Fuel prices! - Here we go again!

[mainer]

skobylenski - If I catch a boatload of lobsters on Monday, hold on to them until Friday, and in the meantime the price of lobsters goes up, do you think I should then sell them for the lower price that existed the day I caught them, or get what they're presently worth? What would you do? Conversely, if a fuel dealer has a tank full of #2 that cost him $1. 25 per gallon, and the price goes down to $1. 10, should he lower his price and lose money? What would you do?



Diesel here - $1. 65 to $1. 80 / gallon; I'm now driving my 21mpg Bronco II for $1. 67 per gallon of gas. THAT'LL SHOW 'EM!

 

[Okie-Go]

I paid 1. 52 today. that is about 3 miles or less where diesel is made at teh refinery. Regular gas was 1. 47

 

[dseabaugh]

I've about had it with the fuel prices. This morning crude oil almost made $36. 00 a barrel then backed off. Tonights news said we may be seeing $3. 00 per gallon gasoline this summer. Give me a break. Iraq was only allowed to sell oil for food and medicine before the war. since the war what has changed? They are not part of the picture nor have been. It is all hype and speculation. Higher prices will cause the economy to fall on its face!! There is getting to be a LOT of 95, 96, 97 dually, 4 door cab, 454 , 5 mile per gallon gas chevy ( and ford for that matter) trucks for sale now. Already costs too much to drive them. Glad I got rid of mine years ago.

 

[DOWG]

Why begrudge a company, or a man for that matter, making a profit for taking a risk to manufacture or produce a product (oil) needed by virtually everyone on the planet? All of us work somewhere to make a living; if the public doesn't like the prices for your product or service, they can go elsewhere.



Did you know that recently congress looked into the oil company "conspiracy" for price gouging and stopped the hearings when they found out the real cause of price increases were due to the 50+ different congress mandated gasoline formulations used in this country were causing production shortages and price increases?



If you new how much it really cost to manufacture that aftermarket high dollar stereo installed in your CTD versus what you paid for it, you would forget all about fuel prices.



Oil prices are really no different than any other product produced and sold; it is just a hot button because you pay for it everyday.



There is plenty of oil to last all of us the rest of our lives; there is a production shortage. Not enough wells being drilled and recently, China has discovered the automobile and is now second behind the United States in oil consumption.



You want to see higher prices? Let the environmental wackos have their way.



Why is a bottle of water a dollar? Why do you pay it? If you can't make it, or produce it yourself, you gotta buy it from somebody else.



Now, I gotta go to work. I am getting ready to drive 250 miles to one of my oil wells. I am going to spend around $75,000 for scheduled maintenance to maintain the production and there is no warranty on the work performed "I am my own warranty station". Oil & gas feeds my family and pays my taxes and has done so for twenty-five years. There is no conspiracy, there is lots of risk. My wells incur the same costs as major oil companies and I get paid the same price for my oil; in fact Sunnoco buys my oil.



The market sets the price of oil; remember $10 a barrel just a few years ago? I do, because it affected my paycheck. Big oil conspiracy? Let me in on it so I can get rich!

 

[DOWG]

One other thing. For every barrels of oil Iraq sells on the market, Saudia Arabia takes one off. They are crazy, but not stupid. The Bush administration never said that "liberating" Iraqi oil production would lower prices.



Good article to read: do a search for "The end of cheap oil. "

 

[hammersley]

skobylenski - If I catch a boatload of lobsters on Monday, hold on to them until Friday, and in the meantime the price of lobsters goes up, do you think I should then sell them for the lower price that existed the day I caught them, or get what they're presently worth? What would you do? Conversely, if a fuel dealer has a tank full of #2 that cost him $1. 25 per gallon, and the price goes down to $1. 10, should he lower his price and lose money? What would you do?



The Station Owner DOES make a killing on raising fuel costs! They do in fact get more cash for a product in their tanks that didn't cost anymore, when the cost went up. This is unregulated. AND no SMART STATION OWNER - is going to DROP the price below what he paid UNTIL all that more expensive fuel is gone.

 

[mainer]

Hammersly - My point exactly. I agree, afterall isn't that guy in business to MAKE MONEY? I don't catch lobsters for the fun of it anymore than the fuel dealer sells his product for fun. If I want to have fun and lose money, I'll go deer hunting or something. I think DOWG also made some very valid points. I doubt anybody is going to want to assume his financial exposure, which appears to be considerable, on a well that goes dry.

 

[hammersley]

Yes - but what I'd like to see is an HONEST

assessment of costs NOT CREATIVE ACCOUNTING! The media are such fools that they go to the oil folks to get answere to who's watching the chicken coop? Oh Yes I know they're th eexperts aren't they? If one thinks these folks aren't GOUGING - then I've got some land for you... I Think that we should Bill The Oil companies for saving their butt in the middle east... ... ... . OH But that wouldn't work either, they'd just double that amount and pass it on to us suckers! Where's the 55 gallon drum of VASOLINE!

 

[cArNiVaLwOrKeR]

Just use Red, It's cheaper and better for your Rig...

Just dont get caught

 

[Crunch]

Big "NO!" on the stop driving jive...

Originally posted by DEickhoff

There is but one way to lower the fuel prices and it means a huge sacriface on everyones part (which is why it will never work).



STOP DRIVING!!! (yes I was shouting). If everyone stopped driving and did not purchase fuel the big oil companies (that is who we are lining the pockets of) would begin to drop prices (supply/demand).

Well, that's one way. We could all get up a few hours earlier and ride with the smelly people on the public transit system, or make several trips to the grocery store for out weekly shopping. But that option is kind of tough when your out in East BF, Idaho.



Another way would be to fast-track the construction of new refineries and remove the obstacles oil companies face when they want to drill for oil. And yes, I mean ANWAR. Yes, I mean in the Gulf of Tex--er, Mexico. And yes, I mean off the coast of California. Pump it out and we will burn it. Also, get rid of the hodge-podge of gas formulations that are mandated by law. A few years ago MTBE was the savior of the environment. Now it's the villain.



In reality, the only way to get gas/fuel prices down is to increase the ratio of supply to demand to the point where prices fall naturally. I remember how quickly the gas fell when Reagan deregulated some of the industry. I also remember how quickly they rose in the days after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and how quicly they fell again after we waxed some hiney in `91. In short, government meddling with me and my fuel: Bad. Free market determining how energy is produced: Good.

 

[Crunch]

Originally posted by hammersley

The Station Owner DOES make a killing on raising fuel costs! They do in fact get more cash for a product in their tanks that didn't cost anymore, when the cost went up. This is unregulated. AND no SMART STATION OWNER - is going to DROP the price below what he paid UNTIL all that more expensive fuel is gone.

Guess what? Some station owners actually lose money on their gas by selling it for a penny or so below cost. They make their money when you come in to pay for your gas and buy cigarettes, beer and snacks at inflated convenience store prices.



Economist Walter Williams also illustrated the gas price fluxuations very well a few years ago. Let's say a station owner buys 1000 gallons of gas for $1. 50/gal, or $1500. He sells it for $1. 60/gal, thereby grossing $1600 and making a profit of $100. Out of that profit he has to both maintain his pumps and station, and feed and care for his family. Plus, he has to buy his next 1000 gallons--all out of that $1600. So what happens when he goes to buy that next load of gas and the price the dealer pays is $1. 55 or even $1. 60/gal? If he kept his prices the same he'd lose most or all of his potential profit. The dealer doesn't know what the future price of gas/fuel is going to be, and consequently has to set a price that anticipates fluxuations in the market.

 

[DOWG]

Nobody is a sucker if they bought and paid for a useful product with their own free will.



I know the above reference for the 55 gallon drum was for vaseline; but did ya'll know a barrel of oil is unit of measurement (42 gallons) and as such does not actually exist?



There is no reason for the U. S. government to bill the oil industry for saving us (me) because the liberating of Iraq did no such thing, nor was it the stated purpose. The purpose was to get rid of a dangerous pig and it did so. What Bush did was to take control of very large oil reserves away from a dangerous pig and give it back to it's rightful owners to be sold for peaceful purposes on the free market. Regardless of the blood for oil mantra, Iraqi oil will still have to be paid for at market prices; "big oil companies" will not get it for free; there is no free lunch.



Now, should I be grateful for what President Bush has done to defend my freedom, you bet. I have already paid the bill: income taxes.



Again, "asking for honesty" goes back to the conspiracy theory; there isn't one.



Did ya'll know that only about 30% of the wells drilled in this country are actually equipped for production? That does not mean they produce enough oil or gas to recover their costs to be drilled. The dry hole cost and the cost of marginal producers that do not pay out must be added to the cost of productive (profitable wells).



An expert is a squirt under pressure. The oil & gas industry is not even close to being an exact science. My partner is a geologist and it always irritates him when I say this: geologists are always wrong; they either drill a dry hole or find something they were not looking for.

 

[mainer]

DOWG - Not to change from oil to prescription drugs. But the same principal exists. The pharmacutical companies are constantly trying and failing to produce new medicines. Every once in a while they succeed, and the few successes have to pay the expenses of all the failed attempts. Of course all the dopes in the world ask "then why are drugs so cheap in Canada?" Well the Canadians are shelling out HUGE taxes to subsidize this. My advice: buy stock in oil and drug companies.

 

[wcjp]

$1. 55 Flyin J last nite.