I'm not for sure on this, but I think it takes almost 30 days for the price per barrel to effect the prices at the pump.

Even if the price per barrel doesn't change, other factors can influence price. There is going to be a major shortage of reformulated gasoline in major cities this summer. The stuff is government mandated and there just isn't enough refining capacity to keep up.

Prepare to be bent over.

My father does financial analysis of all this stuff for one of the larger oil companies. They have competition and are going to sell it for what they can with a small margin of profit. It's not like there are 3 big, fat guys sitting in a smoke filled room saying ....... "hahaha.....let's charge Seatle $3.75 a gallon". If Exxon is over charging......Texaco will come in......if Texaco is over charging.......Shell will come in........ etc.


Scott Weatherford


[This message has been edited by 351stang (edited 04-12-2001).]

 

taxes and government over-regulation are the problems; not the oil companies.

 

I don't know if over-regulation or under-regulation is the problem here. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I do know that the deregulation of the power companies in California has the energy prices all out of whack. Now the news is stating that the shortage of electricity is causing the aluminum smelting factories to shut down, which will in turn cause our car parts to rise in cost.

Now back to the gas problem. I was told that all the different gas companies: Texico, Chevron, 76, Shell, and ext... get their gas from the same distributor. I do think we need some competition.

I still want a Nuclear power plant under the hood of my truck.

 

Gremlin, California did not have true deregulation. It had only partial deregulation. Wholesale prices of electric power where deregulated. However, regulated utility rates to comsumers where maintained. Result is the electric utilities could not pass along wholesale price increases to the consumer. Result is the utilities go bankrupt.

Add to that mess increased demand due to a booming economy, an expanding population, etc., and the refusal to build more power plants in California.


Regulation usually results in the end to less supply and higher prices. Government is the problem, not the solution.

I understand that one of the reasons for higher gasoline prices is the lack of oil refining capacity. I do not think a new refinery has been built in the USA in the past ten years.

 

While driving home this morning punching buttons on the radio trying to find some music, I heard the last part of a story where the news person was saying that gas would be up to THREE dollars a gallon by the end of summer, or what that by the end of the year? Almost accidently drove the L off the road after I heard that.
Oh well, it won't slow me down any. I will pay whatever price nessessary for fuel.
But on a darker note, isn't it true that rising power costs and economic ressession go hand in hand ?

 

351stang and redlite....
Thanks for the insight gentlemen...I stand corrected.
I just don't understand why Oregon and Washington have to pay up to a 20% increase on electric because of what is happening in California. Most of the businesses, including the gas stations, are increasing their prices to compensate. I don't know about you guys, all I see is a very ugly domino affect happening.

 

Lightfooting, I think you are correct. Increased energy costs tend to create economic recession. I think I heard Vice President Cheney mention that a some weeks ago on one of the Sunday morning network TV talk shows.

The primary culprit is crude oil prices. Major price spikes caused recessions in the past. Of course, these price spikes can help as well as hurt the oil producing countries like OPEC because they have so much of their money invested in the industralized nations like the USA. With recessions, the value of their investments can fall even while they are making more money off of their oil exports.

 

What distributor would that be? They are competeing companies who refine their own gas. I have heard that some pipe lines ship some gasoline before additives are added to multiple refineries. This may be what you are thinking about.

The California power crunch is off-topic, so I'll be brief. The so-called deregulation in California was not truely deregulated, since a maximum price was placed by the state. It really isn't a free market if a regulated price cap is imposed. What happened is that the public utilities had to purchase power at twice the rate it could sell it. Then you have bankrupt public utilities, which no one will sell power to. Combine this with under investment in new plants and you get rolling black outs. It was the state legislature's fault.



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Scott Weatherford
351W 1993 LX 11.9 @ 118MPH (Drag Radials)
Black 2001 Lightning 13.62 @ ??? MPH

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