Quote:
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.
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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.)