Can anyone answer me this question? Regarding the Oil Industry.....

[Crazy Larry]

Oil just peaked at an all-time high - at $78 a barrel ......

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070731/oil_prices.html?.v=17



...so why am I paying $2.99 a Gallon at the pump, when Oil was trading at $60 a Barrel last summer and I was paying $3.30+....(NY prices)

....is anyone else paying cheaper than normal prices at the pump?

So does the price of a Barrel of oil not effect the price at the pump? If not, then is the Oil Industry lying to us when they raise prices at the pump due to Middle East Turmoil/Hurricanes that also cause the price per Barrel to spike?

....I'm starting to think that they are laying the price low due to record earnings and public/political outcry over the outrageous pricing as of late....

[BigBlackDodge]

The problem was that they couldn't refine the oil to gas quickly enough to meet demand. They always have to repair them just before the peak demand..........which cuts producton and drives prices up.

It's simply really. The less they produce the more money they make.


BBD

[Mike DC]

The oil industry has a certain amount of "speculation" involved in setting its prices.  (Read: estimating demand & gouging us appropriately.)  It's never been any big secret.

The refineries are the bottleneck point in the US.  It doesn't matter how much oil they pull out of the ground at any given time because it hits the market few months later.
We haven't built a new refinery in the US in decades.  Of course they like to blame that on environmental regulations, but you could make a case that it's really just to keep the prices from falling too low.  There's a whole host of economic factors for why they don't want oil prices getting too cheap.

The prices always go up in the summer & down in the winter. 
We drive more in the summer.  And they can get a little more money out of us in the summer because we're not spending all our fossil-fuel dollars heating our houses.

[Brock Samson]

greed

[Todd Wilson]

The oil industry has a certain amount of "speculation" involved in setting its prices.  (Read: estimating demand & gouging us appropriately.)  It's never been any big secret.

The refineries are the bottleneck point in the US.  It doesn't matter how much oil they pull out of the ground at any given time because it hits the market few months later.
We haven't built a new refinery in the US in decades.  Of course they like to blame that on environmental regulations, but you could make a case that it's really just to keep the prices from falling too low.  There's a whole host of economic factors for why they don't want oil prices getting too cheap.

The prices always go up in the summer & down in the winter. 
We drive more in the summer.  And they can get a little more money out of us in the summer because we're not spending all our fossil-fuel dollars heating our houses.

I can take you to 2 refineries within about 1 hour to 1 hour and a half drive from my place that have been shut down. Havent produced a thing there in a long long time!


Todd

[Crazy Larry]

The oil industry has a certain amount of "speculation" involved in setting its prices.  (Read: estimating demand & gouging us appropriately.)  It's never been any big secret.

The refineries are the bottleneck point in the US.  It doesn't matter how much oil they pull out of the ground at any given time because it hits the market few months later.
We haven't built a new refinery in the US in decades.  Of course they like to blame that on environmental regulations, but you could make a case that it's really just to keep the prices from falling too low.  There's a whole host of economic factors for why they don't want oil prices getting too cheap.

The prices always go up in the summer & down in the winter. 
We drive more in the summer.  And they can get a little more money out of us in the summer because we're not spending all our fossil-fuel dollars heating our houses.

I knew about the refineries and how we don't really use what we have - I also have heard about gasoline additives needed for environmental regulations in some states - that cause the gasoline to take a longer process in getting to the pump.

However, I still remember Gasoline prices spiking at the pump during times of Middle East turmoil - like when we went to war, or when tensions with Iran increased to what they are now...that has nothing to do with the refineries and their output.....

I would really understand if the prices and the refineries always went hand in hand - but Hurricane Katrina didn't wipe out any refineries, just oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, and if there is a three months buffer between oil hitting the barrel and then to the pump, and also major reserves by these oil companies, why was I paying $4.00/gal for high test in the Charger in August of 2005....only one day after the storm?

I always tried to justify it somewhat, but after this summer - with oil trading at a record high, no refinery problems, super high tensions in the middle east - and cheaper-than-normal prices at the pump.....we can only find that it is pure greed and just because they can-why the prices raise at the pump.

I just know the price of Gasoline could easily be dropped back to $1.50/gal and millions would still be made, the country would still run, and nothing would change with the oil output/intake - its amazing why our government (Senate/presidency) hasn't busted this monopoly/strangle hold Big Oil grips over us and installs government regulated price-caps. They do at the state level with public utilities such as Electricity and water...why not Gasoline?

Then you look at who is on the take - as in who has big oil investments - From Al Gore and Occidental Petroleum Company (http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=468) to Sen Ted Stevens from Alaska and the most recent investigation- http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/story/9179115p-9095789c.html...

we can only assume we'll be in this state forever.

[Troy]

This again? To accurately answer the question would take a lot of time to explain "How things work". Short, simple answers have never been satisfactory in the past and even detailed answers never change anyone's mind. So, pick your "bad guy" and blame them. I for one paid $2.65 yesterday so I'm not about to ask why prices aren't higher.

FYI - Katrina shut down the ports too (no tankers could unload).

Troy

[Brock Samson]

still about 3.60 a gal at the "cheap" stations here in SF, for reg...  cheapest gas in the state is only an hour drive away in Sacramento... 
it's all BS if ya ask me... nothing will stop these multinationals from raping the planet...

[Brock Samson]

  cause it's our job.

[PocketThunder]

This again? To accurately answer the question would take a lot of time to explain "How things work". Short, simple answers have never been satisfactory in the past and even detailed answers never change anyone's mind. So, pick your "bad guy" and blame them. I for one paid $2.65 yesterday so I'm not about to ask why prices aren't higher.

FYI - Katrina shut down the ports too (no tankers could unload).

Troy

This is all we need to say Troy.

            

Paul
in St. Paul

Estimator of Oil Refinery Construction

[70charger_boy]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

[Troy]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Didn't you start the last one?

Troy

[70charger_boy]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Didn't you start the last one?

Troy

Yep, and I learned never ever ever to post another one again.
Thanks Troy 

[Crazy Larry]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Not this again??

WTF back to you...

Oil just hit the highest price ever on the stock market - go find me your post about that - it just happened yesterday....I didn't see any post regarding the original question of this thread yesterday or today.

No need to take part in a conversation if you don't want to, nobody is forcing you to click on this thread.

You would have a point if there was nothing new to add to this topic, but there is....

Once again, Oil is trading at $78+ a Barrel and will probably reach $80 - this is the the highest it has ever reached in our time - this has NEVER happened before - so this qualifies as a new thread/discussion.

I simply asked if anyone might know why the price has not been effected at the pump - or will it in 3 months? Maybe some here might be more in the know on trading and industry than I. That is why I started a NEW thread and a NEW discussion.

[Troy]

Actually, it closed down today. The price of gas (and other oil-based products) relies on a whole bunch of factors which we have discussed in the past. Both gasoline and oil are sold on the open market so both are subject to speculation (although not necessarily in tandem). Remember that oil is only the raw material for gasoline - it still has to be transported, refined, and transported again. Add in different taxes, long-term contracts, seasonal and global demand, and varying profit for the middlemen and the prices become hard(er) to predict. Prices differ here by over 30 cents per gallon depending on where you are in the city which usually has absolutely nothing to do with the market. Also, reserves are primarily to cover short term problems with the supply chain and don't really count as "usable" since they have to be refilled at some point.

Troy

[bull]

"The Conspiracy of Powers" (including a group of telepathic aliens from Jupiter's moon, Io) set the price where it is now to calm the public and increase fuel sales this summer so that people will be traveling far from home and away from their guns when the invasion takes place.

[SeattleCharger]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Didn't you start the last one?

Troy

Yep, and I learned never ever ever to post another one again.
Thanks Troy 

            He is asking why the current price at the pump isn't always consistently in proportion to the current barrel price the oil companies are paying.   So this is totally different.  thanks Larry, best thread I have read in a long time,   

[70charger_boy]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Didn't you start the last one?

Troy

Yep, and I learned never ever ever to post another one again.
Thanks Troy 

            He is asking why the current price at the pump isn't always consistently in proportion to the current barrel price the oil companies are paying.   So this is totally different.  thanks Larry, best thread I have read in a long time,   

Yep and someone responded in one of my other threads that there is no link between crude oil prices and gasoline prices. Do a google search on it.  Msn had a long internet article on this.

You can think that this is a great thread...that's cool.  I know I'm not part of the click and I don't give a ...

[rt green]

well, it's a hell of a process to ground to the pump. i agree with that. all i know, is that they did the same a few years ago, at a cheaper price. maybe we use more now than we did just a few years ago.  but to hear reports of oil companies showing record profits, and us losing our asses at the pumps really pisses me off. costs more to transport it? shit those truckers are paying the same price we are.

[SeattleCharger]

Not this again.  WTF.  Next time, dig up 20 of my old posts on the oil companies.  NOBODY CARES

Didn't you start the last one?

Troy

Yep, and I learned never ever ever to post another one again.
Thanks Troy 

            He is asking why the current price at the pump isn't always consistently in proportion to the current barrel price the oil companies are paying.   So this is totally different.  thanks Larry, best thread I have read in a long time,   

Yep and someone responded in one of my other threads that there is no link between crude oil prices and gasoline prices. Do a google search on it.  Msn had a long internet article on this.

You can think that this is a great thread...that's cool.  I know I'm not part of the click and I don't give a ...

I was sort of joking, the existence of this thread doesn't really affect me one way or the other,  kind of enjoy hearing the opinion's though,

[justin1987]

well, it's a hell of a process to ground to the pump. i agree with that. all i know, is that they did the same a few years ago, at a cheaper price. maybe we use more now than we did just a few years ago.  but to hear reports of oil companies showing record profits, and us losing our asses at the pumps really pisses me off. costs more to transport it? shit those truckers are paying the same price we are.

Being in a family that has been in the oil industry for well over 30 years, I could talk your ear off on this subject. Oil companies are not the ones that are making tons of money of the oil. It is the oil refineries that are gouging everyone. The company my dad works for is locked in at $37.00 a barrel no matter what the market price is. So they are losing money now, but if oil ever goes under that (which I doubt it will) then they will be making more than market value.

I don't think a lot of people realize how many hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to keep a low oil producing well going. Plus, around here, copper theives have been stealing wire like you can't imagine. That has caused a lot of production woes.

[Crazy Larry]

Being in a family that has been in the oil industry for well over 30 years, I could talk your ear off on this subject. Oil companies are not the ones that are making tons of money of the oil. It is the oil refineries that are gouging everyone. The company my dad works for is locked in at $37.00 a barrel no matter what the market price is. So they are losing money now, but if oil ever goes under that (which I doubt it will) then they will be making more than market value.

Now THAT is something I never heard before - very interesting.

You are saying that an Oil company is under contract to sell to the refinery at $37 a barrel? Do you know, by any chance, (or ask your Dad) how long do these contracts run for? So the refineries (which are owned by who?) set the inflated prices to sell to the Gas companies???

I always thought the refineries were owned and ran by the Gasoline companies - you are saying they are independent from them. I Never knew that.

[Mike DC]

 
Maybe the gas isn't going up -- maybe it's the US dollar that's going down.

Gas/oil prices, milk is $4/gallon, raw wood prices, steel prices, shipping prices, foreign currencies that are all gaining on us . . . I think the US dollar is suffering a lot more inflation than the official C.P.I. is ever admitting to.  The Fed keeps publishing C.P.I. numbers that make inflation look low, but the raw commodity prices & currency exchange rates all seem to tell a different tale.

 

[70charger_boy]

 
Maybe the gas isn't going up -- maybe it's the US dollar that's going down.

Gas/oil prices, milk is $4/gallon, raw wood prices, steel prices, shipping prices, foreign currencies that are all gaining on us . . . I think the US dollar is suffering a lot more inflation than the official C.P.I. is ever admitting to.  The Fed keeps publishing C.P.I. numbers that make inflation look low, but the raw commodity prices & currency exchange rates all seem to tell a different tale.

 

Yep, I totally agree.  The numbers out there are not really accurate because we are in a war and home prices are at an all time high.  When the war is over and home prices crash we will be in a world of hurt and if gas prices remain high then what?

[justin1987]

Now THAT is something I never heard before - very interesting.

You are saying that an Oil company is under contract to sell to the refinery at $37 a barrel? Do you know, by any chance, (or ask your Dad) how long do these contracts run for? So the refineries (which are owned by who?) set the inflated prices to sell to the Gas companies???

I always thought the refineries were owned and ran by the Gasoline companies - you are saying they are independent from them. I Never knew that.

I'll ask him how long the contract usually runs when he gets home.

As for the oil companies being seperate from oil refineries, the larger companies (i.e. ConocoPhillips, Valero, etc.) refine their own gas, but there are many more refineries that are privately owned by individuals. The smaller oil companies that cannot refine their own gas sell their oil to those refineries.