Why Is Gas So High?

[PrometheusBound]

The free market means that those who control the market are free to do anything they want. Gasoline costs 12 cents a gallon in Venezuela. That's all it's worth. The oil companies piggyback off OPEC's price-gouging, which they set up in the first place in order to blame the foreigners for this power-freak thievery.

 

[Big Fitz]

The free market means that those who control the market are free to do anything they want. Gasoline costs 12 cents a gallon in Venezuela. That's all it's worth. The oil companies piggyback off OPEC's price-gouging, which they set up in the first place in order to blame the foreigners for this power-freak thievery.

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it.

If nobody will buy gasoline at 13 cents a gallon in Venezuela, it will sit there till it becomes 12 cents. I do find this claim slightly dubious as well as I've heard it rumored to be true but also that Venezuela has a communist economy, meaning the price is set by government and then rationed. So, does this supposed price really match reality?

 

[Big Fitz]

2011 World oil production sets another new record. We even attacked Libya stopping their production. OPEC even cut their 2011 production to keep prices high in the face of the global recession. There is still no geologically restrictive "Peak Oil". You "Peak Oil" doomers have yet again been thrown on the huge pile of false peak oil prophets. You currently are not, nor have you ever been credible.

Sigh..."peak production" is not just the number of units produced.
It is not that simple.
It also factors in demand vs. production capacity, cost of extraction and processing vs. price paid at the pump. As well as technology to get at oil that is far below the surface.
Post peak production basically means "the good ole' days" are gone. As in cheap oil. That occured in the late 70's. Today demand is faaaaaaaaar greater than before, the easy surface oil is gone...now we have to dig much deeper and off shore - which cost a helluva lot more than before.
Thus - we will never see cheap prices at the pump - ever.

If we ban production of oil, production will have peaked at the point the ban goes into effect. Does this mean the world ran out of oil? No. It means we stopped production and forbade future production.

That is what most peaks are caused by in the world at this time. Wells may go dry, but we always discover new sources. But of course, those aren't "REAL" oil reserves because they are from harder to reach or refine sources. Whatever. The "No True Scotsman" defense goes on.

 

[PrometheusBound]

The free market means that those who control the market are free to do anything they want. Gasoline costs 12 cents a gallon in Venezuela. That's all it's worth. The oil companies piggyback off OPEC's price-gouging, which they set up in the first place in order to blame the foreigners for this power-freak thievery.

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it.

If nobody will buy gasoline at 13 cents a gallon in Venezuela, it will sit there till it becomes 12 cents. I do find this claim slightly dubious as well as I've heard it rumored to be true but also that Venezuela has a communist economy, meaning the price is set by government and then rationed. So, does this supposed price really match reality?

If oil were worth anywhere near what the monopolist gougers charge, Venezuela would go bankrupt by selling it at cost, even to their limited population. Why believe the oil companies, who collaborate with OPEC's "combination in restraint of trade"? I think crude is worth far less than what the drillers charge the sellers. The price was about a dollar a barrel in 1969 and, despite their claims that all the cheaply drilled oil has been used up, how can this be likely with a monopoly and its greedhead collaborators?

 

[Big Fitz]

The free market means that those who control the market are free to do anything they want. Gasoline costs 12 cents a gallon in Venezuela. That's all it's worth. The oil companies piggyback off OPEC's price-gouging, which they set up in the first place in order to blame the foreigners for this power-freak thievery.

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it.

If nobody will buy gasoline at 13 cents a gallon in Venezuela, it will sit there till it becomes 12 cents. I do find this claim slightly dubious as well as I've heard it rumored to be true but also that Venezuela has a communist economy, meaning the price is set by government and then rationed. So, does this supposed price really match reality?

If oil were worth anywhere near what the monopolist gougers charge, Venezuela would go bankrupt by selling it at cost, even to their limited population. Why believe the oil companies, who collaborate with OPEC's "combination in restraint of trade"? I think crude is worth far less than what the drillers charge the sellers. The price was about a dollar a barrel in 1969 and, despite their claims that all the cheaply drilled oil has been used up, how can this be likely with a monopoly and its greedhead collaborators?

Well thanks for exposing your bias.

Did you complain that the consumer was getting too good a deal in 1990 whn the price of crude plummeted and we were paying only 91 cents a gallon? Where were you saying the greedy consumer is taking advantage of the poor refiners and drillers?

Like the rest of us consumers, you were probably dancing in the streets if you were around and not just a glint in the mailman's eye.

 

[PrometheusBound]

Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it.

If nobody will buy gasoline at 13 cents a gallon in Venezuela, it will sit there till it becomes 12 cents. I do find this claim slightly dubious as well as I've heard it rumored to be true but also that Venezuela has a communist economy, meaning the price is set by government and then rationed. So, does this supposed price really match reality?

If oil were worth anywhere near what the monopolist gougers charge, Venezuela would go bankrupt by selling it at cost, even to their limited population. Why believe the oil companies, who collaborate with OPEC's "combination in restraint of trade"? I think crude is worth far less than what the drillers charge the sellers. The price was about a dollar a barrel in 1969 and, despite their claims that all the cheaply drilled oil has been used up, how can this be likely with a monopoly and its greedhead collaborators?

Well thanks for exposing your bias.

Did you complain that the consumer was getting too good a deal in 1990 whn the price of crude plummeted and we were paying only 91 cents a gallon? Where were you saying the greedy consumer is taking advantage of the poor refiners and drillers?

Like the rest of us consumers, you were probably dancing in the streets if you were around and not just a glint in the mailman's eye.

The consumer is almost helpless in this private economic dictatorship. It takes a lot of imagination to call it a "free market." The force imposed by those with economic power is usually the only market force.
Your dizzy spin-job about who should be attacked is like saying "You were glad when the thief got his freedom taken away, why weren't you glad when the victim got his property taken away?"

 

[RGR]

Post peak production basically means "the good ole' days" are gone. As in cheap oil. That occured in the late 70's.

Early 70's, actually. There was a global peak oil in 1979, and higher real crude prices than we have today. Many people have grown up AFTER those good old days ended, me, maybe you, every younger than 45-50 years old anyway.

Today demand is faaaaaaaaar greater than before, the easy surface oil is gone...now we have to dig much deeper and off shore - which cost a helluva lot more than before.
Thus - we will never see cheap prices at the pump - ever.

Well, "easy surface oil" actually was mostly gone before 1900, it required an entirely new drilling technology (starting in 1901) to go beyond that type of oil. By my measure, we're in about the 4th or 5th generation of "harder than the last time" oil, based on the technologies required to get at the tougher and tougher oils.

As far as "cheap", that is a relative measure. Back in the 70's when prices skyrocketed to $1/gal, that hit my budget like a hammerblow. Nowadays, $3/gal isn't all that much to power even a gas hog like a Corvette, which gets much better mileage nowadays than it used to, almost enough better to make up for the nominal increased gasoline prices anyway. So what is cheap?

 

[PrometheusBound]

Post peak production basically means "the good ole' days" are gone. As in cheap oil. That occured in the late 70's.

Early 70's, actually. There was a global peak oil in 1979, and higher real crude prices than we have today. Many people have grown up AFTER those good old days ended, me, maybe you, every younger than 45-50 years old anyway.

Today demand is faaaaaaaaar greater than before, the easy surface oil is gone...now we have to dig much deeper and off shore - which cost a helluva lot more than before.
Thus - we will never see cheap prices at the pump - ever.

Well, "easy surface oil" actually was mostly gone before 1900, it required an entirely new drilling technology (starting in 1901) to go beyond that type of oil. By my measure, we're in about the 4th or 5th generation of "harder than the last time" oil, based on the technologies required to get at the tougher and tougher oils.

As far as "cheap", that is a relative measure. Back in the 70's when prices skyrocketed to $1/gal, that hit my budget like a hammerblow. Nowadays, $3/gal isn't all that much to power even a gas hog like a Corvette, which gets much better mileage nowadays than it used to, almost enough better to make up for the nominal increased gasoline prices anyway. So what is cheap?

Cheap is a reasonable profit over costs. Since Big Oil controls the supply, they can force unreasonable profit margins on us. Only those who want to turn us into a nation of pushovers and patsies would answer, "Well, don't drive so much then!"

The oil dictators know they are slimey, price-gouging crooks. They charge 1,000% over what is reasonable but when the head of Occidental Oil had to buy oil from the other greedheads in order to make up for for a sunken tanker, he said, "Sell me some of yours; I'll pay a reasonable profit of 10%"!

 

[KissMy]

Diesel Fuel is now almost as low as Gasoline. What gives? This is suppose to be the high time of year for Diesel Fuel.

 

[naomibee]

Gas is cheap here too.but i herd its going up again..this would be the time to fill all you're containers.

 

[RGR]

Cheap is a reasonable profit over costs. Since Big Oil controls the supply, they can force unreasonable profit margins on us. Only those who want to turn us into a nation of pushovers and patsies would answer, "Well, don't drive so much then!"

Certainly cheap isn't usually defined in relation to cost. And dissing the demand side of the supply/demand equation ignores how well it works when it comes to making something "cheap".

 

[rdean]

Gas is the USA's number one export. We have plenty of gas.

 

[HUGGY]

The US is producing so much gasoline, Big Oil can't sell all of it here. So they are exporting record amounts of gasoline to keep the price here artificially high. So much for the CON$ervative crap about refining capacity being so low jacking up prices because no new refineries were built in 30 years.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL
so Big Oil can
EXPORT, BABY, EXPORT

Gasoline: The next big U.S. export - Dec. 5, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.

The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places in Europe.
But demand for gas has dropped nearly 10% in recent years. It went from a peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 2007 to 8.8 million barrels today, according to the EIA.

This post is excellent and as relevant to Americans prosperity as anything posted here in the last 12 months. Thank you.

 

[Mr. H.]

The US is producing so much gasoline, Big Oil can't sell all of it here. So they are exporting record amounts of gasoline to keep the price here artificially high. So much for the CON$ervative crap about refining capacity being so low jacking up prices because no new refineries were built in 30 years.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL
so Big Oil can
EXPORT, BABY, EXPORT

Gasoline: The next big U.S. export - Dec. 5, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.

The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places in Europe.
But demand for gas has dropped nearly 10% in recent years. It went from a peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 2007 to 8.8 million barrels today, according to the EIA.

This post is excellent and as relevant to Americans prosperity as anything posted here in the last 12 months. Thank you.

If the U.S. is "awash" in gasoline, why are we importing millions of gallons daily?

You are both totally off the mark here. We are currently a net exporter of ALL refined products. Mostly diesel, middle distillates, and bunker fuels.

And I challenge you both to please explain to me what is so correct and acceptable about exporting millions of metric tons of grain each year while we are paying record prices for our groceries.

And what the **** is the deal with ethanol? 40% of our corn crop is diverted to ethanol production. We are making so much ethanol in this country that 20% of total ETOH production is exported!

Honestly, your ignorance astounds me.

 

[HUGGY]

The US is producing so much gasoline, Big Oil can't sell all of it here. So they are exporting record amounts of gasoline to keep the price here artificially high. So much for the CON$ervative crap about refining capacity being so low jacking up prices because no new refineries were built in 30 years.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL
so Big Oil can
EXPORT, BABY, EXPORT

Gasoline: The next big U.S. export - Dec. 5, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.

The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places in Europe.
But demand for gas has dropped nearly 10% in recent years. It went from a peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 2007 to 8.8 million barrels today, according to the EIA.

This post is excellent and as relevant to Americans prosperity as anything posted here in the last 12 months. Thank you.

If the U.S. is "awash" in gasoline, why are we importing millions of gallons daily?

You are both totally off the mark here. We are currently a net exporter of ALL refined products. Mostly diesel, middle distillates, and bunker fuels.

And I challenge you both to please explain to me what is so correct and acceptable about exporting millions of metric tons of grain each year while we are paying record prices for our groceries.

And what the **** is the deal with ethanol? 40% of our corn crop is diverted to ethanol production. We are making so much ethanol in this country that 20% of total ETOH production is exported!

Honestly, your ignorance astounds me.

What does my ignorance, which I totally agree with, have to do with anything in your above post?

You should get off that fairy tale about U S oil and commodity Corporations acting in the best interests of the citizens of the United States.

IMHO Corps that conduct commerce adverse to the interests of the American public should be bared from doing business here and in some blatant cases have their assets confiscated as penalty for damages.

 

[JWBooth]

In large part because money is worth so little.

 

[editec]

The price of GAS has nothing whatever to do with what is good for America.

The corporations that control the industry would sell every drop of gas offshore if the market made that the most profitable thing to do.

Those are not AMERICAN companies, they are private corporations whose only mission is to make money,

This is apparently something most of you forget when you talk about OUR gas, OUR oil, etc.

 

[PrometheusBound]

Cheap is a reasonable profit over costs. Since Big Oil controls the supply, they can force unreasonable profit margins on us. Only those who want to turn us into a nation of pushovers and patsies would answer, "Well, don't drive so much then!"

Certainly cheap isn't usually defined in relation to cost. And dissing the demand side of the supply/demand equation ignores how well it works when it comes to making something "cheap".

If they owned our water and gouged us, would you say it's our fault for not decreasing our demand for water? The farmers do own our food, so why don't they act like the greedhead oiler slime and demand what we'd pay if forced to in order to avoid starvation?

 

[Middleoftheroad]

The US is producing so much gasoline, Big Oil can't sell all of it here. So they are exporting record amounts of gasoline to keep the price here artificially high. So much for the CON$ervative crap about refining capacity being so low jacking up prices because no new refineries were built in 30 years.

DRILL, BABY, DRILL
so Big Oil can
EXPORT, BABY, EXPORT

Gasoline: The next big U.S. export - Dec. 5, 2011

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.

The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places in Europe.
But demand for gas has dropped nearly 10% in recent years. It went from a peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 2007 to 8.8 million barrels today, according to the EIA.

This post is excellent and as relevant to Americans prosperity as anything posted here in the last 12 months. Thank you.

If the U.S. is "awash" in gasoline, why are we importing millions of gallons daily?

You are both totally off the mark here. We are currently a net exporter of ALL refined products. Mostly diesel, middle distillates, and bunker fuels.

And I challenge you both to please explain to me what is so correct and acceptable about exporting millions of metric tons of grain each year while we are paying record prices for our groceries.

And what the **** is the deal with ethanol? 40% of our corn crop is diverted to ethanol production. We are making so much ethanol in this country that 20% of total ETOH production is exported!

Honestly, your ignorance astounds me.

The reason you are confused is because you are not reading the links. The US is NOT importing gasoline. It is importing oil. There is a difference.

 

[Middleoftheroad]

The price of GAS has nothing whatever to do with what is good for America.

The corporations that control the industry would sell every drop of gas offshore if the market made that the most profitable thing to do.

Those are not AMERICAN companies, they are private corporations whose only mission is to make money,

This is apparently something most of you forget when you talk about OUR gas, OUR oil, etc.

This is actually how it works.