I just read a post on here about the cost of gas. I find it hard to believe so many on here got it so wrong. If you want to know the real reason we are paying so much for gas, I'll be happy to tell you.

This is a free world market. The oil companies don't set the price of oil. The world market does. There is no shortage just high demand. Many of you had that part right. There is a shortage of domestic oil. That's the oil we pump out of the ground here. It isn't that we don't have the oil, but the government will not allow us to drill for it or pump it. The same politicians who say they have the solution to the energy crisis are the ones that caused it. The oil companies made $500 billion in profits over the last ten years. The federal government made $1.6 trillion over the same time. Now who is the greedy one? How many of you know that we have to import gasoline now. We have to import gasoline because we don't have the refinery capacity to produce it. We are out of capacity because you can't build any new refineries in this country. Those same politicians have placed so many restrictions and requirements on companies that no company can afford or is allowed to build a new one.

That’s my 2 cents worth.

PS. The same goes for the heath care crisis, illegal immigrates, and the global warming BS.

 

I'm pretty sure they set it so high, because they are smart enough to know in a couple years they will be out of the stuff. So sell sell sell now and rack in the money for a stronger economy later.

Edit: I'm talking about foreign countries.

 

Completely agree.

 

Well....you sort of have the facts correct but not all of them.

There is a lot more to it...and everyone has their own spin on why and the solution.

The parts you are correct on...we do need more refining cababilty, and we do need to drill for domestic oil.

Sad part is the US is a victim of the "rules" we set into place.

 

I find it odd that we all hate the gas prices and think it's a rip off but I don't see anybody slowing down or staying at home including myself. Every day I see boats going to the lake, ATV's going out to play, people speeding and riding by themselves, high perfromance rigs on the road and people buying up recreation vehicles all day long!
Like the OP said it's demand driven and we are keeping that demand very high!
Sooner or later though this $4.00+ a gallon for diesel is going to catch up with us and America is going to hit a wall.

 

You mean it isn't George Bush, **** Cheney and the rest of the neo-cons conspiring with Big Oil to rape, pillage and purge the middle class of their hard earned dollars?

I thought all I have to do is vote for Barak Obama and he'll pull the troops out of Iraq and Afganistan and finally put an end to "Bush's war". Then he'll sit down at the table with our enemies and negotiate oil prices so that we will once again have $.89/gal. gas. Then he'll play Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving free health care to the poor.

You mean that the situation with oil prices isn't as simple as the media spin will have many people in this country believe? Yes, I know. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to use a little common sense to figure this one out. It does take an ounce of effort to get the facts though, and it seems that there aren't many people in this country who are willing to put in any effort.

To put things into perspective, we buy locally produced, organic milk. We only buy a half gallon a week. If we were to buy a gallon it would cost us $8.39. You'de think that this would make the news. That's more than twice the cost of a gallon of gas. Go figure.

Good post mrjamjam. I like it when people point out the truth.

In case people have gotten to this point and haven't realized, my first two paragraphs are sarcasm.

 

In the end, who pays in every way possible? Us, and because of the increases, we have to compensate companies for raising commodity prices so they don't suffer. Well, who comps our asses? There are about 2 billion reasons why the prices go up, speculation by "anylysts" does it, someone reading this post might do it etc. Problem everyone sees is that we end up paying and don't get a break. Add insult to injury, China needs more, therefore demand goes up and WE pay. It's not bad enough they got all our jobs and need more gas to go to them. I'm starting to think communism is on the rise worldwide. There is absolutely no good reason for it and no-one is bieng held accountable. Basically in the meantime, support domestic oil producers to aleviate the need for Iran etc.

My best story is a day or 2 BEFORE Katrina hit the gulf coast there, prices skyrocketed here, in Canada to the tune of $0.40 a liter increase. The next day it was back down, who got in trouble for that fiasco? NOBODY, but it was a hellova punch in the face to me.

 

It would make a hell of a lot more sense to raise the price of gas before diesel. The "law" of supply and demand (which is BS but screw the semantics for now) dictates that the price of diesel must go up as the demand for diesel goes up.....
I would be curious to see which we burn more of? Additionally, think of all the ocean going vessels that require Diesel........
I would rather pay more for gas and less for goods and services as opposed to raising the cost of diesel. It is a crying damn shame that the politicians have allowed our diesel based infrastructure to take a back seat to our materialistic wants. Welcome to capitalism ladies and gents......

 

Diesel has gone up because of the 2007-2008 97% sulfer free regulations. you can thank the green people for that one

 

ULSD is up b/c we refine only a small portion in the US, most of the ULSD is imported already refined and sitting in ships in the Gulf of Mexico waiting for me to fill up so they can dock and unload the imported fuel.

I want cheaper gas and diesel just like the next guy, we need more holes in the ground and more refining capacity.

 

The reason why gas is so high can be summed up in two words!
" George Bush".................

 

I have made a conscious effort to save gas from by getting on the highway instead of hitting the main streets with red lights & stop & go traffic. I have been consolidating my errand trips too to be more efficient! I also put my cruise control at 60 MPH on the highway. It's amazing how many people pass me going 80+!.....This has really saved me alot of $$$ so far!......

 

Typical...

and George Bush caused Global Warming and Katrina too right?

C'mon

In RI your gas is expensive b/c of your local taxes, 3rd highest in the country.


Bitch to your State not about George Bush. .30 per gallon is your state tax.


One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made from crude oil based origins is 48.43 gallons on average - 6.43 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This represents a "processing gain" due to the additional other petroleum products such as alkylates are added to the refining process to create the final products.

Additionally, California gasoline contains approximately 5.7 percent by volume of ethanol, a non-petroleum-based additive that brings the total processing gain to 7.59 gallons (or 49.59 total gallons).

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Methodology For Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Pump Components
The components for the gasoline and diesel fuel pumps are calculated in the following manner in cents per gallon and then converted into a percentage:
Crude Oil - the monthly average of the composite refiner acquisition cost, which is the average price of crude oil purchased by refiners.
Refining Costs & Profits - the difference between the monthly average of the spot price of gasoline or diesel fuel (used as a proxy for the value of gasoline or diesel fuel as it exits the refinery) and the average price of crude oil purchased by refiners (the crude oil component).
Distribution & Marketing Costs & Profits - the difference between the average retail price of gasoline or diesel fuel as computed from EIA's weekly survey and the sum of the other 3 components.
Taxes - a monthly national average of federal and state taxes applied to gasoline or diesel fuel.
It should be noted that the second and third components can vary widely, depending on the time when the components are being calculated. Since there is typically a lag between when the spot price changes to when the retail price changes, the refining costs & profits component and the distribution & marketing costs & profits component can vary from month to month. For example, as prices increase on the spot market, often the retail prices take time to adjust. Thus, at this point in the cycle, the refining costs & profits component (assuming no corresponding increase in crude oil prices) would be relatively large while the distribution & marketing costs & profits component would be relatively small. However, later on, as retail prices "catch-up" with the previous spot price increases, the distribution & marketing costs & profits component would increase while the refining costs & profits component would decrease.

 

Sheez.

 

Supply and Demand is it.

China and India is consuming more oil in their growing economies. Venezuela one of the countries that we used to import a lot of oil from is now diverting more oil to China and Asia. Diesel is high because of the ULSD requirements put in place by the federal government and not many US refiners that produce it. I work contract at a Gulf Coast Refiner and we are starting up a Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Unit to make ULSD. The refiner is saying that this summer will be the summer for diesel production here.

Diesel is used by a lot more than just big 4x4 Superduty pickups and semis.