You're absolutely correct...on all of the above. Some stations are charging .20/gal more...same cost basis...it's the good ol' U$A. It really doesn't matter to me....it's just the narrative gets a bit stale. Sorta like my properties' insurance going up 50% to pay for storm damage on the coast a couple of years ago. I now live in a high risk area...never had a claim and I cut up the occasional tree...or dozen ;). It just is...

So into page two already, and no one knows why the price has gone up 25 cents in TWO weeks?

'Cause they can...

Filled up my car two days ago and noticed that premium was $1.30/gal more than regular! I had never seen that kind of difference before as it is usually $.30 - $.50/gal more but never over a dollar difference per gallon. The station was a Chevron just a couple of blocks off of I-40 in ABQ. I should have known better than to stop that close to the freeway where prices tend to be higher anyway, but $1.30/gal difference - simply a rip0ff.

'Cause they can...

Emotions should not be confused with logic or understanding.
If the oil companies could control the price we'd all be paying $10 as gallon or more.
Supply and demand regulate the price, the market regulates the price.

Admittedly that model can move slowly to adjust and there can be temporary spikes and occasional instability due to the complexity of infrastructure etc. but in the long run it is self-regulating. That is the beauty of it.

For zample: when gas prices go way up, the same of hybrids and prius sheet-boxes goes up and the same of full-sized pickemups goes down.

So the companies that sell trucks offer incentives, rebates, sales. And the number of trucks sold goes up.
supply dictates price, price dictates demand.

When the price of gas (or diesel) goes way down, the sales of hybrids drops and the sale of big ole trucks goes up.

If the price of fuel went way up and sustained higher prices for an extended period of time, the demand would fall as alternatives became more attractive.
As demand fell so would the price.

The fly in the ointment is when gubmints meddle and artificially influence the price or supply, that happens constantly and is just wrong and almost never results in the desired outcome.

Surprisingly we don't hear complaints about that very much because the some folks are too busy blaming the oil companies.

Yeah but I don't need bottled water, orange juice, or Starbucks to get to work every morning.

^^ True. My point being what’s involved with each product to bring it to market. Compare gas (exploration, extraction, transportation, refining, transportation of a gallon of gas) to a bottle of water. It’s amazing gas isn’t much more and water much less.

I've shifted to the other side of the ideological fence in my middle/old age.

What was once an absolute conspiracy (but there is actually plenty of that still around) of an industry has turned it into a precarious and thin-margined service to society.
Oil went from planting a pitchfork in the backyard to delicate underseas operations.
Those barefoot oilmen have dirty fingernails compared to some other industries raking in the big easy money.

Prices should go up, they should get paid, and society should bear the true costs of the profession. Call it inspiration.
Eventually in the future there will have to be a true conversion to renewables as a whole.
The sooner we get started the better.
Maybe Texaco will become the leading manufacturer of solar panels.

The price of crude has been going up since mid December.



This is not.rocket. science.

If you think they are trying to gouge ya on price why did they "let" prices fall to 2 bucks or so?

All the oil companies are already investing alternate/renewable fuels, have been for some time.

Heck, we have hydrogen cars running around the streets here.

Hmmmmmm

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/shell-quarterly-profit-jumps-140percent-after-a-year-of-transformation/ar-BBIxzj3?OCID=ansmsnnews11

My beef is the obvious manipulation and gouging at the local level...it's the American way, but just don't try to sell me the "we barely break even on gas" when I'm being bent over....I rarely bend over....except on the Interstate...

But I drive by stations all the time charging .20 more than their sister station I use just a few miles away....and that's the bigly truth.

Y'all think it takes $35 to process a bounced check or $5 to use an ATM...same, same.

Because they can....

Royal Dutch Shell Couldn't Have Asked for a Better Way to End 2017 | Business Markets and Stocks News | host.madison.com

Hmmmmmm

They made about 4 billion on 85 billion in sales.

A whopping 5%.

4th quarter 2016 they made

1.6 billion on 64 billion in sales fo a whopping 2.5%

Greedy basteds

I wonder how Apple is doing?

How does 48 billion net on 229 billion revenue sound?

t

Show me one legit source that says the local stations are gouging us.

You. have offered nothing other than what you think you know.

I gave you two sources and offered to supply more.

Put up or shut up.

Would a pic of two Sheetz stations, just a few miles apart with a .20 difference in price every single day suffice...not necessarily gouging per se, but it is so. My NC Attorney General knows for a fact they gouge the hell out of us "when they can" after an event....I'm not looking it up....just don't care, and he goes after 'em. Being so close to a major tank farm, there is abdolutely no disruption when the Colonial pipeline has a hiccup for a day, but prices will skyrocket .30-40 overnight and slowly drop over a month....'cause they can :(

I'll shut up now ;)

You are going to shut up now because you have no source to back up your claims.

There will always be gouging when disaster strikes (hurricane or earthquake)


In a normal environment there will be little of what you fear. If you don't want to pay the extra 20 cents just drive the 2 miles to the cheaper place.


Let't talk about that piss ant twenty cent difference.

Add that 20 to the 15 cents that everyone else is making.

A massive 35 cents a gallon. If you pay 2.50 a gallon it has a cost of 2.15. A 14% gross margin.

14% stinking percent. A can of dog food or a roll of butt wipe gives Wal Mart 25 to 30% gross margin.


And that lousy 14% is what the guy you think is gouging you is getting.

You are getting a hell of a deal when you fill up. Go to Europe and fill up. Let me know what you think of their price structure.

I own no true oil stock. I do own shares of CLR. Mostly a natural gas play

SOL...I don't care man....I didn't blink at $4/gal, don't begrudge the price of convenience, nor supply and demand. I'm just not gonna accept the version that gas stations only make a few cents per gallon, when it's .20 less just down the road a few miles at a sister station.

So there ;)

That guy making the extra twenty cents still isn't making squat.

42 gallons to a barrel.

We are currently paying a buck fifty a gallon for crude.