Posted on 08/11/2015 10:30:17 AM PDT by tcrlaf
There goes crude oil again.
On Tuesday morning, West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York fell 4% to as low as $43.03 per barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was also lower, near $50 per barrel, after on Monday having its biggest one-day jump in a month.
We got OPEC's latest monthly production numbers Tuesday morning, and they showed that production surged to a three-year high in July. The 12-member oil cartel has overshot its production target for at least a year in a bid to maintain its market share.
After what seemed like a recovery in prices around May, crude continued its plunge late in June and collapsed 20% from recent highs into a bear market last month.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
I still don't understand how that explains a sudden increase in pump price in the face of steady declines in the price of crude oil. I assume that refinery location and shipping costs in Indiana haven't changed substantially in recent weeks. Maybe it is related to problems at the nearby BP refinery that someone mentioned.
$1.97 for #2 Heating Oil?
It is still $2.19-2.39 here in NH. We are 50 miles from the port too.
I guess I should have not put in that pellet stove last year.
Between $2.799 and $2.999 at many locations on the CO Rockies.
Lowlanders from other states are buying it, too. Traffic’s heavy.
My local guy, full service.
Prices halfway down page.
His oil is from the Newburgh NY terminal on the Hudson River.
http://www.newenglandoil.com/newhampshire/zone6.asp?x=0
This website shows all the companies in New England. The company I have been using (Lorden Oil) is $2.39 currently.
I think ours all comes from either Boston, Portsmouth, NH or Portland, ME.
I misunderstood the phrase “control of the market” as “physical dominance of gas stations” in a particular area. As mere humans, we see gas prices on gas stations and take our anecdotal information from that. Or from gasbuddy.
The price of gasoline at the pump relates more to the so-called “crack spread” than the raw price of WTIC. I am not going to tell you I am intimate with the operations of a corner gas station. The point, WTIC got crushed by over $2 at one point today.
“Refineries in the United States produced an average of about 12 gallons of diesel fuel and 19 gallons of gasoline from one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil in 2013. Many other petroleum products are also refined from crude oil.”
So, if gasoline is 19/42 of a barrel (let’s call it half)
that does not mean you see an immediate $1 drop in gas prices! (I know I didn’t have to tell you that)
There are a lot of moving parts. There is refinery maintenance, changeover to summer/winter blends...
I am not trying to ‘splain every hiccup in prices, just saying there are lots of moving parts in the machine.
I’ve seen creditable reports that WTI may see a $30 bbl. There are whacky things going on with oil and gas prices right now.
I'm not either but someone on FR a year or so ago, who credibly claimed some inside information about gas station pricing policy, said that stations set price based on their expected replacement cost; that is, some mark-up over what they expect to pay per gallon the next time the fuel truck rolls in.
What isn’t getting smoked now?
RINO’s in Michigan are doing that now.
They have to.
Once you understand the dynamics of a true auction market...you (begin to) understand that for there to BE a market...including a stock market, the futures market, or a cucumber market....there MUST be a mechanism whereby the big boyz can buy lower than you can and can sell higher then you can. This is a very subtle but powerful underpinning of ALL markets, but generally no more true than in commodity markets such as oil. Even so....there are those many moving parts affecting oil prices at the retail pump. For one example utterly disconnected from the oil market, you probably know that gas station snack bars make lots more money from their snacks and trash food than they make from gas.
Well, if a nickel better price on oil brings in 2x as many customers for cigs and Milky Way bars, they may decide to discount gas to almost breakeven but pull in the snackers.
Well, if a nickel better price on oil brings in 2x as many customers for cigs and Milky Way bars, they may decide to discount gas to almost breakeven but pull in the snackers.”
Yes, I mentioned that in my post #16. The stations that don't have an attached convenience store (but, instead, run a repair shop) usually have substantially higher gas prices.
I used to wait ‘till Ind. to gas up, but now do so in Mich. Auto Diesel in Ind. is screwy given advertised prices for big rigs. Longer ago Ind. sales tax was not included in pump price. That soured me on the whole place.
Breakdown at Indiana refinery sends Midwest gas prices soaring
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/08/11/breakdown-at-indiana-refinery-sends-midwest-gas-prices-soaring/
August 11, 2015
For want of a refinery unit in Indiana, oil in Oklahoma and Alberta is tumbling and gasoline in the Midwest is soaring.
Leaking tubes on a piece of equipment forced BP Plc to shut the largest crude unit at its refinery near Chicago over the weekend, according to a person familiar with operations there. It could be down for at least a month. The shutdown of the most important unit in the biggest plant in the Midwest has disrupted markets throughout the region.
If we didn’t have “Regional” blending, we could use any gas from anywhere.
Yep, that corner has ethanol requirements.
http://www.api.org/~/media/files/policy/fuels-and-renewables/us-gasoline-requirements-map.pdf
Another reason for Kalifornia suckage....
They jumped to $2.99 today! What the devil is going on?!?!?!?
Gas jumped another 40 cents a gallon to $2.99 today. Can’t find anyone selling for less than that.
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