Highway robbery - gas price spotted today.

[WolfeMacleod]

YIKES!
This was spotted today in Seattle, in the Ballard district.

I guess they want thier gas more than I do....

[red-beard]

Gas has really spiked here in Texas. We were under $2 per gallon around Christmas new years and runnning a few cents over since. IN the past 2 weeks, Gas has gone up to $2.499. I guess there is speculation over a war with Iran...

[island_dude]

There are several places in northern VA where it is $3.30 or more for premium. I just paid 2.70 for mid-grade at a discount place...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Stop cryin'. That ain't bad at all.

[nota]

why is diesel less then reg there
here in miami diesel is more then hi-test!!!!
2.6X reg to 2.8X hi-test but diesel is up near 3.00

btw I just bought a 951 saddly a MB diesel S class 300D,
not a porsche
but it was too cheap to pass up for a rare low mile MB Sd

[Z-man]

Is there a hurricane hitting US shores that I'm not aware of?

Or did Iraq attack Kuwait again?

There really is no reason for gas companies to be raising prices now.

-Z-man.

[john70t]

Democrats have shown they aren't serious about any price-fixing hearings.

Petroleum was once an alternative fuel to wood and coal burning, but it's time for progression.

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by john70t
Democrats have shown they aren't serious about any price-fixing hearings.

Good! That means they've grown up a little now that they're in power and maybe even realize that there is no grand conspiracy. And even if there was, hearings would not reduce the price of gas by a penny. If Congress wants to make gas cheap, they can always repeal the gas tax.

[KFC911]

Originally posted by Z-man
There really is no reason for gas companies to be raising prices now. -Z-man.

Oh yes there is Is this where Sammy steps up and tells us we're full of it for thinking Bush's "oil buddies" aren't laughing all the way to the bank, or is this where he gloats about Valero, et al?

Caveat, I do own Valero, and several others in the biz, but that doesn't mean I approve of the "price gouging" that we've been experiencing.

[Rick Lee]

Ha ha! Bush's oil buddies. Yeah, I'm sure they're just overjoyed with a 10-11% profit margin when they do all the work and gov't. takes a much bigger cut for doing none of the work.

[Rich76_911s]

The rise in price in crude oil recently due to decreasing levels of crude in the national reserves, as well as the amount of gasoline reserves. A fair amount of it is because this time of year refiners must shut down sections of the refinery for maintence etc. Irans holding 15 Brit soldiers aint helping either. There are just a lot of reasons for traders to be long oil and they have been buying it. Traders are not beasts of rationality and (in my opinion) they have irrationally driven the price of crude and gasoline too high, again. So you and I are now victims of their irrationality.

[sammyg2]

MYTHBUSTERS to the rescue:

98% of all gas stations in the good ole US of A are independently owned and operated. As in, they are not owned by the big bad oil companies.
If you don't like the prices at the corner station chances are the owner is to blame, not the oil companies.
Yep, it's your neighbor down the street who owns that station who is to blame for ripping you off, not the oil company. Put the blame where it belongs.
Don't start saying that it's OK because he has a right to make a living either.
The gas station owner makes a gross profit typically 20 times as large as the profit the oil refinery gets to make the gas. He typically makes 20 times as much on every gallon as the big bad oil company.

Please, lets stop pretending that the oil companies are controlling the retail prices. they simply are not. Saying they do either proves you don't understand, or that you are trying to decieve.
It isn't that they don't want to control the prices, it's just they they are basically powerless to do so.

They make gas and offer it for sale. it goes to the highest bidder, just like on E-bay.
Obviously they want to get as much as possible but that depends on what the buyer is willing to pay. If joe blow oil company is willing to sell his gas cheaper, you would have to lower your price to meet his. The wholesale price is very volitile lately, because investors are scooping up buy options and spot market surplusses in hopes that some sort of event will occur to drive up prices so they can make $$$. Problem is, when the supply is barely meeting demand these speculators create a self-fulfilling prophesy. Even the slightest hint of a rumor can send them scrambling to jump on the bandwagon, which drives the prices up quickly. They are the ones who are manipulating the prices, and are doing it with little supervision.

The oil companies can't do anything about the supply, if they tried that they'd be in jail in a new york second.
See, the government (state and federal) watches them very closely. The government knows how much they can and should produce. They keep track. If anything (like a power failure or mechanical breakdown of critical equipment) occurs, the refinery has less than 24 hours to call it in so the government can investigate, and they do. Every time. If an oil refinery intentionally tried to cut production to increase price, they'd be hauled up in front of a congressional hearing.

[sammyg2]

BTW, VLO is at $65.23 up from $52 at the first of the year

[nota]

more BS
around here the stations are leasted from the oil CORP
the station ''owner'' owns nothing but a peice of paper
the CORPs own the land and sets the wholesale prices
and way more then 2% are strait CORP owned and managed
try about 25% mostly the bigger major ones on main corners
some think the CORPs make more on the land VALUES
then on the gas sales

very very few are true independents who own the land and buildings values and costs are tooo high for that

way to tell is the CORP own stations NEVER are SERVICE bayed
they all converted to mini-marts long a go

[competentone]

Originally posted by Z-man
Is there a hurricane hitting US shores that I'm not aware of?

Or did Iraq attack Kuwait again?

There really is no reason for gas companies to be raising prices now.

No hurricane, but there actually has been some forecasts about this year's hurricane season being particularly severe. (Of course the predictions were wrong last year, but the markets react in anticipation of future events.)

No situation with Iraq or Kuwait threatening oil, but I'm sure you must have heard about that little country in the Middle East called "Iran." They've got cruise missiles that are a really, really, really serious threat to the shipping lanes in the region -- including being a really serious threat to any of our vessels that might try to escort some of the tankers through the region.

The gas companies aren't "raising prices" the prices are determined by open-market trading (you can participate in the market yourself if you really want to). The gas companies do participate in the market, but on the whole they really just respond to market forces and set their prices to the market price.

(And of course, you do understand that the individual station owners make virtually nothing on their fuel sales, most of their profits come from the "convenience items" you pick up when you fill your tank.)

[creaturecat]

Drive 2 hours north. $5 US per US gal. for premium.

[on-ramp]

that's funny...

most gas station owners say their profit margins are slim... and prices are controlled by the oil companies.

[Joeaksa]

Originally posted by sammyg2
MYTHBUSTERS to the rescue:

98% of all gas stations in the good ole US of A are independently owned and operated. As in, they are not owned by the big bad oil companies.
If you don't like the prices at the corner station chances are the owner is to blame, not the oil companies.
Yep, it's your neighbor down the street who owns that station who is to blame for ripping you off, not the oil company. Put the blame where it belongs.
Don't start saying that it's OK because he has a right to make a living either.
The gas station owner makes a gross profit typically 20 times as large as the profit the oil refinery gets to make the gas. He typically makes 20 times as much on every gallon as the big bad oil company.

Sorry but this is not correct everywhere. I have a friend here in Phoenix who runs a gas station. His hands are tied on pricing due to the price that he has to pay. Asked him recently how it was going and he is selling gas for about 2c profit per gallon.

He cannot lower the price any lower because his wholesale price is 2c lower than he is selling. He cannot raise it any because the station across the street is selling fuel for the same price he is, because they get their fuel from the same wholesale company.

Regular is selling for 2.71 a gallon here in Phoenix. When the stations are paying 2.69 for a gallon of fuel what do you recommend? How would you as a owner do to bring prices down?

Remember that if he does not make some profit then he will go out of business. BTW, he is a 911 owner...

Joe A

[competentone]

Originally posted by sammyg2
MYTHBUSTERS to the rescue:

98% of all gas stations in the good ole US of A are independently owned and operated. As in, they are not owned by the big bad oil companies.
If you don't like the prices at the corner station chances are the owner is to blame, not the oil companies.
Yep, it's your neighbor down the street who owns that station who is to blame for ripping you off, not the oil company. Put the blame where it belongs.
Don't start saying that it's OK because he has a right to make a living either.
The gas station owner makes a gross profit typically 20 times as large as the profit the oil refinery gets to make the gas. He typically makes 20 times as much on every gallon as the big bad oil company.

Please, lets stop pretending that the oil companies are controlling the retail prices. they simply are not. Saying they do either proves you don't understand, or that you are trying to decieve.

Talk about "trying to deceive"!

"The gas station owner makes a gross profit typically 20 times as large as the profit the oil refinery gets to make the gas. He typically makes 20 times as much on every gallon as the big bad oil company."

Gross profit is meaningless; why don't you be honest and talk about the station owners' net profit from fuel sales???

You won't go there because (for some reason) you seem to want to vilify the station owners and know that they net virtually nothing from their fuel sales, so you give this deceptive crap about "gross profit."

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally posted by Joeaksa
Sorry but this is not correct everywhere. I have a friend here in Phoenix who runs a gas station. His hands are tied on pricing due to the price that he has to pay. Asked him recently how it was going and he is selling gas for about 2c profit per gallon.

Yes. My wife used to manage a gas station in Danville, VA. This is exactly what she has told me.