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Gas prices 1st blood Part II by fierospeeder
Started on: 05-26-2000 04:42 AM
Replies: 16
Last post by: Ozzy on 05-28-2000 01:56 AM
fierospeeder
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Report this Post05-26-2000 04:42 AM Click Here to See the Profile for fierospeederClick Here to visit fierospeeder's HomePageSend a Private Message to fierospeederDirect Link to This Post
School is over, and i dont really need to go anywhere, but i realized that gas is now 2 dollars a gallon here in illinois.

The news was mentioning that it is expensive because the additive put in gasoline to reduce emissions is very costly to produce. I always thought corn alcohol, mtbe, is used in that 10%. And we should blame the government for the harsh requirements for the gasoline mix, instead of the gasoline companies.

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Phil
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Report this Post05-26-2000 06:43 AM Click Here to See the Profile for PhilSend a Private Message to PhilDirect Link to This Post
The additive thing is not a reason it's an excuse to raise prices
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Monkeyman
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Report this Post05-26-2000 11:09 AM Click Here to See the Profile for MonkeymanSend a Private Message to MonkeymanDirect Link to This Post
I have to agree with Phil. Any excuse will work for OPEC (or whomever it is that decides the gas prices). It just went up about a quarter a gallon around here. The excuse this time is the holiday weekend. I imagine it will go up more sometime early next month. The reason? It's a sunny day (or maybe...it's a cloudy day!).
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Report this Post05-26-2000 11:14 AM Click Here to See the Profile for SpeedPhreakClick Here to visit SpeedPhreak's HomePageSend a Private Message to SpeedPhreakDirect Link to This Post
read this article about 2min b4 i came here today...
http://dailynews.netscape.com/dailynews/cnnnews.tmpl?story=gas.prices0526.html

WASHINGTON-- U.S. gasoline prices will be higher than last year as an estimated 35 million motorists fuel up for Memorial Day traveling.

Beginning June 1, U.S. oil companies are required by federal law to sell a more expensive, less polluting fuel, and they are already passing the added cost on to consumers.

"It's more difficult to produce because it requires heavy significant financial investment in the refineries," John Felmy of the American Petroleum Institute told CNN.

U.S. drivers are currently paying an average of $1.53 for every gallon they put in their tanks, up roughly 37 cents a gallon from last year at this time and only one penny lower than the all-time national high recorded last March, according to data compiled by the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

But when adjusted for inflation, U.S. gasoline prices work out to be about $2.50 a gallon lower than they were in 1980, when supply was disrupted during the Iranian revolution.

AAA: 'We can't blame OPEC'
"We can't blame OPEC this time," said Geoff Sundstrom of the American Auto Association, referring to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a powerful 11-nation cartel that controls nearly 40 percent of the world's oil supply.

"They promised to raise production and they've lived up to that," Sundstrom said. "This is a domestic issue. It has become necessary for the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to grant waivers to prevent shortages."

Fears of shortages of the new gasoline, only days ahead of the deadline, have already prompted a handful of marketing associations in the Midwest to request leniency from the EPA, allowing them to sell dirtier conventional fuel.

The EPA has so far granted leniency in St. Louis, Missouri, and is considering waiver requests from Chicago and Milwaukee amid spiraling concerns over inventories there.

U.S. strategy: 'Quiet diplomacy'
U.S. officials said they were taking an international approach to the problem by asking OPEC to increase output in hopes of forcing prices down.

"What we're doing to deal with the problem is talk to the OPEC countries ... quiet diplomacy," Energy Secretary Bill Richardson told CNN. "Tell them to keep their options open on increasing production."

Just last March 29, nine OPEC ministers announced they would increase oil production by 1.45 million barrels per day following a phone call by Richardson to the cartel president.

The next meeting of OPEC ministers is scheduled for June 21, in Vienna, Austria. But Thursday, Venezuela requested the date be postponed until June 26 to allow President Hugo Chavez to attend.

Congress searches for options
Congress has asked experts to find ways of producing cleaner-burning alternative fuels that might reduce demand for gasoline and help force prices down.

Another proposal is to boost U.S. oil production by allowing drilling in currently protected wildlife refuges.

"There are going to be some trade-offs and drilling in presently restricted areas is going to be one of those areas," said William Martin of Washington Policy and Analysis, an issue-oriented think tank.

U.S. gasoline prices among lowest in world
While U.S. drivers may feel they are paying too much for their fuel, they should actually consider themselves lucky; their gasoline prices are among the lowest in the world.

In countries such as Great Britain, Italy, France and Sweden, for example, taxes often take up to 80 percent of the full charge for retail gasoline as a favorite form of government revenue-raising.

British drivers last year paid an average of $4.26 per U.S. gallon compared to the U.S. average of $1.16.

According to OPIS U.S. pricing data, retail gasoline prices were the highest in Illinois on May 25, averaging $1.72 a gallon -- roughly a nickel more expensive than in California, where prices are usually the most expensive in the nation.

In Connecticut, where taxes are a large price component, gasoline costs an average $1.65 a gallon. According to a survey by the New York City Consumer Affairs Office, gasoline prices in New York City averaged $1.60 a gallon.

Still, history suggests that the gasoline price squeeze has been worse.

"In real terms, consumers today are paying considerably less for gasoline than they did during World War I," said Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and oil analyst for Cambridge Energy research Associates.

Reporter Kathleen Koch and Reuters contributed to this report.


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Raydar
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Report this Post05-26-2000 01:15 PM Click Here to See the Profile for RaydarSend a Private Message to RaydarDirect Link to This Post
Is this "reformulated" gas the same crap they forced on the folks in California? The stuff that's supposedly polluting all the groundwater, and screwing up everybody's fuel injection?
Please excuse me if I am misinformed. I'm just repeating what I have heard.
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batboy
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Report this Post05-26-2000 05:12 PM Click Here to See the Profile for batboySend a Private Message to batboyDirect Link to This Post
Raydar, you're thinking of that MTE or something like that. That additive is found to be more mobile in groundwater and more toxic to humans than originally thought. It's because they're replacing that additive with "safer" ones via legislation that happen to be "more expensive" than the old nasty stuff. Phil's right, it's merely an excuse to raise prices. Ten years from now, they'll find out this new additive is probably worse than anything used before in the history of humankind.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 05-26-2000).]

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DRH
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Report this Post05-26-2000 05:32 PM Click Here to See the Profile for DRHSend a Private Message to DRHDirect Link to This Post
I agree. Any excuse to raise prices. I predict the oil companies will record profits this year.

This "new" formula is only required by the EPA in about 1/3 of the country. If it is the reason for the increase, why is the price jumping so much for those of us that live in the other 2/3 of the country?

I'm just glad my 88 Formula runs well on the 87 octane stuff. Regular just went up to 1.63 in western WI, 1.55 across the river in MN.

It hit a recent low of 1.40 WI, 1.32 MN about 3 weeks ago.

[This message has been edited by DRH (edited 05-26-2000).]

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Raydar
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Report this Post05-26-2000 09:32 PM Click Here to See the Profile for RaydarSend a Private Message to RaydarDirect Link to This Post
Thanks, Batboy. I wondered what the deal was with that. I remembered hearing the outcry about the ground water pollution.
Okay... off on a tangent, here.
Since gas has gotten so freaking expensive, I've started using the cheap stuff. I used to use mid-grade.
I have found that my gas mileage has actually gone up, just a hair. The same commute. Same conditions. Same driving style. Anybody else notice this? Get about 10-15 additional miles per tank in my Sonoma. (Commute vehicle. 20 gal tank.) The Fiero seems to be getting better mileage too, but some of that may be due to its state of tune.

BTW... Regular is 1.33 at Quik Trip, in Atlanta.
I'm told that Atlanta has the cheapest gas in the country.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 05-26-2000).]

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phillip
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Report this Post05-26-2000 11:28 PM   Send a Private Message to RaydarDirect Link to This Post
it's hard to believe the excuses made for rising gas prices because prices seem to take their biggest jumps anytime there's a long holiday weekend. coincidence? hmmmm ...i think not.
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Shiner
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Report this Post05-26-2000 11:32 PM Click Here to See the Profile for ShinerSend a Private Message to ShinerDirect Link to This Post
Is it just me, or does this whole "ultra low emmissions" crap seem a lot like trying to get blood out of a stone? Burning gasoline will never be the cleanest method of propelling automobiles, period. If the government and car companies spent HALF of what they have already spent on emmissions trinkets, doo-dads, and "cleaner burning" gasoline, we could have engines in cars that run on hydrogen. Check out the hydrogen/steam powered Mazda rotary engine. The only emmissions coming out of that thing is H20 (water, for those of us who didn't finish Chem 1 )

The moral of the story? Greed and stupidity rules.

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2birds
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Report this Post05-27-2000 12:58 AM Click Here to See the Profile for 2birdsSend a Private Message to 2birdsDirect Link to This Post
Gas used to be 40 cents cheaper in GA than in Jacksonville, FL last year. Now the difference is as little as 10 cents. Did Georgia's taxes go up, or are we getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick?

I paid 89 cents a gallon this time last year for Texaco 93 octane, now it's $1.53 at the same station. And forget Florida. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot...

As for the 87 octane, I had nothing but detonation, rotten egg smell and a broken catalyst brick when I shifted from Chevron Supreme to their cheap stuff. 10 degrees advance.

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Cliff Pennock
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Report this Post05-27-2000 08:27 AM Click Here to See the Profile for Cliff PennockClick Here to visit Cliff Pennock's HomePageSend a Private Message to Cliff PennockDirect Link to This Post
Our gas prices has gone up too. It's now US$4.16 per gallon.
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Report this Post05-27-2000 10:36 AM Click Here to See the Profile for Racer 1Send a Private Message to Racer 1Direct Link to This Post
I just wonder what would happen if we ever had a WWIII but not nuclear if the USA could make enough gas to support itself without foriegn help? Thats how Germany lost in a way. This is the tip of the iceberg for us USA people. If the oil companies see a increase in profit whats gonna stop them next year from sticking two knives in our backs and raise the gas to 2.00+?
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batboy
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Report this Post05-27-2000 10:57 AM Click Here to See the Profile for batboySend a Private Message to batboyDirect Link to This Post
Don't worry, we just either buy a couple OPEC countries or figure out a way to invade them and take over their oil production. In the past, we propped up their puppet governments in return for treaties and trade agreements. Iraq and Iran are perfect examples, years ago before they turned against us, the United States used to pour incredible amounts of money into those dictatorships in the form of "economic aid", because if we didn't, the Soviets would. We needed their oil and didn't want the commies to get their grubby hands on it instead.
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Monkeyman
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Report this Post05-27-2000 01:25 PM Click Here to See the Profile for MonkeymanSend a Private Message to MonkeymanDirect Link to This Post
Cliff--Really!?! I guess I don't feel quite so bad paying $1.70/gal (mid grade).
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Cliff Pennock
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Report this Post05-27-2000 09:56 PM Click Here to See the Profile for Cliff PennockClick Here to visit Cliff Pennock's HomePageSend a Private Message to Cliff PennockDirect Link to This Post
Actually, I made a small mistake when I calculated the price (from guilders to dollars, and from gallons to litres). It's US$4.70 per gallon...
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Ozzy
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Report this Post05-28-2000 01:56 AM Click Here to See the Profile for OzzySend a Private Message to OzzyDirect Link to This Post
Petrol was $84c / litre when I left Australia 10 yrs ago. My Dad tells me he is still paying around .90c per liter. I think there is 3.2 litres to a U.S. imperial gallon (?) = $2.88 / gallon. Not quite as bad as Europe but I think we are still doing fine in the U.S of A.


Ozzy

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