|
EmptySpace
Stranger
Registered: 04/20/06
Posts: 69
Last seen: 16 years, 9 months
|
Price Gouging
#5581802 - 05/02/06 03:23 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Do you guys think that there is some price gouging going on in the US oil market? I don't believe that there has been a major increase in demand, and from what I have heard we have the most supply of oil that we ever had. From this I would believe that there should not be any sort of price increase, like the ones that have been happening lately. I don't know, I would like to hear your take.
-------------------- We can't stop here - This is bat country. -Duke--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
|
fresh313
journeyman


Registered: 09/01/03
Posts: 2,537
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
|
|
theyd gouge your eyeballs out with thier fingernails if they could sell you new ones.
|
zappaisgod
horrid asshole

Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
|
|
If you are referring to the strategic oil reserve it has no effect on price. It's an oil savings account that doesn't really account for a significant portion of oil purchases.
--------------------
|
Phred
Fred's son


Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 18 days
|
|
If there's "price gouging" going on in the US market (and there isn't) there is "price gouging" going on everywhere else in the world as well. Gasoline prices hit $7.00 a gallon in the UK, the Canadian gas prices are in virtual lockstep with those in the US... hell, even here in the Dominican Republic diesel is over 3 bucks a gallon and regular gas is four and a quarter a gallon. And we Dominicans get our oil and gas from Venezuela. Our good buddy Caesar Chavez.
And yes, there has been a MAJOR increase in demand -- mostly from China and India -- with a slight decrease in supply (Iraq still not shipping as much as it should be, a few Gulf of Mexico platforms and pipelines still not back to pre-Katrina levels). As well, there have been no new oil refineries built in the US for three decades, and more than a third of the ones which were operating thirty years ago no longer do.
So of course gas prices are on the rise. How could they not be?
Phred
--------------------
|
LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
|
Re: Price Gouging [Re: Phred]
#5581983 - 05/02/06 04:19 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
This may sound like a corny idea, but I want to build an ethanol plant.
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
|
stonedfish
Stranger

Registered: 10/28/04
Posts: 13
Last seen: 16 years, 3 months
|
|
Of all the people who believe that "big oil" is fixing prices, how many actually shop around for the best rate? I'd imagine not many, since I never have to wait in line to pay $2.73, yet accross the street there is a five car line to pay $2.80.
Edit: If you can't afford to look around, Gas Buddy and MSN Auto are useful tools.
Edited by stonedfish (05/02/06 04:45 PM)
|
LunarEclipse
Enlil's Official Story


Registered: 10/31/04
Posts: 21,407
Loc: Building 7
|
|
I would like to shop around but can't afford the gas to drive around looking. Also, with prices rising topping off today is a good idea rather than paying 10 cents more in a few days. Let's get some gas lines like back in the 70s. I have two cars for odd/even days, bring it ON!
-------------------- Anxiety is what you make it.
Edited by LunarEclipse (05/02/06 04:30 PM)
|
EmptySpace
Stranger
Registered: 04/20/06
Posts: 69
Last seen: 16 years, 9 months
|
Re: Price Gouging [Re: Phred]
#5582266 - 05/02/06 05:45 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
Phred, to compare the UK oil market and US oil market, is a complete flaw in logic. The reasons for the prices differ in many ways. And if you don't feel that there is price gouging, how is it that oil company's reported the largest profits EVER? Exxon Mobil is a prime example of this. Just a question, I await your response, which is usually pretty good.
-------------------- We can't stop here - This is bat country. -Duke--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
|
zappaisgod
horrid asshole

Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 7 months
|
|
For some information on the industry we have this from the BBC in 2001 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1167805.stm
Quote:
According to Esso - the UK brand of Exxon Mobil - a retailer makes only about 5p for each litre of unleaded petrol sold for, say, 84p, with the remainder accounted for by duty, VAT and the cost of production.
Some 61p of each 84p litre sold goes straight to the government in taxes.
And this
Quote:
An additional factor to bear in mind is that the oil companies have little influence on oil prices or markets.
Companies such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Texaco and TotalFinaElf together account for less than 15% of world crude oil production.
And this
Quote:
It points to a recent Financial Times survey of the top 10 best performing industries in Europe in the past five years in which oil and gas was ranked 10th behind industries such as life assurance, media, banking and pharmaceuticals.
And that was in a "record" year too.
--------------------
|
Phred
Fred's son


Registered: 10/18/00
Posts: 12,949
Loc: Dominican Republic
Last seen: 9 years, 18 days
|
|
Quote:
Phred, to compare the UK oil market and US oil market, is a complete flaw in logic. The reasons for the prices differ in many ways.
But I didn't compare the American market to the UK market. I compared the price of gasoline in the US to the price of gasoline EVERYWHERE, giving the UK, Canada, and the Dominican Republic as some specific examples simply because trendal (a Canadian) had just posted a comparison chart of US and Canadian gasoline prices right before I had written the post, and he posted it in a thread titled "UK gas prices hit $7 a gallon", and because I live in the Dominican Republic. If you do some research you'll find gasoline prices are at an all time high (before adjusting for inflation) in every freaking country in the world whose government has not increased their subsidies on gas prices. Compare the price of a liter of gasoline in Tokyo today to the price three months ago. Do the same exercise for Australia. And Poland. And Mexico. And...
... but I think you're catching my drift by now.
The price of petroleum products is going up EVERYWHERE because the spot price of a barrel of light sweet crude is going up EVERYWHERE.
The flaw in your logic is to ignore facts on the ground and to propose instead (with exactly zero evidence -- in fact, in the face of copious evidence to the contrary) the tired old theory of "price gouging". The simple reason oil companies are making record profits (as an absolute figure, NOT as profit MARGIN) is because the price of a barrel of oil is at an all time high in terms of absolute (not inflation-adjusted) dollars. This is no different from noting that gold mines made all time profits back in the late Seventies when the price of an ounce of gold hit an all time high. Were the gold mines "price gouging"? Do you remember about ten years or so ago when hurricanes wiped out a large number of coffee growers in the Caribbean and inclement weather ruined the crop of a lot of South American coffee plantations? The price of a pound of coffee doubled in a matter of months. Were the coffee companies "price gouging"?
There is no point discussing basic economic principles with someone who doesn't know them and won't learn them. The increase in the price of gasoline (and diesel and heating oil and lubricants and even asphalt) is due to nothing more sinister than the fact that the most fundamental of all economic principles -- the law of supply and demand -- is working as it always has.
Phred
--------------------
|
DoctorJ


Registered: 06/30/03
Posts: 8,846
Loc: space
Last seen: 1 year, 2 months
|
|
I don't regret paying $3+ for gasoline, nor would I regret paying more if it were necessary.
But then again, I love my car.
The profit margins of the oil industry are slim. They make so much money because they move a lot of volume. Should the oil industry use its excessive profits for research into alternatve fuels and the environment? Yes. Should wealthy people donate to those who are less fortunate and in need? Yes. But just because they do not, is no reason to force them to.
People are learning. The dim grows brighter. How impressed I am with the people of the world! May they continue to learn and ghrow and achieve. To infinity and beyond!
|
EmptySpace
Stranger
Registered: 04/20/06
Posts: 69
Last seen: 16 years, 9 months
|
Re: Price Gouging [Re: Phred]
#5583153 - 05/02/06 09:00 PM (17 years, 8 months ago) |
|
|
I do know the basic priniciples of economics, especially basic supply and demand. By starting this thread I was just trying to see what people thought, by playing devil's advocate. I thought it might be interesting, anywho that didn't pan out. Oh well... Peace.
-------------------- We can't stop here - This is bat country. -Duke--Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
|
gregorio
Too Damn Old


Registered: 09/08/05
Posts: 2,831
Loc: Classified
Last seen: 6 years, 4 months
|
|
Quote:
EmptySpace said: . And if you don't feel that there is price gouging, how is it that oil company's reported the largest profits EVER?
As Doctor J said, the profit margins that the oil industry operates on are rather slim. From everything that I have been able to tell their profit margins have remained pretty consistent over the years.
Increased profits does not translate into price gouging.
|
|