$3.00 Gas in U.S. in Summer of 2012? Lower Prices Expected...

If you look back at prices, right before the last US presidential election 4 years ago, for a 6 month period gas was in the low $2's and bottomed at $1.80 a gallon.........well after 6 months it was right back in the mid to high $3 and has held there. While I would love to see the days of gas in the low $2's all of the time, I'm not holding my breath. The only thing that would make that a promise, would be opening up drilling in the US. Either OPEC will cut production, or with all of this Middle East tension going on, oil prices will shoot right back up...... There are so many ticking time bombs over there with North Korea, Iran, Syria etc......

Hi,

Would you care to define the geographical position of "over there"?

we just took on fuel in seattle and it was just below 3.00 for the first time in a long time

travler

Hi,

I was just fishing for an opinion.

I normally think of over there as somewhere in front of where one is.

Given that the Middle East is well to the East that could be understood, N Korea on the other hand is to the west of FLL, so it is over both fences that a watch needs to be taken if I understand the crux of the post.

The Middle East and other oil producing Nations where production could be effected with a conflict resulting from Iran, Syria, or even North Korea that would result in less oil production shortening supply.

Well I'm over in Asia at the moment, and Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting:

BANGKOK (AP) — Oil rose above $97 a barrel Tuesday in Asia, clawing back some losses after prices unexpectedly took a plunge the day before.

Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 44 cents at $97.06 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $2.38, or 2.4 percent, to finish at $96.62 a barrel on the Nymex on Monday
Oil rises above $97 a day after price plunge - Businessweek

Now I think the USA is seeing prices at the $120 a barrel range. Wonder what accounts for such a big difference??

You don't think it has anything to do with the fact that big oil doesn't want to see the current President re-elected, do you

And just last week we popped the $1.50/L bubble again...

That works out to about US$5.83/gallon.

I've already filled up a couple of times over the last week (in my car) at $4.999. I don't see this changing any time soon.

Here in the American mid west, gas is still around $3.99 and at the boat docks close to $5.

Diesel at Marina Jack (Sarasota) $4.44/gal today. I paid $3.50 in June. Not liking this trend...

The UK is still very expensive, for cars and boats.
Current pump price for diesel equates to $9.08 p/gallon, marine pumps are running at the $7.00 mark.

These will be going up, not down, with no reduction likely in the next 9 months.

Unfortunately as I consider all the current tension in the ME (I.e Straits of Hormuz, etc) I don't see any fuel price mitigating factors either. Sad that everybody but the US appears poised to exploit the oil in the FL Straits, GOM, etc...

Sign of things to come?

Hi,

This was taken this morning in Holland.

It works out to $8.96 a US Gal

Refinery Capacity

Funny how this 'refinery capacity' is often brought up subject wise when they want to increase the fuel prices here in the USA....just not enough capacity available for a variety of reasons.

But now that they want this new pipe line deal for transporting all that Canadian tar sands oil, 'we have more than enough capacity to refine that oil'....and even enough capacity to refine huge extra amounts to ship overseas.

What a manipulative bunch of ____....these oil companies

Price Manipulation: No Fundamental Reason for Oil to Move Higher?

...and we US taxpayers are paying these MOST PROFITABLE companies subsidies to do their business...unbelievable to be paying VERY profitable companies to do their business.

Terminology

A tax break is NOT a subsidy... A tax break is when you take less then the maximum tax... And these exact same tax breaks are given to other US companies that meet the criteria set for them...

A subsidy is when you GIVE the company money!... Seeing as the government doesn't actually make any money that money that's being given away comes out of everybody's pocket...

I have nothing against "lefty" ideals even though I don't hold with them... After all, it's a free country last time I checked... However, what I object to is using the wrong terms...

Subsidies, or some other name?

...just two references among many

1) Fossil Fuel Subsidies in the U.S.
$2.4 Billion: subsidies to the Big Five producers debated and defeated in the Senate in 2011 and 2012




2) Senate Fails to Cut Favors to Big Oil, Once Again

Cutting $2.4 billion in subsidies annually to the biggest companies – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell – might seem like a solid initial step. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The oil and gas industry receives at least $10 billion annually in special favors.

Big Oil makes money.
Subsidies make sense when they foster the growth of a new industry. They are intended to be a temporary crutch to enable companies to find their footing until they can be competitive on their own. With oil prices exceeding $100 per barrel, U.S. oil production is hugely profitable. The five biggest oil companies made $137 billion in 2011 alone. Most independently-owned companies that produce oil and gas in the U.S. have market capitalizations in the hundreds of millions and multi-billion dollar range.
How is this a sector that continues to need taypayer support?