Energy / Gas Prices

• Peak Oil's Affect on Gasoline Prices in 2012

  In recent days there has been much discussion in the press about what might happen to gasoline prices in the coming year. Cognizant of the fact that retail gasoline is currently running nearly 30 cents per gallon higher than it was in January 2008 the year when prices topped out at a national average of $4.11 and that gasoline futures have risen by 30 cents a gallon in the last few weeks, there is reason for concern. Typical of the stories is one from the Los Angeles Times that quotes Tom Kloza, long-time chief analyst for the Oil Price Information…

• New Report Shows Motorists How to Spend Less Money on Gasoline

  For many the idea that operating a motor vehicle can be much cheaper is a non-starting idea.  Their real world experience won’t support the facts because their situation is most likely urban – or they’ll just lazy about taking care of their machines. Hypermilers, a term for those working at every inch of travel from every drop aren’t going to get a lift from what follows, but the folks at the University of Michigan have put real research into the basics that hypermilers use to go very far and the rest of us can use to save a bunch of…

• Bachmann's $2 Gas Price Promise - Naive or Dishonest?

  Like many of you, I am often unhappy with our political leaders. One thing that annoys me the most is that many will say or do just about anything to get elected. By now, you have surely heard the news that Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann has promised a return to $2/gallon gasoline if she is elected president: GOP candidate Michele Bachmann: I’ll bring back $2 gas NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — President Michele Bachmann has a promise: $2 gas. “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 a gallon again,” Bachmann told a crowd Tuesday in South…

• Oil Price Drop offering No Relief for Motorists as Gas Prices Remain Unchanged

  The Reuters Jefferies CRB Index is down 8% so far in May with almost every single commodity in the index registering red. Even the ongoing geopolitical tension in the Middle East and North Africa has not been able to shield the ever bullish crude oil from the commodity rout. Both Nymex WTI and ICE Brent suffered heavy losses. In the two weeks ending Friday, May 13, Brent dropped about 10% to close at $113.83 a barrel on ICE, while WTI plunged 12% to $99.65 a barrel at Nymex, and RBOB gasolne futures for June also lost 8% to around $3.0766…

• Rising Gas Prices and Political Scapegoats

  Summer is approaching, and that typically means rising gas prices. And when gas prices rise, our political leaders generally start looking around for someone to blame. Over the past few years it has become a regular ritual that as gas prices rise, the CEOs of our biggest oil companies will be marched to Washington D.C. for a public shaming that involves Congress grilling them on why they are doing such horrible things to the American public. Inevitably, we will spend tax dollars investigating the matter. And as was the case after Hurricane Katrina, one FTC investigation after another has found…

• Gasoline Prices and the Oil Supply Problem

  I paid $50 to fill my tank at a gas station in Maine this morning, at a cost of almost $4 a gallon. When the Actress muttered some comment of protest, I told her that she had better get used to the price, because it is hard to see any normal reason for a decline in that price in the near future. The EIA TWIP today was discussing the transportation fuel market this summer, and begins by noting: Regular-grade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $2.76 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $3.86 per gallon during the 2011 driving…

• Pinched By $4 Gasoline? Blame The Big Banks

  Yes, that's right!  The same Big Banks that taxpayers bailed out during the financial crisis are now jacking up oil and gasoline prices (Fig. 1), thus making consumers pay yet once again at the gas pump.  Don`t buy into the hype fed to the media by the Big Banks about impending global oil supply crisis due to the unrest in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. It All Started With Jackson Hole…. This run-up in oil prices started with Fed Chairman Bernanke`s Jackson Hole speech where the big banks realized they were going to get a bunch more…

• What is Really Driving Gas Prices up? And What Can be Done About it?

  This past week I had an article published in the Washington Post called Five Myths about Gas Prices. I will discuss each particular myth in detail below, but the five myths I addressed were: 1. Fighting in Libya is sending gas prices higher.2. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a smart way to reduce gas prices.3. Oil companies produce less in the spring to make gas prices increase.4. The Obama administration is driving up gas prices.5. Americans can’t live without cheap gas. Because such articles go through an editing process and must conform to limits on the length of the article, some topics couldn’t be…

• Floating Crude and Shipping Rates Could Trigger $4 Gas

  Is $4 Gas in the Next few Months a Foregone Conclusion For years there has been a large supply of crude floating on big oil tankers. A significant portion of this is not under contract and does not have a specific delivery date. Typically these vessels head for Asia or the Americas. They do it at slow speed. They wait for contact from the owners that the crude has been sold and a delivery date has been set. When that happens the ship picks up speed and heads to the intended port. It is my understanding from talking to some…

• Gas Prices Hit Record Levels for February

  U.S. gasoline prices have jumped to the highest levels ever for the middle of February. The national average hit $3.127 per gallon on Friday, about 50 cents above a year ago. The price is about 6 percent higher than on this date in 2008. The next day, pump prices began a string of 32 gains over 34 days. They rose 39 percent over five months, eventually hitting an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon in July. Although gas prices are expected to rise, most experts aren't expecting a reprise of 2008, when the price spike forced many drivers to join…