We all can see that gas prices have gone sky high. Oil prices are up to $117 per barrell. Airlines are having a really bad time of it. One reason they say is because of high fuel costs. I can understand that. What I do not understand is why are our oil Companies showing record profits when the ingredent they buy, oil, has gone sky high. Shouldn't they be having a tough go of it like the airlines? Or are they just gouging the crap out of us and obviously in in colusion with each other.
Gas Prices I am confused
- Thread starter StevieD
- Start date
I guess a simple way to look at it would be...
Say for every gallon of gas that is sold, oil companies have 1% profit that they receive.
So when gas was $2/gallon they saw 2 cents as profit.
Now that gas is $3.50/gallon.. that same gallon is getting them 3.5 cents profit at the same percentage.
is that gouging? nope. They're maintaining the same profit margin. It just adds up more.
Which is why, you can spin those numbers and make it appear that they are gouging us.
But alas, oil companies are not only in the business of gasoline for our cars.. theirs a lot of other stuff they are involved with which could be pulling in some bucks as well.
Say for every gallon of gas that is sold, oil companies have 1% profit that they receive.
So when gas was $2/gallon they saw 2 cents as profit.
Now that gas is $3.50/gallon.. that same gallon is getting them 3.5 cents profit at the same percentage.
is that gouging? nope. They're maintaining the same profit margin. It just adds up more.
Which is why, you can spin those numbers and make it appear that they are gouging us.
But alas, oil companies are not only in the business of gasoline for our cars.. theirs a lot of other stuff they are involved with which could be pulling in some bucks as well.
Marine, are you saying that oil companies only make 1% of profit on a gallon of gas? Where do you get that number, or was that truly just a "let's say" comment?
why though?
have you told your employer that you understand times are tight right now and you could still get by just fine if he takes 10% off of your paycheck and keeps it for the business?
Was watching Fox last night and Oreilly was arguing with futures trader on who is responsible for high gas pices--for what I have always thought to be an intelligent person it amazes me that Oreilly can not get it through his thick head--gas companies only have small impact on price of gas--he continuined to ignore what trader was explaining to him in very simple language--and O's only answer for everything was its the oil and gas companies--was quite disappointed in him.
elements of price of gas--
--primary factor is price of oil.
Price of oil is set by future traders who try to speculate on supply and demand/
demand has increased greatly especially in emerging markets-China -india ect.
Opec can increase production (supply) to meet demand but has failed to do so inflating prices--other factors on supply could be weather- wars- strikes ect.
Once price of oil is established (per supply/demand) then comes oil complanies job of pricing gas based on cost of oil-refining-and profit.
Regardless of what you read the U.S. gov has little to no power in reducing cost of gas other than finding our own resources via exploration and drilling or finding way to rduce demand--Mcain & Obama can't do squat regardless of what they say.
--and congress showed you what power they have when one of main themes Dem's had in 06 was bringing down cost of gas then--Hello
--and Rebs will promise same thing with same results.
So much for ways to reduce cost--what about pitfalls to increase prices--
We can continue to consume more oil/gas than any country in the word--continue to not tap into huge reserves under our own soil and offshore--
--Thinking that taxing gas companies more will not be passed on to consumer
--and speaking of tax--the worst scenerio of all--increasing gas taxes on consumer, which is constant drain regardless of if all other issues are resolved.
elements of price of gas--
--primary factor is price of oil.
Price of oil is set by future traders who try to speculate on supply and demand/
demand has increased greatly especially in emerging markets-China -india ect.
Opec can increase production (supply) to meet demand but has failed to do so inflating prices--other factors on supply could be weather- wars- strikes ect.
Once price of oil is established (per supply/demand) then comes oil complanies job of pricing gas based on cost of oil-refining-and profit.
Regardless of what you read the U.S. gov has little to no power in reducing cost of gas other than finding our own resources via exploration and drilling or finding way to rduce demand--Mcain & Obama can't do squat regardless of what they say.
--and congress showed you what power they have when one of main themes Dem's had in 06 was bringing down cost of gas then--Hello
--and Rebs will promise same thing with same results.
So much for ways to reduce cost--what about pitfalls to increase prices--
We can continue to consume more oil/gas than any country in the word--continue to not tap into huge reserves under our own soil and offshore--
--Thinking that taxing gas companies more will not be passed on to consumer
--and speaking of tax--the worst scenerio of all--increasing gas taxes on consumer, which is constant drain regardless of if all other issues are resolved.
I got in a big discussion with a guy at a 7/11 gas station. I go in there all the time. I was complaining about gas prices.
He showed me a invoice that were making
1 cent on each gallon pumped.
The money being made is not on the distribution side.
Follow the money to the answers.
But believe me they do not want us to know.
He showed me a invoice that were making
1 cent on each gallon pumped.
The money being made is not on the distribution side.
Follow the money to the answers.
But believe me they do not want us to know.
Then why would the oil companies be making such incredibly high prices over the past few months/quarters, if the main factor is the price of a barrel of oil, which they have little control over? Why are they making so much more in profits at the same time, if what they do has so little to do with the high price of gas, and they have to pay what is asked for the oil?
There may be something to explain it, but I'm just using your commentary to look at it.
It depends but we are talking about oil companies making windfall and record profits quarter after quarter while raising their prices. I repeat, if the cost of oil is so high then oil companies should be feeling the pinch just like the airlines. But they are not.
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An oil refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosine, and liquefied petroleum gas.[1][2] Oil refineries are typically large sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying streams of fluids between large chemical processing units.
Contents [hide]
1 Operation
2 Major products of oil refineries
3 Common process units found in a refinery
3.1 Flow diagram of typical refinery
4 Specialty end products
5 Siting/locating of petroleum refineries
6 Safety and environmental concerns
7 History
8 See also
9 References
10 External links
[edit] Operation
Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional distillation. The fractions at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. The heavy bottom fractions are often cracked into lighter, more useful products. All of the fractions are processed further in other refining units.Raw or unprocessed ("crude") oil is not useful in the form it comes in out of the ground. Although "light, sweet" (low viscosity, low sulfur) oil has been used directly as a burner fuel for steam vessel propulsion, the lighter elements form explosive vapors in the fuel tanks and so it is quite dangerous, especially so in warships. For this and many other uses, the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, detergents, solvents, elastomers, and fibers such as nylon and polyesters. Petroleum fossil fuels are used in ship, automobile and aircraft engines. These different hydrocarbons have different boiling points, which means they can be separated by distillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products using complex and energy intensive processes.
The oil refinery in Haifa, Israel is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year. Its two cooling towers are landmarks of the city's skykline.Oil can be used in so many various ways because it contains hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses, forms and lengths such as paraffins, aromatics, naphthenes (or cycloalkanes), alkenes, dienes, and alkynes. Hydrocarbons are molecules of varying length and complexity made of only hydrogen and carbon atoms. Their various structures give them their differing properties and thereby uses. The trick in the oil refinement process is separating and purifying these
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I heard this as a explanation one time. The oil companies have to refine the oil that comes to them in a barrell for 117 bucks.
They charge for doing this process and turning it into gasoline for instance.
But what they are charging to do it is where the real money is made.
Plain and simple......
Stop the futures trading of oil, and price of gas falls !! take it off the market.
I know that you cant do that,but its like what opec said...... You have plenty of oil, there is no need for us to put out anymore at a higher rate, its your own future markets driving the price up.
And I think he is 100% right
Stop the futures trading of oil, and price of gas falls !! take it off the market.
I know that you cant do that,but its like what opec said...... You have plenty of oil, there is no need for us to put out anymore at a higher rate, its your own future markets driving the price up.
And I think he is 100% right
:mj07: :mj07: :mj07: Jabber why won't any of these conservatives address this piece about gas prices? Im not positive if i predicted this here or on another site but i said that when those stimulus checks roll in the price of gas will be at an all time high. Its weird how these things work out. It really isn't rocket science. Read on
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR04) railed against the Republican special interests that prevent any real progress from being made on getting control over skyrocketing fuel prices and huge profits being realized by oil companies while consumers struggle with high fuel costs ... " Now, there?s a few things we could do. Now, the president?s a big free trader, right? He?s trying to push us into more free trade agreements. They say they work great. He wants ?rules-based trade.? Well, we?re in the WTO, they have rules. The rules say you can not restrict the supply of a commodity simply to drive up the price. That?s what OPEC?s doing. Now five members of OPEC are in the WTO. Will this president ? the oil man ?- the friend of the Saudis and the others ? will he file a complaint in the World Trade Organization against OPEC? No. I wrote to him three years ago, asking him to do that. The answer was no. If the Saudis and the OPEC countries want to get together and collude to drive up the price of the oil, that?s just fine with George Bush. He?s all for free trade, and rules-based trade, except when the rules might hurt some of his buddies. And then, the oil industry just piggy backs on top of that ..".... The Gavel: The price for regular gasoline reached a record $3.53 per gallon today ? 23 percent more than this time last year and 140 percent more than when President Bush took office. The Democratic-led Congress has passed a number of key bills to reduce the burden of rising gas prices on Americans and make America less dependent on foreign oil ? but the President has threatened to veto each one. House Democrats call on President Bush to support House-passed legislation such as the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act, The Energy Price Gouging Act, and the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act and bring real relief to America?s families and businesses now.
There's where I think your line is a bit off base.
Airlines are end users of the product.
Oil companies (exxons, mobils, etc) are not the end user of their product. They are more like middlemen between the oil, and the end user. So if cost goes up for them on the oil production side, they can pass that cost along to the airlines and maintain the profit line.
Airlines can pass along the cost to the passengers, but stand a greater chance to lose customers in the process. Oil companies know they won't lose customers by passing costs along.
which is why the airlines feel it so much more.
well, that and the airlines are run in a shoddy p*ss poor manner...
Great points you bring up there, always good to see some contributions of thoughts and ideas.
Supply and Demand we are told. But who sets the number. Last week the USA had some number that the world wide demand was down .5 or 1/2%. From what? If true gas pice should have fallen how far. i would think 1/2 % of world demand is hell of a big number. Here in USA demand was down at 1990 levels. Whats that number?? I mean is it really just market traders running the world. Come on say it ant so. Some bodys making record proffits.
I will take your idiotic ass apart tomorrow gomer. Just tell the the wife to put her/your strap on in the closet and save some for me.
maybe I should have hyphenated "strap-on", not sure about that. I will defer to Gomer. He is the expert, and btw, he went to a "top" engineering school.
"Say for every gallon of gas that is sold, oil companies have 1% profit that they receive.
So when gas was $2/gallon they saw 2 cents as profit.
Now that gas is $3.50/gallon.. that same gallon is getting them 3.5 cents profit at the same percentage."
I can see that you have a great business mind. I can see why you work for the government.
So when gas was $2/gallon they saw 2 cents as profit.
Now that gas is $3.50/gallon.. that same gallon is getting them 3.5 cents profit at the same percentage."
I can see that you have a great business mind. I can see why you work for the government.
