Maybe some of that is coming from the now, PAY AIR PUMPS..!
The last free air BP station just caved to the trend today.
So as a reward for my patronage, spending $100-$150 per week, I get to pay a extra 50 cents to put air in my tires...
Says a LOT about where company's are focusing today...customer satisfaction...what's that??

 

Thats why I'm glad I work a dealership, just pull my car in and check the tires every week or two. I think there are maybe 2 non pay-for-air stations within a few miles of my house(out of about 10), one of which has some very odd hours, so that isn't an option most of the time.

 

So why do gas prices traditionally rise between Thanksgiving and Christmas like they do in the spring?

Actually, I guess I didn't do a good-enough job inserting sacrasm into my post... you and IrocManiac both think I was being totally serious.
Lemme try again...

I am an oil comapny.
EVERYTHING that happens makes me raise my price.
Specualtion of bad weather...
A ship leaks oil into the ocean...
A refinery goes down (for scheduled maintenance no less)...
A magazine article speculates on $262/barrel oil...
Crude prices go up (even .42/barrel)...
Changeover to seasonal blends...
Pigeons poop...
The Pope farts...
And the wind changes to blow from the south-east for 2 days...
EVERYTHING makes me raise my prices, but when they call me and my buddies in front of a congressional panel, I decide to drop prices a little before they bust my **** for price-fixing. AND, I manage to drop my prices but still be profitable while I am operating at less than 100% refining capacity in the Gulf region to boot. My last refinery comes back on-line in December, and the prices begin to go UP instead down, as you would expect from adding capacity. DOUBLE -

This was an interesting read this morning at breakfast...
Oil execs refuse to testify at U.S. Senate hearing
"With oil companies reporting record profits from higher energy prices, consumer groups have complained that mergers in the industry have stifled competition."

Can't imagine why they would decline to explain their windfalls to the public, since they worked so hard to earn every penny. <---SARCASM

You know, any good, upstanding, consciencious, publicly-traded company should JUMP at the opportunity to explain what a great deal their stock is, what a great company they work for, and how much good that company is doing for the nation, the state, and the local economies in which they operate. That would NEVER help their stock price, or public opinion, now would it? <---SARCASM

In my humble opinion, you don't waste effort hiding or avoiding the truth if the truth is a GOOD thing. I raise a weary eyebrow when I see companies pass-up free international exposure and advertising opportunities like this. If you are doing nothing wrong, it's a perfect opportunity to quell the naysayers, and put a plug in for your company. Something's up.

 

The sad thing is we are so reliant on oil. That is why we just can't cut our usage to 50%. The trend the last 50 years has been surban life and living 40-50 miles away from work. That might change and you might see more people moving back into the cities where they are a bus ride/walk/bike ride away.

Luckily I work out of home (Sales) and company pays gas so it doesn't really put the hurt on me (although Natural Gas has tightened the budget...)...

The cost of oil going up really is a good thing in that it will definitely further advanced in alternative energy and fuel mileage performance rather then HP. I mean c'mon do we really need Trucks that can pull a Semi Trailer??? Or Cars that can do 11s in the 1/4 mile? The Auto Industry is out of touch with reality in a way.

The fact is the Oil Companies CAN dictate and as IrocManiac has suggested the profit margins are not that crazy compared to every other item we purchase. Hell we bitch about 10% margin on oil, but there is around a 60-70% margin on clothes? There are big profits to be made in the Oil Industry because it is ONE OF THE BIGGEST INDUSTRIES. The fact they are profitable overall is good for the US.

I'm all for a fast car or whatnot, but if you want that fast car - your going to pay it at the pump. I would like to have a vehicle in the 50-60mpg range and a toy in the garage. This day and age we should be approaching 60+ as the norm, not stuck in the 20s/30s as we have been forever...

 

Check out a movie called The End of Suburbia, It talks about what you just said. How the post WWII boom in autos and cheap fuel drove people out of cities and what could happen to suburbia if we lose that cheap fuel in the future. Very good movie.

Can't beat that new Z06, mid 11's 505HP and 26mpg hwy

Duramax GMC 3500s get damn close to 20mpg too. In Europe just about every truck in Diesel. I had a student from England working for me and he thought I was joking when I said almost all pickups are gasoline powered

 

In Europe, just about all VEHICLES are diesel... period.
There are still a few gasoline holdouts, but overwhelmingly, diesel rules.
I have been in (driving it too) a Mercedes C-class that was loaded, doing 145mph on the autobahn, with a 4-cyl turbo diesel. NO JOKE.

It is peppy, responsive, light, and got phenomenal mileage, like 35mpg or better - even with me trying to blow it up every time the speedlimit went away. I don't care for Mercedes-Benz whatsoever, but I am honest enough to admit when they have got something going on - AND THEY DO.

Problem I have with diesel is that here in central NC, diesel is MORE than premium gasoline. It's running $2.53-2.60/gal while premium gas is at about $2.45-2.49/gal. Why a byproduct costs more than a targetted end-product is beyond me?

 

You know, we had all better be pretty glad that Exxon is making a profit. Is it alot of money...yes... but then again, it's only about an 8% return...the reason the amount of $$$ is so huge is that Exxon is a huge company; the money woudl be huge if it was a 1% return.

Unless they have done something illegal (and there is no evidence to show that thay have), companies are supposed to make a profit and we should be glad when they do.

Companies that make a profit stay in business.

Companies that make a profit don't lay-off employees.

Companies that make a profit pay taxes.

Companies that don't make a profit go out of business, fire employees, and don't pay taxes...everybody looses.

Aside from that, they and the other oil companies need their profits to explore and develope which is something they had BETTER be doing unless you want to see $10/gallon gas in the not too distant future.

Rigth now, the middle-east produces about 25 million barrels of oil a day of which we (the US) buys about 7 million. China right now uses about 7 million.

China's demand is expcted to more than double in the next few years.

That means either someone is going to have to produce a lot more oil or ssomebody is going to be left, literally, out in the cold.

What do you think will happen to the price of a gallon of gassoline if China is willing to pay twice as mucn as they do now just to feed their demand???

No one likes to pay more for something than they must but it's very shortsighted to jump on the oil companies for doing what they MUST do...make a profit.

 

China CAN'T afford to pay twice as much. They do not have the capital or the equity to do so. And if you are talking about their civilian populace, it's FAR worse than governmental and coprorate situations.
I am building a plant there right now... their economy is hot discussion for me and my coworkers, half of whom have lived there since September.

Riddle me this Batman...
Gas in Venezuela is $.12/gal.
Gas in Brazil is $3.12/gal.
How is it that Venezuela can pump, refine, and distribute gas for $.12/gallon and NOT LOSE MONEY, but Brazil - on the same continent, one neighbor away - has to have $3.12 for it? $3.00/gallon for what added value to the end product?

Better yet, how is it that we (USA) buy refined petrol from offshore nations like Venezuela and pump it straight from the ship to the gas distribution centers and we still have to pay $2.50 for it?
Sure, governmental taxation comes into play, but so does corporate profiteering when the industry acts as a single unit.

I'm telling you... it don't jive.

 

venezuela is also moving closer and closer to being a socialist state.

there is nothing wrong with them charging others whatever they are willing to pay for it. if i charge an insane price for an item and they pay that price, am i an ******* or a good business man?

 

If your logic were sound, China couldn't "afford" to buy what they already buy...as involved in China as you are, you have to be seeing that every major corporation in the world is involved in China or want to be...whatever they can afford to do now is not the complete indicator of what they will need and be willing to pay for in 10-15 years.

Let's hope they can and will pay for it...that's a lot better than the alternative...if they need it, do you really think they wouldn't use their military if they saw no other way?

I can't speak to Brazil or Venezuela...my first question would be the amount or lack of government involvment??? Plus, they produce their own oil do they not? Pumping it out of your own ground is a lot less expensive than buying it from SA...I dare say the Saudias pay a lot less per gallon than we do.

 

Not flaming, but this sounds like a typical Republican Spin-master response...
The flaw with this thinking is that;
companies that make profits: still lay off employees, still dodge taxes, still fire people, downsize and outsource....why????
To continually improve the bottom line, Return on Investment...where the "Investors" are the only thing they serve and protect.(ex. 8% is good, but 9% would be better, let's downsize company "X"...)(Pirates love more treasure...)
edit..

 

Because the invisible hand told them to.

 

Venezuala subsidizes the price of gas in their country it doesn't cost 12 cents to extract it, ship it refine it and ship it again...their government pays almost all the costs.

 

HARSH WORDS there dude.

But just in case anybody here doesn't realize which party is affiliated with the oil industry and to what degree... I just read this this morning...
Hastert to huddle with oil trade group boss

"But concerns about voter backlash against high energy prices and large oil profits could hit Republican efforts to hang onto Congress in this year's elections and prompt a new round of hearings."

"The Center for Responsive Politics reports that Exxon Mobil's political action committee has donated $218,050 to federal candidates during the current mid-term election cycle, with 90 percent of those donations going to Republicans. Hastert and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, both got the maximum $5,000 donation."

So somebody explain to me (again) why the current administration would want to curtail the windfall of profits in the energy sector?
It's called "biting the hand that feeds you", and it's not a good thing to do for self-preservation.

POLITICS boys, POLITICS.

 

This is nothing new. If the democrats were in power they'd be getting all the lobbying. This has been going on about as long as we have had a democratic govt. (Although, I agree Lobbying should be "Illegal").

Profit margin guys, all it is. I wouldn't get your panies in a bunch because the SUV at home now cost $400 a month to drive back and forth to work. Should have seen it coming...?