Oil Drop Brings No Relief To The Pump

[jzodda]

Source: NY Post

By JOHN AIDAN BYRNE

August 3, 2008 --

Motorists who have watched the price of crude oil drop 15 percent in the past three weeks while the average price at the pump has come down just 3 percent are getting drilled, two leading energy analysts claim.

The two claim that owners of the US's 160,000 gas stations are not dropping retail gas prices in line with the drop in oil because they want to fatten their anemic margins.

"Of course, motorists are getting hosed," says Weeden & Co.'s Charles Maxwell, who's known as the "dean" of energy analysts.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/seven/08032008/business/oil_drop_brings_no_relief_to_the_pump_122827.htm

[CatholicEdHead]

1. There has been almost a 50cent drop the past few weeks

I guess we should be at $3 or even $2.75 to $2.50 instead of around $3.50 like we are now.

[TomInTib]

3. $4.19 here (Marin)

Of course, we Marinites have been getting hosed ever since LittleMan was sworn in.

[AndyTiedye]

12. Some Stations Here in CA Have Gone Down a Dime, Others Are Still At All-Time Highs

Maybe the 'piggies think Minnesota is in play, so they're giving you a taste of the red state discount.

[Political Heretic]

23. Um.... no. Gas here is as high as its ever been. 4.07. National average is NOT 3.50

[nomorenomore08]

2. Yeah, prices have gone down as much as 40 cents in my area, but it's still not proportionate.

But the drop has been pretty steady, so maybe it's slowly catching up with lower oil prices.

[Loge23]

4. Defying gravity

Notice how the pump prices seemed to be electronically tied to the futures prices on the way up? I literally saw owners changing prices in mid-day.
Now with the futures price coming down, the talk is "this won't take effect at the pump for some time"!
What a nation of weaklings and patsies we have become.

[Warpy]

5. The local robber baron station went from $3.99 to $3.79

and that was enough of a drop that I finally put gas in the buggy, first time since May Day.

There isn't a major drop because the oil prices that are dropping are spot market futures, not contract prices for oil. Spot markets are used when a disaster causes oil companies to look for an additional supply, meaning fires, tanker sinkings, hurricanes in the gulf, and other disruptions in the flow of contract oil.

The price of contract oil has doubled in the past few years because of the fall in the value of the dollar.

Don't look for that 99 cents a gallon gas any time in the future, in other words.

[ohio2007]

6. $3.58 currently but the is a tropical low pressure cell heading for Texas

Hurricane threats push up the prices every time

[jzodda]

7. Today I paid $4.28

Here just north of New York City. Its down 20 cents from the high I paid which was $4.48. So it has not come down much here or in the city itself from what I have seen.

[notadmblnd]

8. I agree, it hasn't come down as much as it should have

The high for 87 octane in S E Mich peaked at 4.19. But we're still paying in the 3.80's now. I've only see a couple of station charging 3.78

[Chulanowa]

9. GOOD!

Maybe now consumers will realize just how very little correlation there is between the price of crude, and the price they pay at the pump. And we can ditch this "Drill now to lower costs!" bullfuckingshit once and for all

[happy5]

10. Want to know the excuse...

given by the gasoline retailers here in Puerto Rico? Because they bought the oil at very high prices, they have to continue selling what they have at those same high prices, in order to make up for the difference invested.

Taken at face value, it doesn't sound bad, until you realize that before oil/gas went up, they bought it at a lower price, and sold it at the higher price. And that's with the office for the consumer on their ass. Gas did drop a bit, but they're not gonna let go of their profit margins.

[carlyhippy]

11. simple solution, everyone keep being frugal with gas by buying very little

even with the lower prices, keep the auto purchases down also, keep up this trend until they REALLY get the gas prices down and keep them down...

They say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one.....

[Bake]

13. Prices are very elastic on the way UP

But they're "sticky" on the way down, as I recall from Econ ...

Bake

[maxsolomon]

14. Capitalism in action. Supply & Demand.

What are you going to do, consumer? No one even asks the oil companies for an explanation of their pricing. Or demand that our "elected representatives" get the answer for us. We just bitch.

We pay subsidies to these companies - they should be paid back in times of excess profits.

[pampango]

15. In SW Ohio our prices have dropped from $4.05 to $3.49 in the last few weeks.

That's about a 13% decrease for us in this part of the country. What percentage of the price of gas at the pump is the price of the crude oil refined to make it?

[JeanGrey]

16. We paid 3.80 a few days ago it has come down a lot.

[tama]

17. Short memory

Barrel of crude year ago: 70 dollars
Gallon of gas year ago: 2,9 dollars

Barrel of crude now: 125 dollars
Gallon of gas now: 4,0 dollars

So roughly, crude has gone up year to year about two thirds while gasoline has gone up only one third.

So please, stop whining about how expensive it's getting to rape Mother Earth.

[jzodda]

18. Yes stop whining and just give over your money happily to big oil

Since they take such good care of Mother Earth. Let them gauge consumers and do what they like. Its a great argument.

[tama]

20. Stop using oil n/t

[yellowcanine]

19. But the title is wrong. There has been SOME relief, even if it is not proprotionate.

I have been seeing prices around $3.75 in the Washington, D.C area at some gas stations. It was over $4.00 just a couple of weeks ago.

[Political Heretic]

24. Not here. It was 4.09 before Oil started falling it is 4:07 now.

[Stuart G]

21. Oil is now down close to 20 percent from its highest...

But the price is down about 8 percent..,
.. help..tell me who keeps the difference?

[The Croquist]

22. Please see post 17 (above).

tama explains it pretty clearly.

[jzodda]

26. Post 17 is the typical Limousine liberal Mentality

Its easy to not have to think of what others are going through when you don't have to experience it yourself. Its what I love about these "don't use oil" posts. Yeah I can magically wave my magic wand and change the world! Nope that didn't work so I guess I will have to settle for being that guy who is stuck with a long commute, no public transportation and no chance to change things in a fundamental way if I want to keep a roof over my head and keep eating. Its great being 100% idealistic when you maybe are very young or don't have a family and other considerations. When you do have "life" responsibilities then you have to take care of them.

Post 17's numbers are way off also. It was higher then 2.90 a year ago here and a week or so ago it had gone north of $4.50

[tama]

28. Post 17

1) The numbers are not way off, they are official US national numbers.

2) Because of what I know and understand, because of considerations big and small, I have been worried sick and suffering severe mental problems - not for my "preciouss" self but for the children (middle aged father of two here :)). What I've gone through, I don't wish for others - it is just inevitable in the case if someone wants to be a part of the solution and not just a part of the problem. It would be nice if what I've understood and gone through could be of help to others, to soften the psychological blow etc., but it's mostly a futile wish because of the prevailing shoot the messenger -attitude ("Limousine liberal" accusation etc).

I can say only this: adapting to changing enviroment is all what evolution is about. Current civilization is an evolutionary dead end. However, human life will most likely continue for many more generations, in some form or other. The seeds of future ways of living are planted today, each moment.

This means that no, there is no magical wand to make everything nice and ok in one instant. There is only learning to adapt, learning to learn - one baby step at a time. A good place to start learning is to realize that as current civilization and ways of life dependent on it are an evolutionary dead end, we have to think and understand everything again from a scratch, think about fundamentals and feel them.

Here's one suggestion for a fundamental to build upon: life as such is beautifull, and death is part of life. It leads to question: How can I for my small part be of service to beauty of life, given the considerations for conditionings and constraints, each moment?

[jb24]

29. Oil is not the only factor

There is also taxes, refiners margin, retailers margin etc. This is why rises/drops in crude prices will never be proportionate to rises/drops in gas prices.

[slackmaster]

25. I paid $4.09 yesterday

I guess when you have paid as much as $4.69 at the same station for the same grade that qualifies as "relief".

[backwoodsbob]

27. 3.62 today

got twenty on the way home.

[workinclasszero]

30. No shit!

All this BS talk on corporate news about the HUGE slide in oil prices and it still costs me 30 damn dollars to fill my tank up when it already has a quarter in it! And hell I got it lucky!

This BS oil price dive isn't going to help anybody until gas goes under 3 dollars a gallon and that my friends is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

Not to mention that a sand flea in Iran, Iraq, or Saudi cant cut a fart without the price of gas skyrocketing overnight!

You say a hurricane is headed towards the Gulf oil platforms??? Hell boys raise the price of gas a dollar pronto!!!:mad:

[CrazyDude]

31. Gas prices only went UP 25-50% when oil went up 100% n/t