Finally hit $4

$2.29 today, Non-ethanol regular.
I have seen it today at Racetrack for the ethanol blend $2.09

 

2.55 this week. Last week was 2.80

 

Crude is going down why is gas going up. Give 3 guesses

 

Yeah manipulation, around $2.50 here, with diesel at about $2.45... the Jetta is happy

Rancher

 

Watch how the price goes down until the day after election day next year.

 

It is $2.74 at Exxon (which is about the cheapest around here) today in Northern Idaho.
I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky as they could probably keep the price up and give us lame excuses why and there is not a thing we can do about it...except in this case OPEC is trying to drive America oil and gas prices into the dirt to get rid of some of the smaller American companies among other things, which they are now starting to realize is not going to work - yet - the taps are still open so...
Lots of folks here work over in the Wyoming and Dakota fields and a lot of them are now home, laid off due to the glut of oil so, in some regards, I suppose OPEC's plan is working.

It is strange that they haven't found a way to raise prices...cut a deal with the mid-east...wonder why? Something is up...there's definitely a reason...

Yet, I believe the oil companies will find a way to drive the prices back up: war, embargo, act of God, etc.. For when a company can make $45B in profit in one quarter (referring to Exxon) - well - there's just about nothing in a modern civilized world they cannot do. Nothing. Just my opinion... Rick

 

I'll give a hint. It ain't the oil companies Co trolling the prices in the USA ... that would be price fixing

 

ghrit,
It was Profit. Shocking, yes? But, I had it wrong as was going from memory which is overwhelmed with real life. It was annual profit. Nevertheless, they shattered all records...and as far as I can tell those records still stand. $45B profit in one year...My point is when a company or organization is this profitable (more so than GDP of most countries) and has hooks set deep into a modern civilization that requires energy as life's blood - well - they can and do anything they want. It's the 800 lb. gorilla in the room, where does it sit? Here some articles from a short google session, the last paragraph I stuck in for some interesting details from that record year (I'm new and thought I read we can't place links?):
Exxon shatters profit records
Oil giant makes corporate history by booking $11.7 billion in quarterly profit; earns $1,300 a second in 2007.
By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
February 1 2008: 2:26 PM EST
Exxon Mobil booked the biggest quarterly and annual profits in U.S. corporate history Friday, helped by higher oil prices.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices.

Exxon 2008 profit: A record $45 billion
The oil company rides $147 crude to set an all-time high despite oil price collapse in back half of the year.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: January 30, 2009: 11:44 AM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Exxon Mobil reported the largest annual profit in U.S. history Friday, making $45.22 billion on the back of record oil prices.

Climate
Exxon, Chevron Made $71 Billion Profit In 2012 As Consumers Paid Record Gas Prices
by Rebecca Leber Feb 1, 2013 10:33am
ExxonMobil — now the most valuable company in the world, passing Apple — earned $45 billion profit in 2012, a 9 percent jump over 2011. Meanwhile, Chevron earned $26.2 billion for the year. In the final three months of the year, the companies earned $9.95 billion and $7.2 billion respectively.

ExxonMobil
Exxon received $600 million annual tax breaks. In 2011, Exxon paid just 13 percent in taxes. The company paid no taxes to the U.S. federal government in 2009, despite 45.2 billion record profits. It paid $15 billion in taxes, but none in federal income tax.

Exxon’s oil production was down 6 percent from 2011.
In fourth quarter, Exxon bought back $5.3 billion of its stock, which enriches the largest shareholders and executives of the company.
Exxon’s federal campaign contributions totaled $2.77 million for the 2012 cycle, sending 89 percent to Republicans.
The company spent $12.97 million lobbying in 2012 to protect low tax rates and block pollution controls and safeguards for public health.
Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson received $24.7 million total compensation.

 

paid 2.05 at circle k
heard shell is about to lay of6000 people

 

I could be wrong but I thought they were shutting down shale operations in usa because the cost to extract wad over 60 a barrel and oil is down so they are laying people off.

edit: changed typo 'shake' to 'shale'

 

sounds like a logical business decision ...
what does shake operations mean exactly ... im not familiar with this term ..

 

opps typo. autotype kills me .... shale operations, they use fracking to get the oil out of the shale

 

I thought our costs to extract was somewhere in the $40-45 range.

 

You could be right @mysterymet I looked at it over a year ago and it was around $60 could be different today.

 

I assume Ganado is referring to Fracking and if she is right (which I think she is) then OPEC's decision to leave the taps open is indeed doing exactly as it was meant to do: drive down the price of oil to the point that it forces smaller oil companies to collapse/fold and larger ones to shut down operations because it is no longer profitable. One of the reasons we have been so tied to Middle East oil is it is cheap (relatively speaking of course) to get it out of the ground as compared to other parts of the world such as the USA. So, the oil companies obviously make more money from the fields there. This has been the strategy of the OPEC companies since the USA finally got its act together to extract our own oil.

But, what I don't understand is what the Mid-East will do after the price starts to go back up... I mean, these USA companies will start again as soon as profitable, correct? Maybe not...maybe the cost to restart operations would be too costly especially considering the OPEC would just do the same thing. I would hope that our government would see the strategic and political value of getting and staying off foreign oil and step-in to do something but...doubtful. It wouldn't be political correct or political smart...

BTW Russia is being killed by the price drop of oil as the ruble is now worth less than many third-world country currency so this is another reason for the our government to take necessary steps to keep price down and actually might be one of the reasons it is staying down. Honestly, I have first hand knowledge of this and its killing Russia. Even Putin can't argue with "money is the muscle and sinews of war." Anyway, if you want to visit Moscow or St. Pete then now is the time.
Rick