Why the High Fuel prices?

[Deezul1]

Does anybody in the energy industry know whats going on or is it the usual opportunist gouging?

 

[Shrimpy]

Just the usual, every almost dead broke daytrader trying to win it all back in one roll of the dice. Combine that with all of the war talk and cold weather, and the fact that inventories have been dropping like crazy for the last 2 months and poof... ... ... . rising prices.



Remember Venezuela... ... no oil out for almost 3 weeks. That crimped their gulf coast refineries (Citgo), they had to buy on the spot market to fill contracts. Think of Citgo buying fuel then reselling it, another hand in the pie.



Real issue is falling inventories. Refineries are more than likely making HUGE runs of military spec. JP-5 (jet fuel). This is taking refined product out of the consumer fuel chain. Heating oil also takes fuel out of the normal supply chain. Think back to the fall of 1990. Almost exact same scenerio. Prices went skyrocketing, then back down. But they always go down MUCH slower than they went up.



Many more issues... ... ... but I'm to tired to type them tonight



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[illflem]

Originally posted by Shrimpy

Refineries are more than likely making HUGE runs of military spec. JP-5 (jet fuel). This is taking refined product out of the consumer fuel chain.

I read where Kuwait is supplying free JP-5 for the current buildup just like the Saudis did for Desert Storm. Record cold weather in the east and the Venezuela deal are probably the main real reasons with corporate greed compounding it.

Ever notice how prices can jump up radically but always go down slowly?

 

[wlowe]

When I bought my truck in July of 2001, diesel was 25 cents a gallon cheaper than gas. Now it's 10 cents a gallon higher. Is the demand for jet fuel affecting the supply of diesel more than gas?



Bill

 

[John Berger]

When I bought my truck in January 1999, diesel fuel was 3 cents cheaper than 87 octane unleaded. Six months later and gas is cheaper. Remember the signs on interstates that just showed a fuel price, i. e. , 87. 9, but never would tell you what that price was for. In my experience it always ended up being diesel fuel, with gas being priced higher. That is until I buy my first diesel powered vehicle. And I was under the impression that diesel fuel is cheaper to refine than gasoline.





$1. 55 this morning at the truckstop where I buy fuel.

 

[esommer2500]

$1. 659 yesterday at the trucstop in Peru, IN.



Eric

 

[RonaldLarson]

Three problems

First, heating oil demand eats up diesel production, second: Venezuela is a large U. S. supplier, and third, we are not drilling in the ANWR where supplies are large enough to make us much less dependent on offshore suppliers. We are at $1. 59 here.

Ron

 

[hammersley]

It's a frigging JOKE!

I don't mean to P Off anybody - but what we have here is pure and simply Price Gouging and Collusion - that's what got old JP Getty and the boys of Std OIl in trouble bacl at the turn of the Century! And for some reason to believe the oil folks to tell us the truth - well talk about the fox watching the chicken house! And I don't think we have to worry about Us taking over the Iraquian Oil Fields - there is NO Way the Big Oil Boys will allow us to flood our markets with cheap Middle East oil!

 

[stevek]

Don't think it has anything to do with availibilty of crude but rather the fact they (oil companies) are not refining it right now. Head over to eia.gov site sometime and prepared to be mildly upset.

 

[illflem]

That's some interesting stuff http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html



The DOE projection is for crude prices to peak right about now but not return to Nov '02 levels till Oct '04



"Distillate Fuel Oil (Heating oil and Diesel Fuel): Higher crude oil prices this heating season, along with colder weather in the Northeast relative to last year, have resulted in expectations that residential heating oil prices will post considerable gains this winter compared to last winter. The current base case projections include an increase of about 32 cents per gallon (30 percent) for fuel oil the first quarter of this year compared to the same period one year ago, an expectation supported not only by robust demand and higher crude oil costs, but also by low distillate fuel oil inventories compared to year-ago levels. (The projected first quarter average of $1. 42 per gallon would be the highest U. S. first quarter average for residential heating oil prices on record, in nominal terms. "