

Eh, some of us prefer the cliff notes. I know I don't go all the way back and read all of long threads.