In the last two weeks the price of a gallon of gas has gone from $1.57 per gallon to $1.81 per gallon. This has occured in the state of California whiloe the price per barrel of oil has declined to $34.00 USD. Can some one tell me what is going on?

[edit on 21-12-2008 by flycatch]

[edit on 21-12-2008 by flycatch]

Can we say extra taxes to raise capitol for a dying state? Everywhere else it has held steady and poised to go down in cost. Ya'll are just getting taken to the cleaners there.

I'm not sure what the precise cause (although I'd have to go with my gut and agree with Leader), but it is going up in GA. We are up to ~1.71 in Atlanta - up from 1.59 last week.

Gas is still 1.37 per gal out here where I am at, and has been idle at that price for two weeks, maybe up 2 cents one day, back down a couple days later.

Out here we dont pay any attention to the cries of the arab babies who seem to have a grip on the rest of the nation for some odd reason.

But as I have said time and time again, why should we even worry about what OPEC says and start going to hydrogen powered cars which are readily available now and nations like Japan, Germany and a few others are enjoying green while we all sit here so worried where our next drug oil IV fix is gonna come from.

It is really sad IMO.



Cheers!!!!

I'm sure gas prices will be going back up again soon. OPEC tries to FORCE the price of oil higher by cutting available resources...basically holding everyone hostage out of greed. The more disturbing thing I see happening is that everything else will conveniently increase in price as well....again.

When gas was over $4.00 here, the price of milk went from $2.75 a gallon to $4.00. The store's owner said the prices of everything had to be increased because of the costs involved for delivery...due to high gas prices. What do you think happened to the price of that same gallon of milk when gas prices went down to $1.50? NOTHING

A nickel here, a nickel there...
I'm normally pretty optimistic but with the blatent looting of the American people by the richest of the rich, I fail to see any relief in sight. The bubble is popping, get a rain-coat.

Peace




[edit on 21-12-2008 by lernmore]

While petrol is still expensive in the UK. 89p per litre, it has remained at this price for a couple of weeks now so from my view in the UK, the price seems to be dropping.

Some posters has mentioned that OPEC is cutting production, which may impact prices but I suspect the drop is to protect the current price and the fact the demand of crude is dropping.

it doesn't matter what people want or need, the general population doesn't matter. the reason gas prices went down was to bankrupt, all but the largest owners of green energy. BP, shell, and others need to have the inovative smaller green companies near collapse, so they can come in and buy them up, a dime on a dollar. this insures the big boys get the patent rights and best and brightest to work for them. money is money, and you need to destroy your competitor by aquisition and mergers due to defaults on the smaller businesses loans. this is classic 101 business school dealings. the inovators will be happy to get out with payoffs of a few million dollars, to avoid personal bankruptsy.

[edit on 21-12-2008 by jimmyx]

Ok, I got many points of view. They range from OPEC to small business owners developing alternate enery sources. This is still to vague. Don't you remeber prior to the Bush being realected that gas prices went down.
Now that our new president has been sworn in by the members of the electoral college gas prices have started to rise. The free market is a hoax and we, the American citizen have been taken again.

[edit on 21-12-2008 by flycatch]

First off, I just found this site today, trying to figure out what the next generation of weapons might be. Some of this DARPA stuff you boys are talking about is pretty amazing.

Anyways, in regards to the price of fuel on the west coast, I can answer that one. I work in the fuel industry, and have to monitor the market daily. Without getting to long winded, as I am prone to do, you have a number of refineries in turn around for seasonal maintenance, and you had a major one's FCC go down, and a couple more limping along. The US has five fuel markets, the west coast is called Padd V. You will here that term sometimes on Wednesdays when they report each regions supply numbers. All regions trade on a differential to the NYMEX. The NYMEX is the market that we all see on the news. The west coast gasoline market was trading at a -12 cent differential to the east coast. After the refinery issues, and some seasonal market supply occurrences we are at a +36 cent differential. Even at the increased prices it is hard to get some products out here because of the numerous boutique fuel markets.

In regards to OPEC, no one in the industry is really taking their statements seriously. My understanding is that OPEC has leveraged their countries and economies on high priced crude. Because of that, they really can't afford to cut production. To many member nations will likely cheat on their quotas. The real or more important mid-term concern is well head cost. The cost to get the oil out of the ground. Break even costs on some of the west coast wells is around 39 dollars a barrel. I have heard that the new Russian well head costs are above 50 dollars a barrel, and in the 80's if you account for the cost of capital.

My prediction for the upcoming year is an average barrel of crude running around 55-65 dollars a barrel. Should the economy continue to shrink we could certainly go lower. Each market will experience its own problems though. While there are more to cite, a major example is Flying J filing for Chapter 11. They own two refineries. That is a lot of barrels a day for a market to make up in a short period of time.

Sorry if this was too long winded, hope it helps answer the question.

OK with me, I got oil futures when they were high.
So thank me for the lower prices.
When I invest, I lose.
Sometimes.

How come gas price at the pump is going up but gas price per barrel is going down

1.79 here in Arizona, and 18 cents of that is a new tax Arizona imposed on us.
How nice.

They cut the gas tax in Georgia by 10 cents, and prices didn't move. Right now they're at $1.72/gal.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
How come gas price at the pump is going up but gas price per barrel is going down

Well, you know what they say: "Gas prices rise like a rocket and fall like a feather."

California is up to $2.22 today.
The craziest part is when you see how much profit the
oil companies make every quarter.
Thieves.

Originally posted by spinkyboo
California is up to $2.22 today.
The craziest part is when you see how much profit the
oil companies make every quarter.
Thieves.

The oil companies actually earn a smaller % of profit than most other businesses do.

Heres a kick in the gut for you...we just went through the worst ice storm in this states history, I am on my 13th or so day without power as are alot of other people and the sales of generators went through the roof. They were shipping them into the region from all over by the truck loads and people were lined up to get gas...the western end of the state has been declared a disaster area and what did they do...they jacked the price of gas up over 20 cents per gallon the help us all out!!!