OK again ill ask this question because i truly don't understand..

[southernleftylady]

how can the gas per barrel is a day away from being $50 a barrel and our prices haven't gone up?
tia!

[DarkPhenyx]

1. The oil companies are helping out one of their own.

They are passing on the higher profits, and in some cases taking it in the ass profit wise, in order to do what they can to help their boy stay in office.

[nostamj]

3. they'll get every penny back and then some...

remember, corporations don't DONATE to bushco, they INVEST. and the payoff has been GREAT with the first term, hasn't it?

[DarkPhenyx]

24. That goes w/o saying.

Remember...these people didn't become powerful by being stupid and taking risks. If you are fairly sure your investment is going to pay off it really isn't a risk, is it?

[alphafemale]

2. "Somebody" is taking the loss so prices don't go up at the pump

Seems to be one theory.

[jayfish]

5. There Is No Loss...

they are just raking in less. Gas/Oil have been experiencing record profits.

Jay

[jimshoes]

4. Seems odd doesn't it

when a year or so ago every hiccup in the supply caused prices at the pump to go up a quarter.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. There's also a time lag

It can take a month -- or more -- for crude oil to make it to the gas station as forumlated gasoline.

Plus, price increases can be spread out over a bunch of petroleum products. People can reduce their use of gasoline, but heating oil use can't be curtailed too much. So expect some major energy cost increases this winter -- when people can't do without.

We narrowly dodged the bullet last time, but this time, I think we're going down. We've passed the point of production commonly called "Peak Oil". From here on in, it's nine steps forward (in price) for every step back.

--bkl

[Trajan]

13. That 'time lag' ...

has usually been applied ONLY when oil price drops ...

They somehow magically respond instantaneously whenever oil price increases ....

Go figure ....

Something wrong is certainly afoot now: it is quite out of character ...

[Demonaut]

23. no time lag, the price of gas goes up almost immediately when oil prices

go up, the current prices are being kept artificially low to help bush, if bush is reselected the prices will go up and the lag will be blamed but when Kerry is elected the blame will fall on Kerry's foreign policy or some other such bullshit

[medeak]

14. 6 months

from the gulf.

Just a few weeks from South America...probably why Bush has nose in Venezuala

[Spider Jerusalem]

19. 6 months from the Gulf, but that doesn't mean much.

Most of the oil imported into the US comes from the Western Hemisphere. Something like 5-10% is from the Middle East. Almost all of the ME's production goes to Europe and Asia.

[medeak]

28. haven't seen that

but perhaps you're right...these are numbers I found for gas co.

Totals: 3,336,175 807,640 24%
Company Total Persian Gulf % Persian Gulf
CHEVRON CORP 266,095 133,243 50%
MOTIVA ENTERPRISES LLC 246,619 203,527 83%
PHILLIPS 66 CO 238,222 26,872 11%
EXXON CO USA 219,197 70,758 32%
VALERO MKTG & SUPPLY CO 203,561 124,795 61%
MOBIL OIL CORP 201,803 9,204 5%
SUNOCO INC 198,113
MARATHON ASHLAND PETRO LLC 172,495 78,308 45%
AMOCO OIL CO 164,275 32,305 20%

[ProfessorGAC]

18. The Oil Companies Don't Lag Forward

They only lag backward. A fellow economics radical did a study about 5 years ago that showed the impact of price increases at the pump attributable to crude pricing and subsequent decreases when crude fell.

The average lag time in the forward position was less than 5 days, nationwide. When crude prices fell, the average lag time was almost 3 weeks. (19 days IIRC)

There was a threshhold for the increase or decrease in crude prices, though. (IOW, crude prices had to go up by, say for example, 10% in less than 30 days, or something. I'm making those numbers up, because i don't remember what they are. So don't take them as fact.)

They use some song and dance about supply and demand, but that has barely anything to do with it.
The Professor

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Ours Have!!!

Our gas prices went up 14 cents overnight! That's 7.77% in 8 hours! I'd like to get that kind of return on my money, that's for sure.
The Professor

[VolcanoJen]

16. Our prices in southwestern Ohio went up 20 cents overnight.

They were raised from around $1.76 on Tuesday night to $1.99 per gallon on Wednesday morning.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Ours from $1.82 to $1.96 between Monday & Tuesday

I feel your pain.
The Professor

[Nickster]

27. Prices have been nuts around NE Illinois for the last couple of

days. Can't make heads or tails of it. Generally it heads upwards universally and then gradually back down. Over I'd say the last few weeks here, it has gone from 1.79 to 1.99 back to 1.89. Then up to 2.04 and then I'm seeing back down to 1.85 today.

The price variance from city to city in my suburban area is very much out of whack. Today alone on my drive to work and back, I've seen 1.85,1.87,1.95, and 2.04.

It seems obvious that the playbook is handed out to the oil companies but they are not all on the same page just yet. Some are holding down the price, but others are still trying to max their profits. I think it's going to be up and down until November as the companies take profits and push back the prices to keep us from rioting.

Just my 2 cents.

[Trajan]

8. Part of the quid pro quo ....

The GOP reduces taxes and regulations: the Energy giants game the markets and reap the windfall from increased prices: The GOP reminds the Energy Concerns that their tax cuts and regulatory easements will be at risk in a Democratic Administration, whereby the Energy Giants simply DONT increase gas prices, even when oil shoots through the roof, because THEY control the marketplace ....

Really: it is conspiracy, fraud and thievery ....

The GOP stock in trade ....

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. Per-barrel price is on future contracts.

Six week to three month term. The crude from which petroleum products that are already in the distribution pipeline was refined was sold some weeks or months in the past, when prices were lower. Takes a little while for the market to adjust.

[tom_paine]

10. Purposeful suppression ofthe oil prices by Bushevik Scum

The same "Industrialists" who did the same sort of shit to ensure Hitler's rise to power are at work here.

They will do what they can to ensure Der Fuhrer*s unchecked power remains in his hands.

That is all it is, plain and simple, like when gas prices FELL DRAMATICALLY after 9/11.

You see, that is the "patriotism" of the German Industrialist for Hitler or the Amerikan Industrialist for Bushler, which is to say they'll stop stealing for a short time in order to help Der Fuhrer*.

Same then as it is now.

And all of Liberty is endangered by this surprising reversal of WWII, as WE are becoming the New Kinder and Gentler Nazis.

[Trajan]

17. Same as it ever was ....

Its the same as it ever was ....

Indeed ...

[ps1074]

11. well

The prices you see now are for mid September delivery.

[Jacobin]

12. time lag

oil is purchased, and you are right it is nearing $50/barrel. It is then refined, some into gasoline and some into other products. Then its sold by refiners to local bulk fuel dealers who then sell it to gasoline stations.

Give it a couple of weeks and the price at the pump will be going up.

[Trajan]

15. This 'Time Lag' justification ....

I dont buy it ...

I have lived long enough to know: the time lag only works in ONE DIRECTION: Gas stays high when oil futures drops ...

Almost universally: Gas increases when oil futures do ....

All anecdotal ....

Anyone have reliable, empirical, historical data to prove these assertions ? ...

[ProfessorGAC]

21. You Shouldn't

Read my earlier reply. My friend (another econometric analyst) did a published paper on this about 5 years ago. The lag is a marketing tool, not a fact.
The Professor

[JDPriestly]

22. Are these spot market prices?

[Dogmudgeon]

29. As one of the "Time Lag" arguers ...

... I've found this interesting.

I know full well that the processing time lag isn't the only factor involved, but the better-qualified information presented has been a little surprising. My previous information had been from the standard explanations of how oil gets from the ground to the gas pump -- probably industry-generated information.

It's starting to look to me like oil prices may be not match any objective drillhead reality at all -- at least sometimes. And that "sometimes" could be pretty big.

And then, I remembered that Shell recently admitted to fudging its oil field reserve estimates by some pretty hefty margins.

I don't mind being proved wrong -- it's just depressing that everything is coming out so much worse than I, a long-time apocalyptic, even guessed.

--bkl

[RUSTY SHACKLEFORD]

25. Not surprising. The whole economy is being propped up by the Feds.

Just wait until after the election when the Government declares bankruptcy. Talk about famine, plague and pestilence. The neocons will have headed to Europe to set up shop by that time, most likely to infiltrate the EU.

I'm heading down to Wal-Mart this weekend to stock up on ammo, duct tape, canned foods, and bottled water.

[democrat_patriot]

26. FIll up every available vessel.

Let them take it in the a$$ for * !!!

Than when they raise prices - you can boycott, because you have the gas already!


OK, it's not a good idea to store flammable liquids.....

[Deja Q]

30. Kick!

Kickin'