Category: Energy & Gasoline Prices

Drive 55, save gas — get flipped off

San Francisco Chronicle “Trip shows slowing down boosts mileage but can make you unpopular on the road.”

With gas prices hovering around $3 a gallon, a lot of people say they’re making big sacrifices so they can afford to fill their gas tanks. They’re cutting back on travel, curtailing shopping expeditions, going out less often.

But hardly anyone is talking about — or practicing — a surefire way to save on gas: Slow down. Drive 55.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” said Tim Castleman, a Sacramento Web site developer who runs the Drive 55 Conservation Project. “People just don’t want to do it. It’s hard.”

How hard? The drawbacks aren’t measured just in terms of minutes lost. There’s the feeling of inadequacy that comes from being flipped off by a 12-year-old boy in another car. From being tailgated by little old ladies and pickup trucks piled high with furniture. From being passed by 830 vehicles, including an AC Transit bus, on a drive from the Bay Area to deep into the San Joaquin Valley.

The article continues.

NewMexiKen confesses that I cruised some of this same route last spring at 90 mph for about 135 miles. It seemed safe enough, but I did calculate it was costing me 25 cents a minute for gas (which then cost about $2.60 a gallon).

Of course, I did the math while driving 90. Your mileage may vary.

Gas balloon

AAA, which claims to survey credit card transactions at 60,000 service stations and base its average on the last price paid each day, says regular gasoline has dropped 27 cents a gallon since its record high September 5. (Just imagine, that was Labor Day.)

The national average for regular is currently $2.788.

Gasoline Alley

In case you’ve been wondering, the nationwide average price for regular gasoline has dropped 12 cents from its record high to just $2.935 a gallon according to AAA.

Premium is currently averaging $3.229.

Other than Hawaii, the highest prices currently appear to be from Washington, D.C., to New England, blue states all.

What a gas

“Crime is back up in New York City. Today thieves robbed an armored truck. They left the money but siphoned the gas.”

— David Letterman

“Good news, today I filled my gas tank today for under $20….it was for my lawnmower but it still counts.”
“Gas is so expensive in L.A. I actually saw a Hummer the other day with two people inside.”
“I tell you, you know who is really enjoying the high gas prices? The Amish. They think this is the funniest thing. ”

— Jay Leno

Irresponsible

CHEYENNE — With gasoline prices hovering near $3 a gallon, U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin has offered support for legislation that would suspend the federal fuel tax to provide relief for motorists and help blunt a possible economic downturn.

“Unfortunately, Congress can’t wave a magic wand to fix overnight the fundamental supply and demand problems that are driving gas prices upward,” Cubin, R-Wyo., said in a release. “The energy bill addresses those problems, but it will take time. What we can do is offer some immediate relief by suspending the gas tax to alleviate the short term crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina.”

Under the legislation, the 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax would be suspended indefinitely and require an act of Congress to reinstate. A second measure Cubin is backing would temporarily suspend the tax for 30 days.

— Casper Star-Tribune

Hello, the gasoline tax all goes into the highways trust fund. Anyone think we shouldn’t be repairing roads? How about I-10 across Louisiana and Mississippi?

But even if you buy 30 gallons of gasoline a week, eliminating the tax would only save you $5.52.

The price of gasoline has gone up 40 cents or more a gallon since before Katrina. The tax has remained the same since 1997, when gas cost $1.20 a gallon. How about asking the oil companies to reduce prices 18.4 cents instead?

What a gas

The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline nationwide was “only” up one cent over the weekend according to AAA. That puts it at $2.614. Extra averages $2.774 and premium $2.875. Premium is averaging over $3 in California, Hawaii and Illinois.

I can remember buying a dollar’s worth — and someone else pumped it.

Peter Maass had an informative article in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine — The Breaking Point. A few observations and factoids excerpted from Maass:

• Unlike the 1973 crisis, when the embargo by the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries created an artificial shortfall, today’s shortage, or near-shortage, is real. If demand surges even more, or if a producer goes offline because of unrest or terrorism, there may suddenly not be enough oil to go around.

• The consequences of an actual shortfall of supply would be immense. If consumption begins to exceed production by even a small amount, the price of a barrel of oil could soar to triple-digit levels. This, in turn, could bring on a global recession, a result of exorbitant prices for transport fuels and for products that rely on petrochemicals — which is to say, almost every product on the market. The impact on the American way of life would be profound: cars cannot be propelled by roof-borne windmills. The suburban and exurban lifestyles, hinged to two-car families and constant trips to work, school and Wal-Mart, might become unaffordable or, if gas rationing is imposed, impossible.

• The eventual and painful shift to different sources of energy — the start of the post-oil age — does not begin when the last drop of oil is sucked from under the Arabian desert. It begins when producers are unable to continue increasing their output to meet rising demand. Crunch time comes long before the last drop.

• “The problem is that you go from 79 million barrels a day in 2002 to 82.5 in 2003 to 84.5 in 2004. You’re leaping by two million to three million a year, and if you have to cover declines, that’s another four to five million.” In other words, if demand and depletion patterns continue, every year the world will need to open enough fields or wells to pump an additional six to eight million barrels a day — at least two million new barrels a day to meet the rising demand and at least four million to compensate for the declining production of existing fields. “That’s like a whole new Saudi Arabia every couple of years,” Husseini said. “It can’t be done indefinitely. It’s not sustainable.”

It’s an interesting article that, while fearing the worst, does a lot to explain both sides; that is, that there’s plenty of oil or that we’ll be freezing in the dark soon.

Ever wonder what they’re talking about

… when they mention the price of a barrel of oil? Here from the New York Mercantile Exchange is a description:

Crude oil is the world’s most actively traded commodity, and the NYMEX Division light, sweet crude oil futures contract is the world’s most liquid forum for crude oil trading, as well as the world’s largest-volume futures contract trading on a physical commodity. Because of its excellent liquidity and price transparency, the contract is used as a principal international pricing benchmark. …

The contract trades in units of 1,000 barrels, and the delivery point is Cushing, Oklahoma, which is also accessible to the international spot markets via pipelines. The contract provides for delivery of several grades of domestic and internationally traded foreign crudes, and serves the diverse needs of the physical market.

Light, sweet crudes are preferred by refiners because of their low sulfur content and relatively high yields of high-value products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel.

NewMexiKen thought this paragraph was interesting as well.

The Exchange also lists for trading electronically a financially settled futures contract for Dubai crude oil; a futures contract on the differential between the light, sweet crude oil futures contract and Canadian Bow River crude at Hardisty, Alberta; and futures contracts on the differentials of the light, sweet crude oil futures contract and four domestic grades of crude oil: Light Louisiana Sweet, West Texas Intermediate-Midland, West Texas Sour, and Mars Blend.

Mars Blend? Is that the planet Mars or, with all that sweet talk, the candy company Mars?

Closing price Friday for September delivery of 55 gallons of light, sweet crude: $65.35.

At the pump

In case you were wondering, according to AAA, gasoline is about 25¢ more a gallon than it was a year ago, but about a dime less than it was in April.

Average nationwide price for regular yesterday: $2.18.

Yikes!

One thing to read about it; quite another to see it. Gasoline prices posted today in Needles, California — $3.199.

NewMexiKen, who can open the refrigerator and not remember why, remembers the first time I ever paid a dollar for a gallon of gasoline. It was in June 1979 in Barstow, California (999 cents to be precise). The first time I ever paid more than two dollars for a gallon was in May 2003 in — you guessed it — Barstow, California ($2.299).

So, heading west today from Needles I’m thinking surely gas will be three dollars or more in Barstow and I can complete a gasoline sticker shock trifecta. As I crossed the Mojave Desert against a strong headwind, however, mileage dropped and 45 miles from Barstow the gasoline warning light came on. What to do? How many miles can I go with the light on? Thirty? Forty? Fifty?

After about 35 miles I began to panic. Running out of gas in these modern fuel-injected cars is no picnic. I give up on the Barstow triple treat (I’m thinking photos, etc.) and exit I-40 at Daggett, ten miles from my objective.

Guess what? Despite the sign, there’s no gasoline for sale in Daggett (which isn’t much of a place). After asking a kid, I follow his directions for almost as far as if I had stayed on I-40. I finally find gasoline in Daggett (at I-15, not I-40). 38 miles since the warning light came on (I had at least a gallon left).

But it was “only” $2.479.

SUV anyone?

According to AAA, regular gasoline is averaging $2.59 a gallon in California; $2.80 for premium (and as much as $3.11 in some places).

Nationally the average for regular is $2.265.

According to news reports, prices are likely to increase for another week, but then should level off and remain consistent through summer.

Up another 4 cents

AAA says the average regular gasoline in the U.S. is now at $2.095. That’s up 10% in a month.

It’s averaging $2.44 in Hawaii. I suppose that explains Senators Inouye and Akaka voting for drilling in the ANWR.

Diesel fuel is averaging $2.28 a gallon. If something you want or need is delivered by truck or train or ship it’s not going to be getting any cheaper.

Not one to complain, but …

AAA tells us the average gallon of unleaded regular in the U.S. yesterday was $1.989. It also says the record price was $2.054 a gallon in May.

In May crude oil sold for around $40 barrel. Today it is near $55 a barrel.

Why hasn’t the price at the pump kept pace with the price of crude?

How much do you think gasoline will cost after the election?

Diesel fuel prices are at a record high by the way — $2.136 yesterday.

Well, of course

From AP via Yahoo! News:

While Americans are shelling out record prices for fuel, Iraqis pay only about 5 cents a gallon for gasoline — a benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars subsidies bankrolled by American taxpayers. …

Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations. A three-month supply costs American taxpayers more than $500 million, not including the cost of military escorts to fend off attacks by Iraqi insurgents.