Crude oil touched 47bbl with 20 + minutes to go in trading day n/t

[puerco-bellies]

[xray s]

1. Do I hear fifty? Fiftyfiftyfiftyfiftyfiftyfifty....

Isn't it ironic that the energy futures market will ultimately be Bush's undoing?

[UpInArms]

3. this is what happens when you

never consider the ways that prices can be paid for mis-adventures.

Blood of our children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters

Blood of all the innocents caught in the chaos that was illegally waged

Treasuries looted

Futures destroyed

and then there are the profiteers on all the misery which create their own brand of misery

[Joanne98]

5. Yeah. "Murkins" don't care about all that other complicated stuff.

But watch them go balistic when gas prices go up. I love to talk about peak oil with SUV drivers. They get this blank look on their faces. DUHHHHHHH.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Oh, and the market "surge" yesterday

was credited to a drop in oil prices. Back to the drawing board.

[Fovea]

4. I said 50 by August

and I meant it. I believe it will happen.

[tom_paine]

6. And yet, gas prices continue to fall...

Something reeks like the Soviet Union here.

[phantom power]

7. Definitely fishy...

Normally, it seems like gasoline prices shoot up 10 cents if there's even a *rumor* that oil prices might go up. Now they are breaking records, and nothing is happening?

(edit) I bet that the oil/refinery companies know what side their bread is buttered on. They might be keeping prices low just on their own initiative, to prevent any negative influences on Bush's election.

[denverbill]

8. That won't last for very long.

Crude oil prices are only a fraction of the cost of gasoline.

Even at $50/barrel, it's only about 90 cents per gallon.

The refiners must be taking one for Shrub at the moment. They are the ones who jacked up gas prices when oil went to $40/barrel. Now that it's $47/barrel, their costs have increased by 17% and they haven't increased prices. Of course, they increased prices by 33% already, so what the hell do they care?

[tom_paine]

9. I agree. The REAL THEFT comes if Bunnypants* is re-installed

A very distinct possibility, I am afraid, given the many well established (and now gottne away with in broad daylight twice) manual and Electronic Disenfranchisement the Busheviks have perfected...

[Gin]

10. this is fishy...in the past when the barrel cost of oil went up...the

price at the pump went up the next day..or the same day...now the barrel price is up and gas at the pump is lower?

yeah...we were, and are, being had... every day in every way.

[denverbill]

11. There is no way in hell there isn't some serious collusion going on.

How many refiners are there in the US anyway?

I can tell you this much: If there were 100 refiners and every station could buy from any refiner they wanted to, gas prices would drop faster than Bush on a Segway.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. I agree. eom

[htuttle]

14. It might be partly due to the way wholesale gas contracts work

We buy a lot bulk loads of gasoline at my workplace, so we usually try to sign 6-month gas contracts to lock the price in ahead of time. Then the wholesaler takes that contract and purchases an option to buy the gas when the time comes, locking the wholesaler's price in.

Last winter, when we signed the contract we are currently under, the prevailing wisdom in the gas wholesale industry, as told to us, was that Bush would find a way to keep gas prices low before the election, so the futures contracts were pretty cheap compared to what the spot market is today.

I'm sure most gas stations, independent or corporate franchised, do the same thing. So most gas stations are probably currently paying wholesale quite a bit less than they would if they bought the gasoline on the market right now.

For collusion, I'd say it's partly a few corporate franchise 'market makers' colluding to try to keep the price where it is, as opposed to rising immediately like they usually do. Market pressure keeps the rest of the companies from raising their prices. If the station across the street sells gas for less than you do, you don't get any customers. Hence, you don't want to raise the price, even if you have no desire to prop up Bush.

I would expect to see prices at the pump to start raising soon, however. Most gas contracts aren't any longer than 6 months, 6 months out, due to volatility in the markets. If they believed the common wisdom last winter, some might have thought they could buy it cheaper on the spot market this fall. Pretty soon, most gas stations have to raise the prices to stay afloat.

[LeftyLou]

13. Home heating oil folks

This won't be felt, not truly, until the furnaces on the east coast fire up in the colder weather.