Gasoline Prices

[Maddog78]

You sir, should really learn how to spell and structure a letter if you expect anyone to take you seriously.


The fact that you took all of my explanations for the high gas prices as corporate defending shows your comprehension skills are on par with your writing skills. You're a moron.

[blkngldbabe]

^ Very interesting. Thumpers post.

[--camaro--]

The way I see it...when profits are up 45% and in the billions, we are being gouged. Plain and simple. It's greed

[Maddog78]

It may seem counter intuitive to you but you better hope oil companies continue to make a profit or this will be your future.







I'm old enough to remember the mid 70's fuel crisis.
You will be leaving your Camaro's at home and looking for a moped to buy.

[Maddog78]

This for the guys who think the US is holding back its production so they can export at some undetermined point in the future.







http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natur...serves/cr.html


This a US Dep't of Energy site, not some crackpot site.
Now show how clever you are and divide these reserves by the 21 million bbls/day the US currently uses, only 6 million bpd of which they currently produce themselves.
Do you see the problem with this crack pot theory that one of you "heard in high school 20 years ago" ?

The U.S. is in serious oil production trouble in about 6 years.
They already import 15 million bpd.
What will that number be in 2 years? 4 years? 6 years?
Enjoy your cheap gas now. It won't last.

[canadian ss]

Originally Posted by --camaro--

The way I see it...when profits are up 45% and in the billions, we are being gouged. Plain and simple. It's greed

If there was an oil shortage, why the need to make bilions in profit? Will that magically make an untapped oil bed appear gushing trillions of barrels a day?
What is done with these huge profits other than make share holders happy?
Do you think that raising prices "SAVES" on consumption? Evetone says they still need to get to work.
If we were to buy electric scooters for the street which max out at a whoppping 49 km/h, there would be laws and by-laws against them making it not worth to purchase battery power.
If we would go battery power, and since plastic is a petrolium base, I would bet that the price of plastic would sky rocket. (why does a plastic car cost more than a metal car anyway)?

[canadian ss]

Originally Posted by Maddog78

This for the guys who think the US is holding back its production so they can export at some undetermined point in the future.







http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natur...serves/cr.html


This a US Dep't of Energy site, not some crackpot site.
Now show how clever you are and divide these reserves by the 21 million bbls/day the US currently uses, only 6 million bpd of which they currently produce themselves.
Do you see the problem with this crack pot theory that one of you "heard in high school 20 years ago" ?

The U.S. is in serious oil production trouble in about 6 years.
They already import 15 million bpd.
What will that number be in 2 years? 4 years? 6 years?
Enjoy your cheap gas now. It won't last.

Thats a nice graph and informative,but, since when has the gov't been truthful? Even if they were, it doesn't justify price swings overnight. Or maybe the numbers in the graph keep moving around and changing on their own?
I respect the fact you know your oil inside and out, its just tough to comprehend the price swing evryday. Us uneducated in your expertice just can't comprhend the massive day to day gas hikes especially come long weekends? I think thats the argument being made. We hear about shortages and then we hear about the billions in profit. You have to understand the confussion and anger. This has nothing to do with muscle cars because even people questioned on the news are shown beside their 4 cyl. just as upset.

[69 Rebel]

If you can't beat them join them. Buy some shares in Oil company's. XOM, USO, OIH etc... be proactive

[SQUALO]

Originally Posted by 69 Rebel

If you can't beat them join them. Buy some shares in Oil company's. XOM, USO, OIH etc... be proactive

I don't think so, they take enough of my money.

[THUMPER20X]

Originally Posted by Maddog78

You sir, should really learn how to spell and structure a letter if you expect anyone to take you seriously.


The fact that you took all of my explanations for the high gas prices as corporate defending shows your comprehension skills are on par with your writing skills. You're a moron.

LOL OK. I'm a mega ranter lol. If you want to counter what I said using insults and grammar comments to negate what I said then I wonder who the moron really is. I know what I know so everyone can do 1 of three things. 1-Nothing, 2-Keep doing what they're doing or 3-Do this strategy. I'm not expecting too much from the land of inaction. No one here knows my education, background or anything about me etc. So you can pull all the personal punches you want. Wave your E-Dick high and proud Maddogg because it's probly the only action your shlong gets lol. Have a nice day lol.

[Maddog78]

They are saying the same things I've said.
The Finanacial Post "gets it."
Clearly many here do not.


http://www.financialpost.com/news/re...346/story.html

There's not much any government can do to control the price of gasoline at the pumps. And the few things they can do -lower taxes, approve more refineries, permit more drilling and pipelines -they are too timid to do.

So when consumers start to squawk about the cost of a litre of regular unleaded, craven politicians mostly fall back on meaningless gestures such as demagoguing and populist pandering. They rail against the greed of "Big Oil" and promise "fair" prices.

That appears to be what our own newly re-elected Tory majority is doing with the announcement Thursday by Industry Minister Tony Clement that he will be orchestrating a political sideshow on Parliament Hill to investigate how and why prices are so high. Speaking to reporters, Mr. Clement said, "especially at a time when household budgets are already tight, Canadians want and deserve answers."

Well, the answer is that since the New Year, prices have risen sharply largely because of the unrest in oil-producing nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

It has also risen because of continued strong demand for oil in Asia, especially China, which competes with North America for world supply and has the money to bid up the price.

Markets have also been jittery over concerns about the possibility of a second recession in the United States and what another downturn in the country that consumes more of the world's oil than any other might do to the price per barrel, long term.

And then there is the U.S. weather.

There is at present a huge disconnect between the price of crude oil and the pump price for gasoline. The price at the pump at mid-week had risen nearly 6% in less than 72 hours, while crude oil prices had fallen by nearly 14% in the previous 10 days. Retail gasoline prices were as high or higher than they had been during a similar price shock in 2008, but back then the price of crude was 25% higher than it is now.

It is this seemingly illogical separation that, more than anything, angers consumers. They may not like higher prices, but they understand them when crude prices are rising sharply at the same time. But why, they wonder, must they pay through the nose to run their vehicles when crude prices are nosediving?

There's not enough refining capacity in the States at the best of times, but add in rising flood waters and swarms of twisters, and it gets hard to get gasoline from refineries to gas stations in parts of the United States. That has driven up prices here, as well as there.

Then there's the continued, politically imposed, virtual moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, too.

And if I know these answers, so does Mr. Clement. So why not just give Canadians the straight goods? Why pander to the lefty-tinged, semi-conspiratorial default that there must be gouging going on by the energy barons at Big Oil? Our economically savvy Tory government could and should have avoided the temptation to oil bash.

While he was still an opposition politician, Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisted Ottawa should limit its take from the GST on gasoline, so it wouldn't take in added tax revenue each time the price went up. That way the federal treasury wouldn't have a vested interest in seeing prices rise. Now that he's PM, Mr. Harper seems to have forgotten his earlier sensible suggestion.

Most of the immediate factors for rising gasoline prices are beyond the control of any government, so there is no reason for Industry Minister Clement to call executives from the nation's refineries and gasoline chains to Ottawa, unless his real purpose is to give the appearance he is acting tough on behalf of consumers while simultaneously doing very little.

There's no reason to believe oil companies are colluding to spike prices (and their profits) upward. Indeed, during a similar price boom in 2007, major gasoline retailers co-operated to keep prices low. After a major fire knocked Ontario's Nanticoke refinery offline in February of that year, big oil companies decided to absorb a loss for weeks rather than an-ger customers and risk drive down long-term demand for gasoline.

Perhaps the biggest long-term reason for this week's price gap, though, is a general lack of refining capacity -oil companies are simply unable to get all the gas that is wanted by consumers to gas stations quickly enough. This is something governments could do something about, but won't. The biggest impediment to increasing refining capacity is government reluctance to approve new refinery construction. This governments could correct rather quickly but refuse to do, out of fear the environmental lobby will use permits for new refineries to convince voters to unseat governments that give the OK.

Of course, governments have the power simply to step in and tell oil companies what price they can charge for gasoline. But if Canadians think the high cost now is calamitous, imagine the disaster that would follow if Ottawa tried to dictate a "fair" price.

When Ottawa tried to set a madein-Canada price for crude oil in the 1960s and again in the 1980s, the almost-immediate consequence both times was a critical shortage of supply. The oil business is highly volatile. International price fluctuations occur too rapidly for a command-and-control board to react fast enough. As a result, investors, exploration companies and refiners give regulated jurisdictions a pass.

Let's hope the benign explanation is that Mr. Clement has merely shunted gas prices off onto the siding of a parliamentary committee until the heat is off and the government can deal with the issue quietly. Otherwise, his populist move -if it signals a significant change in government policy -will lead to even higher prices and less supply, at the same time.

[THUMPER20X]

2 years ago the gas was 1.40 at $140 dollars a barrel. Now its $1.40 at just under $100 a barrel. Price is market driven? explain. 40% inflation? really. I don't think many will sympathize with oil or government. Clement and Mcteague are both part of the problem.

[canadian ss]

It looked like GM,FORD and CHRYSLER sitting in front of Washington yesterday explaining how pricing works and the governing body just shaking their heads. I was just waiting for the bailout plan from the oil companies.
They said the oil company makes 6-7 cents per gallon and the governing body saying whats up with the billions in profits then if things are bad?!

[Maddog78]

Originally Posted by SQUALO

I don't think so, they take enough of my money.

You really don't know how stocks work do you?
I bought XOM in 2006 for $59.
They are now worth $81 ($87 a few days ago)
They have paid off dividends about 20 times since I bought them.
So how did they take my money?


http://www.google.ca/finance?client=ob&q=NYSE:XOM


Even better I bought Royal Bank way back in 1986. $8000 worth.
I still hold them. They are now worth $74000 and have paid off hundreds of dividends over the years.