Gas Prices

[Ben]

I saw it for $2.18 today. I couldn't believe it.

So, yeah, election year ploy. I bet it'll be down to around $2 by early November.

[Dressel Rebel]

So, yeah, election year ploy. I bet it'll be down to around $2 by early November.

Of course.  As you know, Congress tightly controls the gas prices.

 

[BillCable]

Could happen, but in reality, chances are that 1 year from now we're going to have rationing, gas lines, and $8/gallon gas.  I'm not sure why I'm the only one here talking about this.  You guys see what's about to happen, right?

That's not going to happen.  If suppliers allowed prices to soar like that they'd be slitting their own throats.  They're fully aware that there are prices the market simply won't bear.  Such high prices would prompt innovations in alternate fuels that would render their product obsolete.  The current prices were not driven by supply or demand, but by idiot speculators playing the futures market worried that the Middle East is going to blow up.  And as such, it's correcting itself.

[Dressel Rebel]

Could happen, but in reality, chances are that 1 year from now we're going to have rationing, gas lines, and $8/gallon gas.  I'm not sure why I'm the only one here talking about this.  You guys see what's about to happen, right?

That's not going to happen.  If suppliers allowed prices to soar like that they'd be slitting their own throats.  They're fully aware that there are prices the market simply won't bear.  Such high prices would prompt innovations in alternate fuels that would render their product obsolete.  The current prices were not driven by supply or demand, but by idiot speculators playing the futures market worried that the Middle East is going to blow up.  And as such, it's correcting itself.

I agree with you in the sense that they'd be slitting their own threats and prompting fuel innovation, if the price hike were a long term situation.  But it's not gonna be.  It's going to be a 2-3 month thing, like Katrina, but way worse.  Iran's gonna have the daylights bombed out by Israel or Britain/US, cuz Bush ain't leaving office with Ahmadinejad possibly having the A-bomb.  No chance in hell.  Prices will hit the atmosphere for a few months, a bunch of Senate millionaires will march their fat asses before a microphone and say "we must develop alternate fuels," the air raids will end, prices will come back down under $3, and everyone will go back to being fat, dumb, and happy, woofing down cheeseburgers and playing Lotto.  But for those few months in '07, we're gonna get raped at the pump.

[Ben]

So, yeah, election year ploy. I bet it'll be down to around $2 by early November.

Of course.  As you know, Congress tightly controls the gas prices.

 

I never said it was Congress.

[Dressel Rebel]

So, yeah, election year ploy. I bet it'll be down to around $2 by early November.

Of course.  As you know, Congress tightly controls the gas prices.

 

I never said it was Congress.

Nevermind, I know where this is going and there's no point going there.

[john todd]

Could happen, but in reality, chances are that 1 year from now we're going to have rationing, gas lines, and $8/gallon gas.  I'm not sure why I'm the only one here talking about this.  You guys see what's about to happen, right?

That's not going to happen.  If suppliers allowed prices to soar like that they'd be slitting their own throats.  They're fully aware that there are prices the market simply won't bear.  Such high prices would prompt innovations in alternate fuels that would render their product obsolete. 

i was going to say essentially the same thing.   oil is only still a big commodity because of its convenience.  if the price goes too high they will betamax themselves.

[Dressel Rebel]

Could happen, but in reality, chances are that 1 year from now we're going to have rationing, gas lines, and $8/gallon gas.  I'm not sure why I'm the only one here talking about this.  You guys see what's about to happen, right?

That's not going to happen.  If suppliers allowed prices to soar like that they'd be slitting their own throats.  They're fully aware that there are prices the market simply won't bear.  Such high prices would prompt innovations in alternate fuels that would render their product obsolete. 

i was going to say essentially the same thing.   oil is only still a big commodity because of its convenience.  if the price goes too high they will betamax themselves.

Again, they can charge whatever they want in the short term.  It takes years to develop alternative energy.  And just because a few weeks into the exorbitant prices a bunch of millionaire politicans who don't care anyway walk to the mic and say they're going to endorse alternative energy, prices will drop again before that ever gets started, and once oil is affordable again, that always puts the kibash on any kind of talk about developing alternative sources.

I think we're going to see a period in mid to late 2007 of gas prices that are triple what we are paying now, during the inevitable confrontation w/ Iran.

[john todd]

i work as an electrician and we already have guys refusing to drive to sites that are too far from their houses.  i think $3/gallon is already pretty close to the max that people can afford gas to be.  i could see a short term spike to $5, but even that would have pretty much everyone re-thinking driving habits and even lifestyles.

[Dressel Rebel]

I don't know if it's a consistent direct relationship between the price of oil per barrel and the price of gas per gallon, but I'm basically thinking that at $75 a barrel, it's $3/gallon.  That seems to be $1/gallon for every $25 a barrel costs.

Now, a lot of the talking heads are saying that by the middle to end of next year when Ahmadinejad gets what's been coming to him, the price of oil per barrel could spike to $200/barrel.  That translates to $8/gallon gas.

If it only goes to $5, I'll be very happy.  I'll also rethink my driving habits, sure. 

[Scott]

Gas has gone from $3.01 a week ago to $2.39 today as well, some stores here are still 20 cents higher than others because they are two days behind the drops

[Rob]

I don't know if it's a consistent direct relationship between the price of oil per barrel and the price of gas per gallon, but I'm basically thinking that at $75 a barrel, it's $3/gallon.  That seems to be $1/gallon for every $25 a barrel costs.

I doubt it's quite that exact... we had record prices all summer on the cost of a barrel of oil - but we had higher gas prices last summer after Katrina.

[Scott]

Refining costs will continue to eat a larger percentage as natural gas and electrical costs continue to go up...but the above shows the many different factors involved in price hikes, be it refining shortages ala Katrina or Crude Oil Price ala this last year

[Morgbug]

Try this for dropping gas prices: weak hurricane season thus far; summer driving season is over and demand has dropped; no abnormal instability in the middle east currently; BP line problem exaggerated as causing shortages. 

As Scott said.....


And no Rob, off the top of my head I don't know the price portion attributable to tax, I'll try and find it.

[Darth Slothus]

Our gas here in the desert is now 2.79$ (Cal gas tax .38 a gallon)

It has gone down almost .50 in a month. I was reading on some news sites today that alot of 'experts' are saying it's not entirely impossible to have gas around 1$ a gallon again within a couple years . 'They' also claim it's contingent on middle east stability .

Myself, I expect it to go down to 2.20$ for a reason I'm not allowed to mention here and other reasons including reduced post summer demand, alternative transportation/fuels uses, a projected warmer winter(less heating fuels demanded) then shoot back up to 3.40$ by May. We'll see..I wanna be wrong and see the prices stay down but..let's be realistic, we're been acclimatized to higher and higher average prices per year.

The DS