What's up with a 25 cent increase in the last two days?

 

There are no new refineries. I takes 10 years to build new ones. When this gov. gets tired of dealing with the tree huggers who have blocked them for the last 30 years!
I almost had a wreck in Needville TX. $3.79 pg!

 

Funny thing is, I went to PA last weekend...left on Thursday and returned on Saturday (wee hours)...well..driving up, 2.80 was the cheapest I saw..so I figured I'd use them as the baseline (saw as high as 3.07 around where I live prior to heading out). Friday driving around, we litterally saw this one station that was 2.80 on Thursday goto 2.90 by Friday morning, and then to 2.99 friday night. Saturday we left out and they were 3.02. Got back home, and the place I normally buy from had gone up 2 cents to 2.87...the BP still showed 3.07.

I'm guessing there was some panic price raises ongoing, but they were a little more stable in MD. Although the Gov. had a meeting with the heads of the big 3 in the US for production, so they may have held fast in fear the Gov would go all out and force an investigation.

If you listen to Fox News (I know..hate me..but hey), Bill O'Reily was talking over the last several weeks about prices of fuel. Who sets the price...he is STILL looking for the name(s) of those incharge of setting the per gallon rate to interview and find out whats going on...I'd like to know too. Trading on the Merchantile floor seems leveled off (no major spikes per barrel), and fluxuates by less than a dollar a barrel.

Wasnt it stated last week on all the major news outlets that the price of crude vs price of pump would have to be 95.00+ a barrel in order to charge the prices we have seen of recent.

On a side note...isn't it sad when you look at the sign after the prices have come down a LITTLE..and a VERY LITTLE at that, and think...*phew*..ONLY 2.80 a gallon...when I first started looking at diesels, the price was a mere .69/Gallon...when I bought my first oil burner, it was 80 cents/gallon and I swore that had to be highway robbery....jeez..what a few years will do. :/

 

In NJ we have our own refineries so they can not claim since Katrina we had to truck your fuel further. If it was due to oil increase, why hasn't gas gone up?

They are just ripping us off, knowing we don't have a choice.

 

There have been no new refineries added in 30 years. Back then there were not all the baby boomers driving around in deisel trucks. Yes Katrina has some affect, but it is demand on the refineries that are up and running that is causing all of the gas stations to take advantage of a chance to raise prices. I can garantee you the station mentioned above did not fill there tanks 3 times in one day.

 

From what I saw on a few fox news broadcasts the prices are set by
commodities brokers, the gas stations claim they have no say in what the price will be. They are called by their suppliers throughout the day and told what the new price is.. As for changing the prices during the day, yes they had already bought that fuel but I think they are always looking forward to the next delivery and what its going to cost to replace that fuel..
I'm not saying ths is OK, just my understanding of how this works..

 

So essentially, what they have in the ground is purchased on margin? ie: your anticipating your next load to cost more, so you attempt to meet the price of the tanker BEFORE it drops it's load to ensure you can cover the cost of the bulk drop.

If I have that right, then SOMETHING needs to be set in stone...there may be no new refineries, but most of the fuel we consume is stored locally and I am SURE there is fuel there that is somewhat aged (from weeks ago) that would be less valuable than the stuff just being dropped in.

Man...makes ones head sound like a Mazda (zoom zoom zoom!). :/

 

Well, this time it ain't the tree huggers. Lee Raymond, CEO of ExxonMobil is on record saying that there is little profit operating a refinery compared to pumping the oil or distributing product. He said that's the main reason that no new refineries are being built. Furthermore, the number of refineries in the US has DECREASED by over a third in the last 20 years, and their capacity has been partially replaced by upgrading the remaining refineries for added efficiency and throughput. The net result is that the remaining refinery capacity is just enough for demand, and any disturbance, like a hurricane or a refinery fire results in a near shortage, which is a good excuse to raise prices.
Don't blame the tree huggers. Ask big oil why they aren't restarting some of those shut down refineries to meet the demand for fuel - the answer will be bafflegab, but what they DON'T want to do is drive down the price of fuel at the pumps. My ***, they were making a very healthy profit at $40/barrel, and the cost of pumping, refining, and distribution hasn't changed. $65/barrel is obscene.

Warren
(Used to work for Exxon)

 

Here's a novel concept ..............SCREW EM ALL and run biodiesel.......... if a large enough portion of diesel owners would demand at least B50 we could put a hurting on oil refinerys and the middle man.

if it comes down to it i'll run b100 instead of paying more.

just my 2 cents

 

That's my plan of action. Here in Seattle Bio is now cheaper than Dino. So my next fillup will be Bio.
On a side note about fuel prices. I just returned from a diagnostics class put on by World Pac. So much information that it's kind of like taking a drink of water from a fire hose. One of the things that they mentioned is that there are plans for a NEW REFINERY. It will be located in the Yuma, AZ area. Immune from hurricanes, very unlikely for earthquakes, etc. They plan on feeding it with a four foot pipe from somewhere, my hope is domestic sources, but most likely will be augmented with tankers from offshore.

 

Ive never seen biodiesel around me.

 

The margins may be too small for Exxon. However, there are other companies with designs in place to start the new ones. Listen to the news on all sides. It is being debated on a lesser scale, but it is coming.

 

me either. is it available in florida does anybody know? at least when i get back to the west coast i'll be able to buy some for sure.

 

I'd love to see some biodiesel around me in Southwest Florida. Prices jumped about .50 cents a gallon here in the last 2 days. I had a long drive to make tonight (100 + miles) and it looked like the average diesel price was about $3.49 pg. You could find some at $3.19 but others at $3.75. That is crazy!! Like I said 50 cent hike in 2 days.

 

same here. i h8 it!!!