Hello:

BUY GAS TODAY - BUY PLENTY OF GAS

Some people think that if they don't buy gas today, it will send a message to the oil companies. It won't. It'll just make it harder for your local gas dealer to pay his rent.

I hate the price too, but don't punish your neighbor. If you want to DO something, get rid of your SUV.

excon

Gas today is $3.449/10 a gallon. The head of the BP Refinery here said last night, in the news, "people should drive smarter". I would like to drive smarter but just how much smarts does one need to drive these days?

excon is right on this silly ban today.

First the oil company that delivers the gasoline only delivers once a week or maybe every two weeks, so they will not even notice today, since you bouht gas yesterday, or because you will buy more tomorrow

And the refinery has such large reserves they will never notice.
The ones that do get hurt is the store owners who loses sales of soda, candy and the such. If anyone large company gets hurt at all it will be coke or pespi.

The refineries we have are the same ones we had in the 1970s . Every community in the country has a NIMBY attitude so even if new refineries were proposed construction would be bogged down by regulation . I know this for a fact . I saw the community I live in successfully block a gas fired power plant. No additional capacity has been added .

The country opposes exploration even in the most obscure and remote locations . I'm sure everyone has received these chain emails about ANWR . Only the elite few ever travel to the area and the area that is proposed for exploration is so small that it would hardly leave a footprint .

This is the travel season so demand naturally goes up.

Add to these factors the fact that this time of year the refineries have to retool so they can produce summer stock that is cut with ethanol that complies with 50 different state mandates and you wonder why there are shortages ? The price is just reflecting the availability ;not of crude ;but of refined gasoline.

Yes ,Café standards could and should be tightened and although SUVs shouldn't be banned ;the tax code shouldn't encourage their use either .

But given the facts I've mentioned ,I cannot take conspiracy theories about the evil "big oil " seriously .

Hello tom:

I don't think it's a conspiracy. But they didn't have to keep the same margin that produced their recent obscene profits. Instead of making $10-12 BILLION for FOUR MONTHS, they could have reduced the price in recognition of the country's dilemma. I think their shareholders could get along nicely with a quarterly profit of say, $5 BILLION!

But, no. They just sat back and rang the cash register.

Of course, I'm not a shareholder. If I was, I might be singing a different tune.

excon

Ex

Was your sentiment in the 1990s that the oil companies should raise prices to cover their low margins ?

Petroleum 1996: Issues and Trends, Chapter 8, Financial Performance