Gasoline Prices

[Kong]

Here are some numbers taken from OilnEnergy.com They publish weekly figures and have an historical database of this information.

(5/05) ...

the DOE reported crude oil stocks up 0.1 at 298.9 MMB, distilate stocks up 2.4 MMB at 107.2 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks up 4.0 MMB at 204.0 MMB compared to prior week's ...
(5/04) ...

API reported crude oil stocks up 1.4 MMB at 300.2 MMB, distillate stocks up 2.3 MMB at 103.8 MMB, unleaded gasoline stocks up 1.0 MMB at 195.8 MMB, and refinery capacity up 1.7% at 94.5% compared to prior week's ...


So, tell me, if stocks (supply) are up and refinery capacity is up in the face of unchanged domestic demand why are prices up?

[Toronto Ron]

1. worldwide demand is up

CBS news, yesterday, had a story about it; apparently China is gobbling up every last drop of oil available. That's a very fast-growing, energy-hungry economy there.

[Kong]

2. And You Beleived That?

They tell you that a country that can not afford to build roads, can not feed its people, and has not increased it refinery capacity appreciably in the last 4 decades is outbidding all of the rest of the world for oil and you believe it?

[Dissenting_Prole]

3. That energy isn't going into China's infrastructure

It's all going into making cheap crap that gets shipped halfway around the world to North America.

http://www.endofsuburbia.com/

[Toronto Ron]

4. Care to provide evidence to the contrary?

Not necessarily doubting you, but please back up your implication.

At any rate, it's well-known that China's economy is growing rapidly. Furthermore, it's not a question of China "outbidding" the rest of the world for oil; there's a market for crude oil (you know, Econ 101 stuff: supply, demand).