Gasoline prices rising? (Ellsworth, Kenduskeag, Lee: rent, live, delivery)

[RMoore007]

My bil just got a Prius with an extended warranty because he commutes 160 miles a day. His payment is $500 a month but it will cut his $900. a month fuel bill in half. His old 1998 8 cylinder Lincoln Mark VIII got 25 mpg. Now with the cost of gas going up daily/weekly, he'll appreciate the new 50+ mpg even more. He and my sister plan to move closer to his job this year. Then his fuel bill will be negligible.

It is now $3.49, $3.59 and $3.74 just down the street at Arco which is the lowest in the area along with Costco gas. And this area in CA is not as high as the Bay Area towns like San Fran, Oakland and San Jose.

I have a motorcycling acquaintance in Switzerland that just paid $9.09 for regular this morning. He would love to be paying just $4.00.

I do worry about my family in Maine though. Things are already tight. All of their jobs or businesses are abbreviated in the winter. Less hours, zero overtime or less benefits to deal with. I don't know how they do it but they do. They somehow manage. They aren't planning to move. They have all seen the greener pastures in CA or just down in CT. It's mostly cement.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by Coaster

Just noticed that gasoline prices here in the midcoast have gone up 3-5 cents a gallon in the last 48 hours. Seems a little early to be seeing the effects of the Middle East unrest. Crude oil prices rising too, of course. WTI April contract is $94 and change, up almost $3 just from yesterday, probably on news that oil companies in Libya are shutting down operations and evacuating personnel.

When I paid my fuel oil bill last week the guy at the desk just shook his head when I asked about prices. "Everybody's nervous," he said, "and that's never a good sign."

Map of Gas Prices by County in the Continential U.S (zoom in for a more detailed look at prices within Maine): USA National Gas Price Heat Map - GasBuddy.com


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[mrs1885]

Filled up last week at just shy (as in a penny) of three bucks a gallon. Today? $3.29. Up thirty cents a gallon in a week. Fun! And that's middle TN and we've got about the cheapest gas in the country.

[MainerWannabe]

Just paid $3.78 gallon in LA. Is it generally cheaper in ME? I do feel for you guys having to use oil for heating... Hold on tight.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by RMoore007

My bil just got a Prius with an extended warranty because he commutes 160 miles a day. His payment is $500 a month but it will cut his $900. a month fuel bill in half. His old 1998 8 cylinder Lincoln Mark VIII got 25 mpg. Now with the cost of gas going up daily/weekly, he'll appreciate the new 50+ mpg even more. He and my sister plan to move closer to his job this year. Then his fuel bill will be negligible.

It is now $3.49, $3.59 and $3.74 just down the street at Arco which is the lowest in the area along with Costco gas. And this area in CA is not as high as the Bay Area towns like San Fran, Oakland and San Jose.

I have a motorcycling acquaintance in Switzerland that just paid $9.09 for regular this morning. He would love to be paying just $4.00.

I do worry about my family in Maine though. Things are already tight. All of their jobs or businesses are abbreviated in the winter. Less hours, zero overtime or less benefits to deal with. I don't know how they do it but they do. They somehow manage. They aren't planning to move. They have all seen the greener pastures in CA or just down in CT. It's mostly cement.

You can still ride a motorcycle with no problem when gas is $9.00 a gallon and it won't break you. Mine gets about 80 MPG or better. My truck however is closing back in on the $100.00 fillup. I'll be sitting home all winter next year as I won't be able to afford the gas to go ice fishing or smelting! There goes the bird trip to the county too!

[Coaster]

Anyone remember what the peak gasoline price was in Maine back in the summer of 2008? I'm looking for a benchmark to compare current prices. Nationally it was $4.11 a gallon when oil hit $147 a barrel.

BTW, neighbor was complaining Friday that filling up his Tundra pick-up had just cost him $117. He said it would definitely affect his carpentry business.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by Coaster

Just noticed that gasoline prices here in the midcoast have gone up 3-5 cents a gallon in the last 48 hours. Seems a little early to be seeing the effects of the Middle East unrest. Crude oil prices rising too, of course. WTI April contract is $94 and change, up almost $3 just from yesterday, probably on news that oil companies in Libya are shutting down operations and evacuating personnel.

When I paid my fuel oil bill last week the guy at the desk just shook his head when I asked about prices. "Everybody's nervous," he said, "and that's never a good sign."

This guy predicts $200 a barrel soon:

Jeff Rubin: Only A Recession Stands In The Way Of $200 Oil

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by chaosX5

Here in Charlotte we don't have to think too far back to remember fights, etc...at gas stations. We had a fuel crisis a couple of years ago, "Hurricane whatever" in the gulf prevented us from getting gas and it got bad, at one point only one in ten stations even had gas and the ones that did were rationing it out. People were camping out overnight at gas stations and waiting in lines for hours and, yes, it got ugly sometimes. People were running out of gas everywhere. I now never let my tank get below half full..........

This all made me realize just how precious gasoline is to our society, and while high price for gas is not the same as running out of gas, it can be pretty darn close for some of us! I know other countries pay more for gas than us but they don't drive as much as Americans either. European countries are no different than the size of states to us! We are spread out and we have to drive to get there and that's not going to change anytime soon.


Maineah- $3.19 for gas is awesome considering it's usually more expensive to buy gas up there. It's $3.23 at Costco and that's the cheapest around down here.........though it's sad that $3.19 is looking good

Pretty good and dire slide show presentation link here: Peak Oil Guru Robert Hirsch Gives The Definitive Guide To The Coming Energy Fiasco

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[Maineah]

$3.44 for regular in Yarmouth today. $4.00 is coming soon!

[mollysmiles]

Last Tuesday when we arrived in Bangor we took note of the gas prices, but unfortunately didn't fill up THEN. By the time we left town, about ten hours later, the price per gallon had jumped 5 cents. I can't remember for certain the price, but we learned a lesson! We'll fill up when we arrive in town, with the idea that it's not going to drop during the day, but could very well jump. Usually we won't fill up in Calais if there is any way around it. Border towns typically have higher gas prices, and Calais traditionally is 8-10 cents higher than Bangor, and often times 5-10 cents higher than it's surrounding towns.

Yesterday in Eddington we saw two very different prices. At a Citgo it was $3.49, but at Tradewinds it was $3.41. I'll see what it is here in Calais later when I head out for errands. It's ridiculous!