Gas Prices

[cableguy]

iceberg, i dont know what a free market price on a barrel of oil would be... no one does, because there is no free oil market...

mindido, more name calling, i see... yes, the abramoff thing is part of the people voting themselves the treasury, but only a small part... that one refers to transfer payments... politicians promising to take from someone else and give to their voters... welfare, social security, medicare, medicaid, farm and corporate subsidies, all of these are detrimental to American society, and should be done away with...

the arab/israel thing has never been fought to the finish... it has been fough to a cease fire, not to a defeat and a victory... peace never comes from a cease fire... it comes when one side is vanquished, unable to fight any longer...

ending dependance on foreign oil isnt something you can just snap your fingers and do... increased domestic production is the first step, and after that, innovation must be given time... no one forced this nation to abandon horses in favor of cars, but it happened... why should there be a federal mandate in this case???

iceberg, first, i DONT complain about gas prices... they are what they are... second, i dont believe oil is a nonrenewable resource... even if it is, what is the harm in using it?? what else would it be there for??? what good does it do while it is in the ground?? i dont believe that oil is created the way i was taught in school some decades ago... i believe that we humans have extracted and used more oil than could have been created through whatever decomposition process is theorized... oil can be found in many places, and its location is more a function of geology than history.. otherwise, we would be looking for it near fossil beds...

how is oil created?? how much organic material is required to create a barrel of oil??? how much time??? no one knows, to my knowledge... "where does oil come from" is, at best, unanswered...

another thing that pisses me off is the concept of "excess profits." this is not taught anywhere in business school... there is no such thing as "excess profits." and heres what really gets me... the next time someone tells me the oil companies should be giving up those mythical excess profits, i have every intention of demanding of that person that they support a reimbursement to that company for any "excess losses" it may EVER have... oil companies dont always do well... the last time they were doing nearly this well, they took a huge hit within the next few years... all the gains were lost... i am confident that not a single soul rallying against the oil companies now will favor economic assistance, should an oil company need it...

hypocrites...

 

[Iceberg]

oil can be found in many places, and its location is more a function of geology than history..

The qucte above, cable, made you look very foolish. Geology IS history! Earth history!

The study of Geology is figuring out when, how, and why rocks, minerals, etc. got to be where they are today and the transition from the early days of Earth to where we are now. The depth of oil is a perfect illustration of this. The deeper the oil, the earlier it was formed. The closer the oil is to the surface, the "younger" it is.

 

[cableguy]

true, iceberg, geology is history... i said that wrong... i should have used a term like historical ecology or something like that... what i was trying to say is that what lived where when is less important than the geology of an area... i just couldnt come up with the right word or term...

your statement on oil is what i was taught in grade school, but how much organic material is required to create a barrel of crude?? what conditions are necessary to transform organic material to crude oil and natural gas???

the next step is figuring out how much oil mankind has pulled from the ground, and extrapolate the amount of organic material required to be under whatever conditions are necessary to create oil and natural gas.. then we do some archaeology and determine if there was enough life at a location to support the amount of oil in the ground..

i am honestly curious about this, and would love to move it to the "known" box and out of the "speculation" box...

 

[mindido]

It appears some countries are getting the idea. Sweden has put together a committee to free the country from oil use by 2020.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4694152.stm

 

[mindido]

This is pretty interesting. Several professors are suggesting that a species of bug may be instrumental in ridding us of our addiction to fossil fuels:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060212/ap_on_bi_ge/bug_juice

Certainly worth additional research and seems pretty darn simple.

 

[mindido]

Ouch! Feel sorry for our British friends. A British gas company has raised prices for natural gas 22%:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4723648.stm

*Edit*

And seems things aren't cooling down much in Nigeria. Rebels there have told foreign interests to get out or they will be attacked. Why does Nigeria matter? A quote,

"Nigeria is Africa's leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of US oil imports"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4723076.stm

 

[mindido]

Wholesale oil jumped $2.37 today to $62.91 per barrel on news that terrorists tried to blow up the Saudi's largest refinery

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060224...Abn7SkC;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Makes you wonder how much prices would go up if the terrorists had been successful.

 

[cableguy]

tried to--AND FAILED... there is a message there... somewhere...

termites for fuel?? first, until all household engines can use ethanol without rotting, i will oppose it... fix the engine problem, and many of us in the hinterlands wont oppose it so vehemently... next, ethanol production is a net energy and money loser, even with unconstitutional price supports for corn.. until it can be made cheaper, and with less energy, it should be halted... the bugs are a great idea--IF--this method is cheaper and uses less net energy than oil to gasoline does...

 

[mindido]

For those with an interest, CNN has put together a documentary on the vulnerability of our oil supply. Here's a bit of their promo:

"We Were Warned
Tomorrow's Oil Crisis

What if a hurricane wiped out Houston, Texas, and terrorists attacked oil production in Saudi Arabia? CNN Presents looks at a hypothetical scenario about the vulnerability of the world's oil supply, the world's remaining sources of oil and explores the potential of alternative fuels."

Worth a look. And, by the way, has anyone else noticed a significant increase in retail gasoline prices recently? We just went from $2.45 per gallon to $2.70 practically overnight. This is a bit puzzling since wholesale prices have barely changed (hovering between $59 to $63 per barrel).

 

[mindido]

Having fun paying those winter heating bills? Well, apparently in Britain, paying those bills is getting a bit difficult:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2006031...J8A5wes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

Oh well, the heating season is almost over.

 

[zxcw]

Gas price here in Finland is about 1,30 euros per litre. And the price has been on this level almost a year. It's too much!

 

[maddgreek]

for those of you in the us try this http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

dont know if it has been posted before but is pretty cool to find the lowest price

 

[KABOOM]

That's cool. I kind of find it funny that the lowest price in my area is also where you can get shot very easily if you aren't careful.

 

[mindido]

Greek,

I posted two similar sites a while back. Will go and find them and repost. They've saved me a few bucks more than a few times but their data is somewhat time sensitive. If their info is more than a day or two old, prices have probably changed.

 

[mindido]

Greek,

Finally found those other sites I mentioned earlier.

http://www.fuelbargain.com/

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/

Definitely worth a look.

 

[mindido]

Everybody better get prepared for some fairly steep gasoline price hikes. Several things are going on which are not looking very good:

1. The Iranian situation isn't getting any better.
2. The same for Nigeria.
3. Venezuela is getting ready to kick Exxon-Mobil out of the country.
4. American, Chinese and East India are still gobbling all of the oil they can.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330...4sAkgSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGI2aDNqBHNlYwM3NDk-

Just this preliminary news sent wholesale oil above $67 per barrel. It will probably go a lot higher in the next several months.

 

[DocZ]

I live here in Alaska, currently I am paying $2.60 a gallon Its pretty fucked up that we drill it and refine it locally and we Alaskans also get bent over. Let me clue you guys in on a all to common misconception a lot of lower 48ers have, The lying sons of bitching liberal politittyians mislead the masses on oil exploration here in Alaska. ANWAR (arctic national wildlife reserve) could not be a more convoluted term for that oil field. It conjures up images of pristine beauty of baby animals and flowing streams, nothing could be farther from the truth. It is a frozen wasteland that is devoid of life, no one in there right mind could ever dream of living in a siberia type hell hole. There is not even a tree over 6 inches tall for 500 fucking miles! anyone who opposes drilling in that fucking dessert needs to be dropped off there over night. I know what I am talking about because thats were I work...

 

[mindido]

Planning on taking a vacation by car this summer? Probably not, but just in case, be prepared! Virtually every analyst I've checked on recently is saying that summer gasoline prices will be somewhere between $3 to $3.50 per gallon. And thats only as long as there are no hurricanes and things don't blow up in the middle east (if either happens you can double or triple those numbers).

Also, an interesting article:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/04/12/magazines/fortune/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Two US Senators (Herb Kohl, D, Wisconsin and Arlen Specter, R, Pennsylvania) are trying to figure out who's to blame for high prices. They've introduced a bill to increase scrutiny on the big oil companies.

 

[mindido]

Found this, from a friend in SoCal, in my inbox this morning and thought it so interesting that it would be good to put here. Sorry, its a chain letter which I usually immediately dispose of, but this one might actually do some good. Read it and, if you agree, make a copy and send it to your friends. Will it work? I don't know. But I can't think of many other things that could quickly effect gas prices. At least give it a read.



GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work (at least on paper)

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It ' s worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the
marketplace...... not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 =3D 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3D 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE
>>>>HUNDRED MILLION >>>>PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am, so trust me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you?

Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.

THIS CAN REALLY WORK

 

[mindido]

Need a job? Well, if you can stand the heat, see if you can land CEO of Exxon/Mobil. Lee Raymond, former CEO of the company that retired in December, has just had his pay package announced publicly and, boy, what a deal.

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060415/ZNYT01/604150347/1011

Just a few highlights:

"For his efforts, Mr. Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for The New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant. That is $144,573 for each day he spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the company's headquarters in Irving, Tex., is known. "

"Mr. Raymond's total compensation package, including the more than $400 million he received in his final year at the company. "

"Still, Mr. Raymond's package for 2005 stands out, even stripping the $98 million lump-sum value of his pension plan. He received $19.9 million in salary, bonus and other incentives for 2005. He made $21.2 million on options he exercised last year. And he was awarded 550,000 restricted shares, bringing the total he owns to 3.26 million, with a value of $199 million, at $61 a share, an average of Exxon's share price since March 1. Some of the restricted shares vest in 5 and 10 years. He owns more options that hold a value of $69.6 million. "

Its good to be the king!