Posted on 08/08/2011 5:23:55 AM PDT by markomalley
More than a month after the Obama administration said it would tap the country’s emergency oil reserve to try to combat supply disruptions in the Middle East, gas prices at the pump actually have risen 10 cents.
President Obama had hoped the move, coming at the onset of the summer driving season, would temper the loss of supplies due to the ongoing civil war in Libya. Working with international allies, the U.S. said on June 23 that it would release 30 million barrels of oil over 30 days, while other countries with strategic reserves agreed to release another 30 million, in staggered sales during July.
And prices at the pump did dip, at first, from a nationwide average of $3.61 down to $3.55, according to AAA. But by last week, they had rebounded and the price per gallon stood a dime higher than when the administration first made its decision.
“Although it helped initially to pull down prices it was probably too little,” AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman John Townsend said, pointing out that the nation consumes as much as 20 million barrels of oil a day. “This is just a drop in the bucket.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Published Saturday August 6, 2011
Gas prices could drop 35 cents
By Bob Glissmann
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
It might take a few days, but gasoline prices soon should fall in light of the recent decline in oil prices.
How does a drop of 35 cents per gallon sound? That’s what some national forecasters are anticipating over the next month.
Oil prices have fallen about $10 per barrel in about a week, driven downward by a sluggish global economy, said Rose White, a spokeswoman for AAA Nebraska.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110806/NEWS01/708069948
Oil is currently is under $84 now.
The goal was not to reduce prices. The goal was to throw away a valuable tool.
The way to beat the gas price’s is to drill in America for our own resources.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that out.
Meanwhile we have a Government that allows drilling in dribs and drabs to make themselves look like they care.
Believe this, the gas crisis is no crisis to todays Obama Government, It is what they worked for, it is an achievement.
Their next achievement is making your electric bill so high you cannot afford to pay it.
Global Warming? You better hope for it ,because in a couple of years you are going to need it, to get through the winter without freezing in a home you cannot aford to heat.
This seems to reflect my experience. We had a $.10 drop in the price of diesel in the last two weeks
Why is diesel so high anyway?
Yet another fail attempt to prop up the economy only to weaken us further.
I don’t know
Oil is down now to about 84 a barrel, down from 100+ a few months ago. Yet the prices a the pump don’t add up.
I checked to find out what the price of gas went up to when it first hit 82 to 85 a barrel and we just broke the 2 dollar mark. We are still at the 3.83 average here in the Northwest. They let it go up much faster than they let it go down.
McClintock says required sale of SPR oil in energy bill a ’scandal’
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) on Thursday said he opposes language in the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act that requires the sale of $ 500 million worth of oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help fund other government spending.
“There’s a half a billion dollars going out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, not to replenish the reserve but to fund additional spending in this budget,” he said. “That is a scandal. It’s time we put a stop to it.”
McClintock said under current law, any money earned on the sale of SPR oil must be returned for the purpose of replenishing the reserve.
Under the bill under consideration this week, H.R. 2354, the secretary of Energy would be required to sell $ 500 million worth of SPR oil by March 1, 2012. The bill says the secretary “shall deposit any proceeds from such sales in the General Fund of the Treasury.”
Report language accompanying the bill from the Appropriations Committee acknowledges that money raised from the sale would be used to “offset spending elsewhere in the Department of Energy’s budget request.” The report also says this change should not be seen as a precedent.
Has our government completely lost their mind here? Using the SPR to fund other programs? Again, I suppose there is some twisted logic in there: If we use money from the SPR to fund programs designed to reduce oil consumption, perhaps that is a good investment. Perhaps, unless those programs don’t work very well, we find ourselves still heavily dependent upon oil, and major unrest in the Middle East suddenly takes 10 or 15 million barrels of oil per day off the market.
http://crudeoilnews.org/blog/2011/07/21/the-spr-as-a-national-piggy-bank/
EPA regulations now make ‘clean diesel’ the national norm. All the sulfur must be removed for pollution regs before it can be marketed. Extra refining process means higher prices............
With all the goings on I forgot dummy tapped the reserves, This could be serious. How much is left? anyone know?
You are right.
Many years ago, diesel was cheaper than gasoline. However, since about 2004, that has not been the case. The additional requirement that refineries produce diesel very low in sulfur has also contributed to the increase in price. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has a nice great page focused on Diesel Fuel Prices.
The reason diesel is more expensive in the United States is a bit difficult to nail down. Diesel has historically been cheaper than gasoline in the U.S., but it’s currently cheaper than gasoline in many countries. Take the Netherlands, for example: a gallon of gasoline runs about $7.52 per gallon and diesel about $5.40 per gallon. These same Department of Energy charts show diesel costing about 30 cents more per gallon than gasoline here in the United States, at about $2.92 per gallon. (This is about the time when you realize that you’re getting a great deal on fuel costs!)
Supply and demand issues contribute greatest to the diesel price premium. FactCheck.org has a great overview that explains the diesel price situation. The page talks about historical price trends, but one of the most intriguing explanations of why diesel is more expensive is because gasoline is “cheap.” The Energy Information Administration pointed out that Americans decreased their amount of driving because of gasoline costs. About 97% of consumer automobiles in the U.S. are gasoline-powered, which resulted in great decrease in gasoline demand when gas prices started hitting consumer pocketbooks. However, diesel usage remained much steadier; we still needed all those trains and jets and ships to get goods from one place to another, and all those trains, jets, and ships use diesel (or a fuel very close to diesel in form). Ultimately, demand for gasoline decreased, so price decreased; demand for diesel didn’t decrease, so its price didn’t decrease. This allowed gasoline prices to fall below diesel prices, and that’s where we’re at today.
When looking at worldwide diesel demand, it’s growing rapidly. More than 30% of India’s new vehicle sales are diesel, and that number is expected to hit 50% by next year. In the European Union (page 13), there are several countries in which diesels make up more than 50% of new car sales (Austria, Belgium, Italy, Portugal), and nearly all the remaining countries are at 30% or more. Don’t forget about China, Russia, and Brazil, which are also quickly growing economies that demand more and more oil.
There of course are other factors influencing the price of diesel, such as taxes and production issues, but supply and demand is the biggest issue.
http://thegreencarco.com/blog/news/diesel-more-expensive-gasoline/
“The reason diesel is more expensive in the United States is a bit difficult to nail down...”
diesel is a collection of heterogeneous hydrocarbon chains.
Gasoline is a collection of more homogenous chains.
Diesel takes less refining of a barrel of oil...but results in less salable product because a lot more hydrocarbon chains that could be sold for other uses are being put through the engine.
Gasoline is more refined..takes more work to make..but has more leftovers to use elsewhere.
When demand is strong for hydrocarbon products in general, diesel is more expensive because of lost opportunity to the refinery-they’re selling you stuff they could sell elsewhere if you bought gasoline.
When demand is weak for other hydrocarbon products, diesel is a bit cheaper relative to gasoline-because they don’t have to expense the more extensive refining costs to you.
Thanks. Freepers are so smart!
Emptying the SPR is akin to in Star Trek, lowering the shields purposely so that enemies can finish the job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.