Had to get gas this morning on the way to work. Paid $1.91 for reg. Seems to be going up $0.10 a week

It's still 1.65 here but we're always behind the trend. We're last to go down and last to go up.

We hover around $2.50 while the rest of the country basks in cheap fuel. Oregon, a liberal utopia.

Obummer loves Oregon so you guys pay a little more

3-4 weeks ago gas was $1.29 here in Indy then $1.59-$1.79-$1.99 in short order. What excuse has big oil come up with this time for the rapid increase in price?

That's because you have to pay someone to pump Ethyl for you

Supply and Demand, a lot of driving is done thru the Summer months and the oil rigs ain't pumping because it is not profitable at the previous oil rate. We should all drive less and buy a prius were we good americans.

Its because they now are selling the summer blend.

$2.09.9 here in eastern MO.

But on the bright side, your government doesn't think you're smart enough to pump it yourself.

Summer blends are kicking in. EPA at work. Refineries have to start turning out something like 27 different blends for summer. Read one source that said it was over 40 different blends. Drives up costs.

I've been pumping my own fuel since 1990 in Oregon.

Diesel jumped .15 last weekend..

$1.80 here in NW Alabama this morning. It did go up .20 cents in the last 10 days.

Summer blend ... it's March 14

Diesel's gone up too.

Do they have "summer blend" for that too?

Rebel.

1.89 here, two weeks ago it was 1.38

Up 20-25 cents overnight here in Yuma.

I did pass one station where diesel was less than regular unleaded, first time I've seen that in a long time. As for driving a Prius, forget it only phags drive Prius.

Yep. A very fast and simple look at Bloomberg Energy's commodity prices over the past 2 weeks will tell a guy that the traders have sent crude, fuel oils, and gasoline skyrocketing over that time period (relatively speaking of course). UL gasoline went up over 11cts/gallon in one day.

Wonder if any of the whiner's here have thought that maybe the OPEC/Iran/Iraq crude output freeze would have anything at all to do with it?

Never mind the facts though.....it's Big Oil's fault.

OPEC isn't Big Oil?

Not in my mind. Big Oil to me is Exxon, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, etc.

I blame the Jerk Off's in the Stock Commodities for manipulating the prices as always..... Oh OPEC is freezing production levels, so we better push the prices up for our 'investors'....Grandma has to take a dump, we better push up the price of T.P.... SambObama isn't feeling well, we better jack up the price of aspirin...

Oregon may have gotten as low as $1.60 down our way....that's it... high test might be $2.50 at the major stations, to include dinging ya for 10 cents more a gallon to use your credit card....but then we have 2 guys who own like 90% of the stations in the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon, so they are forever price fixing the fuel pricing to as high as they can get away with....

Fuel distribution is a scam on the entire west coast...

Three years ago it was over 4 bux a gallon.Did anyone think this was a permanent reduction?

It costs the dealer 2.5-3% to take credit cards. Is the dealer expected to "eat" that fee or what?

Democrats need America's oil field workers back on the job, so they don't have to come up with new lies about the employment rate. Election year Ya know. miles

Its price fixing plain and simple. They've got us by the short hairs and they can do as they like. Nobody has ever come up with an explanation as to why the price jumps by 10 to 15 cents at a whack and only comes down pennies at a time.

owning a business, you include it in the cost of doing business...they already factor that in.. they just add that 10 cents to pick up an extra cost per gallon... in fact, its not unusual locally for it costing a dime extra per gallon for unleaded, 15 cents more per gallon for 89 octane and then 25 to 30 cents or more per gallon for 91 octane...

they're not eating a damned thing... other stations have lower prices to begin with and then don't charge more to use a credit or debit card...

they milk this for all the mileage they can get away with...

no different than if we as consumers, charged them transportation costs, to get down to their station to buy their products in my opinion...

I have no love for oil company marketing people, nor sympathy for them either...

The lowest prices ever got here was 1.55 for unleaded and 1.81 for diesel.

marketing my friend....

we can thank the Feds tho... they are the ones that have allowed all of these oil companies to merge with each other... when their use to be many many more....mergers ended competition...

every one of the big oil companies now, are mergers of several big ones... Exxon-Mobil.. Chevron-Texaco, Philips-Conoco, etc etc etc... spot on with price fixing...

but you can bet your bottom dollar lobbyist paid Politicians quite well to allow this to happen to the American Consumer...

no one enforces the Sherman Anti Trust Act anymore at all..

bet many people never heard of it.... but it wasn't that way once upon a time...

Sorry seafire but you're wrong. I'm in the business....I think I know a bit more about it than you do. Premium UL gas is 45cts/gal higher at the rack than 87oct UL gas here, right now. Prices change every evening at 6pm based on the current day's trading on the NYMEX, PLATTS, etc. It's a high volume, low margin game.

Bout sums it up.

okay JG, give a fast reason why 91 octane should be that much more expensive than say 87... is there that much more stuff to add to it to increase the octane 4 points?

got a local friend in the business here... maybe not at your level.. he's the accounting VP for a large local distributor...
he's told me that out this way, they can have a truck go and pick up a dual trailer load of fuel... and then the change in the price of fuel comes in to their office, every couple of hours....he's said they can lose $600 to a $1000 dollars on a load of fuel just in the time it take the truck to haul it from the distribution point to their station and put it into the stations tanks...

but as a consumer....commodity brokers are manipulating the pricing, artificially inflating it... and then the oil company's tack on a little extra 'for overhead" ( that is why the prices go up so quick and come down so slowly).. then the local dealers do so also.....

I don't need to be in any particular industry, to know the logistics of price manipulation, changing things and putting a panic in the consumers to jack up pricing...been in the sales and marketing end of things in the medical industry among other things...

perfect example was the Y2K scam....except for the Oil INdustry, every day is the Y2K scam time...

Or maybe some people choose to not research WHY gas prices fluctuate when crude prices are static.

In the Spring, refineries are doing two things: 1. Maintenance. When demand is low, refineries will take units offline to regular maintenance while demand is low. The lower production and supply drives the price up overnight. 2. Summer blends. There are a huge number of "cocktails" or refining blends from state to state in the summer, so the cost of refining increases.

http://www.nacsonline.com/YourBusin...es-Historically-Go-Up-in-the-Spring.aspx

My fast answer would be economy of scale. Just a guess.

That is a wonderful piece put together by marketing people....

every business has an overhead.. and that can change or fluctuate during a yearly basis...but only few industries change their pricing on their products....Food and Fuel are the two biggest that come to my mind at the moment...

but sorry, I look at it like if I took the products I handle in my business.... and adjusted the prices continually up and down...

oh ya know Mr Customer...the price is 5 % higher this week... because I had to clean the garage out this past weekend.. maintenance ya know...

its 10% higher this week, I had to clean my desk off and the printer needed a new ink cartridge...

but don't worry, next week the price will be back down 5% because I don't have to clean the office, my desk off or buy any printer ink for my printer this week...

but next month it will be up 25% in price... I've got to do our contribution to the Clean Air Act, to cut down on Global Warming.. which we do annually, because after all "its for the children"....

Oil Companies didn't have all those price fixing problems until all the major oil companies were allowed to merge by the Federal Government... which I go back to blame on lobbyists, corrupt politicians getting paid off in the back room.. this entire Global Warming Scam, and Speculators being allowed to run amuck...

Just like in the Movie 'Wall Street'.... Gordon Gecho is locked up for doing certain things, but when he is released from prison, those former crimes are all legal...

same thing to do with Merged Banks, and "Too Big to Fail"...

Big Industry and Corrupt Government accommodating them..

so if you are in the oil industry... you're telling us that the Oil Industry and their Marketing Dept are totally different from any other type of business.. and so that everything else we may know about other industry doesn't apply to oil...

and that we all should just believe what the heck we are told, forget anything we know about sales & marketing and just STFU?

Got it! I now stand corrected and am set straight...

No.

I'm saying I don't see how people can expect oil to be extracted in 8000ft of water for a $1.25.


Links have been posted before to read. Big oil had one of the lowest margins of profit in all industries. Who else ties up 400 billion to make 40 billion?

Its the speculators.

When someone asks, "how much is my Colt Army SAA revolver worth?", they get various answers, one of which is almost always, "whatever someone is willing to pay for it."

People will treat you as you let them.

Well if you look at Oregon voting patterns, they may be on to something....

They own the product,I suppose they can charge whatever they want.

Don't like the price,don't buy it !!!

OpenSecrets.org

Influence and Lobbying

Oil & Gas

Summary https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=e01

Was talking to a friend who manages a local fuel distribution center a few months ago. He tells me that $50/barrel is the point where oil companies make a profit. It has been below that for a while and a market correction was coming. It's here. I'm not exactly what $50/barrel translates to at the pump,but suspect around $2-$2.50/gal.

I've enjoyed $1.50 gas as much as anyone, but never expected it to stay there. We shouldn't complain, factored for inflation $2/gal is cheaper than the 30 cents/gal my dad was paying in the 1960's.

Exactly right! I'll never forget my dad, who owned a Skelly Truck Stop in my early teenage years. I was out sweeping the driveway one day and this dude from California started ranting and raving about the price after he had filled up his Mercedes with diesel. After a minute or two my dad comes out and says "Hey buddy, did you see me out there on the corner of the Interstate waving your stupid asss in here? No, you didn't, so pay your freaking bill and get your asss outa here.!

I laughed my butt off, and so did that dolt's wife.

Even worse then you pay someone to pump others fuel for them and you do it yourself, for the same price.

Yes, a recent article said oil will NEVER hit 60 a barrel again... orange okie article IIRC...

Yeah right...

$2 is wishful thinking.... in town anyway. (It's not even a dream in the outlying areas! ) It looks like we're stuck at at $2.15 for now but I'm enjoying the low prices. It could easily be $4....and will be again.

Most all of the large gas stations around my general area are also big chain convenience stores. Many have well known chain mini-restaurants inside, too.

Almost all, both small and large, have digital signs out front now so they can change fuel prices in mere seconds. I've seen price per gal fluctuate multiple times over just a few hours at the same station.

Anymore it's common to see gasoline and diesel be a certain price at one chain station and anywhere from a few cents to a quarter or more per gal from town to town at the very same brand chain stations, all within 30 miles or less of each other.

It all depends on the competition. Very competitive markets will cause prices to be squeezed, while the more rural markets allow higher prices due to less competition.

In short, retailers will "get all they can get" while still having to be competitive.

Here is some food for thought...

Imagine what shape the economy would be in if gas was still $4.00+ a gallon. The average American family is spending $200 a month on stuff other than gasoline.

Yes. But how much are those families losing in their retirement funds? I'm not saying the two should be connected, but in many cases they are. So families may have $200 more per month to spend now, but when they retire who will feed them? If you believe the articles, the average American family doesn't have enough saved for retirement, so if they're saving $200 per month on gas, then they should really be saving $200 per month for retirement...but as you said, they are probably spending it. Heck, even if they wanted to invest it, where would they put it? It's a mess alright.

Ya got to be able to hang on until retirement. miles

The average liberal welfare dolts there aren't smart enough. They have a helluva time hiring folks who can pump gas.

Fireball could get a job.

$2.00 here,,, , still very reasonable. Even 3 bucks is not that bad. I drive a Saturn that got 35 MPG. That comes to about .07 per mi.? Tax write off is .54 a mi.

It is $2.00 a gallon here (Florida) now