Record gas prices + record gas profits = BULLSHIT!

[RiverStone]

Gasoline prices could hit record this month: AAA
5/2/07

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. retail gasoline prices could hit an all-time high by the end of this month due to ongoing problems at the nation's oil refineries, automobile and travel group AAA said on Wednesday.

Gasoline prices have surged 30 cents since early April to $2.97 a gallon on average, bringing them within a dime of the record struck after Hurricane Katrina shut down refineries along the Gulf Coast in 2005.

<snip>

AAA said it was "alarming" that gasoline prices were rising so high without the backdrop of a major geopolitical or natural event to disrupt supply, like a hurricane or a new military flare-up in the Middle East.

more:

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0234260620070502


((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((And then we READ THIS)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))


Exxon's Profit Surges To First-Quarter Record On Higher Gas Prices
4/27/07

Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest oil company, said profit climbed 10 percent to a first-quarter record after higher gasoline and diesel prices increased refining profit.

Profit rose to $9.28 billion from $8.4 billion in the comparable period a year earlier, the Irving, Tex., company said in a statement yesterday. Revenue fell 2 percent, to $87.2 billion.

<snip>

Rising gasoline prices and high oil-industry profits spurred eight Democratic senators to introduce legislation yesterday that would impose a 50 percent tax on profits when oil prices top $50 a barrel. Kenneth Cohen, Exxon Mobil's vice president for public affairs, said the measure would hurt the economy, lower domestic oil output and inflate pump prices.

more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/26/AR2007042600592.html


* * * * * * *


Like I said, BULLSHIT! GREED--GREED--GREED!!!! What other explanation is there? :mad:

[HockeyMom]

1. It just went up 12 cents in two days

At this rate we are looking at over $4 by Memorial Day and maybe, $5 by July 4th?????

I go back and forth to work and NOWHERE ELSE. I am a prisoner in my home.

[demosincebirth]

9. ...and I'm taking a cross country trip in mid June.

I wonder what the prices will be then?


The wife hates flying.

[JTG of the PRB]

41. 26 cents in 8 days here.

I bought gas on Monday the 23rd for $2.73 a gallon. Yesterday, May 1st, I saw that it had shot up to $2.99 a gallon, and, of course, I had to get gas today.

Grr.

[B Calm]

2. Yea, but Clinton didn't have an energy plan....

Gas hit $1.20 a gallon when right wingers screamed that. Then when Bush got in, they said watch the price of gas drop now.

[anotherCTliberal]

43. Does anything go down when Repukes are in office?

Apart from taxes for the rich? Gas prices in CT last Wednesday was $3.17 and today it was $3.47!

Can't you just see them blaming the Democrat controlled Congress for the hikes, especially since everyone thinks taxes rise when the Dems are the office majority.

[uppityperson]

3. I had to stop MrUP yesterday about gas prices.

Mr "prices over $3/gal now means we have hit peak oil now"
UP "in the long term perhaps but prices raising so fast so suddenly mean greed"
Mr "you are right of course like you always are you wonderful woman I love you" (more or less)

[liberal N proud]

4. And the media tells us every week why the prices are going up

and to expect record highs this year because times are tough for the oil companies. That everything that could go wrong has.

[B Calm]

6. Yea, it cost a lot of money switiching over to summer blends..

[PreacherCasey]

33. No, people are using more A/C due to the global warming caused by the early switch to daylight

savings time, thus increasing demand. It's ACTUALLY a liberal plot. Duh.

[SaveAmerica]

44. It's environmentalists' fault, I've read that all over the internets in

several forums. Cause you know it has nothing to do with those gas execs profits.

[Initech]

5. This is no longer supply and demand. This is screwing the customer.

Time to buy a Prius!

[A wise Man]

7. They'll give the public any excuse

as to why the prices are constantly rising without any verified truth. When we are paying 10.00 for a quarter of a tank of gas that can only get you to work and back, I call that a rip off. Bush Chaney and their cohorts are stealing from every person that drives daily and the congress hasn't asked any question as to why. They have stock in these Companies, getting fat while the rest of us are getting F_ _ Ked by these oil companies.

[Cant trust em]

8. Trouble at the refineries

I read that part of the gas price hike was due to things like refinery fires. Would anyone be surprised if there was internal sabotage to justify a claim that costs have gone up? It doesn't take a mathematician to see that there certainly wasn't $800M (Profit rose to $9.28 billion from $8.4 billion - from original post) worth of damage to these refineries.

[demosincebirth]

10. It is just a bunch of bullshit what they feed us about gas prices.

What pisses me off the most is that our, shit for brains, prez and his republican congress gave the oil companies that huge tax cut.

[bullwinkle428]

13. Bartcop's First Law states something like

"If someone makes a 'mistake' that yields them a profit, expect them to make that mistake OVER and OVER and OVER again!"

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[PreacherCasey]

31. What like Enron shutting down power plants out West to drive down supply and then magically

pulling them back up once energy prices were raised sufficiently high? Come on, they wouldn't do THAT. ;-)

[newyawker99]

32. Hi Cant trust em!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cant trust em]

35. Wow. That's polite.

[MindPilot]

11. San Diego is now the highest in the nation

Heard on the radio this morning. We are about 30 cents higher than LA. They claim it's "transportation costs".

I knew that was bullshit when I was paying less at the rent car counter in Honolulu than I had the day before at my corner station in San Diego.

[Greyhound]

12. They don't even bother to pretend the bullshit is anything other than

bullshit any more. They know they will never have to account for their profiteering and that the sheep will just pay whatever they have to. There are so few with the power to do anything that are not already owned, they have nothing to fear.

[RiverStone]

38. Your point just about sums it up!

They have nothing to fear for sure - there is no competition - and American's have shown they will keep driving till the cows come home, no matter how deep big oil price wants to drill into our pockets.

Where we will ALL really start to feel the pinch is in our general household budgets. Everything - food, drinks, products, travel, energy, entertainment, even the delivery of newspapers will creep up in response to higher gas costs. The average cost of living may go up hundreds of dollars per year for a family as a result of this corporate greed.

Where is the power of the people to curb big oil? Getting huge numbers of folks to bag driving and take public transportation...maybe would get their attention???

[Skink]

15. It costs a lot in gas to transport the gas.

[gravity]

14. It's economics

The price goes up because there is less refinery compact right now, and high consumer demand. Also we are willing to pay for it, so they can have the prices at $3 and still clear the market. The thing is that oil companies have an incentive right now to get the higher compact refineries for gas right now to take advantage of the prices.

Also high gas prices decrease total consumption and higher efficiency so it's not all a bad thing.

[gatorboy]

22. Where's the study on high gas prices decreasing consumption?

I still have to go to work, still have to go to the store to buy food just like every other Joe. It's a necessity that Bush and his buddies like to price as a luxury.

[gravity]

25. The problem is that it takes large price increases to decrease consumption

for the very reasons you state.

Drivers curb use as gas goes up
By James R. Healey, USA TODAY

Americans have cut back gasoline use in apparent response to increasing prices, separate surveys by the government and a petroleum trade organization showed Wednesday.

Gas use last month was 0.6% less than a year ago, the American Petroleum Institute reported, because "high fuel prices have led to decreased demand for gasoline and other refined oil products."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said gasoline use the past four weeks was up a slight 0.8% vs. a year ago. Typical is an increase of 1.5%, and that's the growth rate assumed in many industry, analyst and government forecasts.

Cutting back just a little more could cause gasoline prices — which average $2.801 nationwide, up 57.7 cents from last year, according to motorist organization AAA — to drop dramatically, one veteran analyst says.

"If everyone decided to drive 3% less the next 30 days, prices would crash," says Tom Kloza, senior analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

More: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-04-19-gas-use-usat_x.htm

[gatorboy]

26. So it's basically Big Oil tough love?

:rofl:

That article is just too much. It even admits that consumption has dropped for the month, yet prices still rose just over 57 cents.

Thank you sir, may I have another?

[Strelnikov_]

16. Peak oil overlayed with lack of redundancy in refinery capacity

Couple of refinery hiccups, and we have a 5% gap between production and consumption.

And if you build it, maybe the feedstock won't come, because the declining supply of feedstock has already been spoken for.

[bigwillq]

17. I paid $3.19/gal for reg here in CT

I paid 3.02 last week :mad:

[gatorboy]

18. Forget it, Jake. It's Bushtown....

[tjwash]

19. Isn't it all Venezuela's fault? It has to be true; I heard it on CNN yesterday.

:eyes::sarcasm::eyes:

[bonito]

20. And we are providing the access to it

See hightower's video its on the greatest.

[izzybeans]

21. Yeah, but as an Industry WE operate at such thin margins...

so all's dandy.

:sarcasm:

[robbyrob79]

23. I think a big part of it is

Oil companies whining about having to add ethanol in increasing amounts to their gasoline instead of other petroleum byproducts. Its their way of making a few extra bucks while they can, before we switch over to 50/50 gas/ethanol or e85, or 100% ethanol like Brazil.

They know they're on their way out, they just want to go out with a big pile of treasure.

[Stinky The Clown]

24. Can someone explain again why windfall profit taxes are a bad idea?

[Atman]

27. Gas priced SURGED?

So then, they should be going DOWN, correct? Y'know, because the SURGE will bring order and all that jazz.

Or maybe I'm not getting it.

.

[Mr. Ected]

28. We Need Another National Election

Amazing how prices nose-dived immediately prior to the November elections.

And how they've moved up ever since.

Then again, anyone who thinks that it's a COINCIDENCE that Bushco is in charge and gas prices are skyrocketing is an EMPTY-HEADED MORAN.

[tammywammy]

29. But what is the profit margin?

[Telly Savalas]

39. About 10.64% net margin for Q1 2007, as compared to 9.44% in Q1 2006.

It's a bit on the high end of typical oil company margins, but not outrageous. (Check out the SEC for all the numbers: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/34088/000003408807000059/r8k1q07991.htm )


If you take all of the profit out of gas at $3.10 a gallon, you're still paying a hefty $2.75. And that $2.75 is just going to go up, since oil is a non-renewable resource. And burning it pollutes the air and contributes to global warming. So rather than obsessing over how to make it cheaper, I really wish people would focus more on how to use less of it.


Edit to fix the years.

[hootinholler]

30. 50% tax on the profit?

Fuck NO! Nationalize their asses! Seize these mother fucking monopolistic sons of bitches NOW!

That is all, carry on.

-Hoot

[spanone]

34. What is their incentive to fix those refining 'problems'?????

Bend over America and take it up the arse.

[bvar22]

36. Record Prices + Record Profits = Rigged Market

There are NO exceptions.

The Producers are in collusion to SET PRICES. If there was COMPETITION in this market, one of the vendors would compete for market share by lowering prices.
Where are ALL the "deregulators" and "Free Traders"? Where is the competition? :shrug:

Collusion to SET PRICES or Rig a Market used to be illegal, but I just don't know anymore.

[AwakeAtLast]

37. That's it. My next car will be a Prius.

I have a Camry that I love, but I will be very willing to change in a heartbeat.

[B Calm]

40. If only Clinton's Penis had not closed down all those refineries...

[B Calm]

42. Now that we have a Texas Oil President, watch the gas prices drop..

[SammyWinstonJack]

45. Greed and price gouging! Why isn't Congress looking into this?

:banghead: And no I am not bashing the Dems.

[entanglement]

46. Looks like the average price will breach the post Katrina high of $3.08

n/t