Gas prices hit high

CNN ^ | August 14, 2005

[BulletBobCo]

CNN) -- Gas prices surged 20 cents over the past three weeks to an all-time high of $2.50 per gallon of self-serve regular, according to a national survey.

The price surge "does smash the all-time record high for the third time this year," Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey, said Sunday.

"Crude oil has caused this jump at the pump," she said of the survey, taken August 12 at about 7,000 gas stations in every state.

"And even at the current record-breaking pump prices, gasoline demand, while not galloping, is still growing."

Oil prices rose to record highs of $67 a barrel Friday, amid concerns that demand was straining the world's capacity to pump and refine crude oil. (Full story)

Lundberg noted that if the crude oil supply remains undisrupted, "the gasoline price surge itself will probably be ending soon, if it has not already."

"Our demand for gasoline is always highest for June, July and August," she said of the summer months, when families typically take vacations. She said gasoline demand is expected to taper off after August.

(SNIP)

Though a record in absolute terms, the price is still well shy of a record, if adjusted for inflation. The peak price would have been set during the Iranian revolution in March 1981, when a gallon of gas cost about $3 in today's dollars, Lundberg said.

[RedBeaconNY]

And Europe has it worse.

Petrol prices hit record high and rising

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Live in the West and am starting to feel the pinch. My plan: Take up more "at home" projects, dump things like health club memberships which require driving, eat at home instead of going out for dinner, plan an austere Christmas season, schedule errands wisely.

[GR Freeper]

Though a record in absolute terms, the price is still well shy of a record, if adjusted for inflation.

Maybe, but unlike gas prices, inflation hasn't doubled in three years. Gas prices are still outrageous.

[steenkeenbadges]

This gas thing is a pile of puckey. The push will be on for those wimpy Prius "hybrid" cars - forgetting that plugging them in will take electricity (which is free, right?)

Then there'll be a tax on non-hybrid cars and we'll be right back where we started.

Start a home business, make extra bucks, and write the whole thing off. Then go to the gym and out to dinner when you damn well please.

[redgolum]

I just wonder at what level prices will have to be to really slow the economy down.

I suspect it is starting to.

[BluH2o]

Hit a new bench mark this AM when I pumped $53.00 worth of
gas into my SUV ... that's a little about 22 gallons.

[sandbar]

It's $2,60 here in Atlanta. $2.29 last week. What the hell is going on? I have a 40 mile commute, one way. At what point does the government step in and help out? They are part of the problem in the first place with this by not allowing drilling in America. This is going to affect the economy at some point.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Actually, doing business from home is part of the agenda I didn't mention. And I agree with you that by the time you add in the "easy monthly payments" on a hybrid, you'll have to drive it to the moon and back before you break even. Not paying any more taxes than you need to is admirable.

[Koblenz]

Typical car gets what, 25 miles per gallon? And average household drives what, 1,000 miles per month per car? So 40 gallons a month per car, typical family has two cars.

So 80 gallons, and if prices increase $0.50 per gallon, that's an extra $40 worth of gas per family. Not ideal, but not really budget breaking either.

[sandbar]

>>>The peak price would have been set during the Iranian revolution in March 1981, when a gallon of gas cost about $3 in today's dollars>>>

Give it 2 weeks for the $66/$67 barrel prices to hit. It's almost there now.

[deadeyedawg]

It'll take 90.00 a barrel in today's dollars to set a record. Just more Bush bashing from the lamestream media.

[RayChuang88]

This gas thing is a pile of puckey. The push will be on for those wimpy Prius "hybrid" cars - forgetting that plugging them in will take electricity (which is free, right?)

However, when gasoline engines get direct fuel injection, lean-burn combustion (air to fuel ratio of 40:1 or higher), improved spark plug designs, and improved variable valve timing, we could see as much as 35 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared to today's engines, something that could happen by 2008. This is because gasoline is far more efficiently ignited in such an advanced engine, which means you can drastically reduce the amount of gasoline needed in the combustion chamber. The result is less need for turbodiesel engines and definitely less need for expensive hybrid drivetrains.

Besides, at current prices it has become economically viable to pump oil from less economic oilfields and use oil tar sands, oil shale and liquified coal to refine into petroleum products. Given the massive amount of tar sands, oil shale and coal in the USA and Canada we have enough to make motor fuels at current consumption rates for a couple of centuries!

[IamConservative]

So, is:

1) The supply of crude being restricted?
2) Demand outstripping supply?
3) Nefarious trading activities manipulating the market?

Something certainly has made the price go up 40+% in recent months.

[biblewonk]

At what point does the government step in and help out?

That would be socialism.

[paul544]

Hybrids don't get plugged in. They get their power from regenerative breaking.

[newgeezer]

It's $2,60 here in Atlanta. $2.29 last week. What the hell is going on? I have a 40 mile commute, one way. At what point does the government step in and help out?

Hopefully never.

Or, at least not until you do something about that 40-mile commute.

[Bulwark]

This gas thing is a pile of puckey. The push will be on for those wimpy Prius "hybrid" cars - forgetting that plugging them in will take electricity (which is free, right?)

Ya know you don't plug them in, right? And you know that by driving one you're using less gas (and therefore, oil) and sending less money to terrorist supporting regions/countries.

[stylin19a]

near as I can figure, there paying about 5.50-5.80 a gallon ? good.

[steenkeenbadges]

"Hybrids don't get plugged in. They get their power from regenerative breaking....

I had that once in high school. Took Tylenol and it cleared right up.