US Gas Price Gouging

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If you do not have an oil well and a refinery in your neighborhood, then you need to buy gasoline from somewhere else and transport it to your location.

With the Houston oil and refinery and pipeline infrastructure shut down by the hurricane and flooding, oil and gasoline need to be brought to your neighborhood from somewhere else.

So, you (or your designated representative) go and visit the oil and gasoline market, which is in Chicago, and buy an alternate supply.

The problem is that everyone else is there in Chicago trying to do the same thing.

So, they offer a higher price than you.

If you want oil or gasoline or aviation fuel (if you are an airline), then you have to offer a higher price.

You can bid by computer or use the “outcry” system.

If you offer to pay more, you will get supplies from somewhere other than Houston.

It is expensive to transport oil or gasoline or aviation fuel or diesel fuel.

But your supplier will do what he or she needs to do to obtain the fuel.

That means your representative offers to pay more.

And your representative then charges you more.
 
During previous crises, other countries were similarly discomfited.

In the case of France, they said the HECK with it and developed a national policy and they went nuclear.

So, most countries get 20% or 30% of their electricity from nuclear. But France gets 80% of THEIR electricity from nuclear and have developed their own nuclear reactor designs, starting from American designs.

Canada gets a lot of electricity from hydro. But they also have developed their own nuclear reactor designs, specifically designed to make refueling very easy. They call it the CANDU reactor.

India has been experimenting with using reactors using Thorium instead of Uranium.

Look these things up on Google.
 
In Pennsylvania, some dairy farmers got together with oil drillers and found a way to drill for natural gas.

Pennsylvania has ALWAYS been a major supplier of oil and natural gas, but by using some new drilling techniques, they have been able to bring natural gas trapped in deep shale rock to market.

There is one layer at 5000 feet down and another layer at 10,000 feet down. That’s one mile and two miles down. Very deep.

But they got it to work and Pennsylvania now supplies natural gas to about half of the United States.
 
OR, you can buy an electric car and plug it into the wall outlet.

No gasoline at all.

Of course, electric cars have their own sets of limitations, but as long as you have electricity, your electric car will run just fine.

[About 30+% of American electricity comes from burning coal to generate steam. Another 30% comes from burning natural gas in a gas turbine … the natural gas comes from Pennsylvania. And another 20% comes from nuclear, heating water to steam. And another 8% comes from hydro. And the final 2% comes from wind and solar.]

[A lot of American oil and natural gas comes from Alaska … and North Dakota, of all places.]

dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/mprindex.asp
 
Europe imports their natural gas and oil … majorly … from the middle east and from Russia … except for France.

Recently they started getting natural gas from the United States … liquified natural gas … from … drum roll please … Texas and Louisiana.

How is that working out for them? what with the hurricane damage?
 
WJeffrey said:
I live in New England. During the past 36 hours, gas prices have uniformly risen $0.40 per gallon throughout the city where I live. :eek: Have you had a similar experience? :mad:
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Natural gas prices skyrocketed in New England a few years ago.

Then Pennsylvania farmers developed local supplies of natural gas and the price dropped back down.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
During previous crises, other countries were similarly discomfited.

In the case of France, they said the HECK with it and developed a national policy and they went nuclear.

So, most countries get 20% or 30% of their electricity from nuclear. But France gets 80% of THEIR electricity from nuclear and have developed their own nuclear reactor designs, starting from American designs.

Canada gets a lot of electricity from hydro. But they also have developed their own nuclear reactor designs, specifically designed to make refueling very easy. They call it the CANDU reactor.

India has been experimenting with using reactors using Thorium instead of Uranium.

Look these things up on Google.
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Here in America though, we are chicken of nuclear, to a greater extent than anywhere else.

I have no skin in this game as my life is half over and I’ve no children to worry about. But if I had sons, I’d infinitely rather face whatever health problem from radiation than they should have to fight in another war over oil.

ICXC NIKA
 
Monte_RCMS said:
OR, you can buy an electric car and plug it into the wall outlet.

No gasoline at all.

Of course, electric cars have their own sets of limitations, but as long as you have electricity, your electric car will run just fine.

[About 30+% of American electricity comes from burning coal to generate steam. Another 30% comes from burning natural gas in a gas turbine … the natural gas comes from Pennsylvania. And another 20% comes from nuclear, heating water to steam. And another 8% comes from hydro. And the final 2% comes from wind and solar.]

[A lot of American oil and natural gas comes from Alaska … and North Dakota, of all places.]

dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/mprindex.asp
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Electric cars are great…except the power grid won’t hold up if they become too numerous.

It doesn’t matter as much where the oil comes from, it all goes to the same refineries.

ICXC NIKA
 
The Colonial Pipeline has been shut down by the flooding.

It runs from Houston to the Northeast USA.

So, instead of using a pipeline, they are using tank trucks.

The Governors of several states are requesting the EPA to loosen restrictions on fuel trucks, allowing them to supply gasoline where the pipe would have normally. Truck drivers will be able to work longer shifts than usually allowed by the US Department of Transportation.

I bet you didn’t know that the EPA has regulations that mess up your fuel supply.

Trucks cost much much more to deliver fuel than pipelines.

The Colonial Pipeline is expected to be back on line by Monday.
 
And there’s another hurricane in the gulf threatening Texas.
 
Here in Tennessee it’s the same.

Filled my truck up last Sunday at it was $1.97 per gallon.

Thursday, I filled up my truck and it was $2.40 per gallon.

This was at the same service station.
 
Gasoline normally inches up around Labor Day as many people travel heavily, and then recedes after as people are back to school, work, etc and vacation trips have been taken. It is simply supply and demand.

Harvey has given the producers an excuse to raise prices even more. I expect this to last a couple of months. One poster already noted the ports have at least partially re-opened. Personally, if the rise lasts more than a couple of months, I would expect to see the President try to step in and manage the situation. It’s going to cost us each probably about 20 to 50 bucks over a relatively short term. Sure better deal than the people of Houston are getting.

Shalom
 
joeybaggz said:
Gasoline normally inches up around Labor Day as many people travel heavily, and then recedes after as people are back to school, work, etc and vacation trips have been taken. It is simply supply and demand.

Harvey has given the producers an excuse to raise prices even more. I expect this to last a couple of months. One poster already noted the ports have at least partially re-opened. Personally, if the rise lasts more than a couple of months, I would expect to see the President try to step in and manage the situation. It’s going to cost us each probably about 20 to 50 bucks over a relatively short term. Sure better deal than the people of Houston are getting.

Shalom
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Indeed.

My amigo who lives near St Thomas University will probably face some significant repair bills.

But just like earthquakes in Cal, or snow in the Northeastern Corridor, in Houston hurricanes are a part of life.

ICXC NIKA
 
joeybaggz said:
Gasoline normally inches up around Labor Day as many people travel heavily, and then recedes after as people are back to school, work, etc and vacation trips have been taken. It is simply supply and demand.

Harvey has given the producers an excuse to raise prices even more. I expect this to last a couple of months. One poster already noted the ports have at least partially re-opened. Personally, if the rise lasts more than a couple of months, I would expect to see the President try to step in and manage the situation. It’s going to cost us each probably about 20 to 50 bucks over a relatively short term. Sure better deal than the people of Houston are getting.

Shalom
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There is also the seasonal problem of changing the refineries to produce winter gasoline, which is a different formula from summer gasoline. So, during the changeover, there is an interruption in production.

Sometimes, if the interruption in production is judged to be too much, EPA will suspend the shutdown.

They did that during the monster hurricane that hit New Orleans a few years ago.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
I looked it up and there are something like 50 different tracks that the computer models are spitting out. And they vary from Mexico to Newfoundland.

Still a week away.
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At that distance there is no way to know which way Irma is going to break.

ICXC NIKA
 
joeybaggz said:
Gasoline normally inches up around Labor Day as many people travel heavily, and then recedes after as people are back to school, work, etc and vacation trips have been taken. It is simply supply and demand.

Harvey has given the producers an excuse to raise prices even more. I expect this to last a couple of months. One poster already noted the ports have at least partially re-opened. Personally, if the rise lasts more than a couple of months, I would expect to see the President try to step in and manage the situation. It’s going to cost us each probably about 20 to 50 bucks over a relatively short term. Sure better deal than the people of Houston are getting.

Shalom
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It’s not the ports that are the problems. The refineries were under water!!! It takes a while to get everything back up and running once the water resides.
 
GEddie said:
At that distance there is no way to know which way Irma is going to break.

ICXC NIKA
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But you have to be prepared for it to hit the Gulf. There are oil rigs all over the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean!!!
 
We have been warned here In Ireland of price rises. Last week unleaded was nearly E1.40 a litre. Once went as high as nearly E2 a litre.

I remember when it was 4 shillings a gallon…
 
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