Gasoline Prices

[Cobraroll 138]

A little under $4 for a gallon of gas? In Norway, the price seems to have stabilized on $3. Per litre. And we produce a lot of the stuff as well...

Though, it has to be said: adjusted for income, we have the cheapest gas in Europe. So we can't complain either.

[JakeMD 107]

At my level of income I will have to spend about an eighth of what i'm going to earn this summer on gas. If you ask me it's a little suspicious that they keep hiking up the gas prices..

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 8, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Duke87 1,070]

I dunno, I've always found the whole "blood for oil" claim rather dubious. After all, invading meant less oil was drilled out of the ground in Iraq, not more. Let's also not forget that all of that military equipment is burning a lot more fuel than it would be if it wasn't getting used...

And while it is true that the oil industry holds a lot of political sway in the US, so does every other industry that has deep pockets. Oil isn't special, our government is only "in love" with it just as they are in love with any other corporate interest out there. He who funds the campaign...

$4.219 today.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

For the young and fit, there is an answer. The bicycle doesn't use any gas, and motorcycles, while using premium gas, use a lot less. Maybe we are coming to an age of the ubiquitous mo-ped.

Bicycles also promote fitness.

If you live in a rural area, there is always Dobbin. If you don't ride, think about how much exercise you would get on horseback. And if you live on a farm and don't have a horse, I think you are missing out on a great experience.

[Duke87 1,070]

Meh. A bicycle is a poor man's vehicle and a moped is a rich man's recreational vehicle. Neither is ideal as a day-to-day mode of transportation because neither provides any protection from the elements. Ride a bicycle all the time and you will freeze your ass off in the winter, sweat your ass off in the summer, and get drenched when it rains. Try showing up for work all wet or sweaty and see how well it's received.

Besides, it's dangerous riding one of those things on the street. As a set of PSAs from Connecticut a couple years ago reminded us, "bicycles don't have fender benders"

[zahrul3 471]

Everybody in my country(and most of South East Asia) has a moped or a motorbike, rich or poor LOL . Usually around 100cc to 135cc. Usually, an ASEAN moped has space to carry 2 raincoats when the inevitable happens.

America invades too much, they should really think about what happens in their country. Indonesia now exports to Japan, other ASEAN countries and Australia. No American oil, while Chevron and Caltex does exist here, they happen to just be a contractor. It is nowhere near practical to export large amounts of oil all the way to America.

- Indonesian seas can be quite shallow and have a bumpy sea floor, which neccesates the use of shallow drafted tankers.

- Most of the oil here comes from Borneo and most refineries are extremely isolated, meaning that ground transport to a better port is useless.

- Shallow drafted tankers can't navigate rough seas, so it goes to some close country, most often Australia, Japan and Singapore.

America actually has a lot of oil, though oil companies don't drill in inland America for some reason. American oil(inland) is significantly inferior in quality compared to Middle East and North Sea oil, that might be the reason. Oil companies are also quite stingy, when prices rise they simply sell less oil in hope it will go to sky-reaching prices, then sell it a bit more, but still in small quantities, just to keep the prices high.

[hym 358]

America actually has a lot of oil, though oil companies don't drill in inland America for some reason. American oil(inland) is significantly inferior in quality compared to Middle East and North Sea oil, that might be the reason.

The US has high quality oil at inland locations. (West Texas Intermediate is some of the best oil you'll find without going to specialty blends.) The lack of oil drilling in the US (as opposed to the shores around the US) is primarily the result of environmental pressures to quit inland drilling. Another factor is the relative inaccessibility of some of the oil reserves in the US. For example, the US is sitting on what is believed to be the largest oil deposit ever discovered in the history of humanity, but accessing it requires a dedicated nuclear power plant.

Oil companies are also quite stingy, when prices rise they simply sell less oil in hope it will go to sky-reaching prices, then sell it a bit more, but still in small quantities, just to keep the prices high.

While people love to demonize oil companies, there are a few things that are not being included in the discussion:

1. Companies like ExxonMobil and BP are oil giants. They control or have interests in huge swaths of oil and natural gas across the world. (I think ExxonMobil owns 1/6th of all the natural gas in the world.)
   
2. The companies do not make exorbitant profit margins. The oil and gas industry operates at about a 9% profit margin, which is a very mediocre profit margin in a capitalist economy.
   
3. ExxonMobil's "record $40 billion" profits come from the company making over $440 billion in sales over that year, not because ExxonMobil is trying to bleed everyone for everything they're worth. The same is true for companies like BP and others.
   

People look at the profits these companies make and act like it's corporate greed run amok, never realizing just how phenomenally huge these companies really are. ExxonMobil and BP both have annual sales higher than many countries' GDP.

To offer some anecdotal evidence from a guy is a plant manager for ExxonMobil and was the guest speaker at an engineering banquet I attended a couple of months ago:

"Most people don't realize just how big Exxon really is. Exxon is divided into about 10 divisions, of which the top three are upstream, downstream, and chemicals. I'm in the chemicals side of the company. I spent 20 years working in the chemical division in Canada, then moved to the US and have spent 10 years doing plant management at various Exxon chemical facilities in Louisiana and Texas. In those 30 years with the chemical division, I have been exposed to only a small part of everything the chemical division does, and the chemical division is only 3% of Exxon. So if you can spend an entire career in chemicals and only see a small part of what the chemicals division does, and it's only 3% of the company as a whole, imagine how big upstream and downstream are, considering they make up over 90% of the company."

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

People look at the profits these companies make and act like it's corporate greed run amok, never realizing just how phenomenally huge these companies really are.

The real question about the after expenses wealth of the oil companies is where does this money go? If they are publicly traded, how many common shares do they have and what is their dividend on them? How many widows and orphans hold common shares of oil companies and depend on them for their livelihood?

When it comes to corporations, it is easy to take shots at the fat cats on the board, but how many others are dependent on their earnings? How many hovels off an alley off I street are they supporting?

  Edited April 27, 2011 by A Nonny Moose