I am sure almost everyone here has seen a big increase in the price of a gallon of gas over the weekend. I think I read the only state that is about 1.49 a gal. is North or South Carolina. It went last Thursday here for the lowest octane from 1.69 a gal. to 1.79 or 1.89. They blame it on a pipeline that broke in Arizona. Which by the way I heard is fixed. I find it hard to believe that one state that has a pipeline break could cause such a huge increase across the country. I think because the last Holiday weekend of the summer is their reason for the increase. It seems every Holiday weekend the prices go up for whatever reason they can think of. Do you think the pipeline that broke is a legit reason for the increase or do you like I think it is Just another holiday increase?

I find it difficult to answer without turning this into a debate about the amorality of Big Energy - and the politicians it owns - but, suffice to say, the notion of a broken pipeline in Arizona causing the sort of increases that we are currently experiencing is patently absurd. Has anyone here experienced a shortage at the gas pumps? Anyone? If not, then the law of supply and demand is not affecting the prices. This is another example of the law of Naked Greed.

I read that the oil markets went crazy last week, that was going to cause the hikes, 'uncertainty' or some such hogwash. We are at $1.83 and climbing daily in Ak.

An Arizona pipeline problem would be news to me. Our nightly news reported the increase was directly linked to the massive blackout along the East Coast. According to reports, the blackout shut down two different refineries, costing something like 750,000 barrels of oil.

That being said... it doesn't seem to me the price should be sky rocketing unless there were actually some kind of shortage that resulted from these difficulties. It seems to me that the oil companies were still able to supply enough oil to meet the demand, but they are trying to milk the situation for as large a profit as they can get.

It certainly won't hurt them that travel over the holiday is expected to be at its highest since 1995...

Very selective reporting or reading on your parts so far. There was a series of events that led to the increase. Arizona pipeline, California refinery problems, blackout, and a crude oil price that has kept our reserves from being built up. When you put them all together you get a situation requiring a significant price increase. THat's not to say there isn't a touch of greed mixed in as the holiday drive time approaches too.

I read in this weekend's Observer newpaper that the main reason for increasing oil prices is the atempt to build up national oil reserves (not just by the US, but by the EU, Russia, China etc) at a time when prices are already high, for the reasons already mentioned.

Here's a link.

The USA is doing it to avoid being held to ransom by OPEC until Iraqi oil is flowing freely, which is several years away. And the other countries are doing it because they see that a major trade competitor - the USA - might be in a position of control over their oil supplies when the spigots go back on in Iraq.

OPEC doesn't have the same motivation to restrict oil supplies as the USA would as a big supplier in an OPEC-free world. Political strategist in Europe and China can read, and the PNAC neocons have not made much secret of the fact that Iraq was a stepping stone to US hegemony over oil supplies, requiring a "seond Pearl Harbour" to justify it.

So all of this ivory tower willy-waving between Brussels, Moscow, Beijing and Washington is translating into even higher prices at the pumps than would otherwise be necessary.

Actually, my husband took a trip to Phoenix the day of the pipeline break. He almost didn't make it home, because every gas station in Phoenix was closed. The few stray ones in small towns on the way back to Vegas which remained open had about 100 cars waiting to be filled with premium (the only remaining available gas). I do believe the pipeline break has something to do with this. I'm not sure how long all of the gas stations were shut down, but I've never heard of anything quite like that before.

I have been thinking that too. The blackouts shut down the refineries, thus stopping the flow of oil to the pipelines, thus causing a shortage, thus causing prices to go up

I am glad to know I am not the only one enraged! Here in south eastern PA for the highest level of gas (octane is it? im not really sure sorry) it is up to 1.99! Who really regulates gas prices? Wasn't gas prices supposed to go down due to the war in Iraq?

Then I wouldn't be surprised if there were a price hike in Arizona and environs - but Florida, Pennsylvania, Alaska?? Is Arizona a major conduit for the entire country? For Europe?? Obviously, there are other factors (many of which have been cited) which are being exploited to justify the price hikes. I'm not buying any of them.

Yes it is, but in my opinion its the greedy government that is the culprit. I don't think $1.12 is an unreasonable price to pay for a gallon of gasoline. This is the amount I would be paying were it not for the government taxes of 28% (varies by state). I'm really getting tired of forking over 1/2 my income to these people.

Maybe the pipeline burst in Arizona didn't affect the whole country but it did most of the south western states and California. The shutdown of the 15 oil refineries in the East Coast, though, casued a shortage in the Eastern states from the Blackout a couple weeks ago

A useful link for those hunting for lower gas prices:

http://www.gasbuddy.com

Well, here in France, the price per liter for unleaded is around 1€... That makes the gallon worth US$4!!!! (no, it's not a joke!)

Horyok - is that a high price for your area of France? Have prices jumped there recently also?

I don't know if the prices have jumped recently in Europe, but gas was around 4 dollars a gallon when I was in Italy also. They have very heavy taxes on petroleum there (as well as pretty much everything else)....Fortunately, few have to commute as far as Americans for their daily activities.

2.19 in Reno, Nevada.

BTW, Reno gets all of it's gas from Nothern California refineries. The prices just happened to go up during the Arizona pipeline fiasco. Our local authorities have not made any statements as to the actual cause but many said it might have to do with Arizona. Obviously it's not directly related, but maybe somehow it's indirectly related, who knows.

I paid 2.25 the other day for unleaded here in nor Cal. (oh the irony, the gas jumps up the day after i buy my Mustang )

Ok, guys, this is not the Casual Conversation forum.

In addition to sharing the price of gas, we need to discuss the actual questions posed for debate:

QUOTE

Do you think the pipeline that broke is a legit reason for the increase or do you like I think it is Just another holiday increase?

Maybe I'm just ignorant (well, no maybes, I am ignorant), but why is it that the prices for other petroleum-based products don't seem to be subject to similar fluctuations?

The broken pipeline might be responsible; could also be the seasonal holiday spikes. People don't like the price increases? Start supporting leaders who will give deserved focus to alternative energy sources and public transportation.

The high prices of gasoline in California are a direct result of supply and demand and have little or nothing to do with "greedy oil companies." Allow me to back up these claims. First, according to the state of California's website the demand for gasoline usage has risen steadily over 11 percent since 1990 (this is not a surprise given population growth, etc).
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/statisti...e_gasoline.html

However, production of gasoline is unstable and highly inconsistent. First, California has not built an oil refinery since 1969.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontr...1n29recall.html
Second, this report shows that production in the last decade has been down significantly, only to return to 1990 level production.
ftp://ftp.consrv.ca.gov/pub/oil/annual_re...inaryAnnual.pdf

Another website which speaks honestly about gas prices reveals how California government regulations on gasoline are up and that taxes on gasoline are up (did you know that you pay sales tax on top of the already imposed state and federal gasoline taxes? That's right, you pay tax on tax!). Also, recently an investigation took place that looked into whether California oil companies were engaging in price fixing. The investigation, which concluded a few months ago, found that NO price fixing was taking place.
http://www.wspa.org/facttoughquestionsCAgasprices.htm

The solution to the problem is simple. The United States needs to drill for oil in Alaska. The Alaskans want it! Check out this website: http://www.anwr.org/

Last time I filled up (2 days ago I think) it was $1.91/gallon. When I left Houston in 01/00 I bought gas for $.75/ gallon. This year Exxon/Mobile post the highest earnings ever. I once got a Chain email requesting that we boycott Exxon/Mobile to force them to start a price war. I filled my tank up 2 or 3 times with Shell gasoline and noticed a significant reduction of power. Being the aggressive driver again I was forced to go back to Mobil. I think they companies are slowly increasing prices to desensitise us to the change. Pretty soon we will be up there with Europe until we put these gas companies in check.

I started the thread about gas prices going up again.
Well lo and behold today gas dropped 5 cents a gallon. Now at 1.69 a gallon
Must be we have a surplus again!!!

It's $1.48 here. Surplus indeed

This is my first post in.... well... forever

I don't want to give the pipeline any credit. Instead I like to think that by my choosing to pump the most expensive gasoline I can find into my tank, I am encouraging the price to rise high enough such that CLEAN alternatives are likely to be SERIOUSLY considered by the masses.

I purposely seek out the worst price I can find.. and pay that in an effort to "do my part" in the marketplace.

Have a nice day

Welcome back, GenX!

Let's all keep in mind that the price of gasoline is cyclical. Too cyclical for my tastes, but that is the nature of the beast.

Gas prices have been dropping for about a month now. It will be interesting to see how the cold winter months affect gas prices...

OPEC is cutting production: the story

We've noticed that the price cycles alright! Locally, gas prices usually cycle up 10-15 cents per gallon every Thursday, and cycle back down a few cents on Monday. If it doesn't cycle back down on Monday, it still manages to cycle up for the weekend on Thursday. We're a "resort area," being on the lakeshore; so the price always cycles up significantly for any holiday or major tourist event, such as the annual air fair, and summer festival.

Or we could just take the bus or train or ride a bike to work or buy a car with better gas mileage...

I heard that the President's approval rating was up again, and I commented, "Watch the gas price rise again." Sure enough, it's up about 25 cents per gallon since Monday.

I tried to dig up some data to compare gas prices with bush's popularity. AAA posts Michigan's average gas prices on Monday. (Perhaps that's why the price of gas is always lowest on Monday.) Popularity polls seem to be a bit less regular, so data was hard to compare precisely.

It was interesting to note that the price of gas has been up 40 - 50% over the previous administration, with the exception of a long drop in prices following the events of 9/11/2001.

I tried dividing the price of gas by the President's approval ratings, and got rather inconsistent results. Then I tried dividing the price of gas by (100% - % who disapprove of the job Bush is doing) and found a K-factor that averages currently about $2.48 per gallon. (About $1.87 / gallon for 2002) Working backward from that, I would expect that today's price of $1.67 per gallon would show a disapproval rating of 32 - 33%. Of course, my raw data is based on Monday gas prices (Probably back down to $1.52/gallon) which would put his disapproval rating at closer to 39%.

It's a bizarre theory, but I'll be keeping my eyes open for the next Poll results on how Bush s doing.

I think that gas prices go up or down, depending on the day of the week. For example, i have noticed here in my town that it goes up on Thursday or Friday, days when people travel for the weekend, then go lower Monday or Tuesday.

As for the price of gas, we have no more choice than a herd of cattle on a sinking ship in the Atlantic Ocean

Sorry about the comment,but it made about as much sense as any other excuse the oil companies give us.

As consumers, we all know that this particular industry has a past of thinking up any excuse for price hikes. Of course we are a captive consumer and have to go along with the game.

I have learned here Gas does go up every Thursday. It then drops on Monday.
It has been like that for a long time here. goamerica your right on noticing this.
So I have learned to fill up before a Thursday and then I go the full week with cheaper gas.