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Gas Prices Jump Nearly 25 Cents In Last 2 Weeks

Jack Hays said:
You seem unusually out of sorts this evening.
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Maybe a spot on diagnosis. Maybe I just need to be shown the error of my ways..................
 
Jack Hays said:
Your data and your links are out of date. The route has been altered and the Governor of Nebraska has endorsed the pipeline.
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I know. I was just pointing out the flaws in the initial design which had it going right over some of the most vulnerable sections of the aquifer. That was a bad design.

It was stupid to risk billions in agriculture for a pipeline that will materially change no prices.
 

Depends. Refineries favor no one these days. Furthermore, Chinese firms pumping in the US are still subject to US laws. I really don't care who does it as long as they do it within the legal framework. And besides, China owns large equity shares in the public oil firms anyways so in a sense they are doing what you don't like.

Also with this last round of sanctions on Iran.....I really don't know where else they can go with more on them.
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Sanctions like this take time. Apparently inflation is through the roof in Iran and basic necessities for the people are getting hard to come by. Also their currency is in the toilet. The problem with sanctions is that they always hurt the people and generally not those in charge.

That said, the alternative is an Iranian Occupation that would make Iraq look cute. At least Iraq was mostly desert with a reasonably small population and a large area under relatively friendly control. Iran is mountainous, much larger population and can actually defend itself and we have no Kurdistan there. The cost alone of mounting an Iranian Adventure will collapse the American economy.
 
Bonzai said:
The problem with Venezuela, if you ever been there, isn't Caesar Chavez, "Yankee" capitalists, or socialism, it's the Venezuelan people...............They're idiots....................
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Golly, gee whiz, Bonzai, that is painting with a broad brush.
 

Right. And now?:roll:
 

Those god damned socialist, marxzist, communist, fascist, liberal hippies are responsible. Not free enterprise.
 
I will ask everybody onthis thread.

Is the US system for pricing gasoline better, possible price jumps, or is the Mexican system better where the price goes up a certain amount every 15 days but never goes down? For referance the price of a liter of gasoline goes up $.09 centavos every 15 days. $.09 centavos is $.007 cents US.

Which system would you prefer?
 
"World Oil Demand Growth: World crude oil and liquid fuels consumption grew to the highest level ever in 2012, with an estimated 89.2 million barrels per day (bpd) consumed in total.[2] The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that total world oil consumption will grow by 1.05 million bpd during 2013 and 1.4 million bpd in 2014 with countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) comprising most of the growth in consumption.[3] The largest increases in oil consumption will be non-OECD Asian countries, which are using increasing amounts of oil to pursue rapid economic growth. By comparison, U.S. liquid fuels consumption has declined since 2010.

China, in particular, has a large role in the increased global demand for oil. China likely consumed nearly half of the global 2 million barrel per day increase in world oil consumption since 2010.[4] According to the Energy Information Administration, China increased its petroleum consumption by almost 500,000 barrels per day in 2011, and preliminary estimates are that China added another 420,000 barrels to its daily consumption in 2012. China is the second-largest consumer of oil behind the United States and as of 2009, China became the second-largest net importer of oil. In 2011, Chinese crude oil imports were 5.52 million bpd[5]—up 8.2 percent from 2010 levels.

If world demand for oil rises faster than oil companies can produce the crude, oil prices will go up, which is what is occurring now."

Institute for Energy Research | Why Are Gas Prices So High?
 
Why Are Gas Prices So Bizarrely High Right Now?

No, cash-strapped motorist, it's not just you. Gas really is weirdly expensive right now. Despite the fact that we're in February, when the price at the pump is traditionally low, gasoline has marched up to past the $3.80-a-gallon mark on average nationwide, and is close to $4.00 on the west coast. AAA tells the Washington Post 'that this "is the most expensive we've seen gasoline in the dead of winter."



So what gives? Nobody's really sure, but it probably comes down to: China's looking good, the Middle East is looking bad, and too many U.S. refineries have shut down for the season.

Looking back on crude prices this time over the past several years, as well as futures contracts pre-February, I couldn't find much of a change that would explain the 20 cent price bump we're now looking at. Crude was actually trading a few dollars higher around this time in 2012. So I might wager on an explanation that the Post tags at the bottom of its piece. Enough refineries have shut down as of late that the remaining operations can jack up prices:

But some analysts also pointed to refinery issues. Several refineries have been shut down for routine maintenance, and in the eastern United States, several refineries simply went out of business in the past year.
It estimated that nearly 1 million barrels a day of refinery capacity has been closed on the East Coast or in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the past two years, which Valero said allowed it to increase profit margins.

So blame Valero, but also straightforward market competition.

None of this makes spending almost $3,000 a year on gas any more pleasant. But hey, it's nice to at least have a sense of why your budget is getting eaten by gas.....snip~

Why Are Gas Prices So Bizarrely High Right Now? - Jordan Weissmann - The Atlantic

:roll:
 
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