Gas Prices

[Clandestino]

I don't think this mode of transportion is meant for grocery shopping or hauling kids around. A get to point A from point B vehicle is all it is.

Just like a motorcycle isn't for grocery shopping or hauling kids around but it has its purpose and great MPG.

except you look cool on a motorcycle...

[Nbadan]

Don't look for any relief, prices on gas will continue to increase in the near future...

<snip>

Oil prices have climbed 6.7 percent this week as refinery shutdowns in Texas, Louisiana and Venezuela threatened to curb fuel supplies. U.S. gasoline inventories are down 5.7 percent since the end of February, more than double the five-year average, boosting demand for crude to fill gaps in fuel output.

. . .

A gasoline-making unit at a Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery owned by ConocoPhillips, the largest U.S. refiner, yesterday failed to start after maintenance, Reuters reported, without naming its source. Conoco spokeswoman Laura Hopkins declined to comment.

San Antonio-based Valero, the third-largest U.S. refiner, on April 18 said a coker at its St. Charles, Louisiana, plant will be shut until at least April 26, halting 336,000 gallons of daily gasoline output and 1.05 million gallons of daily distillate production. Distillates include diesel and heating oil.

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, South America's largest oil producer, last week stopped gasoline and diesel production at its Puerto La Cruz refinery after one of the plant's units was shut, El Nacional reported today, citing unidentified industry officials.


``It looks like problems with refineries in the U.S. are making people nervous about not getting enough gasoline for the summer season,'' said Anette Einarsen, an oil analyst in Oslo for Nordea Bank AB. ``The market is also jumpy because of the uncertainty of how much demand will actually grow compared to production from refineries.''

Bloomberg

I'm sure that W is calling the Saudis and 'jaw-boning them' about now.

[scott]

San Antonio-based Valero, the third-largest U.S. refiner, on April 18 said a coker at its St. Charles, Louisiana, plant will be shut until at least April 26, halting 336,000 gallons of daily gasoline output and 1.05 million gallons of daily distillate production. Distillates include diesel and heating oil.

Bloomberg took some liberty in quote numbers in gallons, as opposed to barrels, the standard unit in refining.

That's only 8 mbpd of gasoline and 25 mbpd of distillate. In the grand scheme of things, not a huge upset to supply in the grand scheme of things.

[Shelly]

Everyone runs out and buys pregnant roller skates and then after the crisis levels off, the market is saturated with a bunch of those roller skates that no one wants

Pregnant rollerskates

Is this the Yugo of today?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

still noone has mentioned how high prices must be for a chode explosion

[mookie2001]

no theyre all d-slapping eachother because it went from 2.19 to 2.09 just like i said

[Cant_Be_Faded]

i thought it went from 2.09 to 2.19


elpimpo4cc wrote: which word is better, baloncesto o basketbol?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

how high do gas prices have to get before peoples chodes explode?

CBF's chode =

EXPLODED

[sa_butta]

Dude! I wish they had Smart Cars here!!!!!!!

We saw one at Hollywood video a while back, but no one knew what they were. It had Mexican plates, I wonder if they sell them there?

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specia...1/article.html

The smart Invasion
A New smart Line of Cars Is Coming to the U.S.
By Philip Reed
Date Posted 03-09-2004
Anyone traveling in Europe knows that there is a vast sea of small cars that never seem to make it to America's shores. One car that stands out from the pack is the smart car, a tiny two-seater so adorable that visiting Americans want to put it in their pockets and bring it home. Soon, they won't have to. The smart car is coming.

The smart car model called the fortwo (no capital letters in any of the names) is the eye-catching buzz bomb that seats two, navigates narrow streets, sips gasoline and parks head-in to the curb between two larger cars. But the fortwo won't be the first car to appear in the supersized U.S. market. It won't even be the larger forfour, a four-seat version, just introduced in Europe. Instead, Americans will get a car that will be called the formore, also known as the "smart utility vehicle" or SUV.

Appearing in the U.S. in 2006, the formore, with a four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine and all-wheel drive, will pave the way for the smaller smart cars that have made a name for the innovative DaimlerChrysler-owned company. The smart cars will be the next wave of small cars, a trend started by BMW's Mini Cooper in 2002. The Mini bucked the trend toward heavier, taller and more powerful vehicles and quickly became the hippest car in the American market.

The first question leaping into the mind of any red-blooded American is: can a small car succeed in the U.S. market where the vehicles just keep getting bigger? The Mini certainly has been a hit. Way back in the '60s, during the golden age of chrome and fins, the VW bug was a huge success. Other small cars have been successful, including the modern-day New Beetle and the Mazda Miata. The lineup of smart cars — which even includes a roadster — seems positioned to continue this small trend. Besides, people are becoming frustrated by congested metropolitan areas and will appreciate a car that's easy to park and delivers good gas mileage while cutting emissions.

Hoping to generate a buzz well in advance of the 2006 introduction, Edmunds.com was invited to Germany, France and Italy to see firsthand how these cars look in their natural habitat. The first thing we noticed is that the fortwo (formally called the "city coupe") is everywhere. It is so different that when one shoots past, you say, "What the heck was that?" From the outside it seems bite-size, yet it boldly asserts itself among larger vehicles. It can dart through narrow openings in traffic (let's face it, Europeans aren't into lanes) and park just about anywhere.

Scott Keogh, general manager of smart USA, told us that this little fortwo may be coming to the States at a later date. But DaimlerChrysler plans to establish the brand with the larger formore, which will arrive here in the third quarter of 2006. Initially, 30,000 smart formores will be built for the American market each year, but Keogh hopes to see that output climb as high as 60,000 cars a year.

When we asked him if America is ready for small cars like the smart, Keogh replied, "I think smart is a brand that is just not about size. It is about a whole frame of mind in terms of standing out and being unique."

Keogh said that the fortwo is popular in Europe because it can be customized to personal taste. Specifically, the plastic body panels, which help keep the weight-to-power ratio low, are easily changed. If a current smart owner decides he wants different colors, new body panels can be purchased and installed for $800. Voila! You have a brand-new-looking car.

The body panels, made from recyclable plastic, are manufactured by Dynamit Nobel, at "smartville," a manufacturing plant in Hambach, France. Claus Fischinger, head of the plant, said that most of the parts for the smart car are manufactured at smartville. In this way, the parts are made just before they are put into the cars, eliminating the need for storage and long-distance shipping.

On a tour of the plant, our guide told us it only takes eight hours to build a smart car. Some 2,000 people work in smartville, 25 percent of them women. It is a cheerful place where workers listen to contemporary music and watch production figures on a digital display overhead.

In Europe, the smart cars are sold in a different way. Buyers test-drive the car at a dealership and then place an order for the car in their choice of colors and specifications. It takes four to six weeks for the finished car to arrive. This means that buyers get exactly the car they want and that dealers don't have to keep a large inventory on hand.

The formore, the car that will be hitting the U.S. market first, will be unveiled within the next 12 to 18 months, Keogh said. He said it will be a four-door with a tailgate and reconfigurable seats. It will be powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine with a relatively small displacement but with high power and good fuel mileage. The car will be launched with an automatic, but a manual transmission will eventually be offered as well.

Like most small utility vehicles, the formore will be a car-based crossover design rather than a rugged body-on-frame design. "The darker side of the sport-utility vehicle comes from the [questionable] safety side of the equation [where handling dynamics are concerned]," Keogh noted. "Those are the things the smart will be extremely strong on. We will take the good side of SUVs and add smart features to it." Those features, he said, are all-wheel drive and many of the safety features found on Mercedes, including stability and traction control, ABS and BrakeAssist. Additionally, the formore will offer interchangeable body panels like other smarts, a navigation system, an MP3 player and an integrated phone system. The tuner company, BRABUS will be customizing smart cars for styling and increased performance.

For a hint of what the formore will be like, we were given the chance to test-drive the forfour in and around Rome. It is a stylish car with lively performance and sure-footed handling. Three different engine sizes are offered with either an automatic or a five-speed stick shift. Some of the Mercedes features are apparent in the cabin and also in the general driving dynamics of the car.

But what about that cute little fortwo? Keogh said a date had not been chosen for its arrival in America but added, "I feel confident the fortwo will be sold in America at some point." The car now darting around Europe is the first generation of the fortwo. "Right from the start, the second generation will take the American market into account," he said.

On a short test-drive of the fortwo, we were surprised to find that despite its diminutive exterior dimensions, the interior doesn't feel cramped. There is plenty of room for two people to sit comfortably inside, although there is little room to bring more than a briefcase. The fortwo feels stable and peppy (at least on the congested streets of Rome) and once you get used to having a very short hood and no trunk, you can put it just about anywhere you want.

It made us think that this smart car — only eight and a half feet long — would be perfect for Manhattan's tight streets and could squeeze into unimaginably small parking spots. In fact, Keogh said that the fortwo was used to lead the 2003 New York City Marathon. Afterwards, despite pouring rain, there was a strong turnout for an offered test-drive in Central Park.

But what about the safety question? Americans believe the best way to survive an accident is to have a large, heavy car. Will U.S. buyers plunk down money for a car that is small and clad in plastic body panels?

First of all, Keogh said, the car will be built with Mercedes technology, known for its safety innovations. Every car will have stability and traction control, ABS and BrakeAssist. They will also have front and side airbags and a protective seating system. But the core of the car's safety is provided by the smart's "tridion safety cell," an extremely strong steel structure that prevents anything from intruding into the cabin. This safety cell is designed to work in conjunction with the seats, the seatbelts and the airbags.

Although the U.S. launch of the smart car is still two years away, Keogh predicts it will tap into a renaissance of interest in smaller cars. "With smart you will see a small car that provokes emotions as well. It's not just about going from Point A to Point B. This is not the 'fast foodization' of small cars. This is about being personal, different and vibrant."

[Cant_Be_Faded]

gas is two hundred sixty nine cents and nine tenths of a cent in Dallas

exploded?

[mookie2001]

and i still have that 5.7 V8 350 with 191K miles on it

[mookie2001]

anyone have 3 out of 4 greater than that?
liters
cylinders
cubic inches
miles

if so i'll give it up to you

[Cant_Be_Faded]

2.64 here in Austin. It went down a little after Rita. How weird.

I saw on the news the national gas average in January of 2005 was 1.94 give or take a couple cents.

[mookie2001]

I'm amazed at how much Americans get their panties in a wad over gas prices. A 25 cent change per gallon amounts to about 5 bucks' difference per fill up. If you're having to fill up enough for that to break your bank, I would suggest trying public transportation or relocation.

[mookie2001]

[Clandestino]

dayum mookie.. where'd you find that? was it washed ashore by rita?

[Spurminator]

Notwithstanding the fact that I've since reconsidered that statement, we're no longer talking about a 25 cent per gallon change here anyway.

[MiNuS]

less than two months ago gasoline was @ $2.

Considering my SUV has a 28 gallon tank the differrence is $22.12 per fill up.

Thats $88.48 more per month x 12 months=$1061.76 per year.

[boutons]

Washingtonpost.com

Gas Profit Guzzlers

Refiners Captured The Biggest Part Of the Price Increase

By Justin Blum
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 25, 2005; F01

When the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline peaked at $3.07 recently, it was partly because the nation's refineries were getting an estimated 99 cents on each gallon sold. That was more than three times the amount they earned a year ago when regular unleaded was selling for $1.87.

The companies that pump oil from the ground swept in an additional 47 cents on each gallon, a 46 percent jump over the same period.

If motorists are the big losers in the spectacular run-up in gas prices, the companies that produce the oil and turn it into gasoline are the clear winners. By contrast, the truckers who transport gasoline, the companies that operate pipelines and the gas station owners have profited far less.

The es caused by Hurricane Katrina -- which heavily damaged oil production and refining in the Gulf region -- accentuated gains the refiners and producers already were enjoying over the past year. Exxon Mobil Corp., the Irving, Tex., behemoththat produces and refines oil, reported in July that its second-quarter profit was up 32 percent, to $7.64 billion. Analysts expect Exxon's profit to soar again this quarter.

The rapid run-up in prices at the pump when Katrina hit -- and their slow decline -- has infuriated drivers, many of whom complain that oil companies used the storm as a pretext for boosting prices and profits. Politicians echoed that sentiment and are calling for investigations of the oil industry.

But interviews with analysts, consumer advocates and participants in the oil markets indicate that typical market forces were at work in the price run-up. Commodities markets that determine prices for gasoline moved dramatically higher after Katrina struck the Gulf region and damaged refineries and oil production. (The effect of Hurricane Rita on refiners' profits remains to be seen.)

Rising pump prices and company profits have caused lawmakers on Capitol Hill to seek legislative changes. Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) has introduced a measure that would tax some oil company profits that are not devoted to exploration and development of new production.

"They obviously are experiencing windfall or excess profits," Dorgan said of the big oil companies. "They are . . . profiting in an extraordinary way at the expense of the American consumer."

Some environmental and consumer advocates are urging the government to lower oil company profits in another way. They want to reduce demand for gasoline, which has been growing in recent years, by requiring vehicles to get better mileage.

Others have called on the government to set gasoline prices, as it did several decades ago.

Officials representing some oil-importing countries complain that oil companies, including those controlled by foreign governments, have not spent enough money on new exploration and development, leading to tight supplies of oil. Consumer advocates say mergers in the refining business have diminished compe ion and made it easier for the companies to limit supplies of gasoline and extract higher prices.

Refiners say they are spending heavily to expand and that their industry should not face new taxes or other penalties. "Refinery capacity is being added, but the problem is that demand has outpaced capacity," said Mary Rose Brown, a spokeswoman for Valero Energy Corp., a San Antonio-based refining company.

Hurricane Katrina shocked already-tight markets for crude oil and gasoline. It reduced oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and caused the shutdown of nearby refineries, crimping supplies of crude oil and gasoline. Traders on the New York Mercantile Exchange responded by bidding up prices for both commodities.

That influencedoil sellers and buyers who negotiate prices in an informal spot market conducted by phone and instant computer messaging. Producers cut deals with refiners to sell oil at a higher cost, pegged to the rising prices on the exchange.

For a company like Exxon, producing a barrel of oil from an existing well costs about $20, according to analysts. When the selling price rises above that, the increase is almost all profit, they said. After Katrina bore down on the Gulf Coast, the price of oil set a new high, approaching $70.

Refiners processing the oil into gasoline faced lucrative market conditions. They may have had to pay the producers more for the oil, but they were able to sell their gasoline for higher prices as a result of the short supply and the e on the mercantile exchange. In their view, the increases were justified because the market dictated that their final product -- gasoline -- had risen in value.

Refiners, particularly those with most of their facilities outside the path of Katrina, cashed in. Analysts predicted a windfall for companies such as Philadelphia-based Sunoco Inc., which continued operating normally during the hurricane.

After gasoline leaves refineries, the profit margin becomes narrower, even when prices are high. Many motorists direct their anger at gas station owners when the higher market prices for oil and gasoline show up at the pump. But the bulk of the increases at the pump typically is not making station owners rich, analysts said.

Who sets the price at the pump depends on who owns the station. At stations owned by big oil companies, prices are based on local supply and demand and what the companies think customers will be willing to pay.

Other stations may bear the name of a big oil company but be owned locally, in which case the owner often pays a non-negotiable price for the gasoline and determines on his own how much to charge customers. Some of these owners in the Washington area say they typically charge 10 cents to 20 cents more than the price they pay for gasoline, though the amount can vary depending on compe ion. They say they generally do not make more money with high prices.

Station owners complain that credit card companies are benefiting from higher pump prices. Many of those companies charge a percentage fee to the stations based on the customer's total charge. So as customers' bills rise, so do the credit card companies' fees.

Station owners say that as prices have risen, more people are using credit cards.

"It's a huge amount of money to process a transaction," said Eric Schmitz, an Exxon station owner in Tysons Corner. "It's horrible."

In all, the companies that distribute, market and sell gasoline to the public took about 18 cents on each gallon of gas when the average price hit a peak of $3.07 a gallon on Sept. 5 in an Energy Department survey, analysts estimated. A year ago, they took 17 cents of each gallon, according to Energy Department data.

When prices rise quickly, as they did after Katrina, the refineries make a larger share of the profit because they immediately pass along price increases to their buyers. But gasoline suppliers and station owners typically move more slowly in passing along price increases, limiting their profit.

Conversely, as more gasoline supplies came on the market following Katrina, the prices charged by refiners for their gasoline dropped rapidly. But gas suppliers and station owners did not pass those reduced prices along as quickly, a typical pricing pattern that allows them to make up for reduced profit margins when prices were rising, analysts said.

"On the way up, one guy is making money," said Michael Burdette, an analyst with the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. "On the way down, the other guy is."


© 2005 The Washington Post Company

[boutons]

and who are the "refiners" reaping $Bs/qtr in windfall profits?

yep, dubya's and head's buddies in the oilco's, just as intended by the Repubs when they started this bogus Iraq war.

[mookie2001]

great graphic from boutons
these oil companies are making more money than lebron

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I had a dream that I was a blonde little girl who went to a house that belonged to 3 bears. I ended up taking the smallest bears vehicle, which ended up being an H3. What was amazing was that the mother bear owned an H2, and the daddy bear owned a real hummer.

Three Hummers in one garage! That's outlandish though, thank god it was only a dream.

[Nbadan]

Officials representing some oil-importing countries complain that oil companies, including those controlled by foreign governments, have not spent enough money on new exploration and development, leading to tight supplies of oil. Consumer advocates say mergers in the refining business have diminished compe ion and made it easier for the companies to limit supplies of gasoline and extract higher prices.

Refiners say they are spending heavily to expand and that their industry should not face new taxes or other penalties. "Refinery capacity is being added, but the problem is that demand has outpaced capacity," said Mary Rose Brown, a spokeswoman for Valero Energy Corp., a San Antonio-based refining company.

Now that's a chilling comment by a official spokesperson. If we don't have enough refining capacity now to meet demand, is expanding the capacity of existing refineries, 25% which sit in Hurricane central, ever going to be enough? From a demand-side, I doubt it. I doubt it.

[Nbadan]

[Hook Dem]

In regards to the devastation Dan, it wasn't long ago that you were saying, "where is Bush"? Now you brush it aside with cartoons!