Posted on 09/12/2008 11:42:34 AM PDT by DGHoodini
Too short to excerpt:
NEW YORK (AP) - Crude oil on the futures market briefly sank below the $100-a-barrel Friday for the first time in five months-suggesting investors believe a worsening global economy will continue to drive down demand for some time in the United States and elsewhere.
The last time crude traded below $100 a barrel was on April 2.
Gasoline prices, however, jumped at the wholesale level as Hurricane Ike swept toward Houston, home to about one-fifth of U.S. refining capacity, and the site of a major fuel and grain distribution channel.
Wholesale gasoline prices on the Gulf Coast moved even further into uncharted territory to around $4.85 a gallon, as refineries anticipated that Ike would incur at least a significant pause in their operations, and at worst severe damage to their facilities.
Below 100 bucks and all the idiots around here are filling up, forming lines. DEE DEE DEE!!!!!
With a massive hurricane in the Gulf, and one of the most important ports and processing areas shut down for the same storm... prices continue to fall.
Someone please explain to me why prices have jumped during other hurricanes? Oh - because they could...
And our gasoline jumped 40 cents per gallon here in the last few hours (no new delivery of fuel today).
In Benton, AR - price has jumped 60 cents in the same time.
Governor of Arkansas has declared a state of emergency:
Governor declares state of emergency for Ike
By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Friday, September 12, 2008
Gov. Mike Beebe has declared a state of emergency in Arkansas because of gasoline supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Ike.
Beebe’s office said Friday that he expected increases in gasoline prices because some supply pipelines have been shut down. Beebe said he made the declaration to help the attorney general’s office pursue anyone who participates in price-gouging.
Arkansas statute 4-88-303 states that once a state of emergency is declared, sellers of certain goods can raise prices only by 10 percent unless they can prove that their own costs have increased.
Earlier Friday, state Attorney General Dustin McDaniel asked Arkansans to send pictures and other documentation of gasoline price gouging to his office.
Arkansans can send evidence to the attorney general’s office of gouging to gas@arkansasag.gov or text a picture to (501) 539-0969. They can also call (800) 482-8982.
What’s driving down the price of oil is the fear that the Middle East has of us drilling for our own oil. When we first started buying oil from the Middle East it was about $5-$10 a barrel. It gradually went up as we became dependent on them and they kept raising the prices to see how much we would take. Watch what will happen when we actually start drilling. Not only that, when we start producing our own oil, it will release more of the Middle East oil to the open market. When this happens, we don’t need to put our oil on the market. It can all be kept right here where it belongs.
I have a good friend that owns an Exxon station here in Pine Bluff. He has gone up 60 cents today. I hope the AG does go after these folks, going up like this, when they have received no new shipments today is not right.
What’s driving the price of oil down has been the ongoing strengthening of the U.S. dollar against other world currencies over the last couple of months. If you go back over the last 25 years you’ll find almost a perfect inverse relationship between the strength of the dollar and the price of oil.
Yessiree !
Gas up overnight by a dollar to $4.36 in UpState SC
and you are rationed to 10 gallons per purchase.
What gives ?
Good for my wallet, bad for the longer term security of American fostered by off-shore oil.
I thought “they” have been saying the dollar has been weak due to the high cost of oil, no?
That, and the fact that two of OPECs members got up and walked out of OPEC in the last week. And I’m not just talking about a tiff over whose jet got to park closest to the airport terminal..They 2wwalked out because they refused to go along with Iran and Venezuela, and the others who want to cut production to keep oil prices up in the stratosphere...amnd one of those countries is Saudi Arabia...could we really be seeing the end of OPEC? Possibly...But something new will come along when prices get down to around $80 a barrel would be my guess.
Correct....but it is a combination of both. The Middle East, in my opinion, will drive down the cost of their oil in the hopes that our country will say it’s not worth drilling for our own oil. The value of the dollar will will assist in driving it down as well as help us in other area.
EVERY station but one that I have seen in Little Rock has gone up around 50 cents per gallon today. I guess they figure that they can all collude and the gubmint won’t be able to do anything about it.
I dunno . . . I think it’s the other way around.
Sarah Palin and energy.
Gas Prices: Palin = Pay Less
Your friend is gaging his sales on what he thinks his next load of gas may cost him. He probably has a better handle on what wholesale prices are doing than you do.
If he sells what he has at a price that is too low, he won’t be able to replenish his supply and you’ll soon have one less place to buy gas at.
Many of these could be affected by Hurricane Ike.
Texas
Baytown Refinery (ExxonMobil), Baytown 557,000 bbl/d (88,600 m³/d)
Big Spring Refinery (Alon USA), Big Spring 61,000 bbl/d (9,700 m³/d)
Beaumont Refinery (ExxonMobil), Beaumont 348,500 bbl/d (55,410 m³/d)
Borger Refinery (ConocoPhillips/EnCana), Borger 146,000 bbl/d (23,200 m³/d)
Corpus Christi Complex (Flint Hills Resources), Corpus Christi 288,000 bbl/d (45,800 m³/d)
Corpus Christi Refinery (Citgo), Corpus Christi 156,000 bbl/d (24,800 m³/d)
Corpus Christi West Refinery (Valero), Corpus Christi 142,000 bbl/d (22,600 m³/d)
Corpus Christi East Refinery (Valero), Corpus Christi 115,000 bbl/d (18,300 m³/d)
Deer Park Refinery (Shell Oil Company), Deer Park 333,700 bbl/d (53,050 m³/d)
El Paso Refinery (Western Refining), El Paso 120,000 bbl/d (19,000 m³/d)
Houston Refinery (Lyondell), Houston 270,200 bbl/d (42,960 m³/d)
Houston Refinery (Valero), Houston 83,000 bbl/d (13,200 m³/d)
McKee Refinery (Valero), Sunray 158,300 bbl/d (25,170 m³/d)
Pasadena Refinery (Petrobras), Pasadena 100,000 bbl/d (16,000 m³/d)
Port Arthur Refinery (Total), Port Arthur 233,500 bbl/d (37,120 m³/d)
Port Arthur Refinery (Motiva Enterprises), Port Arthur 285,000 bbl/d (45,300 m³/d)
Port Arthur Refinery (Valero), Port Arthur 325,000 bbl/d (51,700 m³/d)
Penreco (Calumet), Houston
San Antonio Refinery (Age Refining), San Antonio 10,300 bbl/d (1,640 m³/d)
Sweeny Refinery (ConocoPhillips), Sweeny 229,000 bbl/d (36,400 m³/d)
Texas City Refinery (BP), Texas City 437,000 bbl/d (69,500 m³/d)
Texas City Refinery (Marathon Petroleum Company), Texas City 72,000 bbl/d (11,400 m³/d)
Texas City Refinery (Valero), Texas City 210,000 bbl/d (33,000 m³/d)
Three Rivers Refinery (Valero), Three Rivers 90,000 bbl/d (14,000 m³/d)
Tyler Refinery (Delek Refining Ltd.), Tyler 55,000 bbl/d (8,700 m³/d)
Barrel prices go down....but prices at the pump stay the same or go up.
Maybe so, at present he has one less customer than he did yesterday.
Yes, refining capabilities could be damaged to a great degree.
But that doesn’t directly affect the price of crude oil. it may affect it to the extent that we may buy refined gasoline from foriegn sources, who in turn need to purchase more crude, but even that would be balanced by the drop in our crude purchases. The greater the damages to our refining capacities, the higher the price at the pump. But two points to be made:
Damages and spill damages at refineries will be much less than , and easier to clean up and repair than damaged oil rigs, and even though those represent a large part of our refinery capabilities, we *do* have other refineries in areas outside of Ike’s path, that have been working at reduced output levels, that can quickly be ramped up.
All is not doom and gloom, even if Ike wallops the refineries you’ve listed.
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