Oil Companies Earn Billions While Americans Pay More

[MindMover]

As American Families Pay 25 Cents More for a Gallon of Gas, Big Oil Earns $5 Billion More in Profits
By Richard W. Caperton, Jackie Weidman, Daniel J. Weiss

Oil prices, which averaged a near-record $103 per barrel in 2011, have risen steadily since the beginning of 2012. In tandem with oil prices, gasoline prices are also rising—from an average of $3.30 ending the week of January 2 to $3.59 last week. Higher gas prices mean that money is flowing out of Americans’ wallets and pocketbooks and straight into the coffers of Big Oil companies. This Center for American Progress analysis finds that each penny rise in the average quarterly (three months) price of a gallon of gas corresponds to a $200 million increase in quarterly profits of the big five oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell.

Since the beginning of the year, the price for gasoline increased 29 cents per gallon. If that average increase holds true through the end of March, it will translate to $5.8 billion in additional profits for the big five.


http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/435336/oil-companies-earn-billions-while-americans-pay-more/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

My question is has anyone looked up when the government started talking about taking away the subsidies, is that when gasoline prices started to go up?????? Just askin.....

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. The answer to your question is "no".

This has nothing to do with subsidies; it has to do with the price of oil being well above $100 a barrel (Brent crude is at $124). The price of oil determines most of the price of gasoline; Light Louisiana Sweet tracks Brent, price-wise, and is increasingly the reference crude oil for most US pricing. And the increase worldwide is driven by increased demand (which is at or near record levels; 89 million barrels per day, from IEA estimates) and by market nervousness over potential supply disruptions from Iran.

[JDPriestly]

2. And by speculation profits from which should be taxed at high, high rates

if there actually is a war or a decline in crude production.

[FreakinDJ]

3. Ya - 80% of all crude being controlled by speculators has nothing to do with it