For Those Of Us That Pay For Our Own Fuel

Yeah, let's blame Washington D.C. for everything and anything! Life gets immediately better, doesn't it? Wall Street crooks have, of course, nothing to do with it, right?

I know one thing though...If the brokers would be passing fuel surcharge they take from customers onto us, a thread with all this nonsense talk would have not existed, cos we all would still be doing just fine.

 

If Europe's demand for gasoline is so low, why is the price so high?

Supply and demand......... (rules don't apply?) (overtaxed?)

New refineries are not being built because big oil does not want to spend the money. Actually they don't need to because they need to keep supply levels down to justify the high prices they charge.

The real issue is that American industry/economy has become way too dependent on big oil.

And the emissions issue chaps my neither regions, as just one of the boats that delivers the oil/containers causes more pollution than all of the trucks combined.... Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

 

For you, I'll work for food and beer,
(and only that good quality Busch too)!

crusin

 

It isn't the cost of building a refinery as it is all the government red tape. The red tape and having to deal with the EPA makes it much less attractive to build a new refinery. Saudi Arabia offered to build a refinery in this country a few years ago. I don't remember what happened, but it never came to pass. I think that the government didn't want another government to own a refinery in this country.

If we spend the time and resources developing alternative energy sources as we did during the early states of the space program, we could become energy independent in a matter of a few years. We have billions of barrels of oil in this country that the government will not allow to be tapped. We also have oil wells that have been drilled that have been capped by the oil companies, in part, due to government policy.

What some don't realize is that a major part of the price of oil is taxes. Oil companies only receive a small percentage of the actual price of oil. But. they still make out just fine.

 

Wow... the reality some live in must be fantastic. I need to start back up smoking some wildwood flower like in the 70's.

1) A refiner doesn't get to choose what he will make from a barrel of oil. He can't decide, "hey, today I will make gas. tommorow I will make diesel." A barrel of oil contains several hundred products in varying quantities. You will always get gas and diesel from a barrel of crude, but not in the amounts that you choose.

2) Why is gas so high in Europe? It really isn't any higher than the spot market here. But, the taxes imposed on fuel in Europe is killer. We compain about high fuel here, but keep in mind that between taxes on production, Fed taxes on a gallon, and State taxes on a gallon, Fuel would be approximately 30% or more less cost at the pump. And keep in mind, the various governments didn't spend a dime to produce that fuel. Yet they get to siphon off a large chunk of change for themselves.

3) The primary reason for no new refineries is the cost involved in just getting thru all the red tape set up by over 20 different government agencies to get a refinery approved. Cost to just get thru that red tape is several billion dollars. At any point in the process, one of those agencies could deny it. You could outlay a billion and then have any government agency stop the process and you are out the money. Tough luck. And that is before you actually are able to put in one pipe or one storage tank. So.... why bother?

It is easy to always blame "big oil". Sure, they are not as pure as the wind driven snow, but the bulk of the blame needs to land at the feet of government.

 

Competition will do more to lower fuel prices than anything the government can do. The best thing the government could do is get out of the way and allow free enterprise to work.

Administration after administration of both parties have failed to take the lead and provide an atmosphere that would encourage less dependence on foreign oil and encourage competition from alternative fuel sources. It mostly started with Jimmy Carter and continued since. There is no reason we should be dependent on foreign oil. It has been the biggest drain on our resources than any other single thing. Rather than keeping our money in this country, we send it abroad to countries who are not necessarily friendly to us. Essentially, we are supporting our enemies.

The current administration has banned drilling in some areas. Competition lowers prices. Obama has done as much as he can to destroy competition. We have plenty of oil in this country, but recent administrations have worked to stop any effort to expand our independence from foreign oil. Personally, I think that it is a matter of national security.

 

ummm, yes and no.

"Al Mannato, a fuel-issues manager at API, explains that oil refineries tend to fall into two categories: catalytic cracking and hydrocracking. Most U.S. refineries are set up for catalytic cracking, which turns each barrel of crude oil into about 50-percent gasoline, 15-percent diesel, and the remainder into jet fuel, home heating oil, heavy fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas, asphalt, and various other products. In Europe and most of the rest of the world, refineries use a hydrocracking process, which produces more like 25-percent gasoline and 25-percent diesel from that barrel of oil. So the rest of the world is already maximizing diesel production. In fact, despite using a refining strategy that minimizes the production of gasoline, Europe still ends up with too much of the stuff, so it exports it to America—about one of every eight gallons of gasoline that we consume." --- http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...when_the_world_is_running_short_of_it_-column

The type of crude also has an effect on output ratios, as light crude contains fewer of the heavier oils.

 

I think 70% of the fuel price in the UK is Tax. Socialists have run this place forever. Oh and they have a VAT (sales tax) of 20%.

 

BTW, all these price issues have to do with oil speculators. Basicly you have people buying and selling oil futures because they believe that we will have shortage or overage at that time. They never take control of the oil they just own the rights. And in this mix are the refineries. They have to buy the oil. And when they go to buy it the price is $110 then that is what they pay.

So do not think for a minute that the guying selling it to you at the pump is getting rich on $4/gal fuel. He has less than 5% percent profit on fuel. How many O/O here would drive if you cleared 5%? (Yeah, I know guys are taking that $1.25 load but that is for another day) If you generated $250,000 in revenue that would be $12,500. Yes, they have volume but it is a business. And that 5% is just what they charge over the cost of fuel. They still have all the overhead.

Oil companies that we hear about making all this money are making it on the fact that they have been working for decades to find and bring oil out of the ground. Maybe it is costing them $35/b. But they will sell it at the best price they can get. And if that is $110 then that is what they will do. It is business and the have a legal obligation to do this.

The best way for us to keep our artifically low oil prices is to find everyway to keep those speculators thinking that supply will be higher than demand. As we see with spikes, it doesn't take much.

 

I remember seeing them spread diesel fuel on dirt roads to keep the dust down in the summertime. My mother and some cousins down south still have free gas piped in from old gas wells.