Gas Prices

Michaeltokyo wrote

You  keep changing the subject of my original post.

Saratoga County lowest gasoline is at $2.88.  Where do you think this will bottom out?

I don't mind paying less to drive.

Mike

So the point of this thread is just to track gas prices? I have the ability to look at prices as I drive by gas stations, why do I need a thread on a ski forum?

And nobody could possibly know when the price will bottom out. One person's guess is just as good as another. Even commodity traders lose their shirt sometimes.

If I knew definitively where the bottom of anything would be (gas, oil, gold, stocks), I'd take out a second mortgage on my house and open credit cards to fund a massive buy. But nobody knows. That's how life is.

mattchuck2 wrote

So the point of this thread is just to track gas prices?

Yep.  That's what the subject says.  Start your own post if you got opinions on other stuff.

Michaeltokyo wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

So the point of this thread is just to track gas prices?

Yep.  That's what the subject says.  Start your own post if you got opinions on other stuff.

Relax Francis, I mean Mike.  And, Harvey's post that you claim changed the subject was merely providing some basis for the changing gas prices. So it is relatsd to this thread's title.  

This was by no means a thread jacking.

Michaeltokyo wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

So the point of this thread is just to track gas prices?

Yep.  That's what the subject says.  Start your own post if you got opinions on other stuff.

Wow. Congratulations, you've created the dumbest thread on this forum. And that's saying something.

Michaeltokyo wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

So the point of this thread is just to track gas prices?

Yep.  That's what the subject says.  Start your own post if you got opinions on other stuff.

Harvey wrote

I'd heard that crude "naturally" distilled/refined into 1 part diesel and 3 parts gasoline. (Numbers made up). So at some level diesel used to be a by-product of the process and pretty cheap. But as the consumption of diesel (home heating oil too?) grew beyond 25% of the total it got more expensive, and as people switch to diesel it would drive the cost up more.

Bueller?

You would be amazed how much control they actually have as they run a cat cracker and how that can change what they get out.  Also, not all crude is made the same.  There is heavy and light crude.  Also, depending on the amount of sulfer in the crude changes how easy it is to refine.  Not all refineries can deal with high sulfer and prefer the "sweeter" stuff.  The lighter stuff give's us gasoline and JetA and the heavier stuff gives us asphault, deisel, and lubricants.  They will run different types of crude depending on the season.  They don't want to run asphalt rich crude in the middle of winter or the fall otherwise they just have to store it.  Granted, most refineries coke that stuff anymore, but that is another thing all together.

....this is what happens when you grow up going to company picnics at the refinery....   One year they actually had a snow cone station that each flavor was a different pipeline coming into the refinery.  If you wanted cherry, you had to ask for Keystone, if you wanted grape, you asked for Marathon.

Gas prices always go down in the winter, up in summer. There are fewer people driving.

I'd be pretty surprised if they went under $2, because it's been so long since I saw that figure.

The real problem for me with this driving stuff is that you don't see the bill for it. With tolls you kind of do, but it isn't the same as the train where you get super hit. NYC trains are subsidized far less than any other mass transit, and the monthly is about to run me $120. So people are incentived to drive instead. Which means fewer straphangers, and more drivers. So maybe they raise the fare again. At the same time, that's more and more road damage, and they can keep spending more tax dollars on it without telling anyone.

The government absolutely can't be a la carte, and roads are vital for the local schoolbus as well as ambulances, and a lot of the economy. It'd just be nice to know how much we're all in it for so there wasn't the same sticker shock in other areas.

Amtrak is another example. The northeast corridor is freaking expensive and it bankrolls the rest of the system. NYC to hudson, a 2 hour trip costs $62 minimum. Las Vegas to Sacramento, a trip of on million hours picked at random costs 84 to take a bus 6.5 hours, a train 4.5 hours, and then another bus for an hour. This is all booked via Amtrak.

I dunno, things are crazy.

mattchuck2 wrote

Wow. Congratulations, you've created the dumbest thread on this forum. And that's saying something.

OMG, that was friggin funny as hell

We're up to about 2.09 here.

I'm not sure if I want the price to rise or fall after reading this:

http://fortune.com/north-dakota-fracking/

Harvey wrote

We're up to about 2.09 here.

I'm not sure if I want the price to rise or fall after reading this:

http://fortune.com/north-dakota-fracking/

Eh.  They have been doing this a long time.  You have been filling up your tank with fracked oil since the 70's.  Granted there is more of it out there now but it is not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination... it has just gotten cheaper and more lucrative to do.  

Just seems like North Dakota is headed for a lot of social problems.  They are trying to keep up with jails and schools and social services, but if they build that infrastructure and the price stays at $50, it will be a wasted effort.

I like that building jails come first when the oil men come in.  We have some empty prisons in NYS that could ship them to!  

Harvey wrote

We're up to about 2.09 here.

I'm not sure if I want the price to rise or fall after reading this:

http://fortune.com/north-dakota-fracking/

Up to $2.09????? Wow. Never got below $2.41 in the Lake Placid area and are now creeping back up.

We're at $2.13 now. Lowest we had was $1.89.

Anybody know what is driving it up?

Footer wrote

I like that building jails come first when the oil men come in.  We have some empty prisons in NYS that could ship them to!

If I was Williston I'd be taxing the crap out of oil companies. Those prisoners and meth addicts are going to be on the expense sheet long after the boom.

Harvey wrote

 Anybody know what is driving it up?

Because they can ?

Snowballs wrote

Harvey wrote

 Anybody know what is driving it up?

Because they can ?

There is a refinery strike going on right now (day 26). About 20% of US refining capacity is affected. There is also the usual malarkey about switching to summer blends and maintenance. Today oil is about  $51./bar up from below $45./bar. It is ridiculous that refined products now move with the barrel price.

I just don't buy the collusion thing. I really believe it's supply and demand.  

Supply is up from US fracking and the OPEC is breaking down with the Saudis pumping like crazy even though prices are down.

Demand from China especially is down.

The refinery strike makes sense.

Harvey wrote

 I just don't buy the collusion thing.  

IDK, there is a certain amount of follow the leader. Gas stations near each other adjust their prices up and down according to their neighbors. Exit 18 gas prices at several stations tend to be the same while prices 3 miles up the road at exit 19 are higher and equal the others at that exit.

$2.19.  Lowest in a while for us.

2.09 for diesel in Fairfield, NJ