Ok guys whathas the fuel prices going up so quick, isn't summer travel over, and the gas priceshave wentback down, but diesel has jumped.

At Murphy's I'm paying 2.85 but on the road this week I paid 3.05 everywhere I went in the panhandle of Fla, even the LSD was the same price

 

i know what ya mean herb.. the place i usually fill B5 just went up to $3.35..i drove down the street and a quick store had ULSD for $3.07 so i filled even though i had just came off full.. i'm betting the price of heating oil is on the rise.. causing diesel to go up with it

 

I read that gas prices have gone down for now because there is a surplus left over from the summer at the refineries. Apparently that is not true for diesel.

 

Here in San Antonio, I saw regular diesel for $2.79-$3.01. B100 Biodiesel, locally from cottonseed oil is $2.60 Alamo Biodiesel

Fortunately, for these guys, they go through over 6000 gallons per week because they have contracts with Ft. Sam and Lackland to supply the base' vehicles with B100; which they put on top of dinosaur diesel to make B20. (I think that the Pentagon has some order mandating the use of alternative fuel sources or something.)

Now, whether anything over B5 (for private) or B20 (for fleet/government) vehicles makes DC happy is another story... I know Cummins has ok'd B20, but, Cummins only makes the engines (i.e. not the fuel delivery system) and doesn't kick in till after Dodge warranty runs out.

 

The local news (San Antonio's WOIA) reported a little while back that gas prices were going up because of hurricane Humberto. It knocked out power along the coast there where three "major" refineries are. The sad part is, the power was out for less than 24 hours (as reported on the news the next night)...but did they drop prices back down? Heck no. It's a rip off...it's called price gouging and the damn government won't do anything about it. Then again, it doesn't help that crude oil has been closing at all time highs of over $80 per barrel for the last few days too.

Diesel out near where I live (about 20 miles SW of San Antonio) went to $3.02 yesterday for ULSD (which is all we have at the stations here now).

The feds dropped the prime interest rate another 1/2 percent the other day, but the news is reporting that the consumers probably won't be cheering too much (the interest rate drop will help businesses primarily). They are predicting that fuel prices later this year will hit all time highs. They are predicting all time high heating costs for the north this winter.

I find it hard to believe the refineries are running on that thin of a reserve margin that prices have to go up in the summer. The power company does the same thing to their prices (I know, I work for CPS Energy). What I don't understand is that if their electricity production is in such demand in the summer and they have to charge more, how the hell are they still able to continue selling surplus electricity to other power companies over the grid (and they do)? Personally, I think it's just a lot of BS when it comes to gas and electricity. It's called "greed".

 

It's a great thing called the free market that ensures we all have fuel when we need it and has nothing to do with greed. There are cycles that are predictable and happen every year with fuel. Diesel and gasoline are two totally different products and comparing the cycles of two is like apples to oranges. They'll be producing more home heating oil real soon here for the winter because up in the northeast that's how most people heat their homes. Which means less diesel being produced which equals a higher price. If the winter is a mild one prices won't be so painful but if we get any really bad cold snaps or have an abnormally cold winter you can be sure diesel will spike up really high. You want to complain about high prices the real culprit there is the government printing money likes it's going out of style creating ramapnt inflation that's why oil costs $80 a barrel and now you hear Canadians are making jokes about how worthless our money is. They're getting ready to start a new front in the war on terror with Iran. You can see it everywhere on the TV news. $100 a barrel is right around the corner so bend over and get ready.

 

RE fuel prices;

- Price increases are a "demand" commodity, how many families have 1 or more vehicles, how many people have numerous toys such as boats, ATVs, RVs and bikes? Look at other countries where Joe public typicallycan't afford a car, gas prices are at almost "giveaway prices"
- Home heating, in the old days we use to don another sweater and put our "woolies" on if it was cold. Homes were built long ago with doors to each room, when it got colder they would simply close up rooms which were not used regularly, to reduce the amount of space to heat.
- In America and in Canada we have become "spoiled and lazy" if its cold "turn up the thermostate" if its too warm " run the A/C more" why walk "its faster to drive". Then theres the drive thrus, how many people sit in long line ups, vehicle idling to get their coffee or big Mac?

- As for Canadians joking about the Greenback, well its been a long 30yrs since we've seen parity, it costs the average Canadian nearly 30% more to purchase a typical car/truck, colthing and other disposable goods!
- In Alberta, Canada we have the largest oil deposit in the world, yet we pay world prices for oil/gas products, recently the provincal government has determined that they weren't charging enough "Royalty Taxes" on raw pretroleum, the new tax royalty is going to add a few dollars (Canadian or American at this point don't matter same value ) to a bbl of crude!

My $0.02 worth.... ha ha my two cents is the same as yours.... na na na [sm=happybounce.gif]

 

ya when i got my diesel it was about 10 cents cheaper around here than gas. now its shot up well over 20 cents more. iv been manly staying at the house and if i do go any where i take my little car with its small gas tank and small v6 lol.

 

Diesel is a by product of making gas, they were throwing it away for years, now it's the new gold.

Now heating oil demand can take away from the diesel because they have to do less refiningwith it and make more money with it .

But there greed in there too, they made record profits when the hurricanes messed up refineries, I guess I'm jealous, I want to know how I can do less work and get richer.

 

Free market means product on demand? Since when? No one finds it odd that in the last quarter of last year, the oil companies were crying the blues about costs to produce, yet they posted the highest profit earnings in their history? Please, I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

Here's a hint, the free market ain't so free, it just depends on how rich and powerful you are as to whether you get away with price gouging or not. Some of the hotels that were housing the hurricane Katrina victims are now in legal hot water because they supposedly increased their rates when the victims were staying there. Hey, what happened to that free market? It's their product, they can charge what they want right? Wrong. It doesn't work that way.

The government has their hand in a lot of things and the SEC and other overseeing agencies have a lot to say about things dealing with money. Also, you have to consider corporate America is all about maximizing profits for their stock holders, that's the bottom line...period.

All in all it's an artificially controlled market when it comes to money in general. We went off the gold standard years ago.

The price for gas and oil will continue to go up and gas stations will raise their rates regardless of the price of a barrel of oil. They find any reason they think they can use as an excuse. A big increase earlier in the year was based on the "prediction" that we were going to have a more active hurricane season than usual. A prediction!! Not even based on any actual occurance or otherwise. When the early hurricane season did not pan out, did they lower rates back to "pre-prediction" prices? Nope, not at all.