If you are struggling to gas up your car or truck, there's only one outlet to blame: Oil Companies. Record gasoline prices are occurring ALL Around the World! Why? The oil companies say they haven't ramped up production since the pandemic, or that there's a war in Ukraine, or perhaps they ate bad tacos yesterday - It doesn't matter- Oil Companies the prices. As such, Last QUARTER profits - Exxon/Mobil $6.1 BILLION, Shell $9.1 BILLION, BP $6.2 BILLION, Chevron $6.3 BILLION. That's profits for only 3 months....... AND who's fault is it ? (If I read about 1 more Moron who blames politicians, I'll heave). This month, one gas station owner had enough of their fleecing America and stopped selling gasoline (which means his business will go under- but he has principles). Here's the story:
Fed up Massachusetts gas station owner stops selling fuel
“This is the biggest ripoff that ever has happened to people in my lifetime.”
A Massachusetts gas station owner fed up with what he considers attempts by oil companies to fleece customers with outrageously high prices at the pump has stopped selling gas as a protest.
Average gas prices in Mass. hits $5 per gallon
Reynold Gladu, who has run Ren’s Mobil Service in downtown Amherst for nearly 50 years, drained his tanks earlier this month and has no current plans to refill them.
“I don’t want to be part of it anymore,” Gladu told The Daily Hampshire Gazette for a story published Tuesday. “This is the biggest ripoff that ever has happened to people in my lifetime.”
Gasoline in Massachusetts is averaging more than $5 per gallon, according to AAA New England.
The business will continue to do oil changes and other repairs, but Gladu acknowledges it is unlikely he will be able to remain open for long without selling gas.
“Dealing with Mobil, they don’t think through their pricing policies anymore,” Gladu said. “I’ve served their product, but I refuse to do it anymore, because they’re only getting richer.”
Julie King, a spokesperson for ExxonMobil Corp., wrote in an email to the newspaper that the price at the pump is out of her company’s control and is based on several factors, including the price of crude.
Today's second blog is about the Truth Behind High Gas Costs (Hint: It's Not Political).
If you live in the U.S. you've already experienced many reasons why Gas Prices soar - and NONE are political. Gas prices go up whenever ANY country has a conflict (Ukraine, Mexico, Venezuela, etc, or if there is an Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or an approaching hurricane, gas prices go up. That's the oil industry. It's not political and has NOTHING to do with who is President of the U.S.
Stop blaming politicians and educate yourself.
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Gasoline costs more these days, but price spikes have a long history and happen for a host of reasons
A driver makes his selection from various fuels priced over $6 at a Shell gas station in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 2021. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Americans are acutely sensitive to gasoline prices, especially when they’re on the rise. One reason, of course, is that we buy a lot of gas: an estimated 570 gallons this year for the average driver, which at current national average prices would cost close to $2,000. Also, gas prices are posted all over town on large signs – unlike, say, milk prices – and people typically buy gas on its own rather than as part of a larger shopping trip, making price changes more noticeable. And gas prices can and do swing sharply and unpredictably, in ways that can seem unconnected to the rest of the economy.
Regular gas costs, on average, 58.7% more than it did a year ago this time – $3.491 a gallon last month, versus $2.20 in November 2020, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
But looking just at the recent rise can be misleading, or at least incomplete. For one thing, a year ago the United States was battling yet another wave of COVID-19 cases, large parts of the economy were still shuttered and demand for gas was way down. Estimated consumption in 2020 was 534 gallons per driver, down 14.4% from 624 gallons in 2019.
How we did this
Also, the volatility of gas prices means they can go down as sharply and as suddenly as they go up. In the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic sparked widespread lockdowns, the average gas price sank 27% between Feb. 24 and April 27. Since 1994, average gas prices have fluctuated between a low of 96.2 cents a gallon in February 1999 and a high of $4.114 in July 2008. The current average price, in fact, is almost exactly what it was in September 2014 – at least on a nominal basis.
When inflation is factored in, today’s prices appear more modest. In today’s dollars, gas cost an average of $5.20 a gallon in June 2008, and more than $4 as recently as September 2014.
Also, gasoline is not a single, uniform product. Besides regular, midgrade and premium gas, which differ by octane rating, there’s conventional and “reformulated” gas. The latter is required to be sold in California, along the Northeastern seaboard and in several other major urban areas to reduce smog and other air pollutants.
Over the past year, reformulated gas was consistently 30 to 35 cents more expensive than conventional gas until mid-October, when the differential began to widen, according to an analysis of EIA price data – it’s now about 46 cents more expensive. Over the same period, midgrade gas has ranged from 37 cents to 46 cents more expensive than regular, while premium has been 25 to 27 cents higher than midgrade.
Where you buy gas also matters. Much of the U.S. petroleum industry is concentrated along the Gulf Coast, making it perhaps unsurprising that gas tends to be cheapest there. The average price in that region was $3.072 a gallon in late November, and in Texas it was also a hairsbreadth above $3.
By contrast, California almost always has the most expensive gas in the country. The state’s average price in late November was $4.642 a gallon, and in San Francisco it was $4.816. Besides the fact that California already uses pricier reformulated gas and has relatively high gas taxes and environmental fees, it is geographically far removed from other refining centers and relatively few fuel pipelines cross the Rocky Mountains to connect California’s refineries to the rest of the country.
Under normal conditions, the state’s refineries can produce enough gasoline to meet demand there, according to the California Energy Commission. But if refineries go offline due to weather, accidents or mechanical breakdowns, the state typically imports gasoline from overseas – adding to the price because of the cost of marine shipments.
I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob
