Gas Prices Are Going Up

[Rmay635703]

It isn't like you can drive down the street to a discount station and buy gas there for 50 cents less a gallon..

Bull, 12 miles away the Kwik Trip 88 is $2.36

Around here it’s all over $2.70

As prices go up if history is any indication gas will be up a buck cheaper within a 75 mile radius at specific stations.

When I pick up stuff at Appleton or Wittenberg I enjoy saving $$$ timing my fill there.

 

[edyvw]

It seems every time I drive by a gas station the price has gone up another 10 cents. And on top of that, there is this:

"During Pete Buttigieg’s confirmation hearing in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, Florida Sen. Rick Scott asked him if he would support increasing the federal gas tax, which is currently charged to drivers in addition to state gas taxes. The current federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon.

“I think all options need to be on the table, as you know, the [federal] gas tax has not been increased since 1993, and it has never been pegged to inflation, and it’s one of the reasons why the current state of Highway Trust Fund is that there’s more going out than coming in,” Buttigieg replied. “In the long term, we need to bear in mind also that as vehicles become more efficient and as we pursue electrification, sooner or later, there will be questions about whether the gas tax can be effective at all.”

A vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax system should be considered as a potential replacement for the gas tax, Buttigieg added."

SInce then (1993) solution for tax not following inflation are toll roads. You in FL should be very familiar with those.
EV's are another challenge, and if we want to keep driving on something that resembles roads, we will have to pay for it.
Things here in Colorado Springs got so bad with roads that even this city, which was once conservative Mecca, and is still conservative place, all things considered in CO, voted several years back to increase sales tax from, I think, 7.7% to 8.25% and that that money be used for roads. Tax increase went back to vote last year, and people actually upheld that tax increase bcs. it seems they figured out it is cheaper to increase taxes than do alignment and control arms replacements on a yearly basis.

 

[edyvw]

I agree. Discussing gasoline prices is as irrelevant as discussing prescription prices without considering the context of overall standard of living.

That drug that is $50 in Mexico is probably even cheaper in Germany. It does not have that much to do with standard of living as with other stuff.

 

[FordMan59]

I filled up one day this past week for $2.439 at Walmart/Murphy. All the other stations I saw in town were about $2.549-$2.599.

 

[Snagglefoot]

People talk about sports, weather and the price of gas. How about them Flames?

 

[Ronin73]

...Shutting down the Keystone pipeline by the new administration is the main reason.

This has nothing to do with it and is political BS. Gas is going up because crude is soaring and OPEC is not boosting output. Another reason is winter has stalled refineries, especially in Texas. Further, the pandemic caused many refineries to shut down and they have not started back up as of March 1. People are getting vaccinated and starting to travel, which raises demand and prices. We are about to get into summer and summer blends are pricer. All of these legitimate, real reasons are why gas is going up, not some conspiracy, political crap about the current administration.

Now, if OPEC starts to raise production, then this could be altered a bit.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Commodity price of Pure Ethanol is now $1.80 per gallon. Commodity price of Pure Gasoline (not RBOB) is $2.01 per gallon. The difference in price is $0.21 or 21 cents per gallon.

A 10% ethanol blended gasoline is about 2.1 cents per gallon lower cost to the gas station than a pure gasoline.

The Exxon convenience store is making the same sales profit margin on E0 as they are on E10.

They don't care which gasoline blend (E0 or E10) you buy.

They just want you to buy something in the convenience store.

Nearly everywhere else I've seen E0 available, it runs at least .20 more than E10 of the same grade, sometimes much more. In fact it did about a month ago when I first used this station. That's why I was surprised.

As for me buying something in the convenience store, well, they're gonna be disappointed. They hardly ever have something I want enough to buy it right then. Except on a road trip -- but this is here in the city in my neighborhood, so I've got lots of other choices.

 

[Ronin73]

We were ‘energy independent’ before the Keystone pipeline was shut down....prices started rising right afterwards. I’d be foolish to think it had nothing to do with prices going up...

The keystone pipeline being shutdown has no affect on U.S. production levels. None. Current records for 2020 show that we are still energy independent, we still produce more than we consume. While we will be seeking more oil imports from the Middle East because the pipeline won't be bringing in Canada oil, our production of oil is unaffected.

All of this information is readily available to the public. Maybe you should research things before you blindly believe some idiotic talking point posted on social media. People are foolish to think that actually researching the causes for things doesn't matter.

 

[blufeb95]

We were ‘energy independent’ before the Keystone pipeline was shut down....prices started rising right afterwards. I’d be foolish to think it had nothing to do with prices going up...

I'd figure posters of this forum would be quite keen on the concept of illusory correlations and not to fall for the trap.

 

[Ronin73]

We’ll agree to disagree...How can a reduction in supply not affect prices? PS: I changed the wording of my original post from ‘energy independent’ to ‘dependent on OPEC’ before you quoted me....

Agreeing to disagree is just dumb. It makes no sense. There is no disagreeing with the facts. You don't get to choose your opinion over facts. There is no reduction in supply for us...we are are getting everything we need and our production levels are stable. The cost of crude is going up...that isn't something we can control and it certainly has nothing to do with the Keystone pipeline...it was just going to bring Canadian oil to our east coast at the same cost.

 

[grampi]

Agreeing to disagree is just dumb. It makes no sense. There is no disagreeing with the facts. You don't get to choose your opinion over facts. There is no reduction in supply for us...we are are getting everything we need and our production levels are stable. The cost of crude is going up...that isn't something we can control and it certainly has nothing to do with the Keystone pipeline...it was just going to bring Canadian oil to our east coast at the same cost.

The cost of crude is going up because of one reason....speculators...

 

[grampi]

Bull, 12 miles away the Kwik Trip 88 is $2.36

Around here it’s all over $2.70

As prices go up if history is any indication gas will be up a buck cheaper within a 75 mile radius at specific stations.

When I pick up stuff at Appleton or Wittenberg I enjoy saving $$$ timing my fill there.

Time for you to buy a lottery ticket because you found the only gas station in the country that has even a marginally lower price than the other stations....like I said, EVERY gas station in my local area that I saw had exactly the same price, which is the rule....your example is the exception...

 

[GON]

Time for you to buy a lottery ticket because you found the only gas station in the country that has even a marginally lower price than the other stations....like I said, EVERY gas station in my local area that I saw had exactly the same price, which is the rule....your example is the exception...

Grampi, that is because you are in the slow and/ or no/ and or loosing population Midwest. In high growth states like UT, AZ, NV, etc the local price difference can easily be $5-$10 difference per fill up on a full size pickup running regular unleaded.

Pack up your bags and move to Salt Lake City, Reno, Phoenix..... and your observation of fuel prices will quickly change....

 

[grampi]

Grampi, that is because you are in the slow and/ or no/ and or loosing population Midwest. In high growth states like UT, AZ, NV, etc the local price difference can easily be $5-$10 difference per fill up on a full size pickup running regular unleaded.

Pack up your bags and move to Salt Lake City, Reno, Phoenix..... and your observation of fuel prices will quickly change....

No thanks. I've been to those places. I'd rather stay here...

 

[Snagglefoot]

Traders take in all sorts of data, manipulate it, or make a decision based on a sore bunion with equal weighting, however here are a few things they might look at:

- US oil production has dropped from 13 million bbls per day to 11 million bbls per day and due to a lack of investment capital for the oil business and is expected to be headed downward. I'll try to find something on monthly oil exports, which will take a beating.
- Vaccinations continue ( can't talk about that)
- gasoline consumption is increasing measurably
- its anticipated that travel on jet aircraft will increase this year taking some capacity from refineries.
- the drilling rig rate for oil is only 310 rigs (historically very low)
- increasing oil production in the USA will require frac'ing, something right or wrong, gets negative press.
-there are still delayed startups in the Texas refining corridor. (I don't have present data on that).
-the Keystone XL pipeline has been taken off the table, something that would have provided 800,000 bbl/day of crude a few years into the future.
-Saudi is currently curtailing production which should to be a non USA event since the US was only importing 1/2 a million bbls per day of crude from them.
- Mexico and Venezuela crude imports are dropping because of their own problems.
-Many of the crude oil producers that could have provided a quick regain in oil production have gone bankrupt ; IE Oasis and Whiting in North Dakota. Oasis started up again but the original capital was wiped out.

Still, no real shortage of gasoline but traders don't care about the present; they are making bets on the future.

 

[SeaJay]

Because they control supply, and strictly control prices. While out driving around today I noticed that EVERY gas station I passed by in my local area had a price of $2.79...not one one of them was even a penny different in price, and this price went up 35 cents a gallon overnight. That's a 13% price increase overnight. What other industry gets away with this?

So your knowledge of the inner workings of the industry that leads you to conclude that it is ripe with anti-competitive, if not illegal collusion is limited to your observations of prices at the pump near where you drive?

 

[jrvn]

Agreeing to disagree is just dumb. It makes no sense. There is no disagreeing with the facts. You don't get to choose your opinion over facts. There is no reduction in supply for us...we are are getting everything we need and our production levels are stable. The cost of crude is going up...that isn't something we can control and it certainly has nothing to do with the Keystone pipeline...it was just going to bring Canadian oil to our east coast at the same cost.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...rilling-program-in-climate-push-idUSKBN29Q2N1

 

[jrvn]

pushing to $3.00 a gallon here, with talk of a federal gas tax increase for Transportation projects funding, help is here

 

[AutoMechanic]

$2.85 average in SW Fla....that‘s up from $1.99 in November and $2.29 in January....Shutting down the Keystone pipeline by the new administration is the main reason.

Absolutely correct there. Won’t touch on much else about it other than you are absolutely correct. Took tons of jobs too.

 

[grampi]

So your knowledge of the inner workings of the industry that leads you to conclude that it is ripe with anti-competitive, if not illegal collusion is limited to your observations of prices at the pump near where you drive?

Yep, that's it...dumb post...