Why are gas prices higher now compared to when we were under Katrina's natural disaster "crisis"?

Question

Just curious as to what oil companies are blaming now for raising gas prices, when they don't have a hurricane to blame... could it be greed?

Answer 1

The problem is that most people do not understand supply and demand economics and what the structure is of the cost of gas per gallon. Do you know that we are using more oil now than EVER before! People are driving at an alarming rate. Do you realize how much petroleum’s used in making plastics and then how many things we use are made of plastics? The oil company makes about 9 cents a gallon as profit. The rest is made up of Federal and State taxes, the cost of exploration and production, Refining and then the cost of the additives that we have to put in the gas (we call it designer gas, thanks to the environmentalist wacko's). Do you know that we have not built a refinery in almost 40 years? (thanks again environmentalist). The refineries that we have are working at capacity and that is not enough to keep up with demand. Do you know that we hardly get any oil from the Middle East? Most people think that is where it all comes from. Not true. We get our oil form Canada, Mexico, Venezuela and Africa, in that order. What we get from Saudi is a very small %. You want the cost of gas to drop....STOP driving, open up the ANWR for drilling and off our coasts (thanks again environmentalist) OR come up with an alternate fuel.

Answer 2

There are 2 reasons, the first is called greed! The second and much more important is the fact that our dollar is worth so much less now than just a short time ago. The price of gas is directly tied to the dollars value. The worth of the dollar is falling quite rapidly due to the government’s deficit spending causing more dollars to be issued diluting its value. The stock market is rising for the same reason as the stocks represent real property with real value and as such it now takes more dollars to represent the same actual value.
In a short time all the products we buy that require transportation will be going up just like the gas prices. Don’t expect the government to fix this as they are the problem. The only thing we can do is kick all the scumbags out and get some people with real integrity elected, like Dr. Ron Paul! Too bad the press is so controlled by these same scumbags that we don’t hear how good he really is! Instead we hear nothing or outright lies!

Answer 3

Gas prices are high because we are currently at the "exploitation" step of our oil production. According to many scientists around the world, we will have exploited all of our oil supply by the end of this decade (now until 2010), and will run out of oil by the year 2040. This is proved by the "Hubberts Curve".

Since we dont get the majority of our oil supply from the Gulf Coast, Katrina and Rita did not really cause prices to substantially increase. With the current war in Iraq, with the tension with the country of Iran and doubts about a possibilty of war, with the Venezualan president privatizing the country's oil exports (which are SUBSTANTIAL!), and the current debate on global warming and how we are in dire need of new forms of energy, gas prices are skyrocketing.

Although the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is not about "oil" (as they say), it is about facilitating the process of having a major pipeline project go through the Middle East to make oil available more readily and easily.

Answer 4

The refineries are old and falling apart. They need to be shut down to make repairs. There were also a few that had fires at them. All this at a time when they switch from the winter mixture to the summer mixture. Also, most people agree that we need more refineries, but no one wants one built in their backyard. So no new refineries have been build for quite some time.

On top of all this, demand is up from what it was last year at this time. As demand goes up, so does the price. Demand goes down in the winter, so the price goes down.

Answer 5

Shortages if you call it that. They took offline 800 thousand barrels of day refining capacity for "routine maintance" in combination with other refineries still offline. In the past we usually have only 100 thousand barrels of capacity offline. This means 400 thousand barrels a day in gasoline are not being delivered to the market. The problem is on the refining side of the equation. We need more people to enter the refining business.

Answer 6

Because Refineries are mysteriously breaking down all of a sudden. Refining capacity has never been an issue before, and not sure why they would have any incentive to get them up and running. The secret Cheney energy policy at work. It's been working like a charm.

Drew Blood, your not really sending us to an oil company web site to get the "real" story on their profits are you?

Answer 7

It would be greed if oil companies could control the price of oil. Since the market commands oil prices, it must be something else.

Answer 8

I've heard it's because the politicians are scaring the crap out of oil producers. With all their talk about "this" and "that", oil companies panic and raise their prices.

And then this article explains the competition America is up against in getting its oil (since the U.S. refuses to buy from certain countries while China --- our leading competition --- has no problems with where it gets its oil from):

http://www.energyrefuge.com/archives/where_oil_comes_from.htm

Answer 9

You've never looked at their profit margins. There are dozens of entire industries in this country with higher profit margins than oil. It's simple supply and demand. Use less in your daily life and the price rise will slow.

Answer 10

I asked this Q yesterday at the gas station, They told me it was because of the few fires a a couple of refineries and the demand. Isn't it funny though that they can still supply the demand at a higher price?