Inconceivable!
Posted on 07/19/2008 7:27:34 AM PDT by kellynla
Drivers could see gasoline prices below $4 by Labor Day, and even a nickel decline within days, after oil prices fell again Friday.
In the last four days, oil prices have dropped more than $16 a barrel, as the market looked optimistically at calm weather, U.S.-Iran negotiations, failing bank rescues and lower demand for gasoline.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell 41 cents Friday to settle at $128.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A week before, it hit its trading record of more than $147.
"Perhaps by Labor Day we could see gasoline prices back below $4, but we need good news," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst for the Chicago-based Alaron Trading Group.
The good news must include no big bank failures, no sudden spike in gasoline demand, no tropical storms that endanger oil rigs and no rebel attacks on pipelines in Nigeria.
Drivers have been fortunate that gas prices didn't go higher, Flynn said.
"Refiners and gas-station owners had a hard time passing on the costs of gasoline because demand wasn't there," he said. "We should have been paying 25 percent more for gasoline."
(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...
ping
Already there — paid $3.99 at Costco 4 or 5 days ago.
“Bush’s fault! No... wait.”
Gas in my little town (MI) finally dipped to $3.99 this morning. There’s still a huge variance in prices — less than 2 miles down the road it’s $4.12.
I just paid $3.99 in Norway Maine yesterday - then a I saw a station for $3.98 just down the road! D@mn!
Regular was 4.06 Monday.
Regular was 3.97 yesterday.
gasbuddy.com shows prices in Hammond, LA and Jackson, MS at $3.71.
For those who wish to track oil futures to 2015, make this link a favorite to see the daily change in oil prices:
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/marketquotes/index.php3?market=CL
The most I’ve paid for Regular unleaded was $3.959 at
the local Wal-Mart (Murphy Oil) station.
It was $3.899 yesterday.
Of course, I’m in Texas and it’s not as much here as
it is in Kalifornee. :)
Also, the supermarket my wife shops at has a program that discounts gas 10cents/gal at participating stations (and there are a lot of them) for every $50 you spend, and it accumulates. So with as much as we spend on groceries every week, we can see 30 to 40 cents off (if not more) per gallon.
They never successfully cracked the $4.00 mark here (NC). Many stations tried, up to as high as $4.11 (that I saw, at least), but there was always a station down the road below $4.00. The supposed state average is $4.06, but I’ve yet to pay $4.00 per gallon for a fill-up. My most recent was $3.94, yesterday. I’ve picked up the habit of filling whenever I see a better than average price, so the car’s almost always over a half tank, and it prevents the psychological shock of a paying for a full tank all at once.
It is always amazing to watch the happy dancing regarding oil/gas prices.
The powers that be raise prices until the consumers are coaking. Finally, consumers rebel and cut down on their usage. Oh the horrors!
Powers drop prices a bit, and the happy dances begin. Pundits, news analysists, consumers are all doing their happy dances.
They forget, however, (thank goodness for Short Term Memory Syndrome) that they are happy dancing at a price that is still significantly higher than those prices were just 6 months earlier.
But the consumers, etc., adjust.
[Six months later]
Oil/gas prices shoot up.
Happy dances are soon replaced with threats of lynch mobs.
Consumers are coaking. Consumers finally, Horror of Horrors, cut their consumption.
Prices drop — slightly.
Happy dances begin.
When the prices settle, they are still significantly higher than when the former happy dances were in progress, but somewhat less that the new high.
[Six months later, the cycle repeats, as it has since Nixon was president.]
$3.98 What a deal!!
If Congress would get off their collective duffs and lift the ban on off shore drilling, the price of oil would plummet at the news. The no drilling no way statements by Pelosi and Reid are just fueling speculation about higher oil prices in the future.
Paid 3.84 yesterday in Arkansas.
And because of this issue, Pelosi, Reid & the ‘Rats will be “fueling” themselves right out of the majority in congress if not this election by the next one...for sure!
What is a “fair” price for gasoline? How can consumers know when they are paying that fair price and when they are being hosed by the oil companies?
When the price of oil temporarily went up $1 the other day, WABC news said it was “surging” again.
I don’t buy into the Big Oil conspiracy theories—except for one thing I’ve got a problem with.
To wit: When oil prices go up on the daily market, the price of gasoline immediately goes up in reaction.
Why does this occur, since the oil/gasoline that is ready for sale is already in the marketing pipeline at the price paid for the oil some months before (allowing for transportation to refineries and refining.)?
Obviously they are not using FIFO (first in first out) rather than LIFO (last in first out) accounting. What is the justification for that since it CAN produce windfall profits.
Especially if there is a near term fall in prices which they usually ignore when the market occasionally goes down. The price reduction in reaction is never as instantaneous as when the price went up.
Why does this occur, since oil companies should consistently use the same accounting/pricing mechanism if they are not price gouging?
Yesterday it fell from $4.16 to $3.99 in our area.
“WABC news?”
that’s an oxymoron! LOL
some how this will be the work of president obama. I can just see it when gas is 2.50 around feb1 that is what they will say, obama did it.
I paid $3.89 per gallon of 87 unleaded at a Sheetz at the intersection of US-340 and US-17/US-15 here in Virginia last night...the lowest I have paid in several months.
cool, I just got a sweet deal on a jeep commander just driving it a bit to keep it going.
waiting for the prices to spiral downward.
3.59 here in Oklahoma, yay, anything over 1.50 is ridiculous.
4.49 and + in L.A.
bump!
I just checked out “Baby Boomers” here on your
site (from yer tag line).
What a hoot! :^D
they are blaming Bush for it, but it is them. Their 9% approval rating is a joke. I notice I never hear about Bush’s approval rating any more cause theirs is LOWER.
Anywhooo ...
gotta hit the road and hed fer woik ...
Never got over $4 here....
“...no big bank failures, no sudden spike in gasoline demand, no tropical storms that endanger oil rigs and no rebel attacks on pipelines in Nigeria.”
What happened to the truth once again? It’s simply not acknowledged.
I guess when President Bush eliminated the EO on OCS drilling, and challenged Congress to open ANWR and remove the obstacles to drilling that started the downward movement of prices almost immediately doesn’t count in the Sun Times perspective.
Actually though such enablers of the Left such as the Sun Times would be expected to dance around the truth, wouldn’t they.
Same here in SC. The highest I’ve paid is 3.85. This morning it was 3.77.
It’s coming as I told you the other day. Now if the barrel price levels out or continues to drop you will see more surging downward at the pump.
You're right.
Sheetz and Wilco-Hess are invariably the best price in the area down here, northwestern NC, close to the VA border. It's a pity that neither one has a location on my usual routes.
“When oil prices go up on the daily market, the price of gasoline immediately goes up in reaction.
Why does this occur?”
For the 1001th time, I will try to explain...
the price you pay at the pump is directly connected to the price the station had to pay for fuel the last time the distributor made a delivery. So if the distributor makes a delivery today, then the station adjusts the price to pay for that delivery plus whatever profit margin they are operating under which as we all know is very small. Stations make money off the junk food they sell! It may to you appear to be directly connected to the price of crude traded that day but it isn’t...
Just curious, who are the powers that be that can magically raise and lower prices?
“cool, I just got a sweet deal on a jeep commander just driving it a bit to keep it going.”
I hope you obtained the $2.99 gasoline deal from JEEP
There's a Hess on the northern edge of the Charlottesville US-29 strip that ran $3.90 per gallon for days on end when the gas stations closer in to town were around $4.00 per gallon. It was a great price, except not worth the 10-15 minute drive up the strip and through nine or ten traffic lights.
They are the ones laughing because almost all of them will get reelected.
Leni/MinuteGal: "And now abideth calm weather, U.S.-Iran negotiations, failing-bank rescues, and lower demand for gasoline, these four; but the greatest of these is lower demand for gasoline."
You nailed it, baby!
(LOL)
Leni
I’m over 20 miles from the VA line, but people who live very close drive into VA for cheaper gas. Your gas tax is lower than in NC. Apparently, there’s a Sheetz in Ridgeway, just inside VA on US 220, that is a real deal on gas.
But no thanks to Obama, Reid and Pelosi as they block U.S. drilling.
But stations base current prices with profit margins on current inventory andwhat it will cost to replace inventory and maintain margins
I know. ONly because there are way to many ignorant people out there voting.
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