The price of oil topped out at $107 per barrel in June of 2014. The price of gasoline topped out at $3.70 per gallon in June of 2014. The price of oil currently stands at $50 per barrel, 53% below its June price.
I read story after story about record U.S. production, a huge glut in storage, and predictions of even lower oil prices. If this is so, why are national gasoline prices still at $2.39 per gallon? That is only 35% lower than the peak in June. The last time I checked, oil is the only key ingredient in gasoline. If gasoline prices tracked the decline in oil prices, it should be 27% cheaper than the $2.39 they are selling it for today.
How come the average American gets screwed no matter what happens in the markets? The price of oil is the same as it was in November, but gas prices have surged by 18%. Who benefits? Who is winning?
Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Wall Street shysters, along with Big Oil, have it rigged in their favor. You are just a pawn in their game.
Well, we paid $2.04 yesterday at the Luke Oil station yesterday.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_taxes_in_the_United_States 69 cents per gallon combined state & federal gasoline tax in PA. Take the tax out and the gas price is proportional to oil price.
Iska
The taxes were in the numbers in June and now. So solly. That does not explain the discrepancy.
… Because this is a fascist market and they are lieing to us.
Does this account for the rig closings? My guess is they are skimming cream of the top, if they weren’t we would already be in deja vu bailout momentum.
Yes.
$2.04 and an attendant even pumps it for you.
See now, New Jersey does have its perks.
Why, because we the ‘Murkin consumer, is competing with the rest of the world for our refined oil and its products, a whole shit ton of which is used in pharmaceuticals and packaging.
Use of refined oil (aka gasoline) is becoming a very small part of the system, at least OUR use.
Well, that and numerous “green” and EPA laws/regulations that have them adding CHEMICALS to our gas as required in the summer months. Many refineries are just coming back online after the changeover.
Just like with selling pork producers and farms to China, this “competition” is going to work out GREAT for us.
As long as we realize, we use HFCS in our processed foods because REAL sugar was taxed into the most expensive on earth, while the SAME sugar growers/manufacturers sell OUR homegrown sugar to foreigners for LESS than they can legally sell it here.
In every single instance we turned to our Federales to rule, protect and regulate us, we end up here:
Middle screwed
Government middle enriched
Rich bastards richer
Real health and opportunity and market decimated.
But we still demand MORE.
@Gubmint, they could be giving gasoline away and I wouldn’t consider it a fair trade to live there.
But that is just me.
the new Amerika..butt- fu”..ed to the grave…just remember to smile and vote for who ever we present to you…..next
@Dan, don’t forget to line up for your shots, new iPhone to track you, and then your meds against diseases that don’t truly exist, but bonus you with known harm from the pills and shots.
Living in a land of delusion with a bunch of State worshipers sucks hard. I begin to see how Jesus felt as he tried to preach truth to the masses.
Diesel came down to $1.99 very briefly a few months ago. I fill up about every 2 weeks under normal commuting conditions. It has now popped back up to around $2.75ish + or – 25 cents. Here in the PDX area as with most of the west coast, we are plagued by a lack of refineries and pipelines. One little glitch in the matrix and poof we are screwed. I doesn’t help with all the insane mixtures they mandate depending on the time of the year. The truth of the matter is when prices are rising we see that immediately yesterday….when they are falling it is delayed delayed delayed. There are still some places charging almost $4/gal for diesel in the area. Chevron’s, 76’s, and Shell stations.
The first time that oil jumped from $42 to 50 bucks, the price of gas in my town rose from about $1.80 to $2 bucks a gallon. Now that it has again bounced off its second $42 low and is back at $50 mark again, gasoline is now selling for roughly $2.70 a gallon. That’s a 35% higher price than last time, which was only, what, a month or two ago? There’s something rotten in Denmark here.
But even more amazing is how badly we’re being ripped off by the purveyors of natural gas. Between 2005 & 2009 the average price of nat gas was selling for roughly $8 k/cf, and my winter gas bills were averaging between $75-$110 a month. For the last three years, nat gas has been selling for average of about $3 k/cf, a 60% decline! So naturally you’d think your gas bills would have fallen, say, oh maybe 60% or so…? Not quite. I’ve been paying the same amount per month on average for the last 3-4 years. And that, dear fellow nat gas consumers, means we are the proverbial scrood-goose (note: I suppose it’s possible the govt may have added in some extra taxation on my bills, thereby preventing them from decreasing ever so slightly). I remember in 2009 the gas utilities had petitioned the utility board in my state for a rate increase of 5%, and this was right after the period that nat gas had fallen from $13 k/cf to $4 k/cf. Yet they still had the cherries to ask for an increase!!
http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/natural-gas.aspx?timeframe=10y
This weekend I paid $3.15 for regular unleaded at a Chevron. Some of the cheapie stations are down to $2.99. Here in Socal the cheapest gas we saw during the recent dip was about $2.49.
Admin,
June ’14 retail price ($3.70), less (approx.) $.70 taxes = $3.00 net-of-tax price
Current retail price ($2.39), less 70 cents of taxes = $1.69 net-of-tax price (a 44% drop)
Oil in June 2014 ($107), now ($50) = a 53% drop.
Even if crude oil were $1 / barrel, there would still be refining and shipping costs. Even though the cost of shipping would itself drop due to lower fuel prices, there are still people paid to drive gasoline trucks (and people paid to work at refineries), to say nothing of other costs (insurance, etc.) To expect gasoline prices to drop proportionately with oil prices is a little like expecting a $2 loaf of bread to cost $1 because wheat prices had dropped by half. Given the costs of shipping, refining, insurance, regulatory compliance, etc., I’m surprised that the net-of-tax price at the pump tracks crude oil prices as closely as it does.
Average fuel taxes in the US is 48 cents, not 70 cents.
One reason is fixed gas taxes. Gas Tax Mead pushed through a 10 cent per gallon tax in WY last year, doesn’t matter if gas is a nickel or ten bucks a gallon.
Oil is the only input to gasoline? Is the author clueless? First, once you have oil, it needs to be refined. Refineries are very expensive. And oil needs to be transported to refineries. After refining, gas needs to be stored and transported to gas stations as needed requiring storage facilities and fleets of trucks. Then there are the cost of operating a gas station including tanks, pumps, buildings, labor, etc. So just because the cost of oil drops by say fifty percent, in no way means that the cost of gasoline will drop fifty percent. And I didn’t even mention the taxes which are a fixed amount per gallon and a significant part of the price.
The prices are manipulated for the oil companys profit margin. I’ve noticed everythime the price goes down a refinery goes up in flames or one needs “extensive” conversion or maintenance. Soon followed by a price increase.