Gas futures fall 8% on report of less driving
C. E. White
NEW YORK -- Gasoline futures tumbled almost 8% Wednesday after a government
report showed the strongest evidence yet that higher pump prices are forcing
Americans to drive less.
Oil also dropped back below the $100 mark.
The Energy Information Administration said that U.S. gasoline demand dropped
2.4% last week, the largest drop in seven consecutive weeks of declines.
Analysts said motorists are buying less gas with pump prices close to a
national average of $4 per gallon.
"That $4 number is not just having a psychological impact, but a direct
impact on drivers," energy consultant Jim Ritterbusch said. "Normally, with
the economy recovering, you'd expect gasoline demand to go up, but that's
not happening."
With Memorial Day less than three weeks away, analysts now expect that, at
most, motorists will use about as much gasoline this summer driving season
as they did in 2010.
"My opinion is that they started cutting back when prices hit $3.50" per
gallon, oil analyst Andrew Lipow said. "We haven't seen the full effect of
that just yet."
The national average for a gallon of regular reached $3.50 on March 6. It's
now at $3.96 after reaching $3.98 per gallon last week. Gas rose mostly
because of higher oil prices, but also because of refinery outages.
The EIA data showed that gasoline supplies increased by 1.3 million barrels
last week even with a decline in refining activity around the country.
Gasoline for June delivery plunged, losing 25.69 cents to settle at $3.1228
per gallon on the Nymex.
The CME Group, which owns the Nymex, suspended trading in energy contracts
for five minutes after the gasoline contract dropped by more than 25 cents.
Gas supplies typically decline in the spring as refineries purge their
stocks of winter fuels. This year, supplies fell more than expected as
fires, power outages and other problems temporarily knocked refineries out
of commission.
Gasoline futures had risen Tuesday on concerns that flooding could impact
some refineries along the lower Mississippi River, analysts said.
GrumpyOne
ONE example of price drops at the pump.
Funny how when someone sneezes in the mideast, prices go up immediately.
Prices should be at least 25¢ per gallon less than they are...
JT
Lynn McGuire
> Oil prices began a steep descent about ten days ago yet I have not seen ONE example of price drops at the pump.
>
> Funny how when someone sneezes in the mideast, prices go up immediately.
>
> Prices should be at least 25¢ per gallon less than they are...
>
> JT
No, the refineries are converting to summer gasoline which
is much more expensive to make than winter gasoline.
Lynn
Fatter Than Ever Moe
Supply/demand somethings don't change.
Tegger
news:iqh3qv$598$1...@dont-email.me:
> Oil prices began a steep descent about ten days ago yet I have not
> seen ONE example of price drops at the pump.
>
> Funny how when someone sneezes in the mideast, prices go up
> immediately.
>
> Prices should be at least 25¢ per gallon less than they are...
>
Gas is priced on what it costs to /replace/ it. Nobody wants to lower
prices too quickly for fear of the situation reversing itself when it comes
time to replenish supply.
Prices are exactly where they should be for the market conditions
prevailing.
--
Tegger
Tegger
That's one factor. Every year prices climb for a while during changeover,
and every year people whine about it.
--
Tegger
Charles Grozny
"Fatter Than Ever Moe" <HardTimes@TheFarm> wrote in message
news:4dcc3a49$0$15859$bbae...@news.suddenlink.net...
But Gas prices haven't dropped a penny here.
Charles Grozny
Ed Pawlowski
"Charles Grozny" <n5...@comcast.net> wrote
>>>
>>> NEW YORK -- Gasoline futures tumbled almost 8% Wednesday after a
>>> government report showed the strongest evidence yet that higher pump
>>> prices are forcing Americans to drive less.
>>> Oil also dropped back below the $100 mark.
>>>
>>> Gasoline futures had risen Tuesday on concerns that flooding could
>>> impact some refineries along the lower Mississippi River, analysts said.
>>
>> Supply/demand somethings don't change.
>
> But Gas prices haven't dropped a penny here.
>
> Charles Grozny
>
Here in CT, they dropped 3¢ last Friday, but jumped 6¢ on Tuesday to a new
high this year. Present price $4.269
jim beam
naivete is so /cute/!
--
nomina rutrum rutrum
Hachiroku ハチロク
Where in CT are you? I was in Warehouse Point, BroadBrook (both sections
of East Windsor) and Stanleyville, otherwise known as New Britski.
Gas was always higher in CT because of the taxes.
I used to go to Springfield and pay the higher prices at the stations near
Rt 91 because it was CHEAPER!
jim beam
i can't believe anyone buys that bullshit story. summer gasoline is
actually more expensive to make??? give me a break. that's like saying
white paint is more expensive to make.
reality is, we get charged more for "summer gasoline" because people
drive on vacation, and when they do, their price sensitivity is almost
zero. thus the oilco's are simply charging what they know they can get
away with. any "technical" justification is just so much smoke.
--
nomina rutrum rutrum
jim beam
is anyone else old enough to remember the real gas shortages of the 70's
and the lines at the pump? do you remember how much prices hiked then?
here we are today, and there's no shortage of gas, yet we're standing
about with out thumbs up our asses, or more particularly, with the
oilco's suckers in our wallets, while these "refinery outages" are used
as excuses for market price manipulation when there is zero restriction
on supply. it's the same game enron used to play when they took power
plants offline to hike electricity prices in california. supply and
demand? my ass.
and pump prices here in northern california haven't dropped a single
cent. i smell some real backroom argument over the oilco's tax breaks
and the recent political theater surrounding them, with the oilco's
playing the "gouge" game to add spice to the stew.
--
nomina rutrum rutrum
edspyhill01
> http://www.freep.com/article/20110512/BUSINESS07/105120480/Gas-future...
And the rightwingnuts here scoffed at my suggestion that American
consumers can affect profits of the gouging oil companies. We have
the power to strike fear in the hearts of the corporate fascists.
NotMe
"jim beam" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:PPSdnRzle7IwAlHQ...@speakeasy.net...
I can well remember those days. Anyone that owned a tanker barge was
renting them for high bucks to store fuel. Unused gas stations were
recommissioned as storage areas as the oil companies had no place to store
fuel.
Amazing part was that as soon as the prices went up the shortage ended the
very next day.
billzz
> "jim beam" <m...@privacy.net> wrote in message
>
> news:PPSdnRzle7IwAlHQ...@speakeasy.net...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 05/12/2011 08:44 AM, C. E. White wrote:
"When we get a car that can get two hundred miles per gallon, that
gallon will cost two hundred dollars." - William Heyman
Ed Pawlowski
"Hachiroku ハチロク" <Tru...@e86.GTS> wrote in message
>>>
>>>
>> Here in CT, they dropped 3¢ last Friday, but jumped 6¢ on Tuesday to a
>> new high this year. Present price $4.269
>
>
> Where in CT are you? I was in Warehouse Point, BroadBrook (both sections
> of East Windsor) and Stanleyville, otherwise known as New Britski.
>
> Gas was always higher in CT because of the taxes.
> I used to go to Springfield and pay the higher prices at the stations near
> Rt 91 because it was CHEAPER!
>
>
I line in Putnam, but I work in Uxbridge MA. The difference is about 30¢ a
gallon. And they pump it for you in some stations.
edspyhill01
>
> - Show quoted text -
THAT is one of the basic truths of human economy.
edspyhill01
wrote:
> In article
> <afa8c813-ba62-4bb6-8f5e-8da7c4434...@p23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com>,
>
> - Show quoted text -
BooHoo, you big e-baby
billzz
-stuff snipped-
> > > "When we get a car that can get two hundred miles per gallon, that
> > > gallon will cost two hundred dollars." - William Heyman- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> > THAT is one of the basic truths of human economy.
>
> ...as is people who can't trim posts.
I don't mind trimming posts, but I have also been critiqued for doing
so, because the reader wanted to see the previous posts and not have
to look them up. No good deed goes unpunished!
Guv Bob
Dropped about 10 cents in S Calif in the past 2 weeks.
Charles Grozny
"Guv Bob" <guvbo...@YAHOOOOOOOOEY.com> wrote in message
news:_vqdnSM9D70XhE3Q...@earthlink.com...
It looks like they may be going up again tomorrow another 7 cents here in
Illinois.
BOHICA.
C. E. White
"Ed Pawlowski" <e...@snetnospam.net> wrote in message
news:sLqdnXEid8GdBFHQ...@giganews.com...
Yesterday at Costco regular was $3.759. In general prices have been edging
back down. The local paper had an article on gas prices and how speculators
had driven up the prices.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/15/1198728/analysis-speculators-fuel-climbing.html
(link will probably only work for a few days...
........
"No oil shortage
"Although those numbers are stark, the numbers on supply and demand make it
clear that the high prices aren't coming from there. There is no shortage of
oil stocks by historical standards. There's an estimated 3 million to 4
million barrels per day of excess oil production capacity in the world
today. That's much more than when supplies were tight in 2008.
"U.S. crude oil stocks on April 29, the date oil peaked this year above $113
a barrel, stood at 1.768billion barrels, according to the Energy Information
Administration. That's about 700,000 barrels more than in July 2008, when
oil prices hit all-time highs.
"And that's plenty to meet U.S. needs, because consumption isn't growing.
"The United States consumed 20.68 million barrels per day in 2007. Then came
the financial crisis, and consumption dipped to 19.5million bpd in 2008.
Last year, the number was 19.5million bpd. This year's projection is 19.28
million bpd.
"So if supplies are plentiful and consumer demand isn't rising, why are
prices?
"Could it be that refineries aren't able to produce enough gasoline? No.
Refiners are running their plants at below cruising speed, and they've got
lots of room to produce more if consumers need it.
"The latest data from the EIA on the rate at which refineries are utilized
showed a rate of 79.8 percent in February. That's 20 percentage points below
full-blown production. The last time the rate was lower: 1986. If demand for
gasoline was soaring, these plants would be cranking at a higher rate.
"Though evidence of speculation is increasingly obvious, the facts haven't
yet been acknowledged enough to force corrective regulatory action.
.......
Read more:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/15/1198728/analysis-speculators-fuel-climbing.html
My advice remains the same - buy less gas. This will stick it to the
speculators better than anything Congress can or will do.
Ed