http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...es_below_100_a_barrel/articleshow/3468091.cms So they increased the gallon of gas up to $4.49 from $3.69 today http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5791480&page=1 Imagine a barrel under 50 bucks...the gallon could reach 10 buck then!! Go figure...and the population keep their mouth shut...After all, didn't they vote for the dude...twice !!
I'm assuming its based on expected supply shortages related to the hurricane... I also haven't seen anything like this myself and I'm near the areas they're talking about so I have to wonder if this is a series of isolated incidents or a larger trend...
There is an extreme shortage of refining capacity and oil production due to Hurricane Ike. Check out http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4521
This was a news two days ago I hope it would decrease more.. They are getting extra profits on each barrel.. Words Their Words which make the Oil Prices High
At $100/barrel, gas price was $2.50-$2.60/gallon. If it's Ike's fault, let's see if the gallon will go down to $2.60 in few weeks/months. Who wanna bet that it will NEVER go below $3.00 even if the barrel was free...
I guess now we know that speculators had a lot to do with the high price of oil. the pugs resisting the truth cost a lot of money for the rest of us.
I still think speculators perform an essential function of price discovery. This hurricane knocked our domestic supply down several million barrels a day, if prices had stayed flat there would have been shortages. In this case, it sounds like the retailers have engaged in the speculation because the commodity market price of oil isn't really changed over the weekend. Speculation happens at all levels, if you see toilet paper on sale at buy 1 get 1 free and you buy 10 packages you're acting like a speculator because you're "speculating" that toilet paper is cheaper today than it will be in the near future.
maybe so, but they had added about $40 to the price of oil. necessary or not it is a different story. there was a huge transfer of wealth to the oil speculator in the last few months.
Is there someone here that bought oil before the big price increases? I think it was 3rd quarter 2007 when the biggest increase began.
The Oil Refineries are gonna be offline for atleast 10 days. Check out the discussion "Implications of a 10 day Refinery Outage" Insight 1. Even before Hurricane Ike hit, inventories were very low. Insight 2. Friday, September 12, before Hurricane Ike hit, there were already gasoline shortages in some parts of the country. These occurred primarily because of the earlier impact of Hurricane Gustav. Insight 3. Since Hurricane Gustav hit, there has been a drop in refinery output of 1 to 3 million barrels a day. Insight 4. It is likely that we will have product shortages for at least the next three to four weeks, because of shut in refinery capacity and reduced refinery runs. Insight 5. One of the biggest refined product pipelines, Colonial Pipeline, is now reported to be shut down, because of lack of refined product input. Insight 6. The lack of refined product (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel) is what is driving pipeline outages. Insight 7. Areas with pipeline disruptions are likely to experience shortages of all refined products, not just gasoline. Insight 8. Regardless of whether price or some other type of rationing is used, someone, somewhere will need to go without refined product, if it is not available. Insight 9. If 5 million barrels of refinery production is taken off-line, this is equivalent to a little over 25% of US refined product usage. Insight 10. Because some areas are likely to be very short of supply, it is likely that gasoline prices would need to rise to $10 a gallon or more in those areas, to cut back demand sufficiently. Insight 11. The lack of diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel is likely to cause feedbacks to the rest of the economy. Insight 12. We will all get to see first-hand a little of what the impact of peak oil is likely to be. Please check out that article...
The market actually helps keep the price down. Take a look at the onion market and you will see what happens to a commodity when it is not traded.
Good News: The barrel is below $93 today in London http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/finance/9901460.asp?gid=244&sz=49810 Bad news: My gas station around the corner increase the gallon from $4.49 up to $4.99 http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=63798
You have had two major hurricanes go through the gulf, it has cut refining capacity which is causing gas prices to go up, while oil prices are going down.