Fuel prices

[pjstough]

11 hours ago, Vladimir said:

Yes, I did....the pandemic dropped drilling, just like the next recession will again. 

It appears that the new drilling rigs are frackers and small time operators.  That will help, but I doubt it will make up for the drop in big oil exploration.

BTW...economists really need to change the definition of a recession.  Two quarterly declines in GDP is so yesterday.  We are STILL recovering from the pandemic recession, more than 1.6 MILLION jobs still missing.  The difference was that during the "pandemic recession" government poured money into the economy, particularly middle class Americans, which NEVER done in previous recessions.

The oil companies are NOT returning the "new huge profits" to shareholders at this time.  The BP dividend was cut in HALF during the pandemic.  It has not been raised since them.  

My biggest regret was not selling BP when it peaked at 70.  Twenty years later it is selling at 30.  So much for oil company profits!!!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/why-isn-t-big-oil-drilling-more-as-gas-prices-surge-the-answer-is-more-wall-street-than-white-house/ar-AAS5K8D?ocid=msedgntp

[trailertraveler]

12 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Well, here in Georgia I've watched gas prices go down about $0.75/gal in just the past week.

Isn't Georgia one of the states that suspended the fuel tax? That would account for about $0.33 of the decrease in diesel. Here in central Florida, the prices are still going up. $5.09-5.19 yesterday for diesel.

Edited April 2, 2022 by trailertraveler

[Dutch_12078]

42 minutes ago, trailertraveler said:

Isn't Georgia one of the states that suspended the fuel tax? That would account for about $0.33 of the decrease in diesel. Here in central Florida, the prices are still going up. $5.09-5.19 yesterday for diesel.

Yes, the tax suspension accounts for part of the price drop, but not all of it.

[Vladimir]

1 hour ago, rickeieio said:

Wise words Kirk.  There seems the emotion/fact ratio gets askew in times like this.  The pricing structure is more complicated than most folks realize.  The mechanics of drilling/pumping/distillation/etc are also far beyond what's been thrown about here.

Like everything else in life, people tend to complain the most about the things they understand the least.  And yes, I've been guilty too.

Complaining is good, particularly in Republics.  It provides a feedback loop to the politicians from the unwashed masses!!

As a government employee I always read the complaint letters.  I learned a lot from those letters.

The problem is not the American people.  

The problem is American journalism and the lack of science and basic economic education in the United States.

I actually looked up the educational requirements for a journalism degree for a few well known institutions.  NO science classes, no economics classes, no history classes, but there was one political science class required!!   Couple that with the lack of science education in America and you have the equivalent of the blind talking to deaf, while the deaf using sign language to communicate with the blind.

Which explains why there is so much controversy today.  The less you know about a subject, the more adament you state your position, whereas a subject matter expert will become a LESS forceful when they know less about a subject.

Those with less knowledge get to be known as EXPERTS by the media, because they get  "clicks".  The people that really know about a subject, just take a pass.

Take a look at the science experts being interviewed today.  They are young immigrants mostly.  It is very difficult for young immigrants to become part of the Elites and power structure in this country, particularly with a science degree.

It was about 40-50 years ago when we had a couple of engineers as Governors in Washington state.  Today, it is all lawyers.    Any guess why Washington state is such a mess today??  

I don't know what to say about the journalism short-fall, that is probably unfixable.  

The second one is easily fixable.  Start voting for smart people regardless of their politics!!!!

BUT, DO complain every chance you get.  Do it with good humor if possible.  

Every once in a while, when you find folks doing a good job, tell them and their boss.  It does make a huge difference.

 

[rickeieio]

Nicely stated.

As one who played the commodities market for years, and did pretty well most of the time, it's always amusing when to me when someone spouts off about how someone is raking in the dough, or screwing the public, when in fact they only have a snap shot of one little piece of the puzzle.

Lack of information, and mis-information does nothing to move us forward.  Hmmm, this goes back to your mention of journalism......😮

[bruce t]

Take out the self interest of business, politicians and the media and the picture may become clearer. 

 

[pjstough]

20 minutes ago, bruce t said:

Take out the self interest of business, politicians and the media and the picture may become clearer. 

 

It is not that complicated. If oil companies still had 880 oil well drilling rigs operating through the two month pandemic shutdown and beyond, there would be no oil shortages and the subsequent high fuel prices.

[rickeieio]

It's simple only if you over simplify it.  The oil companies don't own most of the drilling rigs, drilling companies do. Secondly, when things went in a slump, the people who worked on said rigs found work elsewhere.  Now there's a shortage of manpower.

Also, it's been said here that the drill rigs produce the oil.  Not true.  After the drill rig is gone, the pumps are put in place, again likely owned by small companies that sell to the refineries.  Re-working older wells is often cheaper than drilling new wells, and takes a lot less time getting permits and leases.

 

[Ray,IN]

During our return from FL this past weekend I saw an unmanned diesel refueling station with an advertised price of $6.799/G. Needless to say the 12 pump islands were empty.

That station only operated via commercial fuel cards, like EFS etc.