Pretty sad how used to higher gas prices we are when $3 a gallon makes us happy.
Why is gas so cheap?
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Hey, I remember cheap.....February 1970 in Paducah, KY. Traveled there from Illinois and found 6 gallons of Mobil regular for $1.00!! Hi-test was 5 gallons for $1. That is cheap.
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
My personal opinion is that OPEC recognizes that the US is becoming less and less dependent upon their crude oil, and they are driving down prices to make our domestic production unprofitable. Once our domestic production is reduced, OPEC will suddenly all agree upon production levels, the crude glut will be eliminated, and prices will rise.
I hope that I'm wrong and lower prices are here to stay, but it's not the first time we've been through the same thing. I'll certainly enjoy it while it lasts, but how long it lasts is anyone's guess. I'm not going to bank on it being this low for long.
+1
The cost of middle eastern oil has little to do with their cost of production.
It's cartel pricing.
I'd give $6 a gallon for gasoline made exclusively from US oil if it meant US self sufficiency and energy independence.
Let the middle east producers eat sand.
My personal opinion is that OPEC recognizes that the US is becoming less and less dependent upon their crude oil, and they are driving down prices to make our domestic production unprofitable. Once our domestic production is reduced, OPEC will suddenly all agree upon production levels, the crude glut will be eliminated, and prices will rise.
I hope that I'm wrong and lower prices are here to stay, but it's not the first time we've been through the same thing. I'll certainly enjoy it while it lasts, but how long it lasts is anyone's guess. I'm not going to bank on it being this low for long.
+1
The cost of middle eastern oil has little to do with their cost of production.
It's cartel pricing.
I'd give $6 a gallon for gasoline made exclusively from US oil if it meant US self sufficiency and energy independence.
Let the middle east producers eat sand.
First of all, this time of the year normally brings lower fuel prices.
Second, US oil production has surged in recent years, so there is more local oil available.
Third, the Saudis are keeping production at a level sufficient to keep their tottering government afloat, without regard to price. They've seen what has happened to other autocratic regimes in the region.
Finally, the world economy is slowing. The EU has no net growth while China appears to have hit the wall and India is mired in the same slow growth it's had for years.
Fuel prices look to remain low through the spring of 2015 if not longer, and we may yet see even lower pump prices.
This may not be a good thing, as a rest of the world recession can only have a negative impact on our own economy.
Second, US oil production has surged in recent years, so there is more local oil available.
Third, the Saudis are keeping production at a level sufficient to keep their tottering government afloat, without regard to price. They've seen what has happened to other autocratic regimes in the region.
Finally, the world economy is slowing. The EU has no net growth while China appears to have hit the wall and India is mired in the same slow growth it's had for years.
Fuel prices look to remain low through the spring of 2015 if not longer, and we may yet see even lower pump prices.
This may not be a good thing, as a rest of the world recession can only have a negative impact on our own economy.
I'm not that old, at least I don't think I'm that old, and I remember pumping gas after school and on weekends for less than twenty cents a gallon, back when premium was Ethyl and dyed red so you knew you were getting the real thing.
I have a late '60's, early 70's Erie three wheel pump on display here that is still set at $0.319 when it was removed from service. Back before the first embargo, all the pumps were three wheelers because no one ever conceived it would cost more than $9.99 to fill up a passenger vehicle.
My wholesale cost right now is $2.5310 for generic 87E10 which is up about four cents from yesterday, and $2.9496 for 91E10 which is basically unchanged since yesterday. It dropped about twenty five cents pretty rapidly and has mostly stabilized or drifted back up a bit the last few days. I think the last load I got last week, cost me $2.77 ish.
I have a late '60's, early 70's Erie three wheel pump on display here that is still set at $0.319 when it was removed from service. Back before the first embargo, all the pumps were three wheelers because no one ever conceived it would cost more than $9.99 to fill up a passenger vehicle.
My wholesale cost right now is $2.5310 for generic 87E10 which is up about four cents from yesterday, and $2.9496 for 91E10 which is basically unchanged since yesterday. It dropped about twenty five cents pretty rapidly and has mostly stabilized or drifted back up a bit the last few days. I think the last load I got last week, cost me $2.77 ish.
Any reason that you can give me for lower crude price can be equally used to rationalize the higher prices. For example, presence of ISIS threat would have been used if the crude price had shot up to $150 with the same sincerity as ISIS is being credited with the lower crude price right now.
Heck, the rising electricity prices are currently being explained to New England customers as the result of cheap natural gas!
Heck, the rising electricity prices are currently being explained to New England customers as the result of cheap natural gas!
Saudis are pumping more oil onto the market to achieve their own ends. IE, crashing the economies of their neighbors that depend on oil revenues more than they do.
Think of the old saw about the guys being chased by the bear. The Saudis are praying that they can hold out at cheaper oil prices longer than their neighbors.
Think of the old saw about the guys being chased by the bear. The Saudis are praying that they can hold out at cheaper oil prices longer than their neighbors.
For quite a number of years OPEC has stated they want oil between $80 and $100 a barrel and have adjusted production accordingly.
With the increase oil production in the US which has been in the works for over a decade but is just now coming online OPEC is less relevant than in the past.
Throw in a so so international economy and we now have a glut of oil, and natural gas for that matter.
What your seeing now is OPEC's last hurrah so to speak. They know that most US oil production only works if oil is above $80 or even better $90 a barrel. Incidentally Russia is in the same boat, they need oil above $90 I believe. So OPEC is keeping the taps open to depress prices and try to hurt US producers. If they can do it long enough, enough will cap wells and than they can reduce prices, keep control of the markets, and move the price up to a more profitable level.
Secondly they are scared to death of ISIS and their extremist neighbors who buy all sorts of cool military hardware with $100 a barrel oil. Military hardware that one day might be used against the Saudi's. So they are trying to take the profits out of their oil production.
What your seeing right now is a very expensive game of financial chicken. Who blinks first will determine who controls the oil markets, and the geo political landscape of the mid east and to a lesser extent Eastern Europe for the next couple of decades.
Stay tuned.
With the increase oil production in the US which has been in the works for over a decade but is just now coming online OPEC is less relevant than in the past.
Throw in a so so international economy and we now have a glut of oil, and natural gas for that matter.
What your seeing now is OPEC's last hurrah so to speak. They know that most US oil production only works if oil is above $80 or even better $90 a barrel. Incidentally Russia is in the same boat, they need oil above $90 I believe. So OPEC is keeping the taps open to depress prices and try to hurt US producers. If they can do it long enough, enough will cap wells and than they can reduce prices, keep control of the markets, and move the price up to a more profitable level.
Secondly they are scared to death of ISIS and their extremist neighbors who buy all sorts of cool military hardware with $100 a barrel oil. Military hardware that one day might be used against the Saudi's. So they are trying to take the profits out of their oil production.
What your seeing right now is a very expensive game of financial chicken. Who blinks first will determine who controls the oil markets, and the geo political landscape of the mid east and to a lesser extent Eastern Europe for the next couple of decades.
Stay tuned.
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Although, I do see the prices of gas coming down almost daily, it's still $3.27/gal for 87 octane where I live. And the price may vary +/- .05-.10 cents around the county.
I've also read that the Saudis want to flood the US market with inexpensive crude to try to stave off the competition from our domestic efforts of fracking, spending money on pipelines, etc.
You guys need to look past cheap gas prices. It is merely a diversion. Look past Black Fridays and look at what has been happening with the Federal Reserve, look for the mass dumping of the American dollar, look for China stealthily buying mass quantities of gold. Look for a mystery investor backing up the Fed from Belguim.
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
You guys need to look past cheap gas prices. It is merely a diversion. Look past Black Fridays and look at what has been happening with the Federal Reserve, look for the mass dumping of the American dollar, look for China stealthily buying mass quantities of gold. Look for a mystery investor backing up the Fed from Belguim.
All [censored] information. The dollar is going up and the price of gold is collapsing, and the Fed doesn't need a "mystery investor", whatever the [censored] that means. The Fed could right this minute buy every single treasury bond in the secondary market and nothing would change. QE proved this. In addition, the USA still has by far the highest gold reserves of any country. All this talk of dollar collapse, China and the rest of the world creating a gold backed monetary system to usurp the United States, has been peddled now for darn near half a century and it's absolute LOON information. If China dumped the dollar, it would crush their economy because it's been export based.
You guys need to look past cheap gas prices. It is merely a diversion. Look past Black Fridays and look at what has been happening with the Federal Reserve, look for the mass dumping of the American dollar, look for China stealthily buying mass quantities of gold. Look for a mystery investor backing up the Fed from Belguim.
All [censored] information. The dollar is going up and the price of gold is collapsing, and the Fed doesn't need a "mystery investor", whatever the [censored] that means. The Fed could right this minute buy every single treasury bond in the secondary market and nothing would change. QE proved this. In addition, the USA still has by far the highest gold reserves of any country. All this talk of dollar collapse, China and the rest of the world creating a gold backed monetary system to usurp the United States, has been peddled now for darn near half a century and it's absolute LOON information. If China dumped the dollar, it would crush their economy because it's been export based.
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Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Consider yourself very, very lucky that you can say that. Most Americans would be hurt quite severely if the price went that high.
Indeed or if it were >$9.00 like it is in Europe. It was north of $9.00 per gallon the last time I was in Europe (early in 2014) and although their cars have better MPG than ours (at least the ones I have driven over there), that is still a lot of money per gallon of gas. Sometimes, we do not know, or worse yet, appreciate what we have in the US (not directing this to anyone in particular, it is just a general statement).
Consider yourself very, very lucky that you can say that. Most Americans would be hurt quite severely if the price went that high.
Indeed or if it were >$9.00 like it is in Europe. It was north of $9.00 per gallon the last time I was in Europe (early in 2014) and although their cars have better MPG than ours (at least the ones I have driven over there), that is still a lot of money per gallon of gas. Sometimes, we do not know, or worse yet, appreciate what we have in the US (not directing this to anyone in particular, it is just a general statement).
shhh...
I could push my empty Bug to the pumps at Tri-S and cruise around all week for 3 bucks in 1970.
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
You guys need to look past cheap gas prices. It is merely a diversion. Look past Black Fridays and look at what has been happening with the Federal Reserve, look for the mass dumping of the American dollar, look for China stealthily buying mass quantities of gold. Look for a mystery investor backing up the Fed from Belguim.
All [censored] information. The dollar is going up and the price of gold is collapsing, and the Fed doesn't need a "mystery investor", whatever the [censored] that means. The Fed could right this minute buy every single treasury bond in the secondary market and nothing would change. QE proved this. In addition, the USA still has by far the highest gold reserves of any country. All this talk of dollar collapse, China and the rest of the world creating a gold backed monetary system to usurp the United States, has been peddled now for darn near half a century and it's absolute LOON information. If China dumped the dollar, it would crush their economy because it's been export based.
We'll see...
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
You guys need to look past cheap gas prices. It is merely a diversion. Look past Black Fridays and look at what has been happening with the Federal Reserve, look for the mass dumping of the American dollar, look for China stealthily buying mass quantities of gold. Look for a mystery investor backing up the Fed from Belguim.
All [censored] information. The dollar is going up and the price of gold is collapsing, and the Fed doesn't need a "mystery investor", whatever the [censored] that means. The Fed could right this minute buy every single treasury bond in the secondary market and nothing would change. QE proved this. In addition, the USA still has by far the highest gold reserves of any country. All this talk of dollar collapse, China and the rest of the world creating a gold backed monetary system to usurp the United States, has been peddled now for darn near half a century and it's absolute LOON information. If China dumped the dollar, it would crush their economy because it's been export based.
We'll see...
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Any reason that you can give me for lower crude price can be equally used to rationalize the higher prices. For example, presence of ISIS threat would have been used if the crude price had shot up to $150 with the same sincerity as ISIS is being credited with the lower crude price right now.
Heck, the rising electricity prices are currently being explained to New England customers as the result of cheap natural gas!
We take it all hook line and sinker with out a question.
Any reason that you can give me for lower crude price can be equally used to rationalize the higher prices. For example, presence of ISIS threat would have been used if the crude price had shot up to $150 with the same sincerity as ISIS is being credited with the lower crude price right now.
Heck, the rising electricity prices are currently being explained to New England customers as the result of cheap natural gas!
We take it all hook line and sinker with out a question.
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