Gas Prices

I got this email today. I remember something similar last year and Robert gave us a reason why it wouldn't work. Neverthe less here it is. GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all! (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am . so trust me on this one.) :-) How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK. Kerry Lyle, Director, Research Coordinator

It's the same email that makes the rounds every time gas prices go up. Hoax emails always start out with attribution like "Bill Gates told all his employees at Apple Computer" or something similar. Anyway, local gas stations get their gas from the nearest refinery, no matter the brand, so it doesn't matter if you stop buying from one brand, the same gas will just go to another station. As long as people keep buying all the gas the refineries can make, the price will stay up. If you want to find a villian in the gas business, try Archer Daniels Midland. Unlike ExxonMobil or Shell or Citgo, ADM really does have a near monopoly. They also get major corporate welfare. As long as the presidential primaries start in Iowa, ADM will allways have a political advantage.

What Robert says is a little known fact, we live in TX where all the huge pipelines start at the coast to cross the country. The same stuff is in those pipes and often goes to "unmarked" terminals. (Some terminals are "marked" with the brand) But many never say Mobil, or Exxon, or Texaco, or whatever until they are put in the tank truck that brings it to your station. I pass a large terminal sometimes and it's funny to see the tankers waiting to fill up...some with name brands on the sides, some with "such & so distributing" that I have seen delivering to the convenience stores with no-name gas. Now the terminals do have different grades, but essentially it's all the same, comes right out of the same big pipelines and into their tanks from the refineries. (and you might be amazed to know ALL gasoline contains as much water & other cheap "additives" they can get in a gallon and still make an engine run OK) About 10 years ago a local terminal messed up a mix of the "cheap stuff" and peoples cars were dropping like flies. They figured out all had bought cheap gas at certain stations and when mechanics drained the gas tanks and put some in a clear glass it was over 50% water floating on top...that was just too much, somebody must have messed up and added to a batch other people had already added too. Race car fuel can be purchased at a place I know, it's pure "old fashioned" gasoline, about $8 a gallon (but high performance engines or those in the antique muscle cars need it)

Don, no water is added to gasoline intentionally, but there are a lot of additives put in at the refineries and also at some named distribution points there are "brand exclusive" top super-secret amazing formulas added. Water gets into gas in storage tanks in the ground at the stations usually. After being in the auto repair business for 20+ years we get cars that die from contaminated gas - they can usually be tracked back to 1 particular station that has somehow allowed water int their tanks or more likely the tanks were drained dry and the water on top of the gas was pumped into cars. Water WILL NOT mix with petroleum products as can be seen in the samples drained from tanks.

They all come from the same place, but brand names do have additives like detergents and stuff that the no name brands don't. Each named brand has it's own additives like Shell Techron that are blended at the terminal. They also have specs on water content etc. and they do random testing to be sure that what they are paying for meets specs. But sometimes somebody screws up. There was a Citgo convenience store here that sold gas with too much water. A bunch of cars died on the road after filling up. It made the newspapers and created a lot of bad publicity. A few weeks later the station changed to Diamond Shamrock, and last week it changed to Valero. But I'm sure it still gets it's gas either from the local refinery (Deltek), or the local pipeline terminal.

You're correct sir!! But...to many people "Perception is Reality" - they changed the name so...Must be different gas!

Robert wrote on Apr 14, 2006:Go to #5

They all come from the same place, but brand names do have additives like detergents and stuff that the no name brands don't. Each named brand has it's own additives like Shell Techron that are blended at the terminal. They also have specs on water content etc. and they do random testing to be sure that what they are paying for meets specs. But sometimes somebody screws up. There was a Citgo convenience store here that sold gas with too much water. A bunch of cars died on the road after filling up. It made the newspapers and created a lot of bad publicity. A few weeks later the station changed to Diamond Shamrock, and last week it changed to Valero. But I'm sure it still gets it's gas either from the local refinery (Deltek), or the local pipeline terminal.

Another holiday, another gas hike. 20 cents in 10 days what a crock of Sh*t. .

Domingo wrote on Apr 14, 2006:Go to #7

Another holiday, another gas hike. 20 cents in 10 days what a crock of Sh*t. .

Aint that the truth!!!! Station on the corner by my office has increased prices 5 times in last week - he is up over $3.00 for mid-grade and hi-test!! The man is nothing but a crook! Tiny

The man is not a crook! He's probably still making the same $.02 per gallon or whatever.

He doesn't sell that much gas - the fuel in the ground that he has already purchased doesn't increase in price after it is purchased - he is always the highest priced around - 1/4 mile down the road price is .08-.10 less and they sell a lot more gas - thus entailing a lot more deliveries that should result in higher prices each time!! Believe me, I don't impugn others without definite proof and I wouldn't call him a crook without reason.......although Price Gouger might be a better description! Tiny

He probably doesn't sell much gas if he is .08 higher than everyone else.

He is in a very convienent location - the other stations are not within sight of his.

Lot, stations can only buy what they can sell within a few days too keep the fuel fresh so the prices will always reflect what the wholesale price is for any given day. Also, having more deliveries brings the price down some through volume buying. Velero and Shamrock merged. If you want prices to go down then demand that the Feds stop taxing oil at the well head. Currently half of the price of a gallon of American crude is taxes at the well, then more taxes at the pump yet there is no well head tax on imported oil. That only leaves us with two choices, pay eight to ten bucks a gallon for American gas or buy from the foreign oil producers.

Ahem: Here's how gas pricing works: The terminal wholesales to a distributor or "jobber". The distributor is in charge of keeping track of amounts needed and delivering them to the final retailer. The distributor will let his retailers know the price, often more than once a day, according to the current market price and according to their pricing tier. Branded superpumpers will get a better price than mid-level retailers, and single unit pumpers will get the highest price. For instance: Gas sold to distributor @ $1.00/gal might go to a superpumper at $1.45/gal, mid level @ $1.52/gallon and single unit @1.56/gallon. At that point the retailer has to decide his margin according to volume and competition. (The distributors markup covers delivery costs and profit). All of the convenience store pumpers (super or single) make their real money on inside sales.... Now according to something I read recently (sorry to all you Texas Republican Bushies) the market price of crude has not varied enough to warrant the price swings. The current administration has given the oil industry carte blanche to test the American markets response to higher pricing. In collusion with them are the Saudi Oil Ministers who has started making noises about how "Americans need to start using less gasoline, as the OPEC countries are producing at 110% of capacity". Which lays the groundwork for further price increases on the crude oil market due to "shortages" which will lead to further increases at the pump.. The U.S. has behind the scenes control of the Iraqi oil distribution system and it's reserves. They have been steadily coming on line and the monies generated are supposed to go to rebuilding Iraq. I'm sure some of it actually is. At any rate the oil industry is testing to see just how high the price can be pushed before the American public responds. They are not concerned with emails, or TV sound bites, or letters to your congressman, the industry only watches one indicator: American consumer's willingness to buy less gas on a daily basis. Until such time the price reaches the level that consumption goes down, the price increases are going to keep coming. Of course the people that it hurts the most, are the ones that can least afford to have a bigger chunk of their paycheck go to transportation. Within the current administration, there is no concerted push for conservation. You figure the rest out..... Don't get me started on the current administration's lax attitude to the environmental rape of West Virginia's mountains.... Sincerely, Another dumbass treehugger. PS. Global warming. It's a good thing! Summer will start in March! PPS. What better time to reap some profits and test the consumer's willingness to fork over the big bucks than those holiday travel weekends. The plans are made, the rooms reserved, so what if gas is a $1.00 more a gallon, right? PPPS. The government roll back a tax? Get real Don!

BornToStripe wrote on Apr 16, 2006:Go to #14

PS. Global warming. It's a good thing! Summer will start in March! PPS. What better time to reap some profits and test the consumer's willingness to fork over the big bucks than those holiday travel weekends. The plans are made, the rooms reserved, so what if gas is a $1.00 more a gallon, right? PPPS. The government roll back a tax? Get real Don!

Whadda ya mean "get real Don"?: 1. Here we set an all time high of 100 degrees yesterday (hottest Easter or April 16 ever , over 25 degrees hotter than the 100 year "normal" average of 75) Predictions for the next 3 days slightly cooling with highs gradually dropping to 92. (hopefully back to normal upper 70's by the week-end) But if the ice caps melt; LA, Houston & most of NYC will be under water look at the savings in gas and maybe the totally polluted North Carolina Coast where it is not safe to eat fish from ANY single river or stream flowing from NC into the ocean (all thanks to keeping that cheap corporate pork (literally-hog farming) on your table, will get "flushed out". Sorry about Virginia but all that electricity has to come from somewhere so I can pay the higher electric rates to run my AC. Also over a half-million acres of Texas were burned in the last year due to unprecedented wildfires caused by our continued drought, our state's flower, the bluebonnet (basically a weed) is not blooming most places this year due to unprecedented "no winter" conditions coupled with lack of rain. 2. You're right, there is NO REASON for the price hikes except to see what the market will bear. Now they are saying "gulf oil production is still down due to Katrina"...funny 2 weeks after Katrina they said it was back at 95% with the rest to be back soon. Hmm. Iraqis are not stupid, did you know their as stations MUST buy gas from Haliburton (not Iraqi refineries) at 2 1/2 times the "going rate". It would be cheaper for a gas station owner in Iraq to rent a tanker, drive to Kuwait, fill it at retail prices at a gas station and drive back...but of course we can't allow that...electric and treated water availability is lower in Iraq than under Saddam but people wonder why Iraqis don't love us... 3. Whatever gave you the idea I believe the government about anything, much less roll-backs. Government "of the people" is now "government of the corporate lobbyists". No tax increase ever goes away, they may juggle it, but give the government more money and it will never do without it again. Did you know that 3 of the wealthiest people in the USA get "farm subsides" while family farmers go broke everyday? Don't even get me going on politics anymore, 3 corporations control over 95% of all media (newspapers, radio, TV) in the USA and most people are content to believe what they say...I wonder why when our fighters & bombers already out perform anything else in the world, are the only country with "stealth" etc. we have to have billions in new "better" aircraft & weapons. Even the skeptic severe "right wing" folks should realize if we trump up a reason to attack Iran anybody should have to admit it was really all about oil, after all, before OPEC, our corporations built & controlled it, and they have been wanting that control back ever since. And for everybody else don't forget when you buy your next consumer product that more petroleum is used in making plastic than in making fuels every day...and yet existing technology that can make just as good of plastic from corn is being stopped by the plastic industry. (And corn-based plastic does eventually biodegrade (40 years or so after shredding) unlike petroleum plastic that "never dies". My advice to anyone is to get satellite or force your cable channel to offer FSTV and LINK TV, the only two channels that have no corporate sponsorships of any kind or commercial advertising (unlike PBS ALL money comes from viewer donations) If you do you will see programming there you may not want to watch ("Gay" news, a few "over-the-top" left wing shows, etc.) but you will also see real news from around the world so you can see what the rest of the world thinks of us, not just what our media says they think. (If nothing else at least watch BBC news if you can get it) and you will see the "hidden agendas" of the oil companies, Monsanto, and other giants that are in effect controlling the government from behind the scenes. You will know what BTS is talking about in W Virginia, the myth of what lumber companies are doing to our forests, the myth of genetically engineered crops, what I mentioned about North Carolina's water, why oyster fisherman and plant employees are dying from a range of strange & rare cancers near a Monsanto plant on the Gulf Coast that admits they release Dioxin, but claim it's safe, (safe Dioxin?) all to make a common chemical who's main use is to make the cream in your Oreo "whiter" (and many other such products that are more appealing when they are "whiter" than they would be without it (and is of no real needed benefit for anything other than that type stuff...so what's a few tons of Dioxin a year to have "whiter" white frosting?) and why drilling in Anwar will gain no substantial mounts of oil, just trash Alaska some more, and make for some great short-term profits for the oil giants. You're right about the fuel prices, we did a lot of work for a huge truck stop, so big they ran tankers to terminals all day, non-stop, bought diesel with no additives and had a blending system to add them as the diesel was pumped from the trucks because it was cheaper that way. Before every tanker rolled back to Fort Worth's terminals the manager called them all to check current prices, they change several times a day, so they always used who was cheapest at that time of day. It might only be a penny or 2 but with the quantity they bought it affected the bottom line. So a local independent station stuck with one distributor gets hit with whatever that one is charging, because they aren't buying 10-15 truckloads a day. Have a nice day, gas here has gone up 4 times in the last week & a half, just yesterday from $1.75 to $1.79 (2 1/2 weeks ago it was $1.51) every day or two it's been either a nickel or maybe just a penny or two, but 28 cents in a short time, because people still keep buying it, and the oil magnate's profits keep going up. Sadly it's not as easy as blaming Bush (not that I don't), but they have the democrats in their pockets too...just in case...In fact it was a little unnoticed tweak in the law by Bill Clinton that lets our trade deficit to China grow daily (Wal-Mart alone accounts for $37 BILLION a year of that deficit to China) while we can't put tariffs or anything on their goods so American plants keep closing while we buy more Chinese everyday. Got to go turn on that AC so I can burn some good clean fossil fuel or Nuclear at the highest prices ever, after all...it's a heat wave, and we wouldn't want anything so stupid as wind or solar power (because windmills may kill birds that fly into a blade by chance, nuclear kills everything...can't discriminate )

As long as the demand is there the price will stay high, just another commodity. If you played the commodities you to would be rich like bush and all the other crooked politicians.

Here's an email I got today, I have x'ed out the personally identifying info. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lynne xx< [email removed] > Date: Apr 17, 2006 10:00 AM Subject: FW: RE: 2 Gas War emails To: [email removed] , [email removed] , [email removed] I hope this will truly shed some light on the Gas issue. I sent the 2 emails circulating through USA today to my dear friend Laura x who actually works for OPEC in Vienna. you might be very interested and enlightened by her response. I was privileged to visit her last year in Vienna. What a wonderful trip. Lynne x From: "x, Laura" < [email removed] > To: "Lynne x" < [email removed] > Subject: RE: 2 Gas War emails Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:27:27 +0200 Hi Lynne, The first argument is correct. The only way to lower gas prices is to reduce demand or increase supply. One of the factors limiting supply is lack of refining capacity in the US and globally. It is not caused by a shortage of crude oil at the moment, but crude prices are also being affected by geopolitical events and the speculation around such events, which also drives up the price. The second argument is completely flawed. In a global market, it doesn't matter where you buy your product. In fact, refusing to buy products from Exxon would create an artificial "shortage" of gasoline that would drive up prices. The only thing that would lower prices is to refuse to buy gasoline from any company. The effect of that would be to reduce demand, which is what the first argument says. An analogy would be as follows: Suppose a few people decided to try to lower the price of gold by refusing to buy it from mining companies that they think are charging too high a price. Would anyone expect that to cause other gold mining companies to lower their price? Oil is a commodity just like gold, copper, wheat, and coffee. What makes oil different is the huge investments and long lead times that are necessary to produce it. I hope this helps. The oil industry needs to do a better job of explaining how oil markets work. All the best, Laura Laura x Senior Research Analyst for Technology OPEC Obere Donaustrasse 93 A-1020 Vienna, Austria Tel: +43 1 21112 287 Mobile: +43 676 460 xxxx -----Original Message----- From: Lynne xx[mailto: [email removed] ] Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 2:10 PM To: x, Laura Subject: 2 Gas War emails Here are 2 gas war emails circulating in the USA. Which is correct? Are either correct? 1. The ONLY way to lower gas prices is to increase supply or reduce demand. This "Gas War" idea will not work and no, it did NOT come from Phil at Coca-Cola (can you say "hoax?"). All petroleum goes through the same refineries to local distributors. If you stop going to your local Exxon, it hurts only that particular store manager, not ExxonMobil. Wanna make a REAL protest that WILL work and will save you money? PARK YOUR CAR. Walk or ride a bike. Lose the SUV. 2. Subject: GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. We need to take aggressive action to teach Oil companies that BUYERS control the marketplace..not sellers. Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers.

This is in today's WSJ Read the whole thing. Few things are less becoming in a political party than desperation, as Republicans are now demonstrating as they panic over rising oil and gas prices. If blaming private industry for Congress's own energy mistakes is the best the GOP can do, no wonder its voters may sit out the November election. Oil prices hit $75 a barrel last week, while gas has reached a national average of about $2.85 a gallon. The Republican response has been to put on Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi fright wigs and shout about corporate greed and market manipulation. House Speaker Denny Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist fired off a letter to President Bush yesterday demanding the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department investigate "price fixing" and "gouging." Senator Arlen Specter wants to go further and impose stricter "antitrust" laws for oil companies, as well as a "windfall profits" tax. Mr. Hastert also delighted the class warriors in the press corps by lambasting recently retired Exxon CEO Lee Raymond's pay "unconscionable." There's been unconscionable behavior all right, most of it on Capitol Hill. A decent portion of the latest run-up in gas prices--and the entire cause of recent spot shortages--is the direct result of the energy bill Congress passed last summer. That self-serving legislation handed Congress's friends in the ethanol lobby a mandate that forces drivers to use 7.5 billion gallons annually of that oxygenate by 2012. At the same time, Congress refused to provide liability protection to the makers of MTBE, a rival oxygenate getting hit with lawsuits. So MTBE makers are leaving the market in a rush, while overstretched ethanol producers (despite their promises) are in no way equipped to compensate for the loss of MTBE in the fuel supply. Ethanol is also difficult to ship and store outside of the Midwest, which is causing supply headaches and spot gas shortages along the East Coast and Texas. These columns warned Republicans this would happen. As recently as last year, ethanol was selling for $1.45 a gallon. By December it had reached $2 and is now going for $2.77. So refiners are now having to buy both oil and ethanol at sky-high prices. In short, the only market manipulation has been by politicians. For the record, the FTC has an entire crew that pores over weekly average gas prices in hundreds of cities, looking for evidence of gouging--to no avail. Perhaps this is because no oil company controls enough of the market to exercise enough power to raise prices. The Hastert-Frist call for an investigation is nothing but short-attention-span political theater. Beyond the ethanol fiasco, the oil markets are once again providing a tutorial in supply and demand in a global commodity market. Strong economic growth from the U.S. to China is driving up demand, even as political uncertainty in oil-producing countries such as Venezuela and Iran is leading to supply worries and some speculation. The Federal Reserve has also played a role by flooding the market with dollar liquidity that has produced higher prices across all commodity markets. Congress could help a little in the short term if it asked the Bush Administration to end the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. That would especially help drivers in coastal states suffering from spot shortages. Naturally, however, the domestic ethanol industry is threatening retribution against any Member who suggests such a thing; so much for industry gratitude. The GOP might also refocus its attention on legislation the House passed last year to reduce the number of "boutique fuels" to six from 17. These special gasoline blends are required in different parts of the country in the name of reducing pollution. Their primary effect, however, is to raise gas prices and make it difficult to move gas around the country during shortfalls. The Environmental Protection Agency could also ease environmental rules for those parts of the country suffering shortages. Meanwhile, we're also hearing more about the country's reliance on "foreign oil." But if Congress wants to ease that dependence, it will have to open more of the U.S. up to oil and gas exploration. Had the Senate opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration when the Bush Administration requested it in 2001, some of this oil might now be joining American supplies. The same goes for natural gas drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf. Yet the very Democrats who deplore foreign supplies and shout about high prices vote again and again to block domestic oil exploration. The last time the U.S. had a gasoline panic, in the wake of Katrina, some quick Bush Administration action and private ingenuity eased the problem in record time. Gasoline prices that had climbed above $3 a gallon quickly settled back closer to $2. Markets will make the same adjustments today if they are allowed to send price signals without Congress getting in the way. Republicans can blame business all they want for high prices, but sounding like liberal Democrats won't save them in November.

I think I'm gonna vote Libritarian next election. I'm sick of 2 party rule when the only substantial thing either party offers is hate for the other party!!

What if.......3 or 4 milk producers bought up all the little guy milk producers. What if futures traders hear a rumor that a nation wide drought may happen this summer and all grass lands will be affected. Milk immediately goes to $20 per gallon not because of increased demand.....but because the milk producers could.... What if....... Don't hold your breath on lower gasoling prices. The oil producers are going to keep raising prices until their sales go down.