I'm paying $1.99, significantly lower than post Katrina.

Post #246,711 by bepatient 3/3/06 5:05:23 PM Reply	I'm paying $1.99, significantly lower than post Katrina. And what you are seeing, my friend, is that refining costs in the Katrina affected regions are still somewhat higher as the major refineries struggle to get all their capacity back. The difference between barrel price of oil and barrel price of gasoline (or heating oil or jet fuel) is call the "crack spread"...and in the immediate aftermath of Katrina was nearly as high as 50$ a bbl for jet fuel. So while you saw $70 oil, the airlines saw $125bbl jet fuel pricing...where the normal markup would be in the 4-10 range (seasonal). If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #246,980 by jb4 3/6/06 10:07:33 AM Reply	OK, so riddle me this, Batman... Since Katrina, the refining capability has improved, right? I mean, we've recovered a lot (but not all) our refining capability. So the price of gasoline (the refined distillate of that $70/bbl oil) would, if the market is not being diddled, come down, as the supply of said distillate is up. Therefore, for a constant cost of the raw material, the price of gasoline should be dropping as the ability to refine it increases. Basic supply-and-demand market economics. Furthermore, as the cost of the raw material decreases, and the capability (and fixed cost) to refine said raw material remains constant, the cost of the refiend product should continue to decrease, again if the market is not being diddled. So here we are, with increased manufacturing capability (with reference to Katrina-aftermath levels), and a roughly 12% drop in the cost of the raw materials that go into that manufacturing process, roughly constant demand...and increasing prices for the manufactured product. Things that make you (well, maybe not you, BeeP, but the rest of us) say, "Hmmmmm...". jb4 "Every Repbulican who wants to defend Bush on [the expansion of Presidential powers], should be forced to say, 'I wouldn't hesitate to see President Hillary Rodham Clinton have the same authority'." &mdash an unidentified letter writer to Newsweek on the expansion of executive powers under the Bush administration
Post #246,986 by bepatient 3/6/06 11:17:38 AM Reply	It also depends on where you are, since the US has "allowable" grades and blends that are specific to regions..and each is going to rely on the capacity of the particular refineries. In addition, it will take time for the reduction to work its way through the system. Expecting the price at the pump to follow the price of oil precisely is simply showing that you don't completely understand how that gas gets to the pump in the first place. What you are ignoring...the companies raised their prices immediately. That was the robbery. They were selling gas that had already been through the system and selling it at prices that reflected what the current cost would be. What do you get? Windfall. And, in case you missed my first post, my price at the pump is down SIGNIFICANTLY from the Katrina spike (and hey, I only get full serve in NJ) . So maybe yours didn't, and that would mean you are likely being fed from the pipeline that comes from the effected refineries...and your buddies aren't cutting back on their guzzle at the pumps. If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. _{Fudd's First Law of Opposition} [link\|mailto:bepatient@aol.com\|BePatient]
Post #247,078 by lincoln 3/7/06 11:14:18 AM 3/7/06 11:15:29 AM Reply	Prices jumped up this past weekend for me As of Friday morning, regular unleaded was $2.09 at a grocery store's pumps. (I'm still amazed how a grocery store generally sells gas at the cheapest price here in Texas. Of course, I still can't get over how gas prices in Austin are generally 10 cents or more lower than in Houston, the gas capital of the country). By Friday night the price went to $2.15. On Sunday it went to $2.18. This morning the same grocery store has regular unleaded for $2.27. [edit: fixed typo] lincoln "Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from." -- E.L. Doctorow Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem. I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a *Citizen* of the United States. [link\|mailto:bconnors@ev1.net\|contact me] Edited by lincoln March 7, 2006, 11:15:29 AM EST Expand All History

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