Pennock's Fiero Forum
  Politics & Religion
  PETROLPHOBIA (Page 8)

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Email This Page to Someone! | Printable Version

This topic is 15 pages long:  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15 
Previous Page | Next Page
next newest topic | next oldest topic
PETROLPHOBIA by USFiero
Started on: 03-04-2005 11:52 PM
Replies: 573 (10780 views)
Last post by: 82-T/A [At Work] on 01-08-2024 08:34 PM
jetman
Member
Posts: 7788
From: Sterling Heights Mich
Registered: Dec 2002


Feedback score: (4)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 273
Rate this member

Report this Post01-17-2011 10:14 AM Click Here to See the Profile for jetmanClick Here to visit jetman's HomePageSend a Private Message to jetmanEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by fierobear:

If the dollar inflates, gas prices will go up, that's a given.


Absolutely.

The seasonal low for the year in unleaded futures occurs in January but I'm seeing prices at the pump increase in spite of that.

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post03-07-2011 07:47 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by fierobear:
If the dollar inflates, gas prices will go up, that's a given.


This is an interesting element - does that mean the goal is to keep inflation low? I don'y see how that will be possible, if ours goes up - does that mean the rest of the world is affected too?

Meanwhile, $3.37/gallon here.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post04-17-2011 10:30 PM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Do I really need to bump this? It's been from $3.67 to $3.78 per gallon... and what happened to the price of coffee? The cost of beans has really shot up.
IP: Logged
theBDub
Member
Posts: 9688
From: Dallas,TX
Registered: May 2010


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 159
Rate this member

Report this Post04-17-2011 10:34 PM Click Here to See the Profile for theBDubSend a Private Message to theBDubEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by USFiero:

Do I really need to bump this? It's been from $3.67 to $3.78 per gallon... and what happened to the price of coffee? The cost of beans has really shot up.


A gallon of milk has been the same as a gallon of gasoline for decades. It's no different today, though gas sometimes hikes a bit above the milk cartons. Apparently inflation is the biggest factor to gas prices compared to anything else.

EDIT: I had a grammatical error lol.

[This message has been edited by theBDub (edited 04-17-2011).]

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post05-10-2011 08:07 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Why are we paying so much for gas? - Lots of problems with this Forbes article. They include oil sands as part of the 'new' oil reserves - which we aren't getting oil from yet. Yes, oil/gas prices are relatively cheap in the US, but these core costs have nearly doubled in the last couple years. The Forbes article mentions inflation - I have no idea what they mean by that - even if you are saying that the its because the Treasury is printing out money not backed by anything and in effect devaluing the US dollar in the world economy - we are still leading the world in economic performance. Granted it is not scaling up like China's, but if other countries are in decline, there will be a cap to what China can gain.

Is it speculators creating a market in the absence of other investments? A 'liberal green agenda' to move us to alternative energy? A realization of what past presidential administrations have been telling us - we need to break our dependence on foreign energy?

Gas has been $3.87 - $3.96 here.

 
quote
Originally posted by Wichita on Page 1:

Speculators are making the prices go up, but hey! I don't care. I will really only start being concerned when it gets up to $4.00 a gallon.

[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 06-09-2011).]

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post06-01-2011 08:12 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
After peaking at near $4 a gallon, the price fell to around $3.68 a gallon for Memorial Day and have stuck so far. Still too high for me, cutting back on a lot of other things. I dropped one of our cell phone accounts, cancelled the Blockbuster (it was going to happen anyway) and shopped around on my insurance. Dropped the Fiero off the insurance until I get it repaired (plates expired). Not much else to cut as far as expenses. Food is high, coffee prices have gotten outrageous so we've cut way back there. Half a pot in the morning instead of two.
IP: Logged
ShadowHawk
Member
Posts: 376
From: Broward County, Florida
Registered: May 2011


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback

User Banned

Report this Post06-01-2011 08:49 AM Click Here to See the Profile for ShadowHawkSend a Private Message to ShadowHawkEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Awesome topic name!
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post06-09-2011 12:22 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Gas easing a little, but still it costs over $50 to fill each car, we go through a tank every other week, so that's $300 in gas a month or more. Around $3.65 a gallon today. I didn't realize I started this thread in 2005.

[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 06-09-2011).]

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post07-08-2011 01:27 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I cannot understand the logic of our President releasing the oil reserves. It doesn't seem to have done a thing for prices (oil is over $100/barrel) around $3.38/gal right now and will probably head back up. Attempting to manipulate oil market prices was never the intent of creating the reserve - and it will only need to be replaced. I hope the gov't buys it from domestic sources.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post08-09-2011 11:28 PM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Well, oil dropped back around $80 a barrel today aftr peaking above $100 a barrel - an unsustainable amount in a deflatde economy. Historically oil prices fall as gold goes up, and gold has hit some dizzying highs. Something to do with how the Saudis think or whatever. I know these are just the up and down motions of a world market, but this was a pretty sustained period of high fuel prices. This sort of thing changed the auto industry in the 70's (the Fiero being a product of that) and I suspect the momentum has started to get alt fuel cars on the road again. i'm a bit of an Adam Smith fan, and I'll bet you'll start hearing people mix his philosophy into economics chatter with all the fascination over our founding fathers. he believed that governemnts should encourage new business startups, and I'd bet he'd be all for new energy sources. Our country is the best place to develop and export this technology. China may build it cheaper, but we invent stuff. india - I don't know what India does best, but I have yet to see much come out of that country that is of value to us.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post08-16-2011 10:19 PM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
gas is just now starting to ease a little - if you think three and a half dollars per gallon is easing?
IP: Logged
PFF
System Bot
maryjane
Member
Posts: 69576
From: Copperas Cove Texas
Registered: Apr 2001


Feedback score: (4)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 441
Rate this member

Report this Post08-17-2011 12:03 AM Click Here to See the Profile for maryjaneSend a Private Message to maryjaneEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by USFiero:

Well, oil dropped back around $80 a barrel today aftr peaking above $100 a barrel - an unsustainable amount in a deflatde economy. Historically oil prices fall as gold goes up, and gold has hit some dizzying highs. Something to do with how the Saudis think or whatever. I know these are just the up and down motions of a world market, but this was a pretty sustained period of high fuel prices. This sort of thing changed the auto industry in the 70's (the Fiero being a product of that) and I suspect the momentum has started to get alt fuel cars on the road again. i'm a bit of an Adam Smith fan, and I'll bet you'll start hearing people mix his philosophy into economics chatter with all the fascination over our founding fathers. he believed that governemnts should encourage new business startups, and I'd bet he'd be all for new energy sources. Our country is the best place to develop and export this technology. China may build it cheaper, but we invent stuff. india - I don't know what India does best, but I have yet to see much come out of that country that is of value to us.


1. Oil has dropped due to bad economic outlook both in the US and Eurozone due to high debt and increased deficit spending.
2. The Fed's announcement that they will be keeping interest rates at near zero thru mid 2012 also added to that poor outlook.
3. Oil dropped as well when we missed our 2nd qtr projected economic growth rate, and at the same time, our 1st quarter growth rate was revised downward to ,08%, meaning, for the 1st 1.2 of 2011, the largest economy in the world grew at a dismal 1.5%.

You are looking at India the wrong way. They have something very important that we not only want--we desperately need far more than any product they could make and send us-----consumers for our own exports. They are the 3rd fastet growning economy in the world. We not only cannot grow without them--we cannot survive without them.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post08-18-2011 12:11 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by maryjane:
You are looking at India the wrong way. They have something very important that we not only want--we desperately need far more than any product they could make and send us-----consumers for our own exports. They are the 3rd fastet growning economy in the world. We not only cannot grow without them--we cannot survive without them.


The best export the US has is our lifestyle.
IP: Logged
maryjane
Member
Posts: 69576
From: Copperas Cove Texas
Registered: Apr 2001


Feedback score: (4)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 441
Rate this member

Report this Post08-18-2011 12:25 AM Click Here to See the Profile for maryjaneSend a Private Message to maryjaneEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
That, in spite of what we would like to think, is not a very tradeable or even valuable commodity on the world market. The world is better informed than our egos allow us to accept, and as such, the world is more than happy to live in their own ascending economies than to wallow in our descending footsteps.
India has a hugely successful "Buy India First" attitude, even tho we do have very liberal trade policies with them. We have lots of open doors in foriegn nations, but the truth is, we simply cannot force those consumers to buy our products when their own products are readily available and usually at a lower cost.

Things were different back in the 50s and 60s, when we had virtually no competition from anywhere in the world--when we were the big dogs in the economic and manufactoring world, but after the rest of the world rebuilt after WW2, they caught up with us. We will never again, be the export giant we once were. Never (unless of course, another war comes that leaves us virtually untouched again and all the rest of the world in shambles.)
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post12-05-2011 08:18 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Gas prices are down, but not nearly enough. I know we Americans sound like we are whining, but this has a huge influence on our economy. We are a broad country of commuters/consumers, and our habits drive the world's economics successes and failures more than any other single currency. still.

I paid $3.04/gal the other day.
IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post12-05-2011 11:27 AM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I noticed that regular was $3.19 yesterday. Prices here tend to go up during the busy tourist seasons and down when off peak.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post12-17-2011 11:48 PM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Hovering just over $3 now.
IP: Logged
maryjane
Member
Posts: 69576
From: Copperas Cove Texas
Registered: Apr 2001


Feedback score: (4)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 441
Rate this member

Report this Post12-18-2011 03:23 AM Click Here to See the Profile for maryjaneSend a Private Message to maryjaneEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
$2.98 at Valero and Texaco here. $3.05 is the highest I have seen it.
IP: Logged
BlackEmrald
Member
Posts: 2808
From: Spring, Texas
Registered: Sep 2010


Feedback score: (3)
Leave feedback

Rate this member

Report this Post12-18-2011 01:20 PM Click Here to See the Profile for BlackEmraldSend a Private Message to BlackEmraldEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
It has been about 10 to 25 cents under $3 for about a week now.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post12-28-2011 12:11 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
$3.04/gallon. Do I understand the long-hated Ethanol subsidy will end on the 31st and cause prices to go up?
IP: Logged
dennis_6
Member
Posts: 7196
From: between here and there
Registered: Aug 2001


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 115
Rate this member

Report this Post12-31-2011 01:14 PM Click Here to See the Profile for dennis_6Send a Private Message to dennis_6Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Somebody want to remind me how our gas prices are because of supply and demand again?
-------------------------------------


NEW YORK (AP) – For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.


By David J. Phillip, AP

In this Nov. 10, 2010 file photo, oil refineries are shown in this aerial view, in Deer Park, Texas. For the first time, the top export of the United States is fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil. From January to October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly $280 billion.

Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88 billion in 2011, have surged for two reasons:

— Crude oil, the raw material from which gasoline and other refined products are made, is a lot more expensive. Oil prices averaged $95 a barrel in 2011, while gasoline averaged $3.52 a gallon — a record. A decade ago oil averaged $26 a barrel, while gasoline averaged $1.44 a gallon.

— The volume of fuel exports is rising. The U.S. is using less fuel because of a weak economy and more efficient cars and trucks. That allows refiners to sell more fuel to rapidly growing economies in Latin America, for example. In 2011, U.S. refiners exported 117 million gallons per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, up from 40 million gallons per day a decade earlier.

There's at least one domestic downside to America's growing role as a fuel exporter. Experts say the trend helps explain why U.S. motorists are paying more for gasoline. The more fuel that's sent overseas, the less of a supply cushion there is at home.

Gasoline supplies are being exported to the highest bidder, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. "It's a world market," he says.

Refining companies won't say how much they make by selling fuel overseas. But analysts say those sales are likely generating higher profits per gallon than they would have generated in the U.S. Otherwise, they wouldn't occur.

The value of U.S. fuel exports has grown steadily over the past decade, coinciding with rising oil prices and increased demand around the globe.

Developing countries in Latin America and Asia have been burning more gasoline and diesel as their people buy more cars and build more roads and factories. Europe also has been buying more U.S. fuel to make up for its lack of refineries.

And there's a simple reason why America's refiners have been eager to export to these markets: gasoline demand in the U.S. has been falling every year since 2007. It dropped by another 2.5 percent in 2011. With the economy struggling, motorists cut back. Also, cars and trucks have become more fuel-efficient and the government mandates the use of more corn-based ethanol fuel.

The last time the U.S. was a net exporter of fuels was 1949, when Harry Truman was president. That year, the U.S. exported 86 million barrels and imported 82 million barrels. In the first ten months of 2011, the nation exported 848 million barrels (worth $73.4 billion) and imported 750 million barrels.

http://www.usatoday.com/mon...es-export/52298812/1
IP: Logged
PFF
System Bot
dennis_6
Member
Posts: 7196
From: between here and there
Registered: Aug 2001


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 115
Rate this member

Report this Post12-31-2011 01:36 PM Click Here to See the Profile for dennis_6Send a Private Message to dennis_6Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Are you surprised to learn most of our oil does not come from the middle east?
---------------------------
Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries)
(Thousand Barrels per Day)
Country Sep-11 Aug-11 YTD 2011 Sep-10 YTD 2010
CANADA 2,324 2,240 2,157 1,937 1,971
SAUDI ARABIA 1,465 1,075 1,180 1,082 1,072
MEXICO 1,099 1,150 1,113 1,108 1,132
VENEZUELA 759 806 893 919 928
NIGERIA 529 854 826 1,107 1,018
COLOMBIA 510 365 364 308 328
IRAQ 403 637 473 422 464
ECUADOR 299 303 203 229 215
ANGOLA 283 311 323 404 413
RUSSIA 275 252 246 286 295
BRAZIL 163 213 225 177 270
KUWAIT 145 165 164 172 204
ALGERIA 139 140 204 366 337
CHAD 74 32 54 30 14
OMAN 72 52 39 0 0
http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_.../current/import.html
IP: Logged
carnut122
Member
Posts: 9122
From: Waleska, GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004


Feedback score:    (9)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 83
Rate this member

Report this Post12-31-2011 07:29 PM Click Here to See the Profile for carnut122Send a Private Message to carnut122Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

You are looking at India the wrong way. They have something very important that we not only want--we desperately need far more than any product they could make and send us-----consumers for our own exports. They are the 3rd fastet growning economy in the world. We not only cannot grow without them--we cannot survive without them.


That's what they said about Mexico before NAFTA and about China before making them a "most favored nation." The problem is the factories move to these markets and then get to export back to the US without tariffs. Funny how that as worked out.
IP: Logged
carnut122
Member
Posts: 9122
From: Waleska, GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004


Feedback score:    (9)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 83
Rate this member

Report this Post12-31-2011 07:34 PM Click Here to See the Profile for carnut122Send a Private Message to carnut122Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

carnut122

9122 posts
Member since Jan 2004
 
quote
Originally posted by dennis_6:

Somebody want to remind me how our gas prices are because of supply and demand again?


I'm not sure, but I'm glad to see that we're exporting anything at all.
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post01-13-2012 08:08 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I don't have exact figures, but yesterday I read oil was around $100/barrel and gold over $1700/oz - which seem like a jump over last year this time. It all seemed crazy then, eased a little and then it has settled here. Gas is around $3.29/gallon - again too high for the current economy - and I am all out of things to cut from my monthly budget. So we drive less, a lot less. There have been increases in fresh and frozen produce I suppose is related to this, but right now meat seems to be on sale. Yes, I am suggesting that fuel prices are driving the increases in those commodities.

Meanwhile GM is supposedly turning things around financially in spite of all the hateful rhetoric - electric/hybrid cars are starting to look pretty good now.
IP: Logged
rstubie
Member
Posts: 421
From: Toledo,Ohio,USA
Registered: Aug 2006


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback

Rate this member

Report this Post01-13-2012 01:10 PM Click Here to See the Profile for rstubieSend a Private Message to rstubieEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
High fuel prices would certainly help the push for electric vehicles. IMO they are going to be a large part of the future automotive market. which will certainly effect fuel prices. Could change the power some countries have and effect the economy of the middle east dramatically.
Today electric cars are no where on pace with a gasoline engine when it comes to the cost but hopefully people remember the first cell phones.
Crappy coverge, about 20 min of talk time to 8 hours of charging time. As that changes with car battery development you can bet everything will change..

[This message has been edited by rstubie (edited 01-13-2012).]

IP: Logged
dennis_6
Member
Posts: 7196
From: between here and there
Registered: Aug 2001


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 115
Rate this member

Report this Post02-18-2012 01:24 PM Click Here to See the Profile for dennis_6Send a Private Message to dennis_6Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
NEW YORK (AP) — Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year.

At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.

"You're going to see a lot more staycations this year," says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react."

Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gasoline bill rise to $80 from about $60 in December. The closest service station is selling regular for $3.39 per gallon, the highest he's ever seen.

"I guess we're going to have to drive less, consolidate all our errands into one trip," Coudle says. "It's just oppressive."

The surge in gas prices follows an increase in the price of oil.

Oil around the world is priced differently. Brent crude from the North Sea is a proxy for the foreign oil that's imported by U.S. refineries and turned into gasoline and other fuels. Its price has risen 11 percent so far this year, to around $119 a barrel, because of tensions with Iran, a cold snap in Europe and rising demand from developing nations. West Texas Intermediate, used to price oil produced in the U.S., is up 4 percent to around $103 a barrel. That's 19 percent higher than a year earlier.

Higher gas prices could hurt consumer spending and curtail the recent improvement in the U.S. economy.

A 25-cent jump in gasoline prices, if sustained over a year, would cost the economy about $35 billion. That's only 0.2 percent of the total U.S. economy, but economists say it's a meaningful amount, especially at a time when growth is only so-so. The economy grew 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, a rate considered modest following a recession.

High oil and gas prices now set the stage for even sharper increases at the pump because gas typically rises in March and April.

Every spring, refiners suspend operations to switch the type of gasoline they make. Supplies of wintertime gas are sold off before March, when refineries need to start making a new formula of gasoline that's required in the summer.

That can mean less supply for service stations, resulting in higher gas prices. And summertime gasoline is more expensive to make. The government mandates that it contain less butane and other cheap organic compounds because they contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, a primary constituent in smog. That means more oil, a costlier component, is needed to produce each gallon.

The Oil Price Information Service predicts that gasoline could peak at $4.25 a gallon by the end of April. That would top the record of $4.11 in July 2008.

The national average for gasoline began the year at $3.28 a gallon. The average price for February so far is $3.49 a gallon. That's up from $3.17 a gallon last February, a record at the time. Back in 2007, before the recession hit, the average for February was $2.25 a gallon.

Prices are higher on the East and West Coasts, where gasoline has risen above $3.70 in Connecticut, New York, Washington D.C. and California. This isn't unusual — states on the coasts charge some of the nation's highest gas taxes.

High gas prices put a strain on many people's budgets.

Americans spent 8.4 percent of their household income on gasoline last year when gas averaged an all-time high of $3.51 a gallon. That's double the percentage a decade ago. They could pay even more this year, even though demand is the lowest in 11 years as people drive fewer miles in more efficient cars, says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at OPIS.

Gary Goodman commutes into Manhattan from Edgewater, N.J., because gas, tolls and parking make the cost of driving prohibitive.

Goodman, an accountant, commutes by bus. He uses his car mostly for trips to the grocery store or for occasional nights out. He says he has no choice but to eat the higher gas costs.

"I already drive as little as possible," he says.

Paul Dales, a senior economist at Capital Economics says it would take a bigger shift in the global economy — say, a deep recession in Europe or a slowdown in Asia's manufacturing — for pump prices to drop noticeably. Either event would slow oil demand, depressing prices.

But experts expect demand to keep rising. World oil demand is expected to increase by another 1.5 percent to 89.25 million barrels a day in 2012, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In the short term, tensions with Iran are feeding fears that oil supplies could be blocked.

The U.S. and Europe are tightening economic sanctions against Iran over what the West believes is Iran's attempt to build a nuclear bomb. World leaders fear Israel may be planning a strike against Iran, the world's third largest oil exporter.

In response, Iran has threatened to withhold its own oil deliveries and to block the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway along its coastline through which one-fifth of the world's oil flows.

On Friday, an international banking clearinghouse crucial to Iran's oil sales said it is prepared to discontinue services to Iranian financial institutions being targeted by the EU and U.S. sanctions. That could ratchet up the pressure on Iran, but also send oil prices soaring.

The price of Brent crude fell 53 cents on Friday to $119.58. WTI gained 93 cents to $103.24.

Gas prices are already an issue in the presidential campaign. Republican candidate Newt Gingrich spoke several times this week about opening up more federal land to oil and gas drilling as a path toward U.S. energy independence — and lower pump prices.

"Our goals should be to get gasoline to $2.50 or less so that working families can actually get to work and retired families can travel," Gingrich said at a campaign event in Los Angeles Thursday.

___

Reporter Beth Fouhy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
//www.fiero.nl/cgi-bin...Subject=PETROLPHOBIA
--------------------------------
Any doubt we are being screwed, and in the worst economy since the great depression. Some comments that put this in perspective...

Rambler • 2 hrs 11 mins ago

Gasoline is now our number 1 export We pay at the pump while our gas goes to Europe and China

Niveus Nex • 54 mins ago

Don't believe a single Economist. According to their normal standards, this should have been the winter of $2-gallon gas. It was a mild winter in the U.S. There was no heavy demand for heating oil. Economic depression has dropped the amount of diesel required. There were no major wars ongoing. Refineries were operating optimally. There were fears of maximized stores of refined petroleum as recently as December. There was NO REASON for gas to go UP over the winter, and yet, it did. Therefore, them telling you 'there are concerns for $4 per gallon gas this summer' is nothing but a 'fear starter' for what they already plan on for us all.

Joe • 2 hrs 10 mins ago

...and yet, we are SHIPPING refined gasoline out of this country as fast as we can!! Sounds like the oil companies LIKE BIG PROFITS, while the bums in DC continue to stuff cash into their pockets at a record rate, all the while keeping a straight face and telling us "no problem here..."

Steve W • 1 hr 29 mins ago

I remember when Bush was in office, at the time gas was $1.79 a gallon. Pelosi was talking about how high gasoline was, it was Bush's fault, and if the Democrats were in charge it would be so much cheaper. Well, little Nancy you got you're chance and the price has doubled. I don't hear you running your big mouth today about gas prices.

Pedro C. • 1 hr 35 mins ago

When George Bush was president and gas passed the $2,50 mark, the major “news” organizations had stories of “ordinary” Americans claiming they could either eat or fill their car’s tank. Where are the stories now with the Kenyan King in the White House?
IP: Logged
82-T/A [At Work]
Member
Posts: 22527
From: Florida USA
Registered: Aug 2002


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 198
Rate this member

Report this Post02-18-2012 01:33 PM Click Here to See the Profile for 82-T/A [At Work]Send a Private Message to 82-T/A [At Work]Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Whew, I'm just glad that I bought my oil stocks when I did. I was getting away from Oil because the Obamanites were telling me that oil was going to go down (and it did temporarily when he made his promise to lower them).

But I picked up LINE (Lynn Energy) a while back... bought it at $8 a share, now it's 20 something.

I also picked up TNK (TeeKay Tankers), which has also gone up.

I also re-purchased PWE (Penn West Energy) which is an old Canadian Trust converted to stock that has an awesome quarterly dividend. I'll have to re-check, but I think it's around 12%.


Still, I see gas going up hard-core... and it's actually been a very reasonable winter this year. Imagine if the North-East had had a major blizzard, how expensive the fuel prices would have shot up???
IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post02-23-2012 12:30 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
$3.51 tonight. Up 11 cents since the end of January.
IP: Logged
1985FieroGT
Member
Posts: 3835
From: USA
Registered: Sep 2002


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 296
Rate this member

Report this Post02-23-2012 09:23 AM Click Here to See the Profile for 1985FieroGTSend a Private Message to 1985FieroGTEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
$3.69 a gallon in Mid-Michigan now... jumped 30+ cents
IP: Logged
maryjane
Member
Posts: 69576
From: Copperas Cove Texas
Registered: Apr 2001


Feedback score: (4)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 441
Rate this member

Report this Post02-23-2012 09:26 AM Click Here to See the Profile for maryjaneSend a Private Message to maryjaneEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by maryjane:

You are looking at India the wrong way. They have something very important that we not only want--we desperately need far more than any product they could make and send us-----consumers for our own exports. They are the 3rd fastet growning economy in the world. We not only cannot grow without them--we cannot survive without them.


 
quote
Originally posted by carnut122:


That's what they said about Mexico before NAFTA and about China before making them a "most favored nation." The problem is the factories move to these markets and then get to export back to the US without tariffs. Funny how that as worked out.


That's why I said they have something "we desperately need", instead of trying to claim "they are one of our biggest consumers". India has been one of the most successful in implementing their own versions of Buy America First--(striking America and inserting India of course). Still, with a population that is projected to reach 1 billion in a couple of decades, and an economy that is showing every indication of increased consumerism, we can't ignore that large of a market share without pause.
IP: Logged
PFF
System Bot
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post02-23-2012 03:32 PM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Some experts are saying that gas prices could reach up to $6 a gallon this Summer. We have a couple of gas stations here in Florida, near the airport, that are selling it for that price now. The cheapest gas near me is now $3.61 a gallon.

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 02-23-2012).]

IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post02-25-2012 03:20 PM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I received an email from Bill Nelson, one of my representatives, about his ideas to help reduce gas prices.
 
quote
Dear Friends,

Gas prices most places are pushing $4 a gallon - again. And news reports say it could be $5 or more by summertime. That’s outrageous – and unjustified.

Whether it’s the continuing threat of unrest in the Middle East or the lure of quick profit, the price of oil is driven in big part by traders, speculators and, of course, fear.

There’s been unrest in the Middle East for thousands of years, as we’re seeing right now with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Every time we’re faced with this international uncertainty, especially in the Middle East, we’re reminded why we must get off of foreign oil. Nothing’s going to eliminate the volatility in oil prices like becoming less dependent on foreign energy sources.

But we’ve also got to stop a new brand of oil trader who has emerged in the last decade, a middle man of sorts, who’s also driving up the price we pay at the pump.

Many experts agree we should not allow these traders to bid up the price of oil and flip futures contracts like condos. Yet in the last ten years the share of the oil market controlled by investors and speculators has more than doubled.

During the same time, American drivers have seen the price of gas at the pump go from about $1.56 per gallon to around $3.61 per gallon or more. By bidding up oil futures, speculators also increase costs for our airlines, industrial energy users and other businesses. And these higher costs are passed on to consumers like you and me.

Fact is, the level of speculation in today’s energy markets greatly exceeds the historic norm. If you want to know the truth, it’s partly the fault of broken-down policies from a Congress dominated by partisanship and extremism. Congress deregulated oil traders in December 2000. And it hasn’t tackled a comprehensive alternative energy policy since Nixon and Carter first talked about one in the 1970s.

Anyone can push for gas-tax holidays and the Keystone Pipeline. In fact, I support the pipeline as long as it’s in an area where it’s not as much of a threat to the entire Midwest water supply and we require that the oil stay here at home and not be sold to foreign countries.

We’ve already given the oil companies more than eight million more prime acres in which to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Now we should curb the activities of speculators. And, in the long term, we must develop alternatives to gasoline.

I think Congress should pass legislation that aims to drastically limit the ability of speculators to artificially drive up energy prices. If this bill passes, there would be the first-ever limits on how much of the oil market speculators can control. The chief cosponsor of my bill is Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV).

Plain and simple: the legislation says no single investor could hold more than 5 percent of the oil futures market, thereby greatly reducing speculators ability to manipulate prices.

Does this sound like an idea you could support? Please let me know. Also, let me know what else you think we could do to bring down gas prices.

Sincerely,


Bill Nelson

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 02-25-2012).]

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post03-05-2012 07:49 AM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by fierobear:


So what's your point? Demand is up all over the world (rising demand, supply NOT rising), and the price of gas *still* hasn't caught up with inflation.




...and still hasn't apparently. I'd argue that the cost of a single commodity does not an economic indicator make, but obviously consumer spending has been down over the last eight years overall.

EDIT: CHECK THAT. Looks like we have hit parity.

The uncertainty of the the Israel/Iran conflict, has already influenced oil prices, the Saudis couldn't be happier - at least (not as if I care) it seems to have tempered gold prices that have been climbing and making old economies like Italy and Greece teeter on disaster. Although they are going to be on the tipping point for a while.

Prices have climbed here pretty steadily over the last month and are around 3.61/gal. About 25 cents more they were last year at this time, but not as high as May last year.

[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 03-05-2012).]

IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post03-05-2012 11:39 AM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Cheap gas here is now $3.66 a gallon. One of the real problems we have is the lack of refining capabiltiy. Our refinatries are running at peak production and the NIMBYs and others do not want any more built. Oil speculators and war worries all help to destabilize and drive prices up.

How does oil speculation raise gas prices? http://money.howstuffworks....-raise-gas-price.htm

Refinery Utilization and Capacity http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet...np_unc_dcu_nus_m.htm

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 03-05-2012).]

IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post04-06-2012 12:38 PM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
The Cost of Higher Fuel Economy
http://www.nytimes.com/inte...src=tp&smid=fb-share
 
quote
Electric cars, hybrids and high-mileage versions of some vehicles are more efficient but also more expensive than similar offerings from the same brand. Even given high gas prices, it may take years to earn back the additional cost

Click on the link above to see the chart.
IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post04-10-2012 10:37 PM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
MRC: High gas prices don't fit the media's agenda
http://www.onenewsnow.com/C...ault.aspx?id=1574726
 
quote
New research by a media watchdog group reveals that the rising cost of gas is a story that many in the media are ignoring -- especially when compared to the media coverage four years ago.

The Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute analyzed broadcast network news stories reporting $4/gallon gas in the 144-day period of rising prices leading up to such highs in 2008 and then again in 2011/2012. Assistant editor Julia Seymour tells OneNewsNow the results of that investigation.

"There were nearly three times as many stories about $4 gasoline in 2008 as there were in the more recent time period," she summarizes.

Seymour says it is a disservice to the public that the story of high gas prices is not being covered objectively.

"Gas prices are an economic story -- and they're an economic story that really everyone can relate to," she maintains. "We all see gas price signs every single day; we know what we pay and when they're going up every time we go stop at a gas station.

"So that's an economic story that's very personal to people," she adds, "and it's something that gets people very upset."

The MRC spokeswoman points out that the media used gas prices to beat up the Bush administration four years ago. But during this election year, she says, there is apparently a double-standard with President Obama -- even though high gas prices clearly are hurting the public.

In February, during an appearance on Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, MRC president Brent Bozell was blunt regarding the media's handling of the issue.

"[Gas] prices are going to continue to escalate, and the media are going to continue to downplay it," he said. "This is the kind of story they don't want to cover. It goes against the narrative of the 2012 election, and they're going to do everything they can to get this guy elected. Period."

IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post04-11-2012 10:19 AM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
IP: Logged
avengador1
Member
Posts: 35467
From: Orlando, Florida
Registered: Oct 2001


Feedback score:    (7)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 571
Rate this member

Report this Post04-11-2012 11:03 AM Click Here to See the Profile for avengador1Send a Private Message to avengador1Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

avengador1

35467 posts
Member since Oct 2001
Obama’s Green Ponzi Scheme
http://personalliberty.com/...-ponzi-scheme/?eiid=
 
quote
Mitt Romney has a chance at beating President Barack Obama in the November election. Much depends on whether America will swallow Obama’s Green platform.

Obama’s renewable energy plans are as much a flight of fancy as GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s idea to build moon bases. The difference is that Gingrich got caught up in a daydream. Obama’s plans are for nothing less than control over America’s future.

Last month, Obama went on a two-day, four-State energy tour, proclaiming the benefits of clean energy and the evils of petroleum. He said that the Republican candidates in the GOP primary are either misguided or simply ignorant ­Luddites.

Obama joked: “Lately we’ve heard a lot of politicians, a lot of folks who are running for a certain office — they shall go unnamed — they dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power.”

While the President argues that investments in green energy will ease the pain at the pump and even rebuild America, there just isn’t any evidence to support his view.

Consider this from Robert Bryce’s 2010 book Power Hungry: The Myths Of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels Of the Future:

Oil is not a perfect fuel. There is no such thing. But oil is — in nearly every case — greener than any of the alternative energy forms that might replace it. No matter whether the replacement is ethanol from corn, biomass — such as wood, straw, or dung — or biofuels made from palm oil or other feedstocks, the conclusion is apparent: Oil (and if you can get it, natural gas) simply has no peers. Oil provides consumers with both high energy density and high power density. It burns cleanly. It’s easily handled at atmospheric temperature and pressure, and the number of uses for it are [sic] essentially limitless.

The crude truth from experts doesn’t deter Obama. On March 22, at the end of his energy tour, Obama said:

The point is, there will always be cynics and naysayers who just want to keep on doing the same things the same way that we’ve always done them. We’ve got a choice. … We can keep developing new energy and new technology that uses less oil, or we can listen to these folks who actually believe that the only thing we can do is drill our way out of this problem.

Obama’s latest directive seems more about getting power for himself than it does about generating power for the Nation.

Recently, syndicated columnist and noted economist Lawrence Kudlow pointed out the flaws in Obama’s mantra on energy:

As Ronald Reagan famously said, “There you go again.”

Of course, Reagan was blaming Jimmy Carter for launching false attacks during a debate. And that line was so effective, it not only helped Reagan win the debate, but a presidential election that would change American history.

But “there you go again” can apply equally to President Obama. Once again this week, the president was out on the campaign trail bashing and oil and gas companies. And he continued to spread major falsehoods about this industry, which I guess is the polite way to put it.

Obama is obsessed with oil and gas. He is a prisoner of the left-wing environmental groups. And really, he’s extending his leftist class-warfare attack from rich people to successful oil and gas producers.

What seems to have Obama especially steamed is the fact that the conventional-energy companies are profitable… So he wants to tax them. He then wants to redistribute their income to his favorite green-energy firms.

Obama’s Con Game

I trust that most Americans know the difference between a pipeline and a pipe dream. We tend to recognize con artists, regardless of the magic in the elixir they are selling. Well, most — but not all — of us do.

That’s good news for Obama, who seems more like Bernie Madoff than like Reagan.

Remember Madoff? He ran a giant Ponzi scheme that cost his investors $18 billion. His fraud was perpetrated on thousands of people, including his closest friends. They all believed the money mogul could deliver double-digit returns regardless of recessions and bear markets.

Why did such intelligent people trust Madoff? Because they desperately wanted to believe it to be true.

Madoff’s Ponzi scheme tanked only after he couldn’t get enough new investors to throw their money in to finance his hustle.

Madoff was a greedy crook who used his friends and associates. That’s prima facie. What was shocking is that so many ignored the adage: “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”

Four years after Madoff’s sentencing, a much bigger con is being perpetrated. It garners more support each passing month, and it comes from the man most Americans are taught to trust: their President.

Unlike Madoff, Obama is not interested in scamming a few thousand Americans out of a few billion dollars. He has far bigger ambitions. He wants another four years in office to change America into what he has always envisioned: a liberal society that will march lockstep to the orders dictated by Washington.

Obama has a few problems to overcome before he can begin his second term, most notably high unemployment and high energy prices.

Yet Obama has come up with a way for one stone to kill three birds. He promises that investing in clean, renewable energy will create millions of jobs and make America energy independent. The icing on the cake is that it will even save the planet.

Even for men like Obama, miracles don’t come cheaply; so expect the price tag on clean, yet un-proven, energy to reach hundreds of billions of dollars.

There’s just one problem: Affordable green energy is at least a couple of decades into our future. Perhaps our President thinks this is a small price to keep him in the Oval Office.

What loyal Democrats don’t understand is that the Greens are making fake promises that could impose a dark future on a Nation that is rich in fossil fuels.

America has real problems, but energy isn’t near the top of the list. Or at least it wouldn’t be if America’s leaders would agree to set wildcatters free off our coastal shores and in Alaska and let them tap into the bonanza of petroleum that can be discovered, pumped and transported throughout the United States.

Yet for some reason — personal, religious or political — Obama is doing everything he can to arrest a renaissance in petroleum. If anything, his plans will make America more dependent on Islamic oil.

Already, European nations are scaling back spending on renewable energy projects. But not Obama.

In a March 26 post on news.gather.com, Renee Nal wrote:

The Obama administration has already spent billions on “green energy” companies, with most of them resulting in bankruptcy and massive layoffs. His Green Agenda is not working and he wants even more. For Obama’s 2013 budget proposal, “Programs for advanced research along with energy efficiency and renewable energy account for the biggest percentage increase in spending.”

Don’t Shoot The Messenger

I write at the request of Bob Livingston. Sometimes, commenters claim I am a mouthpiece for Big Oil. My education and background is in petroleum and journalism. Yet I have never received so much as a dime from any oil company, big or small. At the moment, I don’t even own petroleum stocks. I started off as a cub reporter more than three decades ago, and I have had the good fortune to have publishers like Livingston who let me write the truth as I see it.

Yours in good times and bad,

–John Myers
Editor, Myers’ Energy & Gold Report

IP: Logged
USFiero
Member
Posts: 4870
From: Everywhere and Middle of Nowhere
Registered: Mar 2002


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 109
Rate this member

Report this Post04-11-2012 08:23 PM Click Here to See the Profile for USFieroSend a Private Message to USFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Pretty much $3.90+ avg here now.
IP: Logged
Previous Page | Next Page

This topic is 15 pages long:  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15 
next newest topic | next oldest topic

All times are ET (US)

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | Back To Main Page

Advertizing on PFF | Fiero Parts Vendors
PFF Merchandise | Fiero Gallery | Ogre's Cave
Real-Time Chat | Fiero Related Auctions on eBay



Copyright (c) 1999, C. Pennock