Free Republic

"Demand has not picked up," says CEO Rex Tillerson. Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson says a weakened dollar, not an increase in demand is the reason for the sharp run up in the price of oil. “When you look at just fundamentals, there’s not a lot to support the kind of price movement we have seen, let’s say, in the last six weeks,” Tillerson, head of the world’s biggest oil company, said after a speech today at a gas conference in Groningen, Netherlands. Concerns about a weakening dollar and inflation had led some investors to bet on an economic recovery and...

Gasoline prices continue to fall, will it last until election day?

The domed ones on Capitol Hill have insisted that loosening up on those bans to drill offshore wouldn't make any difference for years and years and years. So how come the price of crude (futures) went down $10 the very day that Bush signed an executive order repealing the ban that his father had put in place when he was in the White House. Just imagine what the price of crude would fall to if congress did its part in repealing the ban that they put into place to appease the environmentalists! And further, I heard somewhere yesterday that the...

As gas prices continue to increase, Congress continues to blame others while ignoring practical steps to stop the pain Americans are feeling at the pump. To lower gasoline prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we need real solutions to our energy challenges. Sign the Petition Now! E-mail 10 friends to sign the petition. Download Petition & Collect Signatures...

RRFM.org Commentary We all remember stories about the Teflon Don (John Gotti). But when it comes to the ever-growing cost of gasoline, the new phrase in the political world should be the Teflon Dems. Let there be no mistake. A vast majority of those within the Democratic Party see no downside to the fact the price of oil seems to reach a new high every day. In fact, the more Americans pay for a gallon of gasoline, the bigger the smile on the faces of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. As long as George Bush is in the...

Democrats are obsessed with the idea of laying the blame of record high gasoline prices on someone – George Bush, OPEC or anyone who doesn’t ride a bicycle to work. But maybe Dems should look in a mirror. The Democrats voted four times in the past year against money-saving, domestic oil production plans – plans that lower the price at the pump and return billions of dollars to the pockets of Americans. In a letter to President Bush on May 12th, Democratic leaders said, “unfortunately, despite recent entreaties by you and Vice President Cheney, OPEC has voted three times in...

Paul Krugman is over in Berlin, and—surprise!—concludes that Europeans have things better figured out than we benighted Americans do. The gist of his Stranded in Suburbia in today's NY Times is that dense cities like Berlin, which offer good public transportation, are the solution to the high gasoline prices we are seemingly stuck with. Krugman contrasts Berlin and Atlanta: "Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars." So why don't more Americans choose to live in big...

RFFM.org Commentary I have a very close friend who worked in the oil industry for many years. Let's call him Joe. Joe started working in the oil fields of foreboding places like North Dakota as a roughneck where temperatures regularly reached forty degrees below zero or more in the winter. In the summer, the weather was not forgiving either. Frequently, the thermometer topped 100 degrees in the shade, but the derricks never shut down because the oil had to keep flowing. In later years, Joe worked his way up into management where he learned the ins and outs of the...

Trucker Robert Griffith is on the road three weeks out of four, pulling oversize loads like crane booms, railroad ties and air conditioning ducts. One of his biggest worries: How he'll find the money to buy his daughter a prom dress. As the cost of diesel doubled over the last four years, his take-home pay has plummeted, from $50,000 to $11,000 last year. He's literally burning money; he spent $64,000 on diesel in the last eight months. Since he canceled his satellite radio, he's on citizens band radio constantly (handle: Instigator) talking about what needs to change so truckers like...

With oil prices reaching new highs, House Democrats are taking aim at the oil industry ...in an effort to tap voter frustration over gasoline prices and oil-company profits. ...the House of Representatives is expected to approve a measure that would eliminate roughly $18 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas companies, and use the savings to fund tax credits and other incentives for renewable energy... The measure comes as high energy prices put increased pressure on consumers. Oil yesterday finished at a new high of $100.88 a barrel in New York futures markets, putting it $2.88 below the inflation-adjusted...

NEW YORK (AP) — Gas prices jumped Friday to their highest level since June, a possible preview of what many analysts believe will be a record spike in pump prices this spring. But the current price surge could be short-lived. While gasoline has risen sharply in recent days in response to oil's dramatic climb to a new record above $101 a barrel, gas supplies have quietly grown to their highest level in 14 years. "We've got a major supply cushion," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill. At the pump, gas prices rose 2.9...

NYMEX Oil Complex Higher on Short-covering Spurred by Supply Hype January 08, 2008 8:55:AM ET By John Troland, Tom Waterman Houston, TX - The February NYMEX crude, RBOB gasoline and heating oil contracts are called to open well above Monday's settles as some of the perennial price hawks are again raising concerns that supplies are lagging demand. One of the more vocal price hawks, Goldman Sachs, has again suggested that crude supplies in the U.S. will continue to decline in the short-term. Many analysts are again calling for a drop of 300,000 to as much as 2.0 million barrels in...

Nearly a fifth of America's roads are now considered in poor shape and about one-in-four bridges is rated "structurally deficient." The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the cost to fix these problems is a staggering $460 billion. The tab grows far larger when you add in the hundreds of billions to build the new transportation infrastructure that's needed to handle the country's growth. Part of the problem is that big increases in state and local spending for politically popular programs, especially Medicaid and education, as well costly public employee pensions and benefits, have crowded out infrastructure -- even as...

It may help at the gas pump, but the ripples emanating from the ethanol boom are higher prices for corn, fertilizer and the food on your table. Investors, adjust your portfolios

Three points about last night's Democratic debate in Manchester, N.H.: 1) Imagine a Democratic presidential debate about foreign policy where Iraq was never mentioned. That was pretty much the case at last night's candidate face-off when it came to domestic policy. Little was said about the long-term direction of the U.S. economy and what could be done to make it more innovative, competitive, and productive—the keys to raising our standard of living as we compete with China and India in the 21st century. Out of roughly 20,000 spoken words, mentions of "innovation," zero; "competitive," one (Richardson); "productivity," zero; "trade," six...

Few politicians can resist the urge to exploit consumer angst over gasoline prices, and thereby deflect where the blame certainly lies — with them. Here are 10 things the politicians won’t tell you: 1. At over $3.00 a gallon, the U.S. inflation-adjusted price for gasoline in May 2007 is now less than it was in 1981, a remarkable decrease in price over a 25 year period during which real prices in other sectors, such as health and education have tripled and quadrupled. 2. This decline in the price of gasoline since 1981 is enjoyed almost exclusively in the U.S. In...

Wolves guard the henhouse By Lorrie Goldstein Toronto Sun Thursday, May 24, 2007 Relying on Big Government to protect us from Big Oil is like relying on bankers to protect us from bank fees. Big Government and Big Oil are joined at the hip in fleecing us because the higher the price of gasoline, the more government makes in taxes. Clearly, the price of gas today isn't determined by anything approaching a free market. Indeed, it's amusing to watch the same oil industry shills and cheerleaders, who otherwise don't trust government to tie its own shoelaces, point to repeated...

WASHINGTON - The House, eager to do something about record high gasoline prices in advance of the Memorial Day weekend, voted narrowly Wednesday to approve stiff penalties for those found guilty of gasoline price gouging. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to go after oil companies, traders or retail operators if they take "unfair advantage" or charge "unconscionably excessive" prices for gasoline and other fuels. The White House called the measure a form of price controls that could result in fuel shortages. It said President Bush would be urged to veto the legislation should it pass...

NBC anchor Brian Williams deserves kudos for, on one night at least, giving as high a priority to declining gas prices as he and the media gave when they were rising, but then he suggested a political motive. Williams led Wednesday's NBC Nightly News by acknowledging the plunging prices and his own newscast's inaccurate predictions: “If you have filled your tank lately, then you've noticed. After some dire predictions on this broadcast and elsewhere that prices were rocketing to $4 a gallon, gas prices are coming down” to an average of $2.50 per gallon. Reporter Anne Thompson attributed the fall...

A Democratic-controlled Congress would boost gasoline prices even more though over-regulation and cost the average American family nearly $1,000 more a year, the Republican National Committee warns. The Democrats favor an increase in the taxes imposed on gasoline purchases, and the average price of regular gas would rise to $3.751 a gallon, according to an e-mail from RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. The Web site GOP.com offers a "gas calculator” to show how much more each driver would pay in a year. The figures are based on year, make and model information about the vehicle, along with the average gasoline price...

The recent high gasoline prices have resulted in some stellar performances by a wide cast of characters. With the Academy Awards being so far away, it seems a shame not to recognize the truly outstanding performances right now. We will call our awards the Cravens. The first Craven goes to the media, both print and broadcast, for Extreme Looseness with the Facts. Gasoline is not the most expensive it has ever been. Comparing today’s prices to those of yesteryear is useless without adjusting for inflation, using what economists call “real” dollars. In spite of the news reporting “record high prices,”...

The U. S. Congress is making noise again, this time in regard to high gasoline prices. But their concern is insincere. Just look at the huge smile on the face of Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) when he warns us about the possibility of $4.00 per gallon gasoline. The Democrats and some liberal Republicans charge "price gouging." Even Bill O'Reilly has jumped on the "gouging" bandwagon. This shows that they do not understand economics. I'm as upset about high gasoline prices as anyone else is. But let's put the blame where it's due. The oil companies do not control the price...

I would be more interested in what Democrats had to say about high gas prices if these were not the same people who refused to let us drill for oil in Alaska, imposed massive restrictions on building new refineries, and who shut down the development of nuclear power in this country decades ago. But it's too much having to watch Democrats wail about the awful calamity to poor working families of having to pay high gas prices. Imposing punitive taxation on gasoline to force people to ride bicycles has been one of the left's main policy goals for years. For...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he is "concerned" about high gasoline prices, and pledged that the U.S. government will keep a close watch out for profiteering. "I'm concerned about higher gasoline prices," Bush said at a Rose Garden news conference to name new staff appointments. "The government has the responsibility to make sure that we watch very carefully and investigate possible price-gouging, and we will do just that," Bush said in unprompted remarks about energy prices. U.S. crude oil futures hit a record of $70.88 a barrel on Tuesday on fears of supply disruptions in...

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Retail gas prices continue to plunge across the country, dropping 18 cents in the past two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday. ADVERTISEMENT The weighted average price for all three grades declined to $2.27 a gallon on Nov. 18, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country. Self-serve regular averaged $2.24 a gallon nationwide. The price for midgrade was $2.34, while premium-grade hit $2.44. The lowest average price in the nation for regular unleaded among the stations surveyed was $1.94 a gallon in Wichita, Kan. The highest price...

Oil prices fell 4 percent in the past week and settled Friday at a five-month low just above $56 a barrel. The steady move lower since then coincided with mild U.S. weather, the recovery of oil production and refining facilities that were shut down by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and signs that gasoline demand had tapered off. The average retail price of gasoline in the U.S. is down 25 percent from its early September high of $3.07 a gallon. Traders are hesitant to declare that oil prices have bottomed out, but said a move higher would not be surprising either...

TAMPA - Rising gasoline prices are forcing some station owners across the Tampa Bay area to end credit card sales, cutting off an option for consumers growing short on cash to buy the fuel they need. Retail dealers say they are losing money on every gallon of gasoline as more motorists turn to credit cards to purchase it. Across the Bay area Friday, the price of self-serve, regular unleaded gasoline jumped as much as 30 cents a gallon from the day before, hitting $3 or more at many stations. Meanwhile, credit card use for gasoline purchases rose to nearly 80...

Highest Prices for regular grade gasoline reported in California $3.93 Arco, Auburn, CA Fri 9:44 PM $3.59 Chevron, Lee Vining Thu 9:58 PM Lowest Prices for regular gasoline reported in California 2.73 Costco Folsom, CA Fri 6:39 PM JBCA 2.75 Costco Fairfield , CA Thu 1:51 PM (I've exclude the Air Force Bases from the excerpt in the lowest price category).

ROGERSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Several Rogersville gas stations have dropped fuel prices by more than cents, creating long lines of eager customers and prompting complaints by other stations that can't keep up. And while the lower prices — some as low as $1.88 per gallon — are a welcome sight to drivers, Lauderdale District Attorney Chris Connolly warned that the cuts may not be legal under the state's Motor Fuel Act.

  Oil Below $50 Ahead of U.S. Supply DataWednesday, May 04, 2005VIENNA, Austria — Benchmark oil prices stayed below $50 per barrel Wednesday, reflecting expectations that a U.S. petroleum stocks report later in the day would show increases in crude and gasoline supplies.Analysts said that while the market could fluctuate slightly ahead of the data, its general lack of movement showed readiness for a selloff if U.S. stocks did move upward.After opening lower, light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange () was up 8 cents at $49.58 by midday in Europe. Unleaded gas was down slightly at $1.4555 per...

WASHINGTON  — U.S. retail gasoline prices (search) fell for the third week in a row, but the small savings was barely noticeable at the pump, the government said on Monday. The national price for regular unleaded gasoline dropped a slight 0.1 cent over the past week to just under $2.24 a gallon, up 39 cents from a year ago, according to a weekly survey of service stations by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (search).

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices will hit a record high this spring, reaching a national monthly average of $2.15 a gallon due mostly to soaring crude oil prices, the government said on Tuesday. During the busy 2005 driving season of April through September, gasoline will average $2.10 a gallon, up 20 cents from the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly energy forecast. This spring, the monthly retail price is forecast to average $2.15 per gallon but U.S. drivers may face pump prices higher than that on a weekly basis, said...

OMAHA, Neb. -- Gas for 18 cents a gallon sounds too good to be true. Briefly, it wasn't. Astonished customers at a self-serve Shell station in Omaha on Wednesday found unleaded regular selling for that price. It seems Carolyn Folsom misplaced the decimal point when she was typing the gas prices into a computer. She helps her father and brother run the service station. The price was supposed to be $1.89. Her father fixed the mistake, but not before about 500 gallons had been sold at the cut-rate price.

It's easy to wonder why you should care when economists drone on about the declining value of the dollar. Here's one reason: Gasoline prices are up 44 cents a gallon since this time last year, and nearly half of that increase comes from the weaker dollar. A declining dollar makes foreign goods more expensive, and crude oil is a prime example. Economists estimate that $8 of the current cost of a barrel of oil -- or 20 cents of each gallon of gas at the pump -- can be traced to the drop in the dollar's value in world...

Nigerian Strike To Focus On Oil ExportsNigeria’s largest labor organization has called for its 2nd national strike — to start Nov. 16 — against recent government hikes in the domestic retail oil price. This strike, however, is strategically aimed at stopping Nigeria’s lucrative oil exports. Nigeria is the world’s seventh largest oil producer, and is the fifth largest provider of oil imported by the United States. If the strike is effective, its effects could ripple through the global oil economy, causing wholesale prices to rise beyond its recent record levels, and raising U.S. gas and fuel prices.

Owner of auto wrecking firm, worker allegedly sold gas from abandoned cars A Santa Rosa auto dismantling company owner and one of his employees face felony charges stemming from the illegal sale of gasoline from abandoned cars, police and prosecutors said Tuesday. Cream's Auto Dismantling obtained many of those cars under towing contracts with Sonoma County and the city of Santa Rosa, authorities said. Police said Santa Rosa would be terminating its contract with Cream's, which is worth an estimated $50,000 a year. Sonoma County administrators couldn't be reached to determine what would happen with that contract, which is worth...

Gasoline is a good thing. It gets us to work, to the doctor or hospital, to the charity we volunteer for or to the store to buy food. It makes it possible to visit kids and grandmas at Christmas, and to go on vacations in the summer. And in spite of what you read in the paper--outrageous gasoline prices entered into Google gets you 15,000 links--its current inflation-adjusted price of $2 a gallon is about its median price over its 85-year existence, and with the exception of the 1980s spike, it has been steadily declining over the decades. Better still,...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is considering easing environmental requirements for a multitude of gasoline blends and streamlining permits for new refineries to increase fuel supplies and fight soaring prices, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans said Wednesday. Evans, a former Texas oil company executive, said in an Associated Press interview that the cost of gasoline, which hit a record national average of $2.06 per gallon this week, was affecting driving habits, with people making fewer trips to the store. Mindful that oil shocks in the 1970s and 1980s were severe enough to push the country into a series of recessions, Evans...

To Candidate John F. Kerry Dear Senator Kerry: Jack Boudreau and yours truly, Cooter Thompson, have been deputized by the regulars down to Daryl's Bait Shop and Internet Café here in Lagniappe, Louisiana, to write to you again concerning your campaign to be President of the US of A on the Democratic Party ticket. Perhaps our two previous e-mails containing excellent tips went astray. It's been known to happen in a large organization. We've posted them at Conversations with Trentino where you can read them whenever you have the time. It seems to us that you're uncomfortable with your campaign....

With the election season moving into full swing as Americans start thinking about their summer travel plans, it's sadly predictable that politicians will try to curry favor with voters by playing silly blame games and proposing simplistic quick fixes for rising gasoline prices, which are averaging more than $2 a gallon. A case in point is the demand made yesterday by 20 Senate Democrats that the government release as much as 60 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next two months. President Bush is rightly resisting the call. Since 9/11, the administration has been adding...

Writing in a recent issue of Time magazine, Andrew Sullivan, "everyone’s favorite homosexual neocon," a senior editor at The New Republic, thinks that gas prices are too low. He maintains that "gas is woefully undertaxed in this country." His solution: "Add a buck to the tax per gallon." After claiming that a tax on gasoline is good because it cuts the deficit, helps the environment, and keeps the government fiscally honest and accountable, Sullivan tries to justify a hike in the gas tax because of the war in Iraq: Let me add one further reason, and it’s a simple one....

<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- As the U.S. summer vacation season winds down, Americans face a surge in gasoline prices, the government warned on Wednesday.</p> <p>Pump prices have increased 5.5 cents a gallon nationally over the last two weeks, the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly review of the oil market.</p>