Lower Gas Prices might be Temporary

[Chuck]

Rumors on the "Gas Boards" indicate that fuel prices should be back on the rise after the November 7th Election.

Most information is stating that recent negative pressure on the Republicans seeking re-election has been around the cost of fuel. I hear that this evident in that the price for diesel fuels has not significantly dropped lately.

Also they are saying that the "proof is in the pudding". Unleaded fuel, the fuel that voters purchase has dropped significantly while none voter fuel has not budged.

I personally believe we will see a slight decrease in fuel oils just before the election giving voters a chance to fill their heating tanks just before the election.

This information was gathered from reading other boards and opinions. No officials News stories or releases can be found on this topic.

[kcredden]

Oh I can believe it. The cooencident is too extreme not too. They dropped almost a $1 because they changed the additives? Please...I may look stupid, but I'm not.

[kdown]

Untrue about the price of diesel fuel. One month ago we were paying in excess of 3.30 a gallon here in upstate NY. Today we are paying 2.57 up from 2.49 last week.

Most Americans don't understand that the price of diesel fuel affects them almost as much as the price of gasoline. We currently charge 15% diesel fuel surcharge on all freight bills. Every trucking concern in the country is doing the same things. This includes UPS and FedEx.
You also help pay it at the grocery store.

[kybikertrash]

I have been thinking the same thing the last couple of weeks....I wondered how much the upcoming elections have had to do with the decrease in gas prices.

I guess we'll find out come November.

[roadrunner]

I think maybe the prices have already started up.I went to Lexington yesterday and the cheapest I seen gas was 2.05(Thortons in Pairs) the rest was 2.08 thru 2.25. Roadrunner

[Chuck]

This is all rumor and speculation so we will have to wait and see.

Never bought or watched the diesel so I have no idea myself. I tend to think that the 2 fuels would change equally or the truckers would be screaming.

[bostonbaby]

I don't know about everyone else, but my memory isn't so short that come election time i will have forgotten the price of gas being $3.00 per gallon.

[kdown]

Gas and diesel don't change equally. Primarily due to the fact that a barrell of crude oil contains 42 gallon. When distilled you get about 20 gallon of gas but only 7 gallon of diesel plus other by-products. The law of supply and demand controls the price of diesel.

[mark]

.................what surprises me is............Bush ( & his cronies --as I read on the net ) was bashed almost daily because folks thought HE is responsible for the $3 per gallon prices & getting richer by the minute.


What amazes me now is..........Bush currently isn't "getting richer" and.......even if the prices is short lived, why isn't Bush getting any credit now for the lower prices??

If Bush gets bashed when the price is up, shouldn't he get some credit when it's lower?? .............see ya mark

[tkcomer]

If you took credit for lowering the price of gas, you would have to bear the responsibility of driving them up in the first place. Not a good place to be in. The one thing that I did notice, the price of gas fell awfully quick when the price of a barrel of crude fell. Something that never happens. Find a chart on crude oil prices vs gas prices. Watch gas prices follow crude oil up very quickly but falls very slowly when the price of a barrel comes down. My guess is big oil wants to keep the incumbents of both parties in office as both parties have been involved in preventing any competition to crude. A gaggle of newbies might actually be bold enough to put this country on a path to alternatives to crude. Not just talk about it.

[kybikertrash]

bostonbaby, you may not have that short of a memory come election time, but you'd be amazed how many people do.

[bostonbaby]

You may be right, but i sure hope your not. When stunts like that are pulled i feel like my intelligence is being insulted. I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, so if i feel insulted there has to be alot of others out there that do too. LOL

[kdown]

Actually politics or a coming election has very little if anything to do with the price of gas. But human nature being what it is - some have to blame someone.

Gasoline versus Crude Oil prices

Question: Why is it that Gasoline Prices seem to rise so quickly, but fall so slowly?

Answer: When you see the price of Crude Oil sell for $46, that barrel of Oil won't make it to your car as gasoline for as long as 3-6 months. Recall in May, the price of oil pulled back into the hi $30s -- thats why gas dropped in price by more than a few cents in July.

There's actually a good reason for the phenomena of retail gasoline prices rising quickly, but falling so much more gradually. Its strictly a function of competition in the marketplace.

When crude prices rise, all the gas stations raise their prices accordingly -- they have no choice, otherwise they would be losing money on each sale. They all pay (more or less) the same prices for refined gas, and make a relatively small mark up on the fuel they sell. As wholesale prices rise, they pass along the increase.

When the price of Crude eases, however, what forces gasoline prices back down is simply competition. One station lowers prices a few cents, and pulls in more traffic; That forces others to do the same -- until prices gradually work their way back down to the earlier prices (assuming crude returns to its prior price). While the retailers may make a greater profit for a few days, competition eventually forces them back to their original margins.

[tkcomer]

That’s just it. Retailers and bulk suppliers both complain that their cost rises rapidly from the refiners when the price of a barrel goes up. They have no choice but to raise prices. And they also question why refiners are very slow to lower prices when crude oil goes down. Retailers and bulk suppliers make very little on a gallon of gas. Refiners on the other hand say the rising cost of a barrel forces them to raise the price of gas. Makes sense. But then, when a price of crude drops, the refines say it’s the higher price fuel that is in their bulk storage that’s is to blame for the slower falling prices. But the refiners refuse to acknowledge why their bulk storage goes up as quickly as the price of crude. It’s capitalism pure and simple. Fuel is basically an unregulated utility of sorts. And we all know how much we saved when they deregulated the phone and electric companies.

[kdown]

Deregulation ?
I 'd give anything for MaBell again and electric in New York is still a monopoly.

[Chuck]

Politicians have everything to do with gas prices and other pricing for that matter.

The current elected officials passed laws that make it easy for companies to charge higher prices (import export). Has nothing to do with supply and demand in the oil situation. Why? Because oil companies use the supply to control the demand. They control the supply to increase the demand and then increase the price. It is no big secret. Oil companies have been doing it since the 70's with no one standing in their way.

The current elected officials make it easier and cheaper to import OPEC oil, US oil cannot compete. So yes it is wise for them to take a 30 cut in pay for a 2 year profit gain.

Saying Bush is not making money off oil is like saying Clinton didn't use the office for the personal fringe benefits ;) .

[kdown]

Just not totally true.

[tkcomer]

This has been a long time in the making. After the first oil shock of the early 70s, big oil prevented (bought) congress from coming up with any type of alternatives. Remember the Ford/Carter years? When we needed alternatives for the economic security of the country? That went out the window when Reagan arrived. Abandoning that was bad enough, even when the world was awash in oil. But then, congress allowed big oil to buy out little oil companies through mergers. The “new” companies promptly started shutting down refineries due to “over capacity.” Now we have a refinery shortage. But I have to admit, even big oil couldn’t have predicted the damage this president unleashed. They were just in the position to capitalize on it. Remember that oil is traded on the open market. Big oil owns a bunch of oil wells. For the price of crude to shoot from 30 bucks a barrel to 70 bucks is more profit for them. Plus the price of oil is determined by fear and frenzy almost as much as supply. Bush stoked fear in the market with his attack on Iraq and threats to Iran, driving up prices. To see him slowly crawl to the United Nations tells the oil traders he has bitten off more than he can chew. The fear is slowly subsiding. Hence the drop in price of crude. But the sudden drop of prices at the pump tells me big oil doesn’t want to see a drastic change in congress. They have too much invested in those incumbents.

[Rebelyell]

Also they are saying that the "proof is in the pudding". Unleaded fuel, the fuel that voters purchase has dropped significantly while none voter fuel has not budged.

I personally believe we will see a slight decrease in fuel oils just before the election giving voters a chance to fill their heating tanks just before the election.
I find the notion that some politician is controlling gas prices not very convincing. I, for one, thought prices would go a bit higher, at which point they would plummet. So the drop came a bit later than I thought it would.

This is exactly what happened twice before when oil prices shot up. One problem is that when they drop they get too low, and I say that because it becomes unprofitable to pump many marginal or nearly played out wells, and these wells get plugged. It is virtually impossible to bring these wells back on line, so this oil is lost forever.

My prediction is that oil will drop below $25 a barrel, and that really isn't good news. We are all better off with it being between $30 and $40 a barrel.

[Chuck]

I don't think we will ever see $25 a barrel again. I don't think it will drop to or below 50 a barrel.

You have it backward. Politicians don't control oil prices. What is being said is that oil prices are dropping to support or help incumbents to get re-elected.

Why oil companies are doing this is because of the big tax reliefs and lifted restrictions that favor oil companies. You never help to fire people that give you record profits.

[HARLEYDUDE]

Mr kdown Not sure where you get you info but I was in the business for 20 yrs and i know the stations try and make 7 to 12 cents. I also know that the price is up and down but pray tell me this if the gas/diesel is in the station tank why does it go up ?????

[kdown]

If the product in the tank cost 2.50 a gallon and the pump price is 2.60 a gallon and the next load is going to cost you 2.58 a gallon, most raise their price based on replacement cost

[HARLEYDUDE]

never mine all in all we get scr---d PERIOD