Posted on 05/14/2007 8:23:09 AM PDT by kellynla
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American motorists are paying record-high prices at the gas pumps in the run-up to summer vacation season as operating problems at the nation's oil refineries cut deeply into fuel stockpiles, travel and auto group AAA said on Monday.
U.S. average gasoline prices climbed to a record-high average of $3.073 a gallon on Monday, narrowly exceeding the previous peak hit after hurricanes knocked out refineries on the Gulf Coast in 2005, according to the daily survey of 85,000 service stations.
This is the third year in a row that pump prices have climbed above the $3-a-gallon mark as a continued crunch in domestic fuel production capacity mingles with rising demand and high prices for crude oil.
Gasoline prices are up about 50 cents since March, with energy experts blaming this year's spike on planned maintenance and breakdowns at U.S. refineries struggling to meet tough environmental fuel regulations.
Reuters Pictures
Editors Choice: Best pictures from the last 24 hours. View Slideshow "Because oil prices today are at least $10 less expensive per barrel than when gasoline prices previously exceeded $3 per gallon, almost all of the price pressure on gasoline can now be attributed to America's continuing -- and increasing -- inability to supply enough refined gasoline to the marketplace," AAA said in a statement earlier this month.
U.S. gasoline supplies dropped about 15 percent since February amid low production from refineries, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The surge in gasoline prices has sharpened scrutiny of the oil industry as it rakes in sterling profits. The U.S. Senate's top Democrat last week accused big oil companies of curbing fuel production to keep returns high.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
ping
And still our Do Nothing Congress does NOTHING about Energy policy.
3.03...I just paid 3.78, man I wish I could get 3.03 gas.
And some still believe there is still no price gouging going on.
where in Cali RU?
I paid 3.29 yesterday in Huntington Beach.
I did my part in 1979 when I quit commuting to work and started working out of my house.
RBOB gasoline is $2.33, which is about 80 cents above a few weeks ago, so retail should be up about 80 cents. Our local retail outlet is up only 50 cents which indicates some lag possibly due to unwillingness to gouge.
Many areas will see $4 sometime this summer. It’s a monopoly, and we’re paying monopoly prices for it.
On hwy 5 around Harris Ranch and also at the north side of the Grape Vine.
My brother lives in San Francisco and he paid 4.25, good thing he does not drive much.
Say it as often as possible, still not happening.
I’m sure the Congressional liberals are thinking more on the line of enacting a ceiling price for gasoline and a “windfall” profits tax. This will assuredly give us gas lines and rationing and not solve the fundamental problem of supply.
Gosh, I already ride the bus to work and now they are raising gas prices. What dopes.
> build nukes, one a month.
I gotta agree — nukes powering hybrid cars would be enough to stop importing oil from the arabs. I’d love to be able to tell OPEC to take a long walk off a short pier.
Yeah, yeah, I know — but hybrids are getting almost useful now. There’s a Durango coming out later this year with a 340hp hemi — I won’t mind giving that a test spin whether it’s hybrid or not.
How about using the profits to build refineries?
if you don’t already check out gasbuddy.com;
you might want to...
some good deals out there if you know where to look.
“How about using the profits to build refineries?”
You cannot build a refinery in America, anymore...
We have an entire Industry in this country (the Trial Attorney’s of Environment, INC.), devoted to sponging as much cash from stopping new refining as it can....
Take a look at the nightmares faced by the folks who wanted to build the “Arizona Clean Fuels Refinery”. If you want to know WHY no one has built a new refinery in America, all you have to do is look at the history of this SMALL project!!
An operation that was supposed to take 18 MONTHS to build when first proposed in early 1998 (!!!), has this on thier website:
“We remain optimistic. We still anticipate starting up operation by late 2011.”
And then THIS from May 7, 2007:
“An order from a federal judge has temporarily stopped construction of the planned 150,000 b/d Arizona Clean Fuels refinery in Yuma, Ariz.
The order came after the Quechan Tribe filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Phoenix claiming that the U.S. government did not adequately review artifacts before transferring the land to Arizona Clean Fuels”
BP CLOSED the huge Gary Works refinery after facing numerous lawsuits in an attempt to UPGRADE it, deciding it just wasn’t worth the efforts, and bad press.
I've an assignment for you....
Detail the gross and net costs of producing a gallon of unleaded gas in CA.
Then detail the net profit. Please be detailed...re: total tax, total fee's, total regulatory costs.
Also quote to me 5-7 random public O & G profit margins. And then quote 5-7 random retail ( Starbucks, Lowes, Microsoft, HomeDepot, etc.. )public companies profit margin.
Thanks, I will await your post.
2.79 this morning on the way to work. I keep telling my dad he needs to get the hell out of Kalifornistan.
And some still believe restricting drilling in new areas and preventing the building of new refineries is a good idea.
“And some still believe there is still no price gouging going on.”
And others believe that FR is a conservative web site.
Marxists are crawling out of the woodwork.
View my other postings on this website and you will find that I’m a conservative. Probably more then you.
It all boils down to supply and demand.
We have the supply, yet we are being gouged as if there is no gas available.
Show me a gas station with a “No gas available” sign, and then I may believe it.
I agree
At last look, more than 25 years to get a nuke from idea to pushing electrons.
You would need to have legislation that would exempt energy companies from any legal harassment from overzealous government workers and environmentalists.
Cheap gas is NOT A RIGHT. Gas is a COMMODITY. Everyone STOP WHINING!
Again, WHY IS IS YOUR RIGHT TO HAVE CHEAP GAS? Why not put a "windfall profits" tax on those limo libs in Silicon Valley?
“If you drive an SUV and commute more than 20 miles one one way to work, please don’t WHINE to me about high gas prices. Its not my fault that you chose NOT to buy a smaller car and live closer to work.”
Excuse me?
I believe you addressed your post to the wrong guy. LOL
As I stated earlier; I have been working out of my house since 1979!
Am I completely off base?
Addressed to the public in general (ie those dumb bi-ches around me who complain about filling up their Escalade), NOT you in particular.
What is conservative about nationalizing gas production?
You like having gas available? $1.25 gas is great, too bad you get to buy 12 gallons a month.
You can have price controls and very little gas or you can have gas. You can’t have both.
And when you see during these times of high prices, profit margins stay around 10%, it is because the industry is reinvesting heavily in new exploration and infrastructure.
No offense...but you’ve obviously nominal understanding of how supply and demand actually works.
They do not need a tax credit. They need a congress that doesn't cave into NIMBY's and environmentalists. Just allow them to drill and build. The government would actually make more money on increased royalties and taxes.
“What congress could do is some sort of one-time tax credit for new refineries. If there’s an economic incentive to getting more refinery capacity online, it should happen.”
As with nukes, so goes refineries. You would have to have legislation exempting energy companies from legal harassment from environmentalists and overzealous government employees.
No reason to risk the investment if your money can be tied in knots for 15 years fighting legal battles.
Its the reason why prices are high because we lack refining capacity. I probably went a little too the left by putting a lien on profits to pay for the refineries. Energy companies do want to build refineries as stated from one of the prior posters, but environmentalists and trial attorneys are causing these higher prices.
If the far left had their way they would only seize oil company profits to fund big government, but not to improve our energy supplies. They would still not help the extreme price spike on energy.
—How about using the profits to build refineries?—
Many companies are expanding and upgrading their refineries. Regulations essentially prevent building new refineries. Even still the expansions are being protested. The reason profit margins for these companies are staying around 10% during the periods of high prices is they are reinvesting into their industry.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117789455598286509.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.motivaenterprises.com/images/editor/ExpansionUpdatePressRelease.doc
http://www.panews.com/local/local_story_120184906.html
http://www.bakersfield.com/102/story/122840.html
http://www.gulflive.com/news/mississippipress/index.ssf?/base/news/117645937628530.xml
http://www.turnto23.com/news/12468302/detail.html
It’s not a monopoly, you and I are free to drill for oil and refine your own gasoline. We don’t because it’s a very expensive proposition that is fraught with risk at every stage. Gas prices are high because demand is high. Oil company profits are coming on the wave of worldwide demand for gas and other petroleum based products, not because they are making more per unit volume.
Prices will go down when demand goes down. They sell all they can produce and that’s a formula for continued high prices.
“Addressed to the public in general (ie those dumb bi-ches around me who complain about filling up their Escalade), NOT you in particular.”
Well in the future I would appreciate it if you would address your posts to whom you wish to address ie: “all” etc.
I spend enough time reading & responding to those posts that do apply to me as it is and yours obviously doesn’t since I don’t drive an Escalade and I definitely don’t commute to work. LOL
Good day!
Still, you have to laugh about the folks crazy enough to commute from Lancaster to West LA.
By this definition, electricity, steel, aluminum, copper, plastic, timber, water and many other items are monopolies because you cannot conduct business or live in today's society without them being used in the supply chain.
oh its nuts...
I know folks who commute from Dana Point to Beverly Hills daily...
even when I had an office in L.A., I kept an apt. there so I wouldn’t commute daily...the stress from the drive alone isn’t worth it!
as I said earlier, I saw the writing on the wall in oil embargo of the 70’s and that’s when I started working out of my house in 1979 and NEVER LOOKED BACK!
Not the same thing. If I want to build a house, I can choose between materials. Additionally, I don’t have to buy a house every day to keep my job. But if I want to keep my job, I have to buy oil based fuels every few days.
Demand is not objective. If the demand stays the same and supply goes down then you have, in effect, increased demand.
We are doing the worst of both worlds. We continue to demand more and more energy and at the same time we limit access to additional energy. That was fine for a few decades, but those days are gone, forever.
The fact that lands with oil reserves suitable for producing gas and diesel fuels are limited by nature is not a monopoly. And the fact that others control much of that land is also not a monopoly.
No, the fact that oil based fuels are 90+ percent of the market makes them a monopoly. If you want to go anywhere, that’s the only choice you have. Hopefully, the market will produce an alternative.
You can choose what to fuel your vehicle with as well. Vegetable Oil, Propane, CNG, biodiesel are all available to consumers.
But you do not get to choose the construction of the warehouse and vehicles used to delivery the products you use. You claim of oil is a monopoly is not true, any more than it is for steel, aluminum, copper, electricity and others.
Those alternative fuels are not widely available in most areas. Hopefully, they will be soon.
Propane, Vegetable Oil and Compressed Natural Gas are not widely available? I do not agree. They many not have the same convenience level of gasoline and diesel, but a consumer who wants to use them certainly can do so in most areas.
The Alternative Fuels Data Center contains fueling stations for the following alternative fuels: compressed natural gas (CNG), 85% ethanol (E85), liquefied petroleum gas/propane (LPG), biodiesel (BD), electric, hydrogen, and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Stations are located throughout the United States, and information is gathered from trade associations, industry contacts, retailers, and general literature.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/infrastructure/refueling.html
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