Posted on 05/13/2021 10:28:42 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Why is anyone still buying BP gas? They are the WORST company on the planet! Of course, gouging customers and playing fast & loose with rules and regulations, HAS caught up with them. Still, people have died and the ocean took a huge hit due to their negligence. Avoid them if you can.
1. BP leads with $29.2 BILLION in fines, mostly after Deepwater Horizon
UK operator BP has received far more fines from US authorities than any other oil and gas company. The company’s $29.2bn of settlements leave it as the third most-fined company, surrounded on the list by banks. The only other member of the top 10 that is not a bank is Volkswagen, due to its manipulation of vehicle emissions testing.
Most of BP’s payments stem from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, in which a Gulf of Mexico platform caught fire following a blowout and sank. The resulting oil spill covered approximately 180,000 km² of the Gulf of Mexico. The spill reached the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. There, locals were saw their beaches contaminated and wild birds suffering in the oil.
As a direct result, BP received seven of the 10 largest fines ever given to oil and gas companies by US authorities. The largest of these was a $20.8bn fine given by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2015. This marks the largest single environmental fine ever recorded.
In 2020, one decade after the original spill, BP accounted more than $11bn of payables related to the oil spill.
In the same year as Deepwater Horizon, BP agreed to pay the largest logged fine for health and safety violations. These related to the Texas City Refinery explosion, where 15 workers died in a vapour cloud fire. A BP investigation stated that these vapours likely ignited when coming into contact with a vehicle engine.
The company had previously received warnings that the lack of flares could lead to hazardous gas accumulations.
BP Products North America agreed to pay $50.6m, but contested more than $30m of the proposed fine. It also paid “generous”, undisclosed sums to the families of those who died. BP later sold the refinery to Marathon Petroleum, which is now bound by the same settlement BP made.
Gotta pay off that $5 million ransom
“Gas is used as the traffic generator for the main sales, in order of importance, cigarettes, beer, food and lottery tickets.”
I worked at my uncles gas station late 70’s. Man, he was before his time. His gas station inside looked like a modern day Pilot or Sheetz.Deli Foods, pizza etc
Yes, he told me the same. He made pennies off of gas per gallon but pulled in 125k per year salary back then off the other sales. That is really decent money today and incredible back then.
He offered me part ownership in the station. He had no children. My dad talked me out of it and wanted me to go to college and there was gas shortages at the time and my dad thought that form of business would be unreliable or not certain.
I really regret it now as the station is still a huge moneymaker in our area. My uncle ended up sellig out in the mod 80’s.
Has their summer price gone into effect yet?
Exactly. Let them charge whatever the market will bear.
“Why is anyone still buying BP gas? They are the WORST company on the planet! Of course, gouging customers”
My wife got rid of her BP business card a few years back.
Typical BP crap: The bill would arrive in the mail 1 day before it was due.
Being busy you do not open mail right away.
Bam a $75 late fee.
California, with the highest gas prices in the country does not now seem be at your $5+ figure:
https://gasprices.aaa.com/state-gas-price-averages/
And West Virginia’s average is $2.98.
So, yes, I’d say the $6.99 figure was gouging.
Sorry. The Virginia average for today is also under $3.00.
I was supposed to fly home on 9/11.
Ended up with quite a drive.
Got my car at the airport. It needed gas.
Figured I’d fill up on the way home.
Every gas station was empty.
I found one station out of town that still had premium.
The place was packed.
I live in a small Midwestern city.
There was a guy there who was filling up a 55 gallon drum.
I went inside to pay and I hollered out “They didn’t hit any fuel lines. What are you people doing?”
Silence.
Too many scary movies I guess.
I’m still looking for that sliding scale that determines when how much is too much.
I have something you want and you either agree or disagree with the price I’m asking for it. Nobody is putting a Gun to your Head unless we are living a Godfather Movie.
Now, if I am a Monopoly, that is a different situation. That’s why we have Laws prohibiting Monopolies. Well, we did until Big Tech started running things anyway.
Then again, I’m the kind of guy who thinks the Minimum Wage should be ZERO.
The Government should stick to what the Constitution says it should do, period.
If no one was looking at the price, where did this story come from?
If the gas station owner filled his tanks after the spot price at the distribution plant went up, it’s justifiable. If they didn’t and the fuel in their tanks was purchased at the older spot price then this is the definition of price gouging.
I’ve bought hundreds of thousands of fuel in my career and the mark up is usually 7 cents over the spot price.
*Sigh.*
There is no such thing as price “gouging”.
Is anyone being forced to buy it?
It is short-time supply & demand.
A commodity is becoming scarce. It will probably also be in high demand. Both situations imply increasing the price.
OT1H, this keeps customers who are just panicked, from hoarding, and makes it more likely to get into the hands of people who really need it - they find it very valuable, and maybe the hoarders don’t.
OTOH, this gives the supplier a chance to make the same money as he would in normal times, over some given amount of time. Because he will likely run out of commodity - and at “regular” prices or only slightly raised, will run out very quickly.
Keep the prices as is, then he soon has nothing to offer, and he also doesn’t know if he’ll have income for that near future.
If no one likes the price, he can lower it again.
No. It’s literally fluid, and highly dependent on futures pricing. The pricing is fluid, as a result.
It doesn’t matter when he bought it. Right NOW it’s scarce and he may not get any more himself! So he has to increase the price to match supply AND demand.
If people don’t like it, he’ll have no customers.
There was a large black woman complaining about the $6.99/gal on TV last night. Couldn’t help but wonder who she voted for.
Daily Prices
Daily wholesale and retail prices for various energy products are shown below, including spot prices and select futures prices at national or regional levels. Prices are updated each weekday (excluding federal holidays), typically between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. This page is meant to provide a snapshot of selected daily prices only. Prices are republished by EIA with permission as follows: Wholesale Spot Petroleum Prices from Refinitiv, Retail Petroleum Prices from AAA Fuel Gauge Report, Prompt-Month Energy Futures from CME Group, and Select Spot Prices from SNL Energy.
Wholesale Spot Petroleum Prices, 5/12/21 Close
Product Area Price Percent
Change*
Crude Oil
($/barrel) WTI 65.96 +1.0
Brent 69.62 +1.1
Louisiana Light 67.96 +1.1
Gasoline (RBOB)
($/gallon) NY Harbor 2.16 +0.9
Gulf Coast 2.09 +0.4
Los Angeles 2.26 +0.4
Heating Oil
($/gallon) NY Harbor 1.88 +1.3
Gulf Coast 1.77 +3.3
3:2:1 Crack Spread
($/barrel) Gulf Coast (LLS) 18.95 -0.7
Low-Sulfur Diesel
($/gallon) NY Harbor 2.08 +1.3
Gulf Coast 2.02 +1.5
Los Angeles 2.09 +0.8
Propane
($/gallon) Mont Belvieu, TX 0.81 +1.1
Retail Petroleum Prices (AAA), 5/12/21 ($/gallon)
Regular Gasoline U.S. Average NA NA
Diesel U.S. Average NA NA
Prompt-Month Energy Futures, 5/12/21 Settlement
Product Price Percent
Change* Volume Prior Day
Open Interest
Crude Oil ($/barrel) - Nymex Jun 66.08 +1.2 543 261
Gasoline-RBOB ($/gallon) - Nymex Jun 2.16 +1.0 98 109
Heating Oil ($/gallon) - Nymex Jun 2.07 +1.4 82 91
Natural Gas ($/million Btu) - Nymex Jun 2.97 +0.5 98 166
Coal ($/ton) - Nymex NA NA NA NA
Ethanol ($/gallon) - CBOT NA NA NA NA
Notes for Prompt-Month Energy Futures
Select Spot Prices for Delivery Today
Region Natural Gas
($/million Btu) Electricity
($/MWh) Spark
Spread
($/MWh)
Price Percent
Change* Price Percent
Change*
New England 2.30 -3.0 26.28 +3.5 10.18
New York City 2.25 -8.8 25.56 -4.8 9.82
Mid-Atlantic 2.25 -8.6 29.18 -3.4 13.43
Midwest 2.78 -0.1 31.95 +10.4 12.47
Louisiana 2.91 0.0 29.75 +8.2 9.42
Houston 2.92 -2.6 30.00 -10.4 9.55
Southwest 2.71 -2.9 33.75 -20.1 14.77
Southern CA 2.92 +0.1 33.50 -3.9 13.06
Northern CA 4.07 +2.9 40.97 -15.0 12.45
Northwest 2.78 -0.3 41.00 -22.2 21.54
*Percent changes based on daily settlement price from previous business day.
NA = Data was not available at time of retrieval. Percent Change column will display NA if data from previous day was not retrieved.
Sources: CME Group, Refinitiv, SNL Energy, AAA Fuel Gauge Report
Gasoline does have an orange tint to it. Hence it is bad.
I have a friend who owned a station and sold it because the tanks needed to be replaced and if you want to do a self serve you need fire prevention. He was a mechanic. He made all his money working on autos.
He sold it to a recent legal immigrant from Jordan. He leases the two bay garage back from the new owner.
The new owner thought he would be able to turn it into a convenience store. The town quickly said NOPE. The immigrants two sons work there 14 hours a day (6am to 8 pm) EVERYDAY pumping gas and detailing cars. The father works at the other gas station he owns.
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