I got gas

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MikeyDude · Thu May 04, 2006 12:30 pm

In just have to vent...

I was listening to the news just now and they said the price of a barrel of crude has just dropped.... but it won't show at the pumps. WTF? If the price on a barrel goes up the price at the pump goes up instantly. It doesn't matter if the guy paid less for the gas he has now, he raises the price anyway. So why not lower it?

Greed...

Pi$$es me off to no extent!

#2 Unread post by **9000white** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:16 pm

gotta keep those astronomical profits up.

#3 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Thu May 04, 2006 2:25 pm

9000white wrote:gotta keep those astronomical profits up.

We've already covered this argument in another thread. The profit margins of oil companies are slightly below par with the national average. Coca Cola makes roughly three times as much profit as Exxon. The numbers seem huge because the company and the volume of its sales are both huge. If you want the cost of gas to go down, all you have to do is mention extracting the oil from Colorado's shale and the Arabic nations will drop the cost per barrel low enough as to make the process economically unfeasible.

camthepyro · Thu May 04, 2006 5:56 pm

Maybe so when they go back up again, not everyone will freak out about the prices rising again?

#5 Unread post by **MrGompers** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:29 pm

ZooTech wrote:
9000white wrote:gotta keep those astronomical profits up.
We've already covered this argument in another thread. The profit margins of oil companies are slightly below par with the national average. Coca Cola makes roughly three times as much profit as Exxon. The numbers seem huge because the company and the volume of its sales are both huge. If you want the cost of gas to go down, all you have to do is mention extracting the oil from Colorado's shale and the Arabic nations will drop the cost per barrel low enough as to make the process economically unfeasible.

Sorry. Its much deeper than that. And this is a very good question.

I already alluded to this before in the other oil thread, but here it goes again.

Since oil is traded daily on worldwide exchanges as the price of oil rises & falls the price should do the same at the pump. I know that everyone here has seen prices rise at the pump during the day. Yet I have never seen prices at the pump fall during the day. Can you guess why ?
This issue has been on the local news lately too.

The oil execs are saying that its true prices rise at the pump as the price of oil rises on exchanges. In defense of that, they say that the price at the pump should also fall as the price of oil falls on the exchanges. I call BS on that since I've never seen prices at the pump fall during the day. ( I have seen them change the next day)

Is anyone really surprised this happens ?

Zoo is on target with the Colorado shale example tho. Whenever the demand for oil is threatened OPEC will lower the prices. They have also kept the price lower in the past to DISCOURAGE the USA & other nations from seeking and developing alternative fuels. These guys know how the play the game & they know what the equalibrium price is for oil & gas.

The comparison to coca cola is way off base. Coca cola is not a commodity traded on exchanges.

If you want to compare something to oil try using gold, silver, platinum,or any other commodity traded on exchanges. (and no mullet cream is not a commodity either)

TechTMW · #6 Unread post by **TechTMW** » Thu May 04, 2006 7:31 pm

ZooTech wrote:Coca Cola makes roughly three times as much profit as Exxon.

You mean ... Paying $1 or more for a 5 cent plastic bottle with 3 cents worth of syrup and 2 cents worth of water is adding to coca cola's profit margin!?!?!

THE OUTRAGE.

MrGompers wrote:Yet I have never seen prices at the pump fall during the day. Can you guess why ?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it's the gas station owners who control the prices of the actual fuel. Therefore it's them we should be bashing, not the Oil Execs... ?

MikeyDude · #7 Unread post by **MikeyDude** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:01 pm

TechBMW wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong but it's the gas station owners who control the prices of the actual fuel. Therefore it's them we should be bashing, not the Oil Execs... ?

I thought I was...

#8 Unread post by **MrGompers** » Thu May 04, 2006 9:24 pm

TechBMW wrote:
ZooTech wrote:Coca Cola makes roughly three times as much profit as Exxon.
You mean ... Paying $1 or more for a 5 cent plastic bottle with 3 cents worth of syrup and 2 cents worth of water is adding to coca cola's profit margin!?!?!

THE OUTRAGE.

MrGompers wrote:Yet I have never seen prices at the pump fall during the day. Can you guess why ?
Correct me if I'm wrong but it's the gas station owners who control the prices of the actual fuel. Therefore it's them we should be bashing, not the Oil Execs... ?

That's not the way it works in the USA. The gas station owners don't control the price. I went into this in more detail on the other oil thread, so I don't want to rehash it here. Basically, the price of the gas currently at the gas station is set by the oil compaines and/or the distributors.

CNF2002 · #9 Unread post by **CNF2002** » Fri May 05, 2006 3:07 am

Yeah, they buy their gas at a fixed price in bulk, but they dont determine how much they sell it for. I'm sure they are allowed some kinda margin but the distributor tells them how much to sell it for on an hourly basis or something.

BigChickenStrips · Fri May 05, 2006 3:12 am

if coca cola prices go to high, i can drink something else, when my truck runs out of gas, i still gotta get to work. i dont know who's fault high gas prices are, but i think uncle sam should be doing somethign about it. see if G-Dub wants to pay for his own air force one fuel, and limo gas. that $400,000 a year salary would be spent in 2 weeks.