What the Hell is going on with Gas Prices, AGAIN?

[HockeyMom]

No hurricanes, no earthquakes, not even COLD WEATHER? A week ago last Saturday I filled up at $2.39. This Saturday it was $2.49. Going to work this morning the same station was $2.55. GOING HOME from work, it was $2.59. It went up 4 cents in EIGHT HOURS? I passed another station where it was $2.69.

Can I expect my home heating bills to skyrocket this month too? It already almost doubled last month. Will I be getting more surcharges tacked on to my electric bill too?

I cannot take anymore of this "wonderful economy."

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

1. They're raising it because they CAN.

No other reason needed. Nothing to see here. Look- isn't that Michael Jackson over there? :evilgrin:

[Roland99]

2. Here it went from $2.15 to $2.39 to $2.19...all in the last week.

Oil's been up to $63-64/bbl

[LostinVA]

38. Here in a week: 2.13 to 2.29; in five weeks, 2.01 to 2.29

[NewJeffCT]

3. with the wild swings last year, it proved 1 thing to Big Oil...

That they can raise prices with impunity and get some flak... but as soon as prices drop, everybody is happy again, even if they don't drop quite to the level they were at before the big raise. We're conditioned like Pavlov's dogs. It's no coincidence that Bush got a small bump in the polls when gas prices fell. I'm guessing we'll see rising prices until late September. Then, a quick mark down to make everybody feel good for election day 2006, and then back up again for Christmas.

[Laelth]

25. Solid prediction.

Sadly, I concur. :(

-Laelth

[AX10]

4. 16 cent increase from 1/08 - 1/09 in Southern CT.

[Scout1071]

5. Holidays are over.

They cut it to get people to spend more and so they wouldn't be sitting around a big holiday dinner with their familes bitching about gas prices, Iraq, etc.

It was a flop. Christmas sales were more sluggish than forecast.

Now it's back to milking it for all it's worth.

[KittyWampus]

13. that's what I think too. Collusion.

[TahitiNut]

14. Yep. We even discussed it on DU and predicted New Year hikes.

It seemed VERY clear that the pump prices were being held down to benefit the retailers between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The price per barrel of crude hadn't dropped much at all. I know that I predicted a New Year hike. I know that home heating oil has been consistently high. It's a cartel ... from the wellhead to the pump.

[wishlist]

40. Looks manipulated since weather is milder now than it was before Christmas

There should be less demand for oil and gas right now due to mild East Coast weather and holiday traveling over, but gas prices are soaring. Almost certainly prices were dropped to encourage holiday spending and traveling so that businesses wouldn't totally tank and cause a drop in consumer confidence and a stock market slump. It worked, holiday sales were okay and stock market has rallied. But with gas and other expenses going up sharply as well as interest rates, this year doesn't look good to me.

[linazelle]

15. B-I-N-G-O. Bingo! nt

[donheld]

33. They were only lowered to attempt to get people to spend $$$ for Xmas

That's over so now up go the prices.

[still_one]

6. what is even more interesting the MSM doesn't even say a word

[orleans]

9. i beg to differ about the msm. i heard this on cable news

today (i've been hibernating for the past few days and saw either cnn or msnbc do a little blurb on it today and i thought "ah shit! should've filled the tank. oh well--hahaha to all those gas guzzlers and hummer owners)

yeah, cable news aired it and i was surprised they did, actually.

[hatrack]

7. Post-Katrina and post-Rita, we bought lots of refined product from the EU

And I mean a lot - the fall of 2005 saw all-time record highs in the amounts of refined product imported. We also released a bunch of oil from the SPR, even though our refinery capacity was (and in some locations still is) limited.

That's the reason gas prices went down in fairly short order after Labor Day weekend, and that's the reason they're going up now in the middle of January - most of that refined diesel and gasoline and heating oil, along with most of what came out of the strategic reserve has been burned and/or refined.

So, here we are, in the middle of January, with gasoline about 40 cents below where it was Labor Day weekend.

[hunter]

32. Japan too. Did anyone see this little note December 27?

Remarkably little fuss made about it, I thought...

Japan to end release of oil reserves

TOKYO (AP) - Japan will end its release of oil reserves to the United States next week, a news report quoted the economy minister as saying Tuesday. Japan has been shipping oil from its reserves under a plan brokered by the International Energy Agency to temper rising prices after Hurricane Katrina struck U.S. oil refineries.

[sandnsea]

36. Refinery line is officially bullshit

If we brought in oil from all over the place and it was enough to drive prices down, then we obviously have enough refinery capacity to handle US demand. Even with Katrina refineries still out. So the refinery lines is a crock. There's not enough oil to go around and this country needs to face it.

[bluestateguy]

8. Now, now, prices will be down in time for the election

So you just have to hang in there until October. Then Rove will make a few phone calls (if he hasn't been indicted yet) to the Big Oil people to lower the prices.

[Junkdrawer]

10. Yep. And steady $2.79 oil prices will make the $2.19 pre-election...

prices seem like an economic miracle.

And you wondered how the Dow topped 11,000....

[MadisonProgressive]

11. I'm going to have to start kegel exercises

[adarling]

27. lol

nice....

[JohnyCanuck]

12. Europe has been shipping US oil from their strategic reserves

According to author James Howard Kunstler, the shipment of oil from European reserves to help tide the US over shortages caused by Katrina have ended.

The world oil allocation system is now so fragile that any disturbance in one producing region can send damaging shock waves around the planet. There is no more "swing producer." The US squeaked through the huge loss of oil production capacity this fall by taking oil from our own strategic petroleum reserves and from Europe's. These actions kept oil prices in the high fifty-dollar-range through the holidays, giving Americans a false sense of festive security. Those withdrawals are now over. Global demand for oil is still increasing. The strategic reserves will now have to be refilled (they're called strategic reserves for a reason). This will start oil prices moving upward again -- they already have moved above $61 as of this morning.

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2006/01/oh_six.html

By Patrice Hill
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
December 28, 2005

The United States, Europe and Japan recently stopped releasing oil and gasoline from their strategic reserves as fuel prices retreated from record post-hurricane highs.

The release of reserve oil in September helped to stamp out speculation that was driving up prices, analysts say, but an energy-saving trend spawned by high prices and lower oil demand in China also helped to stabilize energy markets.

"The impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been successfully addressed," said Claude Mandil, executive director of the International Energy Agency, in announcing the end of the reserve program Monday.

He credited the "collective action" by the United States and 25 other countries that had agreed to release reserves, as well as "lower-than-expected demand, worldwide refinery flexibility" and efforts by oil-producing countries to make up the shortfall.

http://www.washtimes.com/business/20051228-121131-7061r.htm

[AntiCoup2K4]

16. It's too warm of a winter in many parts of the country.....

Hence the corrupt corporations aren't making enough money on the heating fuels. So they have to go back to the pumps until a good Artic front comes down over the continent.

[Castilleja]

17. Designated money spending holidays are over

I believe.

[FloridaPat]

18. Europe stopped sending us their reserve gasoline a couple of

weeks ago. They started right after Katrina disaster. Their people are paying $5 a gallon (or whatever). They've had enough.

[Raydawg1234]

19. Peak Oil, It's starting

http://www.peakoil.org/

[Dave Reynolds]

20. I was wondering that, as well.

I could find no natural disaster disruption, or fictional supply-demand problems either.

[bullwinkle428]

21. Nothing accidental about this yo-yo crap...I've read accounts that

SUV sales actually did pick up during the most recent downturn in prices. Don't try to tell me that Big Oil and the Big 3 aren't working in collusion!! :tinfoilhat: Diesels aren't pushed here in the U.S., even with the ULSD (ultra-low sulfur level diesel), because big oil knows that diesels are more fuel efficient. Never mind that they (diesel engines) dominate the European auto market...

[Kingshakabobo]

22. The war on Christmas suppressed refinery output and raised demand. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

37. Damn liberals !

They will do anything to boost Republican Oil Crony Profits...

[swhisper1]

23. It was only lowered for x-mas shopping

[Kool Kitty]

24. We were just talking about this tonight.

I asked my husband if there was something I missed yesterday, because gas went from $2.13 a gallon on Saturday night to $2.26 this evening. What the fuck happened?

[LynnTheDem]

26. bush finally floats the TRUTH; IT'S THE OIL, STUPID!

bush's close personal pal, Rep Hall (R) floats the facts;

“The War on Terror involves keeping the bad guy from having his foot on half the oil reserves in that most populated area,”

Hall terms it “a war for energy,” a strategy Bush downplays.

“He (bush) sees energy as a secondary purpose,” Hall continued. “It is clearly a strong secondary purpose, and in my belief the real reason for going over there.”

http://web.theparisnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=24524

*god bless george w bush for sending american boys & girls to war to die or be maimed & scarred for life so we 5% of the world population can continue to enjoy 25% of the world's oil! American blood ain't cheap so suck it up and stop bitching about the price of blood-oil! thank you george w bush!

*If you can't tell this is the height of bloody angry sarcasm, then you're a MFing rightwingnut moran and should just FO and die, preferably in Iraq for george w bush's oil war.

[lovuian]

28. production in Iraq is down 30% and Opec is cutting production

get ready for Higher prices...

[Justice Is Comin]

34. Did I hear right

that the oil prices in Iraq tripled recently from 3 to 10 cents ?

[leftofthedial]

29. they have to gouge quick

because the bushturd won't finish out the year as King before going to jail.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

30. Hey Kids gas prices are sinking let's run up Xmas Debt! Oops WTF??

you mean that was only temporary???

Geez, I think most of us on DU saw that one coming!!

[Atman]

31. Bush found out it didn't buy him any poll points

So he figured he might as well make the money while he still can.

[rman]

35. oil went from a little under $60 to a little over $60

since 1 or 2 weeks.

[William Bloode]

39. Flame me if you like, but i enjoy high gas prices.

This coming from a lower class family man. It does something to help curb sales of SUV's, as well as get people driving less. The only thing i have against it is that the oil companies profit from this.

When prices spiked, i found just driving a bit less and thinking "do i really need to go" before i just jumped in the car and took off offset the cost. I also make use of my much more efficient motorcycle much more.

[lectrobyte]

41. I think Jim Kunstler predicted $4 gallon gas for '06, I think he's

a little off, but it wouldn't surprise me to see $3 as the new norm though.