Gas for 1.19 in Las Cruces (leases, credit, buy)

[mike0421]

Could this be the lowest price of gas in the country right now? It seemed like an optical illusion, when I drove by the Bradley gas station on El Paseo.

I guess since people were bashing Bush the last 3 years for the high prices, it's now time to give him some credit?

[tecpatl]

While it was like a deja vu moment seeing those low posted prices, this is a gas war/publicity thing for the new station on Valley. It will go away very soon, but it's fun while it lasts.
I, for one, didn't bash Bush for high gas prices, as there's plenty of other things to bash him about. He went to the Saudis and asked them to pretty please increase production in order to bring prices down and they told him "go away, little man, we like the prices where they are and there's plenty of supply in any case". This was true.
Despite the braying from the Repub/Rightwing pundits and radio talk people ("it's supply and demand...drill baby drill, etc.) there was no real shortage of crude or gasoline and the Saudis knew it. It was speculation...and, largely, not by shadowy figures pulling strings but by the oil companies and producers themselves to raise the tolerance level for prices at the pump and also to get more easily exploitable sources up for lease.
When energy prices rise again -and they certainly will- the American public will still think, as they do now, that 2.50 or 3 bucks a gallon is still cheap, because we've already been groomed to accept 4 bucks or more per gallon. The country will also tolerate more development of our oil supply by companies who will get sweet deals on leases and production. "Drill, baby, drill" is a corporate slogan, not energy policy.
While prices are as low as they are now, the US should slap fees on oil to raise the prices up to the point where people won't forget, as they did in the 70's, about conservation, which is a far more effective and much cheaper way to lower imported oil and keep supply high/prices low. You don't need 5 to 10 years of exploration and exploitation of oil resources to keep supply high...just use a few percentage points less nationally and the market will be flooded with oil, as it is right now.
Bush was never effective or independent enough to be able to do this. He's a born-and-bred oil company toady and takes his orders from those interests. I don't think that's exactly a secret.

[mike b 1]

Oh God... will you please keep your politics to yourself...

[tecpatl]

Originally Posted by mike b 1

Oh God... will you please keep your politics to yourself...

God?...I usually go by Tecpatl, but you can refer to me as the deity of your choice . Huitzilopochtli works fine, too....
In this case, "God" says:
I guess you didn't read the first post that brought up Bush, fuel prices and criticism of him, did ya? That's what I was responding to, and my post was a lot more on target, threadwise, than your little prayer.
And have a nice day....

[funkymonkey]

The new "Murphy USA" station had it for $1.13 a few days ago!

Originally Posted by mike0421

I guess since people were bashing Bush the last 3 years for the high prices, it's now time to give him some credit?

Well, when you consider that the crash in gas prices is due to the crash of the economy, I guess I could give him a little credit.

On another note, I remember when so many people blamed Bill Richardson for "high" gas prices of $1.30 or so when he was energy secretary. lol.

[tecpatl]

I see the price has moved up to 1.26 as of yesterday. Still gotta be one of the cheapest in the nation. That new station is still full of customers whenever I go by.

[cheralla]

My office is on Wyatt, and there's a gas station around the corner on El Paseo (next to E2) that always has gas for an oddly low price. However, every time I've gotten gas there I get HALF the mileage as I do with gas from other gas stations. Plus the whole place seems filthy and poorly managed. The pumps are out of the 70s. You have to go into this tiny shack type building to pay, and then deal with really slow service. And, I'm a really patient person, so that says a lot!

[fnord]

The Murphy gas price is back in line with all the other gas stations in town. Another Walmart-style maneuver - offer a duplicate product for an obscenely low price to attract everyone, then keep it just a bit lower than the competition, enough to force most of them out of business, and TADA! The market will be theirs. Watch them buy out every gas station in town except Chevron and then jack up their prices because they can.

There was plenty of public commentary about this on the Sun News forum. I personally saw the ridiculous line-up of cars the night they were offering the $1.18 gas and just laughed. People here must live lazy lives if they can afford to sit in their idling cars for an hour just to save seven bucks or so, one time. Genius!

[tecpatl]

Originally Posted by cheralla

My office is on Wyatt, and there's a gas station around the corner on El Paseo (next to E2) that always has gas for an oddly low price. However, every time I've gotten gas there I get HALF the mileage as I do with gas from other gas stations. Plus the whole place seems filthy and poorly managed. The pumps are out of the 70s. You have to go into this tiny shack type building to pay, and then deal with really slow service. And, I'm a really patient person, so that says a lot!

The gas there is usually about the cheapest in town, probably due to the low overhead.
I must say, respectfully, that your "half the mileage" assertion is just misperception on your part and not based in reality. Perhaps it's the scruffy shack, the slow pumps, who knows, but there is no gasoline refined in the USA that provides "half the mileage", with the possible exception of E 85, which, as it's mostly alcohol, provides less energy per tankful though somewhat more than "half". If you DON'T have a flex fuel engine you couldn't use it anyway, and E 85 isn't sold at that station.
This kind of misperception is a bit similar to the idea that higher octane fuel is better for vehicles, like it's a vitamin or something. Very few cars require high octane gas, and the extra money spent by most people is totally wasted, unless they have a very high performance, high compression engine that requires it.
Most gasoline is refined and sent to stations without regard to what brand it is...the same jobbers that fill tanks at one station probably also fill the competitors tanks down the road. The price is set by the retailer.

[burmafrd]

Outside of some minor formula variations, there is no difference in gas whatever station or company you get it from.

The formula variations are requirements of various states and cities, and its a very stupid practice that drives up the price of gas. Since you cannot sell any gasoline with that particular formula anywhere else, it constricts distribution and takes any flexibility out of the system.
So if for example one area was for whatever reason using less, you cannot move the excess somewhere else that might be using more. AND this really hurt after Katrina since several of the refineries that had to shut down were making special mixes.