Is the fuel shortage over?
- Thread starter Murgen
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Isn't it more likely it was overdramatized by the media in the first place. And that jockeying the futures markets for it by speculators was a big factor in the increases in prices? Sure does point up the necessity of cutting to the chase on those silly enviro-extremist rules requiring so many different formulations, all needing to be stored in separate facilities, etc.
Also points up the need for getting more serious about conservation achieved via proper tire pressure. That alone can save phenomenal amounts of fuel, according to reports......unfortunately they probably come from the same enviro-extremist outfits!!!
Then there is the bio-diesel deal. Can't wait for that, if only for the smell of french fry oil (and I do not like french fries!) as contrasted with conventional diesel fuel burning.
Truthfully, my thought is maybe if more soy was going into bio-diesel, they would be less agressively pursuing the fake beef market......and you had better believe, they still are doing that!
MRJ
Also points up the need for getting more serious about conservation achieved via proper tire pressure. That alone can save phenomenal amounts of fuel, according to reports......unfortunately they probably come from the same enviro-extremist outfits!!!
Then there is the bio-diesel deal. Can't wait for that, if only for the smell of french fry oil (and I do not like french fries!) as contrasted with conventional diesel fuel burning.
Truthfully, my thought is maybe if more soy was going into bio-diesel, they would be less agressively pursuing the fake beef market......and you had better believe, they still are doing that!
MRJ
Everything is overdramatized by media.
How many bodies have been recovered in N.O so far? What is the danger of BSE in North America?
How many people died in Chicago during the last bad heat wave? how are large corporations taking advantage of us luxury purchasers? (what is the average tv(#) ownership in North America?)
Heck, we didn't even all die on Jan 01, 2000. :shock: :shock:
Media, are the majority Liberal or Conservative? Blame or solutions?
Food for thought, who you listen to, isn't it?
nenmrancher
Well-known member
As a former manager of a station that belonged to a small company, six stores all but mine were rural, I noticed that the stores in the rural locations have/had better margins on fuel than the stores located in the cities. My store I was lucky to make a nickel a gallon above what I was paying for it. The real money in stores like the one I managed is not fuel it is the candy, sodas and in lots of cases the booze and cigarettes that keep a store open and profitable. The gas just gets people in the front doors.
So, as the price of fuel has increased, how has the "drawing card" worked, to bring people in to buy the conveniences they can buy other places?
My cousin owns a gas station, they hate it when the fuel prices go up. all it soes is drive people to the supermarket!
My cousin owns a gas station, they hate it when the fuel prices go up. all it soes is drive people to the supermarket!
agman
Well-known member
MRJ said:
Bio-diesel smells horrible. Even a small percentage in regular diesel makes for an unwelcome odor. I thought you would like to know. It does not smell like french fries.
If you switch to bio or even a percentage in your diesel take at least two extra fuel filters along. Bio acts like a detergent and can easily clog a clean filter until the lines are cleaned out. I would not want to see you stranded out on the road.
agman
Well-known member
nenmrancher said:
A good friend of mine who is an independent operator told me his margin was only three cents per gallon. He had to absorb some of the price advance out of his margin. Higher prices squeezed his margin.
agman
Well-known member
MRJ said:
Speculators have been involved in the run-up in gasoline prices just like in cattle and grain at various times. There is a positive side to this. These high prices and associated profits are leading to an unprecedented search for new oil. Additionally, alternative fuel sources become economically feasible to produce. Only a minor shift in demand could lead to a surplus. I would not be at all surprised to see an oil glut within five years. Excesses always precede a bust. The best cure for high prices is high prices.
In my home county two years ago there was only one rig drilling new wells. There are now seventeen rigs in the same county drilling for oil. The search is going on in old and new fields.
Unlike past oil price hikes that were caused by OPEC induced shortages the run-up this time is because of an increase in world demand. The new players are China and India. The world economy is expected to grow this year at a four percent annual rate. Additionally, the uncertainty in Iraq is probably associated with an additional risk premium of $15-$20 per barrel. Have a cool one.
PORKER
Well-known member
A bigger proportion of homes in New England and Maine use oil for heat than in any other region of the country because of its older housing stock and the late arrival of access to natural gas to many parts of the region, according to Jonathan Cogan of the Energy Information Administration in Washington. The portion of homes using oil ranges from 70 percent in Maine to 39 percent in Massachusetts.
Many residents avoided the sting of high oil prices during last winter's bitter cold by buying contracts that locked in prices early.
This summer, with prices already high, many people paid around $2 a gallon for contracts for this winter. Then Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, knocking out oil supplies and refineries and sending gasoline prices surging.
Heating oil prices spiked, as well, even though there's a greater supply of heating oil than in the past six or seven years, Nagusky said.
"It was a good thing for the oil companies. They relish this. It is an excuse, an excuse, to up it," said Smith, a widower who used to own a small grocery store, Smitty's, in Auburn. "There's no stopping it, and it's a shame."
Smith didn't buy his oil ahead, partly because he finds lock-in programs confusing.
He paid $1.89 per gallon to top off his 275-gallon tank this summer. Since then, the average price has climbed to about $2.50 a gallon in Maine.
New Hampshire's average price was $2.67, a jump of 23 percent in a month and 65 percent in a year, said Joe Broyles of the state Office of Energy and Planning.
Broyles won't hazard a guess about what oil will cost in the months ahead.
"There is nobody on the planet, or in the galaxy, who has a crystal ball big enough for that," he said.
Jamie Py of the Maine Oil Dealers Association said people shouldn't confuse local oil dealers, who buy from big suppliers, with industry giants that have enjoyed record profits. Like homeowners, local dealers are paying drastically more for their oil, he said.
The last resort for people who cannot pay to keep warm is federal heating assistance. Last year, 47,000 Maine households received $24 million in payments, said Dan Simpson of the Maine State Housing Authority. But the average benefit was $480 - not enough to fill a tank at today's prices.
How much heating aid there will be this winter remains uncertain.
There are not a lot options. Firewood prices have shot up to roughly $200 a cord in Maine, about $75 more than last year. Natural gas prices are up, too.
In Haverill, Mass., Rocco Pelosi, 78, has piled up firewood in his 1.5-acre backyard. That will help some, along with federal assistance. Without it, he's not sure what he and his wife would do.
"I don't want to cry on anybody's shoulder," he said. "I try to make ends meet. If I didn't have them to help me, I don't know what the hell I'd do."
Smith's backup plan also involves firewood. He has an extra bed set up next to his fireplace, and he'll sleep in it if he has to.
Many residents avoided the sting of high oil prices during last winter's bitter cold by buying contracts that locked in prices early.
This summer, with prices already high, many people paid around $2 a gallon for contracts for this winter. Then Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, knocking out oil supplies and refineries and sending gasoline prices surging.
Heating oil prices spiked, as well, even though there's a greater supply of heating oil than in the past six or seven years, Nagusky said.
"It was a good thing for the oil companies. They relish this. It is an excuse, an excuse, to up it," said Smith, a widower who used to own a small grocery store, Smitty's, in Auburn. "There's no stopping it, and it's a shame."
Smith didn't buy his oil ahead, partly because he finds lock-in programs confusing.
He paid $1.89 per gallon to top off his 275-gallon tank this summer. Since then, the average price has climbed to about $2.50 a gallon in Maine.
New Hampshire's average price was $2.67, a jump of 23 percent in a month and 65 percent in a year, said Joe Broyles of the state Office of Energy and Planning.
Broyles won't hazard a guess about what oil will cost in the months ahead.
"There is nobody on the planet, or in the galaxy, who has a crystal ball big enough for that," he said.
Jamie Py of the Maine Oil Dealers Association said people shouldn't confuse local oil dealers, who buy from big suppliers, with industry giants that have enjoyed record profits. Like homeowners, local dealers are paying drastically more for their oil, he said.
The last resort for people who cannot pay to keep warm is federal heating assistance. Last year, 47,000 Maine households received $24 million in payments, said Dan Simpson of the Maine State Housing Authority. But the average benefit was $480 - not enough to fill a tank at today's prices.
How much heating aid there will be this winter remains uncertain.
There are not a lot options. Firewood prices have shot up to roughly $200 a cord in Maine, about $75 more than last year. Natural gas prices are up, too.
In Haverill, Mass., Rocco Pelosi, 78, has piled up firewood in his 1.5-acre backyard. That will help some, along with federal assistance. Without it, he's not sure what he and his wife would do.
"I don't want to cry on anybody's shoulder," he said. "I try to make ends meet. If I didn't have them to help me, I don't know what the hell I'd do."
Smith's backup plan also involves firewood. He has an extra bed set up next to his fireplace, and he'll sleep in it if he has to.
mlsfarms
Well-known member
Never was a fuel shortage, only the Buschhhhh Wahcker and his friends lining their pockets.
agman
Well-known member
mlsfarms said:
Can you tell us where that extra fuel is and where it is being produced?
