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Where I live in the suburbs of NYC, gas prices have not yet fallen below $2 gallon, which surprises me given the current price of a barrel of oil. I remember when prices dipped below $2/gallon here back in 2008, and for some reason I think that the price per barrel then was around $67, and now it's around $53.
I don't think the current prices will last long though. I think that prices will begin to climb back upward again within the next month or so, and by May or June will be above $3/gallon again.
I got rid of all my gas-guzzlers and now I drive a fuel efficient Volkswagen diesel. That way I don't have to worry about gas prices too much.
Whenever I go to the gas station, diesel fuel seems to be the highest priced fuel available. Even if your car gets good fuel economy, how much are you spending per fillup on diesel? How many miles between fillups?
I got rid of all my gas-guzzlers and now I drive a fuel efficient Volkswagen diesel. That way I don't have to worry about gas prices too much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manyroads
Whenever I go to the gas station, diesel fuel seems to be the highest priced fuel available. Even if your car gets good fuel economy, how much are you spending per fillup on diesel? How many miles between fillups?
Technically he's correct, since he runs diesel he doesn't have to worry about gas prices.
He apparently doesn't know where diesel comes from, though.
Yeah, falling for it. We could have been changing transportation policy to favor rail freight transportation (which is 3 times more fuel-efficient than trucks). We could have quit subsidizing sprawl with taxpayer money and at least make it pay its own way. We could have restructured fuel and vehicle taxes to favor conservation, rather than consumption. Instead, we sit around and pine for lower fuel prices and let foreign countries manipulate the energy markets and transfer more and more of America's diminishing capital and wealth to them. All so that we can have a good time now, and the hell with the future.
Oh, by ''we'' you meant the government...I thought you meant you and me and regular people.
What is the average person to do?
Even when we recognize what is happening, then?
What are you doing? What can be done ?
Oh, the original question about when prices will go up.
They went up today on MD due to an increase in the gas tax. Since it's indexed as a percentage and not a set amount there are already people complaining that it's not going up enough (the increase was approved when gas was $3.60 or so a gallon).
I expect it will take over a year until most of the alternative sources of petroleum are forced to stop production because their oil cannot be priced at a profitable level.
As soon as Saudi Arabia and other oil exporting countries have succeeded in killing off a good chunk of the domestic high-cost oil production in the US. That shouldn't take more than six months to a year, and, once accomplished, it will take years for the US to rebuild that production capacity. Meanwhile, the oil-exporting countries will, once again, have us (excuse the pun) over the barrel. People like me, who have been around since the first oil crisis in 1973, just have to stand in amazement at how Americans have been continually been played for chumps like this for over four decades and we keep falling for it every time.
That is why I just bought a smaller car, I have better things to do with my money than spend it on gas.
Falling for it?
Do we have a choice or any power to change OPEC and whoever has a plan to ruin Russia?
You don't have a choice but you can get leverage which in turn gives you power to change.
You have a choice in buying a gas guzzler or a fuel efficient vehicle. I might need a car to get to and from work if I change companies. I'll have a choice between driving my diesel 1ton or buy a rip roaring gas guzzler v8 or a small commuter 4cylinder that gets good mileage.
I see a lot of people driving huge lifted trucks and SUvs by themselves to wherever not towing anything. Not that I realiy care. But in that same train of thought don't complain about gas prices when you drive a car that gets at best 16 mpg.
I think what the real message is we have a short attention span. Prices go up people panic and fire sell the family truckster. Prices drop they want the biggest thing on the road.
"Should I buy a SUV" Thread got me to thinking.
When will gas prices go back up?
IMO should be moved to "Economics" C-D forum. There is, however, relevance to an individual's decision process around gas mileage, alternative fuel vehicles, etc.
I'll bite, thus.
Not quite what OP asked, but the decision to buy an electric or hybrid vehicle is not trivial. Emotionally, I'd say it's a good long-term play due to social trends and what may be better for society as a whole. Rationally, I haven't done the math and risk-analysis on, say, buying one of Elon Musk's upcoming X-series Teslas which, due now in 2016. Which may, or may not, have quite an effect on the domestic auto industry. Is electricity cheaper than gasoline, long term? Hmm. Seems to be the way the world's going, and IMO is utterly inexorable across a long enough timeline (decades).
Back to petro-vehicles: OP might want to take a few hours and comb through twenty or thirty more-thoughtful articles on what's occurring in petroleum supply and demand past few years. Forbes, Economist, BBC, etc.: analysis, not just "news." Making major economic decisions while "living in the moment", based solely upon currently plummeting prices, isn't too swift. But a good chunk of people do-so for that and other major decisions in their lives. If, that is, the price of gasoline is a significant factor to a particular person's livelihood: for some, it really is.
A lot is unknowable, but some is predictable. The "unknowable" is major war in the Middle East or other demand-shock event. Others might include another Depression, a sudden surge in availability of affordable electric vehicles (see earlier paragraph), etc. Personally, what I did not correctly guess was Saudi Arabia's response to events this past summer and fall: they chose not to change production volumes, leading to greater supply. Demand staying constant, prices naturally went down. I see as of today, New Year's Day, Iran is urging their enemy, Saudi Arabia, to "take action" on falling oil prices. Almost anything Iran is for, the United States should be against, strategically-speaking.
"Knowable," though, is ramp-up in domestic oil production and long-term capacity upswings (or downswings). It really isn't terribly difficult to see some of that stuff coming and understand at least mid-term trends and fallout. I have a set of suspicions about that. Others can formulate their own opinions based on their own conclusions.
Last edited by Blondebaerde; 01-01-2015 at 06:39 PM..
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