Our local pump prices have been dropping to lows unseen in, what?, ten years?? Why?

It was $1.50 ten years ago. It's about $3.25 today. How are we near the same price?

www.gaspricewatch.com...

Well new drilling technologies make it possible for companies to exploit reserves that were previously not economically interesting. Essentially big corporations are sitting on huge reserves and just wait until either technology prices goes down or oil prices go up to make it commercially viable to pump it out of the ground.

Less instability in the middle east, emergence of alternative energy sources, slowing of China's growth, domestic exploitation, new surveying and discoveries of massive reserves, as well as the current state of the economy which makes commodities less attractive contribute to bring the price of gas lower.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


I'd like to know where you were paying a buck and a half ten years ago!!

Sure wasn't in Washington state!

reply to post by townio


Hmmm, the Russians and Saudis must be pissed off....

reply to post by nwtrucker

Hi,thanks,that's interesting to know.Yeah jeez the price of gas here makes it hard to get around,I wish we were close enough to a border which we could cross to fill up cheaper.Where's it all going to end,the hubby and I wonder,I am serious when I say that horsecarts may make a comeback in my country if the price keeps rising.We have an emormous population of the very poor.That has spawned the vast minibus-taxi industry,that so many folks either cannot affors a car,or the gas to regularly fill up if they do-but with the prices constantly rising the taxi drivers have to put Their prices up to make their profit-and that in turn affects the millions of low-income or very poor workers who have to use this form of transport to get to work+back.
I was chatting to a parking lot security guy the other day while waiting for the hubby.He told me that his low+paid job as a car+parking lot guard for a company that supplies guards to local supermarket franchises,actually benefits him more than a better-paid job he had in the capital city.He used to work at the courthouse in the provincial capital,as a court security guard-but the capital is over 40 clix from here,and as he saw petrol prices rise+therefore his taxi fares,it was becoming untenable for him.So he took this job because now he has very minimal taxi fares from center of town to one of the local black townships.

I felt badly for him,because in my country where it gets murderously hot in summer,parking lot work is not pleasant,compared to an air-conditioned court building.Just one example of how the price of gas can directly influence the course+quality of a person's life,even just in respect to one's job.But the job is a huge part of a working person's life,and in return has an effect on other spheres of life.

reply to post by Raxoxane


Is it the oil companies or the gov't taxes that the source of this price.

Sorry I'm not up on your local oil situation. Is it imported or local? Was the prices much lower in the past, more reasonable?

It seems you'd be on fairly easy tanker routes so I'm guessing it's more taxes than anything.

reply to post by nwtrucker

To give you an accurate answer,I will have to go do a bit of research-but yes in the past it has been more reasonable.I know the hubby's opinion is that it's government taxes,but lemme dig around and just make sure.We have Durban and Cape Town on the sea routes,with harbours big enough to support the tankers,so it is definitely not that national accesibility is a big factor.Lemme get back to you on this.

Here in Dallas, unleaded is down to 2.70-something....
I don't know wtf is going on lol?

we should be paying what they pay in venezuala - about 17 cents a gallon...but that would take all the free speech out of a voting dollar

bellagirl
well I have just done the conversion.......here in Australia I just payed $5.86 a gallon ....wtf.

That's a smaller Imperial Gallon vs larger USG.

nwtrucker
reply to post by OccamsRazor04

 

I'd like to know where you were paying a buck and a half ten years ago!!

Sure wasn't in Washington state!

I just linked you national averages. Here is MA averages, which is near identical.
www.massachusettsgasprices.com...

Sorry, you are wrong.

reply to post by nwtrucker

Here's some links I found interesting,from a few months ago:
businesstech.co.za...

m.news24.com...

m.news24.com...

As you will see from the 1st link,and comments,the government levies+taxes has quite a bit to do with the high prices,as I expected.Others blame the prices set by the refineries to start with,with the government taxes+levies adding to the high cost.Either way,the government levies and taxes,along with the toll road costs,are blamed by most.Also,the US sanctions against Iran may play a part in the cost:
m.thinkafricapress.com...

General info on the cost of living in South Africa:
www.justlanded.com...

reply to post by nwtrucker


wish they were dropping in the UK.

in 2005 unleaded was about £0.87/litre

now its £1.30/litre

I search for WTI 2020 CME, get a table showing that west texas intermediate is under 80 bucks a barrel. This means the big players see a long term drop in the cost of oil, and given inflation, the real price is around 50 bucks a barrel.

the reason is that natural gas is being found at an accelerating pace, and is substitutable for oil. Plus the US had far more oil than revealed...to keep the price up. check out pastor Lindsey Williams.

The US is now a net exporter of oil.

If the US economy were to completely collapse, the NWO elite would lose assets denominated in dollars. so they want the whore to get up and do a few more laps. Hence, oil falls in price.

ummm possible ambiguity.. that is the future price of oil in the year 2021 i referred to.

reply to post by OccamsRazor04


I really don't know what Mass. prices where or are. Nor the prices listed. I DO know gas wasn't !.50 per gallon in Washington 10 years ago. At least where I live. National prices don't reflect local ones, per day. That's wwy I asked if other regions/countries are having similar drops.

Besides, I state "What? 10 years ago? Maybe it was less than ten years.

The prices are lower now than I can remember. Period. I'm looking for the reason. Economic, political, regional, a combination of all.

,,,never did like Mass....

reply to post by FlyingFox


Actually the imperial gallon is about 4.21 litres per gallon. The U.S. is about 3.7 litres per.

So the Imperial gallon is larger than the U.S. gallon. Seems congress "changed" the gallon from the world standard of "imperial" to U.S. to screw Britian in a contract that supplied them in gallons, back in the day.

reply to post by nwtrucker


In dallas, tx you could find it just over $1.50 a decade ago. It didn't hit $3.00 here until maybe 2006

reply to post by nwtrucker


Part of it is slower demand, or more accurately, the expectation of near-term slower demand than what had previously been forecast from China/India, as well as domestically. Part of that has to do with economy expectations, pat of it is seasonal. Part is the USD maintaining its strength at the same level it has since recovering from the big drop (partially.) Why has it done that? Mostly the US being really good at economic warfare, despite the doomsayers and their $5-10k/oz prognostications. The last piece being that a large portionof the price is speculation of speculation. It's not easy to keep up a false drastic observation forever. Gasshould be about $2.20/gal probably right now based on oil prices. The price per barrel of oil isn't proportionally correlated to the price if gas at the pump. Making with oil 3x as high as the $0.80/gal gas days of the 90's, gas shouldn't even cost $2.70/gal from cost of production changes alone.then again, there wasn't as much worldwide demand then as now. Lots of factors come into play. I'd guess the primary reason fir recent drops is that much of the investment money is going into the stock market & real estate for expected higher short term returns.

reply to post by nwtrucker


Ten years!?!? What country are you in? I 2008 when Obama took office gas prices were averaging $1.87. That was five years ago. Now that it gets close to $3 peple get all excited. That's still a huge increase.

Domo1


B.S. Tell me where.

Sorry Domo... not BS.


Gasoline in my area for the last week has been moving back and forth from 3.15 a gallon to 2.95 a gallon. I live in SW Louisiana.

Yesterday as I was out and about running errands, gasoline was roughly 2.98 depending on which service station I was in front of.