Gas Prices and Profits
- Thread starter BlueHaya
- Start date
Well....not sure about production rates, but a oil cost that has doubled would lead to 50% increase in profits. So I have to guess that both factors led to that 49%, since oil didn't double last quarter. So many factors.
I have a spreadsheet I keep up with wholesale oil/gas and my local stations prices...call me crazy
You in the industry?
And Diesel...cost less to produce, but costing more (sometimes) than premium gas~!~
I remember back when gas was $1.50 for premium (back around 1998 if I remember correctly), and diesel was $1.10...
Then back when gas really became crazy ($4.30 premium) diesel cost almost five dollars?? What's up with them jacking around these prices???
det45
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Thanks for that link, that does explain some...the first reason however is the hardest to deal with and comprehend~!~
•High worldwide demand for diesel fuel and other distillate fuel oils, especially in Europe, China and the U.S. and a tight global refining capacity available to meet demand.
The government pushed a transition to diesel in some environments such as the trucking industry, advising it would be more economical and cheaper in the long run...this eventually created more demand which now is the number one reason we pay out the ying yang for diesel.
The prices have put more than a few independent drivers out of business with their trucks now parked and rusting~!~
HT_USMC
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The problem with Diesel (and fuel and/or oil) in general has little to do with demand. Sure they (the government, the oil companies, the refineries, etc) want us to believe that but that's not the case.
Nope. The problem is supply and supply, alone. With "Peak Oil" on the horizon (whether true or not), record profits over the last few years, and little to no government intervention why would anyone in the oil or fuel business be compelled to produce (read: supply) more? Instead, they will produce less, making the value go up per volume and thus profits soar.
It's simple, really. If the cost of producing a barrel of oil is x. I sell those barrels for x*2. If I can control supply (read: limit production) and thus increase the demand, I can then ask for more than x*2 or x*3; even though my production costs haven't increased a penny. Can we say hello profits?
Now, granted if everyone stopped buying gas (or oil), they would (have to) practically give it away. Unfortunately, this isn't mayonnaise or a loaf of bread that we can boycott. This isn't a particular crop, cigars, or merchandise. This isn't the outsourcing of telephone support and IT. This is something that has so much infrastructure tied to it that it costs more up-front to get out of, in the form of flex-fuel or alternative fuel vehicles.
Maybe, I'm over-simplifying things but I still believe our country should be stepping up or own ability to tap into the resources found under our own soil.
+1000
We should be a little more independent with some of the available resources...
At the very least we should have a % of the oil out of Iraq for numerous reasons~!~
When the oil prices went so high a couple years ago, they had a meeting a took a vote to see if they should drop prices or reduce supply...they said they were not dropping the prices and in turn produced less.
By the time the prices started coming back down we (people in the US) had already taken alternative measures to cut back (ex purchased smaller vehicles and car pooling), therefore demand was cut back a small %, but not enough.
I've read about some area off the coast of Alaska that everyone is "fighting" over who owns it...If I remember correctly I believe there are 4-5 countries that claim they own this oil enriched property, including the US...
I was attempting to locate an article on this and don't see one on Google, it was an interesting read that was showing on the front of my Comcast News Site a while back...
RedBull
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What really sucks
is we are getting
shafted without
even a courtesy
reach - around .
Gas Prices | Random Thoughts
Had been steady here at $3.28 for regular for the last couple of weeks,has now gone up $.50 per gallon over the last two days($3.78 same station as of this morning).
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