October 11, 2004

• Gas pricing at the pump is one of those mysteries of economics that baffle even the most stalwart accountants. But in light of the relative competence with which Bush has handled other aspects of his administrative operations, I would put "manipulating the pricing of an entire industry" well out of his reach. As far as gas prices, my wild-ass guess would be that the price differential is due to refining time. We're buying old, cheap gas right now, but when the new, expensive gas comes out of the refiners, we'll see the price jump. Although I find it difficult to believe, considering that most gas companies take their pricing schedules from The Gouger's Handbook, that we haven't seen more of a jump. Admittedly, my local gas price has gone up about a quarter a gallon in the last few weeks. So maybe they're just sleazing it up on us under the radar.
• I've been wondering the same. In UK, prices have been steady around 82p/L while the oil price has risen from ~$35 to $50+. In the past, small rises in oil prices have been passed on through the delivery chain with remarkable alacrity. Either there was a huge buffer in the price (we were being ripped of to an astonishing extent), the prices have yet to come through the delivery channel yet (unlikely in view of past hikes), or someone is eating a massive loss. I'd be interested to see if there's any plausible explanation other than an incredible level of price manipulation. It's all very odd.
• I'd have to second Fes' hypothesis. The petrol producers who buy the crude oil have a natural time-delay to market as the oil makes its way through the pipeline (so to speak). My guess is we will see some rising in prices in the next few weeks and some unambiguous jumps by December.
• I did a little research when gas prices hit about $1.50-60 a few years ago (haha- I thought that was high). Oil companies make huge profits on your gasoline. Really huge. Because gasoline prices are so much higher than necessary to break even, when oil prices go up to $53 a gallon, they can keep gasoline prices the same and still make a smaller profit. Generally, they don't- they raise prices and let people blame turmoil in some third-world country, or gas taxes, instead of everyday corporate greed. But if they had an incentive (like the potential for a second term for an administration who is nice to them) they could keep them steady for a while. No manipulation necessary from BC04. (Just a theory- YMMV.)
• I'm not sure if it's political or not, but it sure is odd...particulary since when we were at around 49 per barrel, the prices per gallon were well over the 2 dollar mark in the east coast. So yeah, some shady shit is going on...at this point I wouldn't really put manipulation past this administration, tho, particularly if we consider that Halliburton is at the helm of a lot of these crude refining and distributing operations, and well, we all know the Halliburton-Cheney connection.
• Have gas prices really not changed much in your area? Right now, gas prices are in the $2.00 range in my area, up from about $1.70 a month or so ago. That's almost a 20 percent increase. However, it probably won't stay that way. The incredible volatility in gas prices is what confuses me. That 20 percent variation is a weekly, and sometimes daily, event around here.
• Unnaceptably high petrol prices are the main reason I've switched to sniffing whatever it is that makes bicycles work. People, I mean. Yeah, I just shove two or three little people up my nose and I'm ready for anything. They just run around in there, hunting snot or whatever. They seem pretty happy too so just GET THE FUCK OFF MY BACK.
• I moved from Texas to New Jersey (metro NYC) earlier this year, and the difference in gas prices amazes me. It's $0.50-$0.75 higher here than it was earlier this year back home. I have a lot harder of a time tracking gas prices up here, though, because I hardly ever drive--just to the store and occasionally on the weekends--so the quick fluctuations don't get my attention any more. I only notice when I buy gas, which is infrequently these days.
• Kid, you gotta do like the doctor says and take that pill EVERY DAY. No weekends off. It's important.
• Kid, you gotta do like the doctor says and take that pill EVERY DAY. No weekends off. It's important. I'm guessing he says the little people stole his pills.
• MonkeyFilter: Taking the Pill Every Day.
• /you know....sometimes, I'll skip everyone else and just scroll down 'till I see quid's name. It never fails to brighten my day. Even if it's him just telling us about his surgery. ;>
• Okay, let me take over here; Monkeyfilter: It never fails to brighten my day. thank you.
• Some days I prefer the rambling, some days I prefer the lunacy. No matter what, Monkeyfilter is always there for me.
• Thread: derail! Sweet!
• Grr, I got here too late. There was a NY Times article about this several weeks ago. As with many times articles, it supplies a lot of info but doesn't draw any interesting conclusions. Another possibility: Given that gas prices were quite high at the start of the summer, refineries could have produced more gasoline than normal, which helped to keep prices down. The price was that they produced less heating oil, which will hurt more going into the winter. There are some good links on this from the Energy Information Administration's web page, like the weekly petroleum status report and this week in petroleum. Apparently heating oil stocks are down, but not spectacularly so. Personally, I'm not convinced either way. I'll break out the tinfoil hat depending on what happens on November 3rd. immlass, gas prices are cheaper in the gulf coast states because they are roughly closest to Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Venezuela, etc., and therefore have an assload of refineries relative to the rest of the U.S.
• spot on track AdQ and Fes. Everyone needs gas; only certain areas of the US need heating oil. 'oil hedging' and production capabilites of different types, timings and futures, issues like Yukos, the Nigerian issue, Sakhalin, Venezuela, as well as 'non-issues' like Mexico petroleum and Canadian natural gas (they both have good production and supplies, but in recent years haven't been keeping up with demands/surpluses). Sometimes the price of gas goes up with the cost of oil, sometimes it takes weeks. AdQ I think you got it a little backwards - the refineries are in the gulf states because of the Texas oil boom (TX, LA, OK). The refinery infrastructure was already in place when 'outside' oil started coming in, then came the deepwater Gulf oil. The amount of taxes individual states levy is also a consideration in the disparity between state gas prices.