Why is gas so cheap?

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The national average is 2.95. Is anybody stocking up on gas? How much is gas near you?
 
Originally Posted By: joegreen
The national average is 2.95. Is anybody stocking up on gas? How much is gas near you?


Yes I am buying my generator/yard equipment fill(20 gallons/5 cans).
 
Originally Posted By: joegreen
The national average is 2.95. Is anybody stocking up on gas? How much is gas near you?

Stocking up? Gas goes stale pretty quickly. As it is, I only gas up once a month or less.

It's about $3 for regular here right now.

The Marathon gas station near me seems to be price gouging on Premium though - it's a whole dollar more than regular.
 
87 octane is around $2.79 around me. Diesel is about $3.29.

I understand that domestic oil output has been slowly increasing from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and all the fracking operations in Pennsylvania. The higher quantity of oil production puts a downward pressure on prices. The volatility in prices is partially due to the futures market, in which speculators can push the prices either up or down. When the prices are increasing people complain about the evil speculators, but you don't hear any praise from those same people when prices get pushed down by speculators piling on.
 
Originally Posted By: Joel_MD
87 octane is around $2.79 around me. Diesel is about $3.29.

I understand that domestic oil output has been slowly increasing from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota and all the fracking operations in Pennsylvania. The higher quantity of oil production puts a downward pressure on prices. The volatility in prices is partially due to the futures market, in which speculators can push the prices either up or down. When the prices are increasing people complain about the evil speculators, but you don't hear any praise from those same people when prices get pushed down by speculators piling on.


Wrong. Saudi is currently manipulating the oil market. In the short run, Saudi can make the price anything they want it to be. Speculators are reduced to simply betting on the Saudi's next move.
 
Supply of oil and gas is increasing and demand is not keeping pace. Economic law of supply and demand - prices will go down until current demand exactly matches current supply. This is a very fluid situation and supply and demand for gasoline can vary quite a bit from month to month. Don't get used to current prices.

Unless there is huge breakthrough in green technology over time scarce natural resources like oil will become scarcer and with world population increasing the demand for fossil fuels will almost certainly go way up over time. Same thing will happen to water. I'd be way more likely to find a way to store and stockpile drinkable water than gas which goes bad fairly quickly.
 
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There are a number of reasons why there is a glut of crude oil on the market.

No refineries have been shut down because of storms, there is a large amount of domestic production going on, the US is using less oil, OPEC has been fighting about production levels, and we just had an election.

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.
 
I'm not banking on it, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Makes me think now is a good time to get rid of my truck and buy the econobox that will eventually replace my well-worn econobox. Then, when gas prices spike sell my worn out high mpg car and buy someone's low mpg truck. Use market pricing to my advantage.
 
Costco - Manassas $2.57 - Sheetz & 7-11 Haymarket $2.56 - I hope it lasts, it will be a real shot in the arm for the economy.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
There are a number of reasons why there is a glut of crude oil on the market.

No refineries have been shut down because of storms, there is a large amount of domestic production going on, the US is using less oil, OPEC has been fighting about production levels, and we just had an election.

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.


My feelings exactly. OPEC knows that even though we have a huge amount of oil underground, the price of oil must be at a certain level to make it profitable to pump US oil from the ground. If they can pump it cheaper, they will, with the long range goal of shutting down our wells. It's basically the same method Rockefeller used generations ago.
 
There is also a speculation that like in the 80s, the West is crashing oil prices to punch the USSR / Russia. There is also ISIS' threat in ME that makes the nearby nations increase their defense spending (pay for by oil production).
 
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.


Oil's gotta be around $90/barrel for fracking to be economically feasible. So, the Saudi's are driving the price of oil below $90 to eliminate the competition. Once that happens, they will be back to business as usual.
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
It's not cheap, you are just accustomed to paying too much.


Exactly, I remember paying less than a dollar a gallon for premium and I am not that old.
 
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