Posted on 02/24/2012 8:39:03 AM PST by equaviator
Purchasing a tank of gasoline in the next two or three days is going to cost you more than perhaps you expected.
Gasoline prices skyrocketed from $3.29 a gallon on Wednesday to $3.59 and $3.69 at most Macomb County gasoline stations on Thursday.
And, some service station owners said, they predict the price will go up even higher today.
“This sucks,” Brad Marchwinski of Sterling Heights bluntly said after buying gasoline for his company vehicle. “They are going to put a lot of decent people who are trying to make a living and have to use their vehicles for work out of business.”
Mark Griffin, president of the Michigan Petroleum Association, also seemed puzzled when asked why the gas prices are spiraling upward once again. He simply said he doesn’t know, and that if he had control of the prices they would be going down. He added that increased crude oil prices are not doing motorists a favor.
“Typically when we head into the spring we see some upward movement,” Griffin said. “Whenever there is a concern over oil supply we see an increase in oil prices.”
Griffin there is not an oversupply of gasoline. He said people drive less when we experience a tough winter, but motorists have spent a lot of time on the road so far this winter.
“What raises the prices of crude oil is SIRF — speculation, innuendo, rumor and fear,” Griffin said.
He said oil prices were $96 per barrel during the first part of February. The price of crude oil was just over $108 a barrel when the market closed Thursday. Conversely, Griffin said, retail prices have increased from the end of January from the $3.50 range to $3.70. He said on Feb. 11, gasoline prices were as low at $3.18 in the Lansing area. He said we are now experiencing volatility in retail prices that isn’t always connected to crude oil. He said there is a connection on a long-term basis, but not in day-to-day prices at the local station
“Often when station owners compete they will lower the cost below the normal cost to gain the area market share,” Griffin said. “Pop, candy, milk, sub sandwiches keep them in operation. Otherwise, gasoline is a loss leader.”
In Michigan, 92 percent of local stations are owned and operated by a person or family and not the large gasoline companies, Griffin said.
Griffin said he buys gasoline at his local station even though he could save seven or eight cents a gallon by driving five miles. He buys close to his house because the station is employing people who live in his neighborhood; the station pays local taxes, supports the local Little League baseball and 4-H programs because they are good corporate citizens.
“If the people don’t support that business ultimately it won’t be there,” Griffin said.
Gasoline prices are up this year by 41 cents over the same time last year. Some gas economists are predicting prices could go higher than $4 per gallon.
If it were up to me, there'd be a whole lot more going down than just the price of gas.
Saw the same thing in suburban Wayne county. 3.29 at 3pm Wednesday, 3.65 by 6PM. I assumed Iran made a move or something.
Strangely enough Oil priced in gold is unchanged over 65 years.
Here is the year and the Barrels of Oil one ounce of gold buys:
1947 16.07
1972 16.23
1980 16.44
1990 16.54
1997 17.76
1999 16.85
2010 17.20
Today 16.40
Oil’s not goimg up, the dollar is going down; nothing puzzling here.
No it is not Gordon... not to anyone that has been paying attention since 1973!
LLS
I saved my receipts, and gas has gone from $3.75 to $4.03 at the local ARCO here in L.A., in just 11 days. Most other stations charge $4.20 or more.
It seems that when oil goes up, the price of gas follows quickly, but when the price of oil falls, it takes much longer for gas prices to retreat.
You make an excellent point, sir.
40 cents a gallon on Gasoline and Diesel are what we all pay at the pump to Obama.
BTW, why did Clinton make it a federal law that Federal taxes paid at the pump cannot be posted at the pump?
Nice to see Macomb Daily is still reprinting from UAW newsletters.
Gotta pave the way for Obama to hold show trials for all those Grrrrrreedy speculators.
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