What's with the sudden rise in prices of gas at the pump?

[Frustratedlady]

Our gas jumped 10-12 cents overnight.

[KansDem]

1. Summer travel season?

School's almost out, maybe the gas companies want to jack up prices now for the "summer rush."

Either that of the fat cats want to get fatter...

[kirby]

2. Economy...

Gas prices will return to the $4.00 mark over time. They have been depressed because of the recession. Since there is an expectation that the recession is easing, the prices will increase.

The other factor is Memorial day coming up. A recent US Gov't Report shows a smaller than expected inventory of crude oil.

[onenote]

6. yep.

crude prices have been on an upswing. Not unexpected.

[Hutzpa]

25. Please tell me you're not buying that. n/t

[kirby]

34. Supply and Demand is a fact...

Who/What manipulates the supply and/or demand is another topic. But the fact is demand has been lower--people have been driving less. It is also a fact that supply is even lower. OPEC has reduced its output. OPEC is trying to set its production to get oil back to $60 a barrel.

[backscatter712]

39. I predict $2.50/gal. It won't go up to $4.

The $4 was because big oil was exploiting the Enron loophole, squeezing the oil supply and manipulating the oil futures market to drive prices up.

After Carl Levin got some legislation through Congress to repeal the Enron loophole, gas prices went down to sane levels.

They'll go up some due to summer driving season, but I don't think we'll see $4/gallon.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Yeppers! $0.50 per gallon increase over the last two tanks.

I have cut my gasoline use in half.

[Frustratedlady]

4. Well, I guess I'd better go back and fill up at $2.13.

That's a racket I hope Obama can eliminate.

[liberal N proud]

5. Anything they can blame it on

Summer travel season
Changing over to summer blend
The sheik sneezed
Too much supply in the system

You name it, they blame it.

[AngryOldDem]

7. I gassed up a week ago Sunday, cost was $2.09.

The next day, I kid you not, the price was $2.26. For once my timing was good. but even the $2.09 was the highest I have paid so far this year (I'm keeping the receipts, just out of curiosity.) The cheapest I've seen since has been $2.14. All are still $2.25-$2.27.

Oil is back to near-record prices per barrel, too.

My guess is summer's coming and the gas companies want to get the party started early.


ON EDIT: Latest price-per-barrel for oil, as of noon 5/11, EDT: $57.87

[cwcwmack]

8. election season is over...

let the plundering begin. Will Obama allow EXXON to make record profits again? Hmmmm?

[onenote]

11. Didn't election season end a while back?

Its been six months since election day. Yet, prices are just now approaching the levels they were on election day. In the intervening weeks, they've dropped below 35 dollars, climbed up to near fifty,, dropped back down, climbed a bit.

It would seem that the situation is a tad more complex than "election season is over"

[ecstatic]

17. When Bush stole it again in '04, prices shot back up almost immediately

same after the the midterms in '06. An immediate jump in price.

[pampango]

23. Not exactly. Retail gas price was $1.83 nationall on 9/1/04, then rose to $1.98 by the election,

then fell immediately afterwards dropping to a low of $1.75 by 1/1/05. (Prices went up before the election and down afterwards, not the other way around.) Prices did fall leading up to the 06 election from $3.00 in 08/06 to $2.19 by the election, bounced back up to $2.30 by Christmas, then kept falling to hit a low of $2.10 in late January 07.

If you check gas price patterns, the price almost always goes down in the fall and up in the spring, whether it is an election year or not. I haven't seen any evidence that the autumn declines are any bigger in election years than in non-election years or that the annual spring price rises are any larger after election years.

tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/ftparea/wogirs/xls/pswrgvwreg.xls

[w4rma]

9. Windfall profit taxes were taken off the table. (nt)

[high density]

10. Seems a couple of weeks early

Usually it happens around Memorial Day around here. We went up about 20 cents overnight for no reason at every station.

[onenote]

12. when you say "no reason"

are you assuming that wholesale prices don't impact retail prices?

[high density]

29. I'm saying there is no reason for wholesale prices to be increasing.

Crude seems to instantaneously affect the price when it goes up (LIFO), but then they mysteriously change accounting systems when the price starts going down (FIFO). Total BS.

[AndyA]

13. Obama needs to investigate oil company profits the last few years.

And he needs to look into that Super Secret Bush Energy Policy.

And he needs to look into price fixing and price gouging as well.

[cwcwmack]

16. ding ding ding!

winner, winner!

[ecstatic]

14. Went from around 1.87 to 2.19 in a week!

:wtf:

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Besides the usual summer increase...

some idiots have been talking about $400 per bbl oil, leading speculators to bid up crude and gasoline futures.

Other idiots have been getting used to $2 gas, and are driving their trucks a lot more.

The answer is to take the bus. Don't have a bus? Fight to get busses.

Don't give me any shit about this. I like walking to town and I like taking the bus to the next town. I don't walk into town or take the bus nearly enough because I'm usually too lazy or in too much of a hurry to get my fat ass out of the car.

I've made all of the excuses every one else has, except the real one-- only poor people and losers take the bus. I know about scheduling, convenience, time, and all that stuff, but the real reason people won't take the bus even when it makes sense is that they don't want to be associated with "bus people." We even have a store owner who forced the town to tear down a bus shelter because she didn't want "bus people" hanging out in front of her place.

I have no idea how to change that image, but it has to change.

[Occam Bandage]

18. The global economy is stabilizing, especially in China and India. nt

[Baby Snooks]

19. Drive less, keep demand low...

If demand rises, the prices will rise as well. They are counting on increased demand. So drive less, keep demand low.

[stillcool]

20. Summer time..

I wonder how much it will be Memorial Day Weekend. Plenty of time to get it back up to 3-4 dollars a gallon.

[LiberalFighter]

21. The start of the summer blend gasoline. Octane and RVP specs.

[crazylikafox]

22. It's speculation. Even the financial analysts are admitting it this time around.

Evidentally, buying has been way up in the oil ETF's (exchange traded funds) and the markets in general, which is forcing up the price of oil. I watch the financial news channels all the time. Last summer they were all denying that $150/barrel oil was caused by speculation, even though everything in retrospect points to that. This time, even the money men are admitting that they're driving up the price.

The GOOD NEWS:
They're afraid that this time, Obama will release oil from the strategic reserves to counter the price upswing. Remember, last summer, Bush refused to do that and even continued topping off the oil reserves in the face of skyrocketing prices. They say that if Obama releases reserves, the price will fall.

SO REMEMBER THAT, & pressure the Pres to release reserves if the price rises too fast.

[Jennicut]

24. Totally speculation. Utter complete crap that they do it.

I think they are afraid to go too far with Obama around, you are right.

[Hutzpa]

26. Thats what I've always believe

which is, these assholes are the one driving the price up with no remorse for folks.

I believe strongly they are testing the waters to see how far they can push Obama, the
test is to see if he will cave in to their manipulation.

This has got to stop, people are out of work and they are driving up cost to create
more burden on people. This is where the media can play a role by being objective and
investigate these price hike.

[Frustratedlady]

27. So, if he released oil, their speculation would be for nought?

Wouldn't that be fun to watch?

[depakid]

28. Amazing how many here are still in denial

The age of cheap petroleum quickly coming to an end. Folks only got a reprieve due to demand destruction- and even though they were warned it was only temporary, they're back to whinging that "someone is out to gouge Americans."

[Hutzpa]

31. You are the only one here that beleves that n/t

[depakid]

32. Maybe, maybe not

I'll take science and economics over conspiracy theory and "I want, I want" any day of the week.

Given that it's an inevitability- it'll be interesting to see how Americans respond to $5-$7 and $10 per gallon prices (and all that that entails). I'm sure most will whine and cry that it's somebody else's fault that their wasteful lifestyles actually are negotiable.

[Hutzpa]

33. Now you're reaching again,

with your premise of $5 - $10 a gallon. REALLY?

[depakid]

35. Not reaching at all

As the world economy recovers (or as folks think it does) prices will rise- until the market next cycle of demand destruction.



Oil production was relatively flat from 2004 to 2008, despite the rapid rise in prices. Once the world's maximum production capacity was reached, the supply curve for oil became vertical. It didn't matter how high the price went, oil producers could not bring any more oil onto the market.
-----------



The demand curve for 2009 moved sharply left as the global economy contracted. It takes a steep drop in price to force enough producers to cut supply in order to balance the market. Once demand recovers (shifts right), or just because supply begins to fall faster than demand, we will see price rise ever higher (per the moving average).

[Jakes Progress]

36. I'm not a fan of cheap petroleum.

But I'm even less of a fan of the oil companies and their policies. They have disrupted economics and society, unbalanced governments, ruined the planet, and any number of other heinous crimes. They raise prices based on maximizing profit because that is what corporations do. During last year's "great petroleum shortage" that led to $4 gas, there were full tankers anchored in the Gulf of Mexico because there was so much oil in storage that there was no place to put it. It is a lie.

That said, I would rather that the price of oil be pegged at $8-$10 dollars per gallon, which is closer to the real cost of using this polluting and limited resource. It's just that I think the extra dollars should be in taxes rather than profit for Exxon. Those tax dollars could be used to offset the damage done by oil production and use, to fund alternatives, to create real mass transit. Plus, that price would drive people to avoid Hummers and Escalades.

[depakid]

37. While I'm no fan of pil companies

or traders- the whole tanker bit is largely conspiracy theory and inconsequential in the worldwide scheme of things.

[Jakes Progress]

41. I'm not a conspiracy fan and

this isn't one. I wondered too when I first read it. Then I checked the sources from a couple of stories. While with anything like this, it is possible to find hundreds of sources for each side, I spent a few days last year looking into the oil price issues. I am not going to start a "I'll show you my url if you show me yours" series here. I am not given to hand-wringing or hysteria, but I have convinced myself that the price of oil and particularly the price of gasoline has little to do with supply and demand. It has to do with market manipulation and wall street games. I started being suspicious of this when we would see a per barrel increase of a few cents publicized and followed by a giant leap (within hours) of the price at the pump. Two weeks or a month later the price of oil falls, but pump prices don't. If supply and demand or market supply were the source of pump prices, the push to lower would be as immediate as the push to rise. Oil company profit margins (not profit or sales) are a primary indicator of trickery and gouging. If pump prices followed oil prices, that margin would remain steady. It has not. We have been had just as surely as we were by Enron. It's not a comspiracy. It's a business plan.

I would rather that the excess money from this global resource be better used than lining the pockets of the uber-rich.

[depakid]

43. Oh, there's plenty of market manipulation

but on a world wide scale- in the face of the geophysical limits that we've reached, it's small potatoes.

Remember- other countries have gas price increases too- and not all their governments were run by cronies.

The models all predict increasing volatility- higher peaks and lower troughs- and more sensitivity to various bits of information (or emotion).

My worry- on the political level, is that as a modest recovery takes place- we're going to see it squelched by petro-inflation (and my guess would be that summer 2011 is about when we'll see it really hit- that puts a whole new set of parameters for the 2012 elections).

[Jakes Progress]

45. Again, we could trade urls and

look at models. Not all models predict the same thing. I place a premium on models not put out by agencies supported with oil money or wall street money. This isn't a matter of governments controlling the prices. Borders and governments mean very little to the oil companies.

Oil is finite. It is, unfortunately, not rare.

[iamthebandfanman]

30. just today .. 11:00AM = 2.19$ 3:00PM 2.34 in my area n/t

[demmiblue]

38. Ditto to Summer.

[TwilightGardener]

40. Because they can do that. They don't need a reason. "Summer" is just a bone they toss us.

[Awsi Dooger]

42. Gas is going to steadily climb

We're headed back to $3 in late summer or early fall. Then it may flatten out or decline a bit. But the last 9 months or so are the aberration. I hope everyone got their driving in when it was cheap. I went cross country, plus several side trips.

When the economy fully rebounds, last summer's prices will return if not surpassed. It's the one threat to Obama's approval rating, and the 2010 midterms, that no one is talking about.

Check the market price. That's always the leading indicator. It was $1.46 a couple of weeks ago then within days zipped to $1.70. I don't even know what it is today. Probably significantly higher. I filled up at $2.05 last week, knowing the pump price was going to spike. Normally the gap between trading price and pump price is 50-60 cents.

I remember posting that I wished I had a huge storage tank to stash a few decades worth of gas, when it was at sub-$2 level. We'll probably never see it again, minus a economic collapse surpassing the current one.

[Doctor_J]

44. Check your calendar

It's the summer gouge season