Saw today where they are actually going to attempt to sue OPEC, really, how dumb are our elected officials?

I posted a couple thoughts on why gas is so high on the last page.

Sorry I was kind of mean. I am in the oil and gas business and it just irritates me how uninformed people are. To be completely honest......most people don't have a clue.

OPEC is relied upon because of the fact that there are so many places you can drill for oil in this country that aren't being utilized because of environmental activism. Florida coast, California coast, and Alaska are among a few. If people don't stop being pussies about putting drilling rigs in the ocean, among other places, this country is going to be in serious trouble in 10-15 years.......it is a reality....and it frustrates the hell out of people in my profession.....especially when we are the ones that are getting shit on by everyone because of gas prices. People don't have a clue. These places I've mentioned should have been explored and opened up a decade ago but people bitched and moaned about it so much it never happened......now we're in this situation and guess who they bitch to now......the oil companies. It's ridiculous.

Today it was $3.89/gal. $25 for around 6 gals of gas.

Full tank is now $59.13... 9 days later.

That "bargain" I found the other day is gone :(

First off, chill out.

Secondly, I'm sure there are really good reasons why drilling hasn't begun in those places you mentioned otherwise I'm sure they would have done it long ago.

Major oil company CEO's testified before a Senate committee today.

The senators did not treat them very kindly.

There is a thread in the News and Politics forum.

Filled up on Monday at 3.91. Today it is 4.05. Absolutely ridiculous.

Talk about mad. On the way to picking my daughter up from band practice, I checked out every gas station so I would know which one to stop at on the way home to buy gas. Logical, Right? Not driving out of my way for a cheaper price, but finding the cheapest one on the way. Well, 30 minutes later, driving home, three of the four had gone up 10 cents and were sitting at $3.99.

The one that didn't change had it for $3.89 for cash/debit, $3.94 for credit. Anybody else seeing a lot of that? Why are they doing that??

Perhaps saving on CC fees?

Depends on the type of store. If it's like a locally run gas station and they have a contract with an oil company that provides pumps and cash registers, everything run through credit they only get paid that money at certain intervals, normally 30 days. If it's credit or cash, it's money they pocket immediately, so that may be a little incentive for people to use cash so all their money isn't tied up for an entire month.

Yeah...I'm chilled. Haha.

Secondly, I'd really love to hear these really good reasons why we haven't been openly exploring the millions upon millions of unproven reserves in the places I mentioned. The reason why is exactly what I stated. Democrats and tree hugging liberals have fought coastal drilling for a long time now. It's all about environmentalism.

Here is another link concerning the Deep Ocean Drilling legislation
http://feinstein.senate.gov/news-oil-drilling83006.html


Now......this is the kind of attitude that I am more prone to agreeing with:

The St. Petersburg Times

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas: "I think that you go in every place that you can to find resources." Rep. Tom Tancredo: "You bet. I would agree to exploration off the coasts. I mean, it's -- how fair is it, today, that, Louisiana is producing all the oil that California and other (states) are consuming, and they refuse to allow the exploration of oil off the coasts?
"I'd say, you know, if you won't allow it, you can't use it, the stuff that we're getting from Louisiana... So, yes, you better drill every place you can here."

My cousin just told me that premium prices broke $5.00 where she is. I was so :eek: that I turned on my laptop after having just turned it off so that I could post that. :rolleyes:

When self serve first started it was cheaper to pump it yourself. Then they had the cash/credit price thing going on. I hadn't seen any stations do that until this past week when they suddenly have a cheaper price for cash or debit. As long as I can do debit, I'll do it that way. It's a pain when you're "filling up" and you have to go in, give them cash, go back out to pump and go back in to get your change. And, as the "pump shock" is setting in, figuring out how much you have to give them is more of a challenge. When they first required paying first, before debit cards, when I was operating on cash only personally, I used to give them a $20.

I haven't seen different prices for cash vs credit. Perhaps it's illegal in NJ, as is self-serve?

I was in Brasil last week and the cost of gas - gasoline - there was about the same as it is here, in NJ. (at least that is what we determined, converting from BRL to USD, then from litre to gallon) Their cars are a LOT smaller than ours and many of them run on "alcool" (alcohol) or a gas/alcohol mixture. (according to our driver...)

Not only that (good reason btw), but Credit companies are raising rates - the interest rates they charge consumers and =possibly= the charges that are charged to merchants to process cards. (I don't know the second part for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised since credit companies are trying to find new ways to look at their balance sheets since the housing industry went bust.

I'd compare it to the airlines charging for checked bags. It's sort of built in as another profit center to try to balance things out.

TexasWSP - there are plenty of environmental reasons to *not* drill in those places you were talking about. I'm not those decision makers but I'd venture to guess there are more reasons than just the environment ones. It's not like they just shook their finger at the oil companies and said 'no' just to piss you guys off.

Apology accepted. :)
And thank you for informing the masses. We need more information to counter what the media tells us and what our wallets say. :)

Brazil uses a lot more ethanol than we do here, and many cars are equipped to run on 100% ethanol. They can also make it more effectively from sugar cane, which grows much better on a large scale down there than it does here.

Diesel was $4.40 at the "cheap" place. Thank God we're not doing a lot of traveling this summer, even with the good mpg we get.

The diesel prices are what amaze me. It doesn't matter so much for my wife and I, but my dad's truck runs on diesel (he's in construction/remodeling), so he's had to put a much larger chunk of the money he makes on jobs towards travel costs. It's insane the amount of money he spends in a week on gas.

For a few years, the Shell station on the corner gives you a few cents discount if you come inside to pay with the credit card. I've always thought was a bit shady so I rarely go there.

There was a story on the news about using debit cards...some banks will put a hold of more than the purchase price until they figure out how much you actually paid...don't ask me to elaborate, I don't remember the specifics, lol.

First time I've ever filled up my Altima for $60:(

Theirs a place in my town that has four corners with gas stations on three of them. The other day the prices were like $4.15/gal at shell, $4.10/gal at mobil, and $3.98/gal at the little no name station. The amazing thing there were cars getting gas at the $4.15/gal station i wanted to go up to them and be did you not look across the street why are voluntarily paying .17cents more a gallon!!!!

Some people are gas snobs. A friend of mine refuses to use AMPM/BP no matter how much cheaper. He says Mobil and Shell are better for the car.

gas is gas is gas.

true, except you should always use the same grade, prefferbly the suggested octace rating for your car.

you could hurt your engine/gas millege if you don't.

I've said it before, it doesn't matter what the sign or pump says, there is no guarantee that that is ExxonMobil gas coming out of that ExxonMobil pump. It's all a marketing strategy. Also the no name brand station gets to control their prices based on the delivery price, so they only change their prices when they receive delivery, Marketed gas stations like ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and such are forced to change their prices as soon as they are told to.

^^^Per AAA, that is not 100% correct.

please enlighten further...

yes, that is true.
87 is the same at Wawa, ExxonMobil, BP, HESS, Sunoco, Shell, Texaco, where ever..

I dont need higher octane so why spend the 0.20 cents more per gallon for it? lol

I PM'ed you as it seem as if other do not care for info.

yeah i read that, interesting stuff...but still, if you have one of the 5% then you need it, but if not, it is a waste of money.

Which is why i said check the gas cap/owner's manual (should be the same, if not, something is wrong)

Agree.

Look, I'm in the oil and gas business. My father has been in it for 32 years. He is a vp in one of the largest producers of natural gas in the united states. I'm not telling it from a one sided point of view here. I'm telling you like it is........I'm failing to see the reason why you keep trying to argue this with me. Did you not read a single article I posted? It's right there, spelled out, in plain English. They won't let you drill off of Florida because of environmental "concerns". They won't let you drill off the coast of California because of environmental "concerns".

I never said there weren't environmental reasons to *not* drill. If I did I didn't mean to. That really means nothing to me though. These days there are "environmental concerns" for doing just about every single thing you could possibly do. When I go buy a bag of dog food, there is a potential for "environmental concern".

If it weren't for "environmental concerns" there would be off-shore drilling rigs off of the California Coast. The waters where the leases are located to drill in are all within federally regulated boundaries....there isn't supposed to be a damn thing they can do about.

However, this is where legislators out there get shady. There are plenty of loopholes in the system where if a "study" shows that oil and gas companies didn't take the necessary steps to ensure environmental protection then they can override the federal governments authority in the matter. If they can show a "potential" for future problems, they can override the system. Well.....that last part pretty much causes everyone to be shit out of luck. The process that goes into creating a well is extremely technical and you have to go through tons of safety checks, geological checks, geographical checks. etc. etc. You can put a well in the safest environment on the planet........doesn't mean there isn't a potential for something bad to happen.

I can't agree. I have had several mechanics (of different nationalities) tell me BP is "bad gas". They always have recommended Sonoco, Citgo and Shell.

Yesterday evening, DH filled up his car, paying $4.089/gal for regular.

This morning, I saw they were getting $4.149 for regular.

This evening, I saw one of the staff members changing the sign as I drove by. The new price for regular: $4.219.

So, prices were raised twice in a 24-hour period, by a total of 13 cents per gallon.

And it's not even Memorial Day weekend yet.

:(

TEAR!!!:(:(:mad::mad:

I'm at $50 to fill up a Cavalier!!!! WTF!!!!!?

Here it rose 11 cents by the time I got off of work.

Two gas stations here in town offered regular gas for $3.00/gal today only. At 10:00 a.m. this morning, both stations had lines to go down the street for several miles. It was so bad, that traffic had to be cut down to one lane only while the police directed traffic. They only allowed cars to use one entrance to the station. I got this report from my mom. I was safe at work. I am not about to fight for gas.

I saw several stations that had premium gas from $4.15-$4.21/gal. Darn my car for not taking regular! lol :p

Since I don't know too much about economics, has the supply really dipped down or has demand shot through the roof?

I am soooooo glad I don't drive.

At the minimum, I hope this encourages people with access to public transportation to actually use it (as opposed to my husband's loony friends who choose to drive into DC and spend so long looking for parking that it would be faster to Metro anyway).

Until Citgo decreases their price by the 11 cent difference, then I'll just have bad gas.

Yes, you may quote that for posterity. :cool:

I am now forced to get a hose and still my neighbor's gas.:(

That sucks. I'm at $59.13 for mine.