Gasoline prices to start flying through the roof in 5... 4... 3... 2...

You know how I know that all the huge gas price increases we've seen over the last two years because of shortages are pure bullshiat?

Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

Um, I dunno what gas prices are like in your neck of the woods, but here the price has dropped about 15-18 cents a gallon in the last month or so.

Just as long as we don't cut exports to Japan. They'll take it pretty seriously.

Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

And guess who used to work for Goldman Sachs....Timothy Geithner!

Isn't this brilliant policy?

It's a captured market, you'll pay as much as they think you can afford.

Cool, just another reason to put off alternative energy investment.

The Earth - fark you, we got ours™

ablank: Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

Um, I dunno what gas prices are like in your neck of the woods, but here the price has dropped about 15-18 cents a gallon in the last month or so.

Wow. Stop the presses. Of course, they had previously risen 40-50 cents for the months preceding that, but that's neither here nor there.

Rain-Monkey: But we still import (and burn) billions of barrels.

BILLIONS OF BARRELS. In September alone we imported 336,277,000 barrels.

EIA link

Yes we import CRUDE oil then we export REFINED oil products.

The excess gas is probably from too much Mexican food.

mysticcat: So will someone who knows more about this than I do please explain this:

US gas demand-down
US gas supply- surplus
US gas price- record highs

US gas price is about 20% lower than its record high.
Obviously, since US demand is down, but price is up, while cost-to-extract and cost-to-ship are stable-ish, there is some other demand from some other part of the world. What's the place I'm thinking of... gosh.. on the tip of my tongue! Oh yeah. China.

things have been reversing since 2005 the year of our highest amount of imports.

ablank: Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

Um, I dunno what gas prices are like in your neck of the woods, but here the price has dropped about 15-18 cents a gallon in the last month or so.

Hint: The last month or so does not overrule the previous eleven months.

It's almost as if increased efficiency and prices high enough to justify fracking were having an effect on the market or something.

/switch to alternatives
//save the oil for chemicals and lubricants

To be sure, the United States is still importing plenty of oil to make that gasoline -- and is still dependent on foreign countries for well over half the crude it uses.

your info is out of date, homie. We now currently import 48% of our oil.

mysticcat: So will someone who knows more about this than I do please explain this:

US gas demand-down
US gas supply- surplus
US gas price- record highs

Maybe people will realize that OPEC isn't the only cartel running the fuel business. US fuel companies are a well understood oligopoly, so when prices start to crater, the oligopoly can just agree to trump up the failing market for its own protection.

It astounds me that people chide other countries for their oligopolies (particularly if they are state-run, such as in Russia), but do not bat an eye at the same exact thing at home.

People are stupid.

Remember when one refinery shutting down (fire/explosion) would spike the price of gas around the entire country - will be interesting to see what they use an excuse come spring time for the annual "bend over and take it" summer driving season.

Rain-Monkey: But we still import (and burn) billions of barrels.

BILLIONS OF BARRELS. In September alone we imported 336,277,000 barrels.

EIA link

Yes well all those pesky other products that are derived from petroleum, you know other then refined gasoline cause that imbalance. If we just pushed the consumer to prefer all natural recyclable products instead of plastic, you know glass, wood, leather, fur, etc... then we could drive that trade imbalance sown even further.

Various local regulations keep local gas expensive, if we didn't have so many 'flavors' of gas, we might get some economies of scale and get cheaper gas at home:

h3cubus: mysticcat: So will someone who knows more about this than I do please explain this:

US gas demand-down
US gas supply- surplus
US gas price- record highs

[dvmx.com image 280x420]


His teeth are repulsive.

Please will someone tell me who we can talk to to END the speculators! I would love to never have to buy gas from the oil companies again either...

Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

Same with food commodity prices. Thanks again Goldman Sachs

wait a second so if we are at a net export then if we were to say not import or export american oil would meet america's demand for oil and thus be completely independent of foreign oil.

Its almost as if american Independence from foreign oil has no effect on oil prices like republicans like to state.

lukepatrick: Various local regulations keep local gas expensive, if we didn't have so many 'flavors' of gas, we might get some economies of scale and get cheaper gas at home:
[www.cleanmpg.com image 640x493]

It is more due to local taxes. For example in your infographic, Minnesota has a different regulation than everyone else, but their gas is cheaper than gas in Wisconsin (most of which has no special requirement except around Milwaukee). Wisconsin just has higher gas taxes.

lukepatrick: Various local regulations keep local gas expensive, if we didn't have so many 'flavors' of gas, we might get some economies of scale and get cheaper gas at home:

This is the part where you learn how much of an idiot you are for shilling to Big Oil.

All those 'formulations' are done locally - at the terminal. For example - see that pinkish blob in Kansas City. Well, right in the middle of that blob is a pipeline terminal. All of the metropolitan area tanker trucks pick up their gas with the appropriate additive at that terminal and deliver it throughout the region. It would only be a problem if tankers drove more than 40-50 miles, which they don't unless you go out in rural area which aren't even impacted by these requirements.

Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

Please: it's Gold Mansacks.

/I know that name-calling accomplishes nothing substantial, but damn if it isn't satisfying on a deeply-buried level of the psyche

glassa: And guess who used to work for Goldman Sachs....Timothy Geithner!

No he didn't. His predecessor, Hank Paulson, was GS's CEO. Timmy came from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the International Monetary Fund before that.

It's a good thing we're guaranteed an endless supply of cheap oil. Forever.

Cause if we weren't....we'd be farked.

likeahawk: wait a second so if we are at a net export then if we were to say not import or export american oil would meet america's demand for oil and thus be completely independent of foreign oil.

Its almost as if american Independence from foreign oil has no effect on oil prices like republicans like to state.

It's almost as if crude oil is not the same thing as gasoline!

RTFA - the US is a net exporter of gasoline (a refinery producr), and a net importer of crude oil (the raw material that the refinery makes gasoline from).

Rain-Monkey: mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

In a normal market, yes.

Problem is, this is anything but a normal market. It is severely distorted due to speculation.

Thanks, Goldman Sachs.

If speculation is driving prices artificially high, aren't those people going to lose their shirts when the bubble bursts?

Velveeta_Poindexter: It's a good thing we're guaranteed an endless supply of cheap oil. Forever.

Cause if we weren't....we'd be farked.

Actually, there is a technique called Thermal Depolymerization that can effectively give us that. It isn't some crackhead's pipe dream, either. There are just economic barriers to widespread use, which will change the moment natural oil runs too low for society to keep clanking on at the status quo. Right now, any country willing and able to set these babies up really could get infinite oil: it's just that nobody in power is currently sufficiently motivated.

Not that this is good news for the atmosphere, mind you, nor for anyone who depends on said atmosphere.

It's all the stuff they stockpiled while they were having a pretend shortage.

Funny how that shortage abruptly ended when people were going to investigate it, isn't it?

Helen_Arigby: Velveeta_Poindexter: It's a good thing we're guaranteed an endless supply of cheap oil. Forever.

Cause if we weren't....we'd be farked.

Actually, there is a technique called Thermal Depolymerization that can effectively give us that. It isn't some crackhead's pipe dream, either. There are just economic barriers to widespread use, which will change the moment natural oil runs too low for society to keep clanking on at the status quo. Right now, any country willing and able to set these babies up really could get infinite oil: it's just that nobody in power is currently sufficiently motivated.

Not that this is good news for the atmosphere, mind you, nor for anyone who depends on said atmosphere.

Is that the process that changes coal into crude oil?

/hot
//wants to give up the importing and only focus on the exporting

mysticcat: So will someone who knows more about this than I do please explain this:

US gas demand-down
US gas supply- surplus
US gas price- record highs

=================

It's easy just listen to the Dildo-heads, "Drill, Baby ,Drill".

Seriously. Petroleum, and it's distillates, are global commodities. That's why I have to laugh at people who talk about US produced gas as being "ours". If you want to get technical about it, it's actually Exxon's. While some nations produce crude, they don't have the capacity to refine it into usable products nor are they likely to because they don't have the local talent to pull off such a feat...refining that is.

The US has a well developed refining/chemical industry. Crude comes into the US from other countries and is refined into high value added products. These products are then sold to the highest bidder on the global commodities market. This is why even if we "drill, baby, drill", it will not necessarily translate into lower gas prices here at home. The advantage is that it will lower the current account deficit and boost other areas of the economy in the long run. Unfortunately, if you are hoping to go back to the bad of days when you could drive your Escalade 100 miles to buy a bag of chips, it's not likely to happen any time soon.

damn that fartbama and his releasing of the strategic oil reserves a few months ago!

cgraves67: Just as long as we don't cut exports to Japan. They'll take it pretty seriously.

They certainly did last time...

mysticcat: But shouldn't competition bring prices down?

(special purpose)


A great deal of the illogical run-ups in price is due to the fact that people now speculate on futures markets for petroleum without ever intending to actually receive the product.

A lot of folks will tell you that it's "peak oil" or "inflation", but, really, it's the fact that we don't limit futures contracts bidders to only those who can take delivery of the product, resulting in upward pressures that have nothing to do with supply and demand.

Essentially, crude futures are traded in the same way that any given stock is traded: who cares what the repercussions are, so long as it is higher when I sell it than when I buy it.

mysticcat: So will someone who knows more about this than I do please explain this:

US gas demand-down
US gas supply- surplus
US gas price- record highs

Wall street speculation.