Gasoline price - where would it end up at this summer?

fossy

O yea $ 4.50 a gallon is my guess

treitz3

appadv wrote: »

To answer the OP's question, I *think* it might end up somewhere around $4.39 this summer for regular unleaded.

NC/SC checking in and we are exactly $1.00 below that right now for regular. From what I understand, SC has one of the best gas prices across the nation. :eek:

I live near the border so I go where the gas is cheaper.

VR3

Did someone in this thread actually complain about having to fill up SIX TIMES in FIVE MONTHS? If so, you should be slapped.

I fill up 4 times a month, roughly 24-27 gallons a pop. Do the math, thats 330-360 a month.

Thats... 20 times in 5 months. If I could get away with filling up 6 times in 5 months, Id have so many toys! hahha

[Deleted User]

I think its time to make the switch to scooters, the ones with 150 cc, and gets up to 95 miles per gallon! It makes commuting very fun as well, when not going too long of a distance. Insurance is cheap too. I have seen many of these around town lately, very economical.

amulford

I don't even want to get started. There are quite a few solutions to this "shortage", (which there is none BTW). The Government tax is aproxx 46 cents a gallon. The Middle East only supplies perhaps 10% of imports. The military is using ungodly amounts in Iraq, w/ the US taxpayer footing the bill. While "the profit margins are in line with other industries" the big oil companies are smashing record NET profits in each succeeding fiscal quarter.

Maybe you weren't paying attention in January when the "prediction" was made that prices would top $4 this summer. Do you think it was a lucky guess???

Serendipity

treitz3 wrote: »

NC/SC checking in and we are exactly $1.00 below that right now for regular. From what I understand, SC has one of the best gas prices across the nation. :eek:

I live near the border so I go where the gas is cheaper.

Yes, you guys have some of the best gas prices!!

The local gas station right around the corner from here sells regular at $3.95, so if as you say you are getting regular at ~3.30-3.40, that's a great deal! I wish gas prices around here were that low!

treitz3

Damn, I just thought about this. What an eyeopener for me! I have been paying more for gas since Katrina than I do for my truck and the insurance for it each month. That's bad enough.

At very close to $3.50 a gallon, I will pay more for gas than I do for my portion of the mortgage, utilities, the truck payment and the cost to insure both of them. Gas, at that point would be my single most biggest expense topping all other bills. Actually, come to think of it.......it's already there.

I pay more for gas than I do any other monthly bill. :eek:

dpowell

Start drilling in US oil reserves and this problem goes away. The animals will thank us for the nice warm oil piplines they can congregate next to during the cold winter months. My guess is that it tops $4.25.

heiney9

dpowell wrote: »

Start drilling in US oil reserves and this problem goes away. The animals will thank us for the nice warm oil piplines they can congregate next to during the cold winter months. My guess is that it tops $4.25.

So drilling in the US will eliminate government gas taxes and the effect of inflation? It's not a supply issue so much. Plus, it will take quite a few years (close to 10) to get the oil flowing here on US soil (enough to make a dent) so what do we do in the mean time? Also, who knows if our extraction methods won't actually increase the cost to produce gasoline from oil; no guarantee it will be cheaper.

I hate relying on "other" countries for our oil supply but so far it seems to be the most cost effective at this point. There's a lot of other BS we could do without, but get inflation under control and get past this credit crisis and fuel prices will fall back in line. Get the speculators out of the picture too; they run oil prices up based on what *might* happen in the future and when it doesn't; no price decrease. Never like they were though.

heiney9

Lasareath wrote: »

I filled up last night in The Exxon off of Route 3 just before getting into the Lincoln Tunnel to get into NYC, it was $3.19 per gallon for regular. Last week at the same place it was $3.03 per gallon.

On Wednesday I was in Maryland and I filled up at Royal Farms in Owens Mills and it was $3.46 per gallon.

That's damn cheap; here in Illinois it's $3.59 for cheap stuff.

Serendipity

Lasareath wrote: »

I filled up last night in The Exxon off of Route 3 just before getting into the Lincoln Tunnel to get into NYC, it was $3.19 per gallon for regular. Last week at the same place it was $3.03 per gallon.

On Wednesday I was in Maryland and I filled up at Royal Farms in Owens Mills and it was $3.46 per gallon.

Yes, us NYC'ers love to go down to New Jersey to fill up with gas, I passed by a gas station today @ 3.95/gal for regular, yet in NJ its 60-70 cents cheaper!!

PolkWannabie

Down to from Queens would be the Atlantic Ocean ...

Serendipity

PolkWannabie wrote: »

Down to from Queens would be the Atlantic Ocean ...

Haha, I meant through Manhattan, Lincoln Tunnel, into NJ, then fill up with gas.

Serendipity

Yeah, I guess.

mightymouse

Taking into consideration it takes about 2 gallons to make a round trip, the difference in cost needs to be about 55 cents or greater in order to make the trip economically worthwhile.

Do gas stations still allow you to fill up empty gas cans? If so, then bring along some empty gas cans and fill them up along with your tank, it makes the trip more economically worthwhile.

Lasareath wrote: »

It's not worth it anymore, to get back to NYC it costs $8.00

dpowell

heiney9 wrote: »

That's damn cheap; here in Illinois it's $3.59 for cheap stuff.

The cheapest I've found it in San Diego recently is $3.71 for the low grade. Costs me almost $11 per day to drive my Toyota Solara to work and back.

Go next door to Arizona where they have to truck it further and it's $.10 to $.20 cheaper.

Serendipity

mightymouse wrote: »

Taking into consideration it takes about 2 gallons to make a round trip, the difference in cost needs to be about 55 cents or greater in order to make the trip economically worthwhile.

Do gas stations still allow you to fill up empty gas cans? If so, then bring along some empty gas cans and fill them up along with your tank, it makes the trip more economically worthwhile.

Yes, but they must be UL rated / fire safe gas cans.

dpowell

heiney9 wrote: »

So drilling in the US will eliminate government gas taxes and the effect of inflation?

Not saying it will. It would ease the pain a bit to know that the price of gas wasn't tied to a group of mid-east oil tycoons deciding when to artificially control supply or set prices. At least our dollars spent on gas would be staying in the US (for the most part).

mightymouse

One thing that bugs is, what's really pushing up the price of oil these days?

Is it really supply and demand or something else at work here?

I just read that Exxon made record profits of something like $100 BILLION last year! Something just doesn't smell right here. If the true price of oil keeps going up, shouldn't the oil companies make LESS profits, not more profits? How much of that $4/gallon gas money are pure profits for the big oil companies?

heiney9

dpowell wrote: »

Not saying it will. It would ease the pain a bit to know that the price of gas wasn't tied to a group of mid-east oil tycoons deciding when to artificially control supply or set prices. At least our dollars spent on gas would be staying in the US (for the most part).

I do think it can be done; the problem is we are a long ways off even if we start extracting oil now today before it can make an economic impact. The earlier we start the earlier we might become less reliant on foreign oil.

H9

mightymouse

My crude understanding of this whole oil business goes is like this,

The OPEC nations export crude oil. The big oil companies buy the crude oil, then refine them, and sell the refined gas to us consumers.

The price of crude oil keeps going up, and the price of refined gas keeps going up. BUT, if Exxon made record profits of over $100 billion last year, then that means that the increase in price in refined gas is MORE than the increase in price for crude oil. Because otherwise Exxon should have made made the same amount of profits as in the years when the price of refined gas was $1.50/gallon.

heiney9

mightymouse wrote: »

One thing that bugs is, what's really pushing up the price of oil these days?

Is it really supply and demand or something else at work here?

Inflation and speculation. If you were around in the 70's that was a supply issue and no matter how high the price got there was still a severe shortage. Certainly limiting the supply like OPEC does affect the price but that alone isn't the reason for the sharp increase in fuel prices over the past 6 months.

Our weakening dollar and our economy has seen fuel and food prices skyrocket in the past 6 months. Have you been to the grocery store lately?

MacLeod

mightymouse wrote: »

My crude understanding of this whole oil business goes is like this,

The OPEC nations export crude oil. The big oil companies buy the crude oil, then refine them, and sell the refined gas to us consumers.

The price of crude oil keeps going up, and the price of refined gas keeps going up. BUT, if Exxon made record profits of over $100 billion last year, then that means that the increase in price in refined gas is MORE than the increase in price for crude oil. Because otherwise Exxon should have made made the same amount of profits as in the years when the price of refined gas was $1.50/gallon.

Their net profit or profit margin was the same.

Ill use my old tried and true analogy. Say you build and sell widgets. It costs you $5 to build them and you sell them for $7. Your gross profit was $7 but your net profit is only $2. Now say your costs go thru the roof and now it costs you $12 to build a widget and so you now sell them for $14. Well now you greedy SOB, your profits have just doubled in a time when people need widgets youre price gouging. Oh wait, you still only made $2.

Oil companies have been brought up before Congress several HUNDRED times accused of price gouging but have NEVER been found guilty of any wrong doing. Dont get caught up in the spin and general ignorance. Gas prices have gone up because demand has grown as the world population has grown and quality of life improved but because of all the stinking hippies, our energy supply hasnt grown as well. We havent built a refinery or nuclear plant in this country in 30 years and refuse to let oil companies drill for any of the TRILLIONS of barrels of oil we have right here on our soil!

mightymouse

Right now I am spending almost twice as much on groceries as I used to.

But the point is, how come Exxon made record profits last year with these soaring gas prices? Is Exxon artificially jacking up the price of gas more than it is justified (i.e. out of proportion to the actual increase in crude oil price).

heiney9

mightymouse wrote: »

My crude understanding of this whole oil business goes is like this,

The OPEC nations export crude oil. The big oil companies buy the crude oil, then refine them, and sell the refined gas to us consumers.

The price of crude oil keeps going up, and the price of refined gas keeps going up. BUT, if Exxon made record profits of over $100 billion last year, then that means that the increase in price in refined gas is MORE than the increase in price for crude oil. Because otherwise Exxon should have made made the same amount of profits as in the years when the price of refined gas was $1.50/gallon.

Yes but if look at the cost vs. the profit they made (can't believe I'm actually defending the big oil companies) the percentage of profit has stayed pretty much the same even though the net profit numbers are larger.

Big oil companies are a part of the problem as well. Government taxes gas at the federal, state and local level as well. The strength of the dollar, supply issues and demand forecasts. Ability to refine the oil into gasoline. All these factors and many other play a part in what the pump price is.

I can go over to another county in Illinois and pay .06c less for a gallon of gas. I can go across the border to Wisconsin and pay .10-12c less all because the county I live in has the highest local tax on gas. The state applies a tax and the federal government applies a tax. In my area I think .56c of the cost per gallon goes to a government body in the form of a tax.

There is legislation in Congress right now to eliminate the federal gas tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day and that will lower the price of gas by .18-26c if my memory serves.

mightymouse

In this analogy, after the price increase, you still made only $2/widget. This means before the price increase, your net profit was $20 (hypothetically speaking). After the price increase, your net profit was still $20.


BUT, before the price increase in gas, Exxon made substantially LESS than $100 billion in profits. After the price increase in gas, Exxon made substantially MORE profits than before, at a record of $100 billion.

MacLeod wrote: »

Say you build and sell widgets. It costs you $5 to build them and you sell them for $7. Your gross profit was $7 but your net profit is only $2. Now say your costs go thru the roof and now it costs you $12 to build a widget and so you now sell them for $14. Well now you greedy SOB, your profits have just doubled in a time when people need widgets youre price gouging. Oh wait, you still only made $2.

petrym

I just filled up today (20Apr08) here in Nebraska at $3.499 - 16.61 gals for $58.13. I feel bad for you folks on the coasts and in the big cities - though we're heading that way too...

mightymouse

Here's a link to Exxon's annual profits from 2005-2007.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8N0VRD80&show_article=1


2005 - $36 billion (~$1.5/gallon)
2006 - $39 billion
2007 - $100 billion (~$4/gallon)

You tell me something doesn't smell right here.

mrmusicman

If part of the problem is our refineries,why aren't we building new ones or expanding the existing ones?


Ansewer= Because the fu%King oil companys own them:mad:

petrym

Okay, where in the (biased) article did it mention expenses? It didn't, I bet you a dollar and a doughnut they had record expenses too.