Fuel prices revisited

[Jaxfishgyd]

It's been awhile since I checked the price of fuel next door at Lambs Marina.
As of 11 AM today, diesel is $3.15 and gas is "only" $3.65.

I paid $2.55 for diesel in July in downtown Jacksonville (Jacksonville City Marina which is always about 35-45 cents a gal cheaper) but no idea what its running now (Julie can tell us, shes moored next to the fuel dock there)

 

[Passages]

Diesel seems to follow a annual pattern with the best price in late spring through mid August. After that, the market is focused on meeting the winter demand for #2 fuel oil for heating.

Gasoline seems to follow an inverse pattern.

 

[Genesis]

Crack spreads have been abnormally low all summer.

That is changing, and you are going to see RADICAL spikes in refined product prices within the next month or two.

 

[UNIQUE_NAME]

jumped a dime between yesterday and today at the local station.

 

[krush]

And crude's jump 30+ bux in the past few months.


Biodiesel, here I come.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Crude topped $95 today and December calls at $105 seemed to be the hot item today as well. Look OUT!

 

[Passages]

Anyone know the relationship between the price of a barrel of oil and the price of fuel at this pump? I thought I read a $10 jump per barrel will yield a 15 cent/gallon jump at the pump but that math does not make sense.

($10/bl)/(42/g/bl) = $0.23/g

say .25/gallon for every $10 increase per barrel. So $105 will mean another quarter per gallon.

Maybe I should rethink 8-92's in my next boat.

 

[krush]

That's the crack spread Gen reference.

 

[Passages]

That's the crack spread Gen reference.

Thanks Krush, I thought Karl was talking about something else.

 

[nyrussell]

Ok, what about off road Diesel? Can we burn it?

Noel

 

[Boatsb]

Just explain to me why we send soldiers, doctors, scientists and food aid to the countries that are raping us for $90/barrel of oil.

My fix is simple. No food is exported without a huge surtax. No medical items or people can go abroad without a huge tax on them and their work. If someone in one of the poor countries starves because we don't take care of them so be it. Its not our job to take care of everyone until they get strong enough to screw us. Let us take care of our people. When America stops being used as the worlds benevolent and charitable benefactors maybe we will be given some respect and oil at $40/ barrel where it belongs.

Lets take the extra corn and soybeans and make bio fuels for the US and leave the rest of the world to fend for itself.

 

[krush]

Raping us for oil? I'm a free market guy all the way. Oil tends to be a free market thing. The price isn't "set", it's supply/demand.

China is using a lot more oil and so are we. It's costing more to find oil and less is being found easily. Price goes up.

Pretty simple if you ask me.

Maybe if we would've been building more nuke plants the last 40 years we'd cut down on using oil for power generation etc. We could also go drilling in the gulf close to the coast and Alaska, but oh shit, the hippies and condo owners!

The price is oil is correct. The only entity doing the raping is our own government and welfare state. The rapist is the very rich and the very poor whilst the victim is the middle class.

 

[Boss Lady]

China and India have 2.6 billion people, we have 300 million. We have had abundant supply for 100 years, with little competition, now the rest of the world is starting to modernize and consume oil. The chinese are filling up mopeds right now, wait until they start filling up cars and see what happens to the price of oil.

Krush, you forgot to kick them in shin about the NIMBYs not letting us build any new refineries too, since you cannot use oil until it is processed into gas for your car. We are maxed out on refinery capacity, so even if they find a huge oil reserve tomorrow it will take a decade or more to build any new refining capacity.

 

[julesallyn]

It's been awhile since I checked the price of fuel next door at Lambs Marina.
As of 11 AM today, diesel is $3.15 and gas is "only" $3.65.

I paid $2.55 for diesel in July in downtown Jacksonville (Jacksonville City Marina which is always about 35-45 cents a gal cheaper) but no idea what its running now (Julie can tell us, shes moored next to the fuel dock there)

Hi, Charlie,

Diesel at our marina is $3.15, $3.10 over 100 gallons, and $3.35 for gas.
Sorry for the delay, but been layin low on the boat since Monday due to an ear infection. Boy, has it been bouncy out here - I love it. Just can't figure out if it's the vertigo or the boat that's rocking my world.

 

[labrador]

Chris, my brother in law works for Bechtel and they currently have well over 10 billion in refinery contracts right now. These are for additions to existing plants. No new ones are being built however these additions will help some!

 

[DeeRow]

Here are some wild ramblings on my opinion about the oil industry.

I'll admit that I'm not that familar with the actual working of the oil industry. But I recall the Saudi government stating that they would sell oil at $20 barrel to American companies during the first gulf war. The price per barrel of oil is on the NYMEX or some other market. However, I would guess that large oil companies don't buy there oil at these markets. They go directly to the seller and negotiate a price for a large quantity. IFF the large oil companies are in fact getting deals on large contacts, then it is not a supply and demand issue. In a "free market", there is not a lot of profit. Oil companies are making record profits now. 10 years ago, the oil companies consolidated from approx. 15 companies to 3. 3 don't make a "free" market. Prior to the consolidation, oil companies rarely had large profits. Many went out of business. The supply problem is because the oil companies are constraining the supply. Why would an oil company manufacture more fuel when they are making record profits at the current level of production?

What could the government do?
1. break up the large oil companies to encourage competition.
2. buy crude from our middle eastern "Allies", and flood the "free" oil markets with cheap crude.

Radical thoughts, huh? If I get any more radical, I'm gonna buy a sailboat.

 

[krush]

Oil companies make hefty profits because they sell an inelastic product. We're going to use the same amount or more no matter what!!

The oil biz is just a big financial game. Lots of money is spent drilling wells that never provide a product.

 

[Boatsb]

Remember the president has interest in what? The oil business.

I still go back to my last post. If we stop subsidizing food and science the countries we are no longer helping will not be running up the price of oil. Since AMEX/Citicard and others outsourced labor to 3rd world countries my service has dropped and they make record profits too. Why are we supporting this global BS when it is not in our best interest? Anyone in Washington have an answer to that?

 

[Passages]

If you study the chart below, you should be able to discern a trend in spot market prices. Where will the trend top out?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Once again, who owns the oil companies? Answer: the shareholders.

Who are the shareholders? Answer: You and I and anyone who wants to risk some money to invest.

If the oil companies were actually making such huge profits (ROI), then more and more capital would be flooding into the oil stocks until they were bid up to the point that the return on investment matched that of other publically traded companies. It's all about market forces here. There is no conspiracy and we'd better not try to bring down an industry over the false perception of exorbitant profits. If you want in on the profits, then buy the stock.