Crude at all time record HIGH

[Dave e Victoria]

The WSJ reports that Crude closed at $70.40 per barrel today, The industrials are off more than eighty points. They say Unrest over Iran, disruptions in some supplies and low gasolene supplies are behind the rise. Here we go again........

[Merv]

Im afraid it's going to be a brutal summer for fuel prices!
Already at $2.899 today for unleaded and will most likely be $2.959 tommorow.
Merv

[tweir]

There are so many variables that enter into the high-price scenario. However, the "product" will remain the same: higher fuel costs, higher food costs, higher everything; let's face it, we are on the "oil standard" not the gold standard---which by the way, was at its highest trading value since the early to mid-eighties. Hummm, it was about this period in the 80's when gas rationing was the "standard"----same arguments; coincedence?

[richfaa]

Oil closed at 71.98 today Gasoline at 2.17 per gal. There are a lot ordinary working folks hurting around here . I see more and more people on Bicycles in the morning. The speedway station where we have our bus fuel account says sales are way down.

(I will bet profits are way up)

[richfaa]

Oil is trading at 73.15 right now with Gas at 2.20 per gal...That is 3.00 + per gal of gas and 3.30+ Diesel within the next few days IF not this afternoon..I am just thrilled??

[Merv]

Rich,
they just raised the regular here to 2.95
diesel is still at 2.899
Its just un believable
Guess I will have to win the lottery to fill the tanks on Big Red.
Ill bet you go through a lot with the school bus!

Merv

[richfaa]

Right now I am averaging @ 145.00 every other morning, Diesel.yesterday saw gas 2.779 and diesel 2.749. then up the road a couple of miles gas 2.799 and diesel 2.899..makes no sense...at all.

[Virgil]

I am pretty sure we will see $4.00 fuel before we ever see $2.00 fuel again. If we want to go, we will have to pay it as I fill up my $49,000 (sticker) pickup. No one said pulling an RV would be cheap. It is a life style choice we make.

[Searchers]

Regular unleaded gas jumped to $3.159 here today. Diesel remains at $2.959 so far. I'm sure happy we have alot of camping options within minutes of home.

[richfaa]

You are correct but when we made that life style choice we could have never forseen 3 or 4.00 a gallon fuel.It is crazy..Gas went up to 2.899 a gal BUT diesel stayed at 2.899 a gal..what is that all about?? The cost of energy will have a huge impact on our Rv life style..We will still do it but not anything close to what we had planned...

[houseof many dogs]

It makes you wonder - the cost to produce gasoline or diesel from oil is pretty much the same world wide - that is if you discount wages and benefits. So with that in mind, I wonder if prices are jumping around in England or Germany or else where as much as they are here.

Seems to me that speculation is rampant in this commodity and scare tactics are being employed to make us ready to accept any price - CAN YOU SAY ENRON?? They played with commercial power futures in CA.

Now to the cold hard facts - NO government official has incentive to do anything about the cost of fuel because of the tax revenue it generates and because the Gov't makes so much by regulating the fuel distribution and refining systems. Gov't. makes it pretty much impossible to start your own refining and distribution companies.

So we grin, bear it and try to do the best we can...

[CountryGuy]

house of many dogs,

I have a friend, lives the Netherlands, I will email and ask her what prices are there. We have been friends for a long time and her prices have always made me choke, much higher there, MUCH!

[richfaa]

The high cost of fuel in Europe is due to taxes.We have French exchange students here at the school I drive for every year.The average sales tax in France is 20%.remember most of those governmnets have huge social programs..Government provides everything for FREE..(right)...They are not free you are taxed to death. Anndd..They had NEVER seen a truck as large as mine in their lifes.Not many F-350's in Europe. Andddd their cars are shoe boxes.The actual cost of a gal of gas is about the same there as here..The taxes in Europe double the cost.

[Virgil]

Filled up tonight. Diesel was $2.90 and gas was 2.80 on the sign. The use of oil in the world is approaching and will soon exceed the rate of new discoveries. The oil companies are making big money but they are also spending big money. To drill and bring a 15,000' well to production now costs over $4 million dollars compared to $2.5 million just a couple of years ago. Standby on a big offshore rig is close to $500,000 a day. A basic land rig is about $25,000 a day. We all hear about the big oil money, but we dont hear much about what is being spent to find new oil. Oil is harder to find. Oil will likely hit $100 a bbl IMHO. As long as China and India are booming and growing as fast as they are, I think gas and diesel prices are going to escalate.

[Montana Sky]

Virgil,
AMEN! I love the way you think and the points you made!!! Seems many forget how expensive the process is, they are too caught up in these so called "Record Profits".

[tweir]

Just filled up this morning (4/20/06) and diesel was $3.09 a gallon---right across the street---diesel was $3.15 per gallon. Sure the cost of production is high; but if I remember correctly, the equation looks like this: Revenues - Expenses = Profit

[Glass Guy]

But if the cost of oil exploration and removeing it from the ground is so expensive why are oil company profits skyrocketing, maybe because they have it and we need it equals BIG PROFITS.
Roman

[Merv]

I agree, it may be expensive to drill, transport and refine the oil.
they may spend billions on exploration and all, but if I remember my economics class corectly, Profit is Profit after all of the spending!!
They are making a killing!

Merv

[dsprik]

It's not illegal to make a profit in this country, as long as it is done morally, ethically, and legally. Now, the real gray area comes in the moral and ethical areas. Most companies follow the laws and have contracts - with fine print - that make them legal, as far as the states and the Feds are concerned.

However, if your profits negatively impact the finances and peoples lives to where there is suffering of any sort, because the consumer cannot escape having to pay for this profit, then there needs to be some protective measures put in place. They try with "Gouging" and "Anti-Trust" laws, but many companies find ways around many of these. Congress is caught in the middle on the Oil comapnies, because they can't stop them from making legal profits, and the gouging laws are set up so as to only penalize those companies that are proven to be in coersion with each other- a very difficult charge to make stick.

So here we sit, financially suffering. I don't buy the, "Well change your lifestyle." bit. Americans should not have to go back to horses (as my dad suggests), or anything else that is a drastic. Some adjustment is fine, but I think that some folks may be on the verge of really being hurt.

And then we have they home heating prices also skyrocketing.

Just my thoughts... I want to note that I am an entrepreneur/free enterprise thinker when I am spouting off like this. I am very very concerned people starting to suffer.

[Virgil]

All points are true. Keep that in mind when you buy your bottled water for $1.50 for 20 oz. ($10.50 / gallon) I think oil companies should quit drilling for oil and sell bottled water. The hard fact is, oil is never going to be cheap again. We may whine and complain. We can boycott it and protest. China will take all we don't use. India will take whatever China doesn't. World markets set the oil price, the same as with everything else. The US economy is no longer a stand alone economy. As long as people are willing to pay, the price will be there. And it wont go away. We may not like adjusting our plans but it is going to be a necessary action for most of us, myself included. Life is full of adjustments. We don't always like them but we seem to survive and move on. It seems to me Walmart had profits last year of around $240 billion worldwide. No wonder you see the happy face when you go in there. And dsprik,, these aren't MY profits. I pay the same for fuel as everyone else, I work an average of 12hrs a day, for a wage. I make fairly good money, but no more than anyone on a union job. The Sarbanes Oxley Act as a result of ENRON, has companies tied up pretty tightly as to what they can and can't do. World markets set oil prices, not oil companies.