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Three days ago gas costed $2.43 a gallon. Yesterday when I got gas it was $2.70...and to think I was pissed off then. Today I drove home to $3.30 a gallon. With gas stations having long lines or "No Gas" signs. Watching CNN when they're covering news other than Katrina, they show gas stations at $4-$5 a gallon.
quote:WASHINGTON � White House economic adviser Ben Bernanke (search) said on Thursday U.S. gasoline prices will likely rise further because of system disruptions following Hurricane Katrina, but will drop when supply lines return to normal.
"There is a supply problem; there's been a reduction in the amount of gasoline available. People still want to drive, so the price is going to go up," Bernanke, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers (search), said on C-SPAN television.
"I think the good news is that this is not likely to be a permanent situation as these refineries and these transportation networks are brought back on line," he said.
Gas prices should then return to levels seen earlier this year, Bernanke said. Gas prices were already high before the storm because of soaring global demand for oil, he said.
Meanwhile, oil prices have moved relatively little in the past week as a result of the hurricane, because the global supply and demand for oil was not much affected, Bernanke said.
"The amount of speculative activity is not that great and I'm fairly convinced that what's happening to prices is not much to do, or anything to do, with speculation. What it has to do with primarily is just the fundamental facts of supply and demand," he said in response to a viewer question.
Bernanke said there is not that much the United States can do about escalating global demand for energy except develop alternative sources of fuel.
"Higher oil prices, higher energy prices, make these alternatives economic," he said
Crude held near $69 on the New York Mercantile and gasoline rode high at over $100 a barrel on Thursday. U.S. crude was 14 cents lower at $68.80 a barrel, below the record $70.85 hit on Tuesday.
Gasoline futures on continued their relentless rise to a high of $2.465 a gallon.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a 700-million-barrel stockpile set aside for emergency use, could be used to counter oil shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf oil industry, which accounts for about a quarter of US output. I definitely think this qualifies to tap those reserves to help bring gas down.
"I'll make a bold prediction ... in 12 months, you're going to see oil down to 35-40 US dollars a barrel," ... "It's a huge bubble, I don't know what's going to pop it but eventually it will pop - you cannot go against supply and demand, you cannot go against the fundamentals forever." - Steve Forbes
Typically I put in $10 of gas in a week which gets me about half a tank. Last year it got me 3/4th a tank. I drive a '04 Mitsubishi Lancer which gets about 26-30 miles a gallon. Needless to say, I like many people budget my money and having to dump more into my gas tank takes away from putting it elsewhere it's needed.
Bush supporters in DC blame it on consumers while Bush haters blame it on the current White House administration. I think of it a mix of both. I believe the White House should put more pressure on OPEC to produce more oil while funding alternative fuel sources. Most Japanese car manufacturers are making hybrid cars, the Toyota Prius gets like 60 miles to the gallon. Yet all GM seems to do, make a smaller Hummer that gets an extra mile or two per gallon.
I've often felt the oil companies have tried to insist that hybrid cars aren't worth it, yet while Shell or Texaco is making record profits it's also driving the demand for hybrids.
On the other hand, so many Americans own huge SUVs that guzzle gas like crazy. So apparently people demand lower prices but drive Hummers that get 4 miles to the gallon.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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Apparently it's not a crude oil supply problem, rather a refining problem. As a result, releasing crude oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will not help much in the short run.
-------------------- Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. ~ohn Adams
Once again the Bush Administration is worse than I had imagined, even though I thought I had already taken account of the fact that the Bush administration is invariably worse than I can imagine. ~Brad DeLong
You're just babbling incoherently. ~C. Montgomery Burns
Registered: Mar 1999
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Well after making that first post I went up the road to the 76 gas station to fill up the rest of my tank which was just under half a tank. It cost me about $24. While panic refueling doesn't help the situation, plenty of people such as myself feel they don't have much option. My thought is, rather fill up now at $3.39 than wait until I actually need gas and it's $5 or more. The state governor is saying the prices should stablize in about two weeks once the oil supply is restored so hopefully my tank will last.
They also blame China and India as oil competition. Though I have to wonder why the US government doesn't put more pressure on OPEC to produce more oil to drive down the prices. Of course some would say our politicians receive funds from oil companies which report record profits. The more we pay, the more they make.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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I think it's at this point that one of the Brits here (say, me) comes in with the obligatory "it's still fooking cheap like over there compared with what we pay."
But as an example, to fill up the tank on my 1.6 golf costs roughly �40. That's about $70. I drive 20 miles to work everyday. Really, not sending me money would be so heartless and cruel that I cannot conceive of how evil you would have to be not to do it.
Registered: Mar 1999
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This is why Florida passed anti-gouging laws.
Fuckers owning gas stations along the path of the refugees from New Orleans are charging them $6.00!
I recall after hurricane Andrew destroyed most of west miami and Homestead, a mob of ten people beat a gouger into the intensive care ward after the guy had drove into the state in an ice truck- to charge $10 per bag of ice to the victims.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Bar stewards! The BBC were saying that the US didn't have a emergency store of Petrol/Gas, and that we would be sending over some of the european stocks.
What is it with Americans and SUV's? More pollution, cost of gas (Emergencies like this not withstanding, the average price is rising as it's running out) less safty features (Truck standards not car standards), longer stopping distance, greater chance of rollover, greater chance of killing third party in collision (child head hight= bumper/fender hight) Unfortunatly the number of hybrids is due to lack of customer interest. The batteries etc reduce practical space, so people go for standard cars. The industry is in crisis, they can't sell normal cars at a profit, let alone taking a 'risk' with something consumers don't seem that interested in, and without investment, the technology will not mature enough for it to fit into standard shapes without affecting practicality. You'll notice it's the non american/european brands that are bringing out hybrids, i.e the one's making money?
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
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Petrol is up here too... What I can't stand is how on one side of town it's one price and on the other side it is 20c different!!
A few months ago it was 80c/L then 100c/L and now it's hovering between 115-125c/L.
Rediculous.
For non-Australians (that's like all of you) convert from Australian dollars and if your backward country is still using the empirical system - convert to gallons.
Oh, and WHY call it "gas" when it's clearly a liquid. Liquid Petroleum aka petrol.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
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Because it's short for "gasoline". Liquid petroleum, on the other hand, is just redundant, and "petrol" could be short for any oil-based product. Not saying ours isn't silly, just that yours is no better.
Of course, once we switch to hydrogen, we actually WILL be putting gas in our cars...
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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You know its funny a while back when I was in grade school I was reading from my 40-year-old outdated science textbook and it said that within the next 50 years that a good portion of our non-replenishable resources would run out. But then its also goes that by that time we should be living like the Jetsons. Funny how people fall on the "future" to solve major problems but then when the "future" comes shit happens.
Fuck where's my robot maid and hovercar.
Registered: Feb 2005
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WizArtist II
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Doing Baltar somewhere on Kobol.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
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I don't understand the love of SUVs either. You'd think sales would go down once gas prices began climbing. But people still buy them, then have the nerve to complain about prices.
Someone from the UK at another forum was telling me he pays about $7 per gallon. However he also said minimum wage is $8.75 an hour. While where I live minimum wage is $5.15 per hour and gas currently averages $3.20 a gallon. You pay more per gallon, but you also make a lot more per hour as well.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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I've never asked - BUT - are your "SUVs" the same as what we call "4-wheel drives" - usually used to drive out-back or along beaches or through flooded creeks in the rainforest... but generally used by mothers to pick their children up from school?
Registered: Mar 1999
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Er, in Britain they're commonly known as off-roaders, there are many 4-wheel drive cars that aren't deserving of being lumped in with the off-roader/SUV category, but yeah Chelsea-Tractors is what they are, designed for the ultimate off-road trip to pick up the kids from school or get some shopping at Sainsbury's.
-------------------- Garbled, confusing and quite frankly duller than an inflight magazine produced by Air Belgium.
Registered: May 2004
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Most places here seem to be between 90-99p per litre, although it's now above a pound (Au$2.40/US$1.84) in some places.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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Just looked on autotrader (2nd hand car site& magazine), a 2000 Toyota hybrid is about �6000, which is about the same as a 1998 BMW 3 series with more mileage. (I would have chosed a ford as a comparrison, but the US gets different Fords. for instance, the US is still selling the old Focus, where as we have had the new for over a year). And, like many things these days you can hack it: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/08/13/state/n091301D38.DTL
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
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