Posted on 12/05/2011 8:21:41 AM PST by illiac
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.
The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
After all, it is the US consumer that is paying for all the envro regs & monitoring as well as the ports for shipping (channel dredging), etc. w/ our domestic consumption.
Have you ever used this tool to zoom into your area and look at competing prices?
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx
No they’re not. They’re about a dollar less now than at their all time high but I wonder why we’re still importing Saudi oil if we can thumb our noses at them.
Did this morning....we are running 3.49 and up....
So if you are near Coeur D’ Alene, AAA would be reasonably accurate reporting $3.46
Dec. 26, 2008—Gas prices were$1.64 a gallon. Some areas saw prices as low as $1.45 a gallon. Crude oil was just a little over $40 a barrel.
3 years later we’re at almost 3 times that. Not sure what you mean by dropped but when folks see gas at $3.25 vice $3.60 and get excited then there’s a problem. We shouldn’t be exporting ANY fuels until we can satisfy our own needs first.
Shift that curve up by $.50 at least in Alaska.
I did read the article, and I also understand that importing oil and exporting gasoline is better than importing oil and not exporting gasoline. Even if the trade is still out of balance, it's at least a step in the right direction.
Taxes and tariffs charged on both ends of any transaction are determined by the applicable trade agreement with the receiving country. If any product is so burdened with additional taxes then all products should be so burdened; or so any lawsuit would hold. The cost of regulatory compliance is built into the products (including gas) as an expense. To that extent they are represented in the export price. But if tomatoes are exported from the same port, should they not also be subject to a dredging tax?
Additional taxes would interfere with existing trade agreements and the ramifications would be far ranging. Why not tax oranges and tomato exports because they must also use roads and follow environmental regulations? Would this not drive down the price of oranges and tomatoes?
I’m in favor of letting the market work. The freer the market the lower the consumer price.
Thackney,
Please, O wise one explain to me why regular unleaded gasoline here in NH is now $3.19 but home heating oil is $3.29 or more.
Keep in mind that there is State and Federal tax on gasoline and neither on heating oil. Also, heating oil up until a few years ago was typically half the price of gasoline. lastly, #2 heating oil is a low grade petroleum product which is far less expensive to refine than either gasoline or desiel.
P.S.
I know the rules of supply and demand so the people who would like to add their 2 cents, please refrain I am addressing this question to thackney because he seems to be our FR energy expert.
Yes, but who’d’ve thought that “Peak Oil” would be brought about by prohibiting oil development? If our masters decide to permit us oil, they will find no lack.
I don’t think any one item is going to explain it all away.
Going back a few years the EPA regulations for ULSD greatly impacted pricing on distallates. The home heating oil does not have that requirement, but gets impacted by the regulation.
http://www.ilta.org/LegislativeandRegulatory/MVNRLM/ULSDinfo.htm
Keeping the fuels separate in the refinery adds cost and some smaller refineries may not be economically able to do so. The result will be that the home heating oil will compete with the ultra low sulfur diesel market.
But I have to question the claim that it was half the price of gasoline a few years ago.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W_EPD2F_PRS_NUS_DPG&f=W
The road diesel may have some small amount of additives added to it, but in a pre-2007 either would run just fine using the other except in some extreme conditions.
I don't agree, certainly not for the next several decades. As the demand puts price pressure on the commodity, it becomes more economical to reach the more difficult sources. At the same time, the price pressure slows the demand growth.
The increased prices funds more technology for items like horizontal steerable drilling and make more sources economical to produces.
Yeah...really pissing me off. Seems like it should be dropping as well.
What part of the country? Running about 3.10 around here (Alabama) and I've seen it at 3.01 (10% ethanol) within the last week.
I’ll give you this much: There’s something to be said for not depleting a appreciating resource. All those trillions of untapped gallons of oil under our soil represents future wealth, if we ever do use it.
Heating oil may not have been half the price of gasoline on average throughout the year. However, we would typically buy heating oil at its lowest price in August and lock in the price of the contract for the heating season.
It may not have been half, but it was always cheaper than gasoline. Even if heating oil could be exchanged for diesel, they still need to add the federal and state taxes onto the price. That alone is atleast a $.40/gallon difference.
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