bry623

For those that want to pull a page out of moveon.org's play book and want to draw correalations between lower gas prices and the upcoming elections..............

yustr

What's the story in Europe? Australia? Canada? Have gasoline prices dropped by 1/3?

Horse, how about SA? You guys paying 1/3 less than two weeks ago?

40sondacurb

I'll tell you why gas prices are down, because places like California are about to pass propositions to tax the oil companies. They better get scared straight.

bry623

How is taxing them going to lower prices?

And if the republicans are really into pre-election capers, Osama will surface into U.S. custody in 2 years.

40sondacurb

I'm not all too sold on the idea, but they're going to tax them and use the money to fund alternative energy development.

And I'm not saying the tax is going to lower gas prices I'm saying the Oil companies are lowering prices because they're afraid that if they keep them high more states will get pissed off like us and pass similar legislation.

95five-0

Has anyone else noticed since they have been going down Bush does not get credit but once they go up it is hiw fault.

By the way I read that the prices are down do to many countries that started to stock pile at the begining of the year and now they have to much. The good ole law of supply and demand. Also fall is upon us and that means less people driving on trips so prices will natural fall around this time.

Cellus

It isn't so much a problem with there being a lack of crude, but a lack of processing facilities to process the crude. Processing facilities cost billions (read: billions) of dollars for companies to make and, as an example, facilities lost from Katrina are not being rebuilt because the costs would gouge profits by a sizeable chunk. The talk about drilling into the Alaska emergency reserve and what not is being used as an excuse to leverage access to an otherwise inaccessible area.

I should note that with one of the pipelines up north being shut down due to corrosion, transporting crude has dropped significantly from up there.

bry623

And unemployment dropping and the stock market at pre-Bush levels are also not his doing. yaay me!

Cellus

Bush hasn't done the best job of keeping friends - friends which double as major exporters. This gets exacerbated by the fact that military spending has skyrocketed, causing economic and social programs to degrade.

40sondacurb

Companies are making more money but the dollar is still weaker than I'd like thanks to Bush's fantastic fiscal conservancy.

linderman

I would just love to hear GW say this in a speech "fiscal conservancy" that alone would be funny as hell

Zazula

In Greece the gas prices have dropped by 20%.

bry623

Sounds like Z has thrown a wrench in the works!

Meztiso

Heard a radio interview of a oil-industry bigwig last week. He said that the low gas prices are a result of decreased demand, and that these are regular, seasonal fluctuations. Basically he said we are in between Air Conditioning season and Heating season.

yustr

True but does anyone remember such a large swing? We're now nearly down to $2.00/gal from a high of $3.35. Normal seasonal fluctuations? Perhaps that explains some. Lower demand - if it's because of people changing habits or selling that SUV may have long lasting consequences for our economy.

But regardless, it doesn't appear to be driven by politics at least no most of it. Dang - I'll have to find another windmill at which to tilt.

bry623

I bet the hybrid craze has a lot to do with it. Oh, and they lowered it to $2.11 this morning.

Chode

No, I don't think gas prices are driven too much by politics, per se. The big influences on gas pricing are: 1. increased demand world wide (and yes, we are still by far the world's biggest gasoline comsumers) and 2. U.S. refining capacity that has remained virtually flat for about 30 years.

And folks, lots of reason #2 concerns money. Into the 90's the U.S. generally had excess refining capacity. New refineries and refinery expansions are expensive, and the cost wasn't in line with the return. Right now, the refinery in my city is undergoing a huge expansion, because it will be very profitable, and lots of oil and gas wells that were capped years ago when it cost more to recover the product than it was worth are being turned into producing wells again and exploration is blooming.

The only thing I would fault the current administration's policy for (more than some of his predecessor's) is allowing too many mergers in the oil industry. Market forces work better with lots of competition.

Unfortunately, Bush is just one one more in a long line of Presidents who didn't have the guts and leadership to press for an energy policy that would really make the country self sufficient. Of course, we can't hold Congress blameless either.

Meztiso

I think any discussion of Gas Prices should include the shared awareness of the major oil discovery made several weeks ago in the Gulf of Mexico.

For those that haven't heard, it's the largest discovery in 30 years, and may mean that the US will no longer be dependant on Middle Eastern oil. High-quality oil, too.

Wonder what will become of these disgruntled Arabs when we don't need their oil anymore ?

chauffeur2

Hello one and All,

Just to give you perspective of fuel prices here in South Australia....

On any given Monday/Tuesday they are at around $AUD 1.15/ Litre, which equates to about $USD 3.95 / gallon.....by Thursday/Friday the price changes to $AUD 1.37/Litre = about $USD 4.70/ gallon, and this happens every week after week.
The Australian Federal Government won't do anything about it 'cause they are getting 10% G.S.T [Goods and Services Tax = VAT in the UK and Europe]on every drop thats sold at the refinery gate.
Even though we are supposed to have strict consumer pricing legislation, nothing is done about the oil companies 'price fixing', mainly because your "mate" GWB has too much interest in them!
There is no such thing as an Australian Oil Company.....they're either European or American owned; so us poor suckers have no choice if we need to use our cars, but to pay these "Rip-Off" exorbitant prices, that you guys charge us!
So guys and girls I wouldn't worry too much as we envy you, 'cause your prices in the US equate to about $AUD 0.60/litre, or $AUD 2.40/ Gallon.
So next time you think that you're hard done by, just spare a thought for us poor buggers from "The Land Down Under".
Just to show you how stupid our pollies are, we have untapped Oil Reserves [estimated to be bigger than those in Kuwait], off the NW of Western Australia; however, the Government wont open them 'cause your "mate" GWB doesn't want the price to drop worldwide; therefore, he and his 'daddy' would lose too much money. GWB then won't be able to buy his next ticket to the White House and he'd be down to his last Billion Bucks..Tut, Tut.

bruiser

Chauffeur, GWB CAN'T run for President again, so you need to get off that horse. The President of the USA DOES NOT control world oil prices, no matter who he is, so you need to get off that horse as well. Furthermore, the President and Vice-President of the USA either divest themselves of any interests they may have in outside businesses, or put their interests in a blind trust. You need to learn more about how things are in the USA, tut, tut.