Lower Gas Prices Coming Soon - Oil Prices Drop $1 Per Barrel

Guest · #21 Postby **Guest** » Sun May 23, 2004 11:30 am

Alaska SHOULD BE off limits.

Just curious Steph, why wouldn't you want us to drill there? I think it would take some of our dependancy off of the Middle East.
...Jennifer...

rainstorm · #22 Postby **rainstorm** » Sun May 23, 2004 2:41 pm

enviros predicted disaster when the valdez pipeline was built. never happened.

Lindaloo · #23 Postby **Lindaloo** » Sun May 23, 2004 2:49 pm

How can you possibly blame Bush for this? Blame OPEC and the greedy Saudis. Not Bush.

#24 Postby **azskyman** » Sun May 23, 2004 4:32 pm

I'm not one for stirring up the environment, but I believe we need to find ways to be less dependent on others in the forseeable future. The reserves we have are significant. Just making plans to open the up will impact future pricing in the Middle East.

I paid $2.43 a gallon today (ouch!). Won't be long and each pump will need to be air conditioned to keep that computer chip cool as it rings up the amounts!

#25 Postby **Stephanie** » Sun May 23, 2004 5:57 pm

Jen - Alaska is one of the last pristine areas in the world and we should strive to keep it that way. We have the capability to develop news types of fuel but greed and short sightedness keeps us from doing so. Man has screwed up alot of things in this world already.

Helen - did you ever hear of the Valdez oil spill? THAT was a disaster.

stormraiser · #26 Postby **stormraiser** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:09 am

Prices did go down two cents over the weekend here. Prices are down to 2.18/gallon regular unleaded.

azsnowman · #27 Postby **azsnowman** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:10 am

Just heard on the news a second ago, even with the increase of 600,000 bbls a day promised by Saudi Arabia, this will do NOTHING to the price at the pumps! They will increase production in June and the oil will not reach the refinerys in the states until mid to late July! Now tell me, how can an increase of 600,000 bbls a day NOT affect the prices?

Dennis

azsnowman · #28 Postby **azsnowman** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:14 am

Here's the article:

Recession fears rise with cost of gasoline
advertisement

Saudis' extra oil won't help much

Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press
May. 24, 2004 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - Consumers and businesses are feeling the pinch from record-high energy prices, and worries already are cropping up that the country could fall into recession if gasoline prices keep going up.

Oil-price shocks have played a role in four of the past five U.S. recessions over three decades. Analysts fear that attacks on oil facilities in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and the threat of further disruptions will keep prices volatile for some time.

"It could cause a recession if oil prices go high enough," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York.

The price of light crude oil hit a record $41.85 in New York trading early last week before settling at $39.93 Friday. The markets reacted to the announcement that Saudi Arabia will begin pumping 600,000 more barrels of crude a day, beginning in June.

That decision will have little immediate effect on pump prices in the United States, analysts said. The additional supplies will not reach this country until mid-July, after the demand for refineries to produce gasoline for the peak driving season has ended.

The U.S. average retail price for self-serve gasoline rose 14 cents in the past two weeks to a record $2.07 a gallon as of Friday, Trilby Lundberg said, citing a survey of 8,000 gas stations by her research firm.

In another development Sunday, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the Saudis had promised to raise their daily production by an additional 2 million barrels to about 9.1 million.

Also, Abraham said in a news briefing in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi told him in a private meeting that the kingdom was willing eventually to "meet all requests up to their full capacity of 10.5 million barrels a day."

But higher energy prices are still a concern because they could crimp consumer spending.

The prices act like a tax: If people pay more to fill up their cars, they have less to spend on other things.

Crude oil prices have risen about $10 a barrel since late last year. If that increase were to be sustained for a year, it would shave about $50 billion from consumer spending and reduce economic growth by about half a percentage point in 2005.

The optimists among forecasters point to the drop of nearly $2 a barrel in oil prices at the end of last week to support their view that the run-up will not last and say that prices should return to about $35 a barrel by fall.

Of course, events in the Middle East could prove the optimists wrong. More attacks on oil facilities, especially those in Saudi Arabia, could lift prices to $50 a barrel or more.

Although economists think oil prices will moderate in the months ahead, they said the recent sharp jump needs to be kept in perspective. The price of nearly $42 a barrel was a record in current dollars. But, after adjusting for inflation, oil prices are far lower than the peaks of previous crises.

Most analysts are not worried that the spike in energy prices will feed into sustained inflation pressure.

The threat concerns wages. If Americans see their purchasing power eroded by higher energy costs over the long term, that affects what economists call people's "inflation expectations," and they begin to demand larger wage increases to counter inflation.

Dennis :grr:

j · #29 Postby j » Mon May 24, 2004 8:40 am

THey are playing games with the numbers people. It doesn't matter how many more gallons they pump, what matters is what goes on right here in the USA at the refineries. Its like a funnel. You can only get so much out of the small end..it doesn't matter how much you pour in.

#30 Postby **Stephanie** » Mon May 24, 2004 1:22 pm

azsnowman wrote:Just heard on the news a second ago, even with the increase of 600,000 bbls a day promised by Saudi Arabia, this will do NOTHING to the price at the pumps! They will increase production in June and the oil will not reach the refinerys in the states until mid to late July! Now tell me, how can an increase of 600,000 bbls a day NOT affect the prices?

Dennis

I sure does affect the prices IMMEDIATELY after there's a shut down in a pipeline or discussion of OPEC DECREASING production. :grr:

#31 Postby **bfez1** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:04 pm

I paid $2.04 a gallon this morning. The highest ever!!!

YIKES!!! This is killing me!

Yankeegirl · #32 Postby **Yankeegirl** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:10 pm

I have to say that the price of gas is awful.. I am in the Houston area and the price of gas here is at 1.89, that was yesterday and you know things can change overnight :grrr:

Shame on you Bush!!! :oops

stormraiser · #33 Postby **stormraiser** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:28 pm

Yankeegirl, $1.89? That's 30 cents cheaper than here. I'll take it.

southerngale · #34 Postby **southerngale** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:30 pm

YankeeGirl wrote:I have to say that the price of gas is awful.. I am in the Houston area and the price of gas here is at 1.89, that was yesterday and you know things can change overnight Shame on you Bush!!! :oops

Welcome to storm2k!

I'm curious to know, how is it Bush's fault?

Yankeegirl · #35 Postby **Yankeegirl** » Mon May 24, 2004 2:36 pm

Thanks for the welcome SouthernGale, and I love your picture, Bon Jovi..such a hottie! I think Bush is more concerned with Iraq and not worrying about whats going on over here.. I think thats going to make him suffer in the elections.. Just an opinion though, I'm more into watching the weather...

Lindaloo · #36 Postby **Lindaloo** » Mon May 24, 2004 4:00 pm

YankeeGirl wrote:Thanks for the welcome SouthernGale, and I love your picture, Bon Jovi..such a hottie! I think Bush is more concerned with Iraq and not worrying about whats going on over here.. I think thats going to make him suffer in the elections.. Just an opinion though, I'm more into watching the weather...

That still does not explain why you are blaming Bush for the gas prices.

#37 Postby **Stephanie** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:28 pm

YankeeGirl wrote:Thanks for the welcome SouthernGale, and I love your picture, Bon Jovi..such a hottie! I think Bush is more concerned with Iraq and not worrying about whats going on over here.. I think thats going to make him suffer in the elections.. Just an opinion though, I'm more into watching the weather...

Do you like the Yankees?

CaluWxBill · #38 Postby **CaluWxBill** » Mon May 24, 2004 6:33 pm

j wrote:THey are playing games with the numbers people. It doesn't matter how many more gallons they pump, what matters is what goes on right here in the USA at the refineries. Its like a funnel. You can only get so much out of the small end..it doesn't matter how much you pour in.

You got that right, however I still believe that we should atleast prepare the ANWR site for drilling, I would hate to see the environmental impacts, but we must be ready for an embargo, such a site should not be used to bring down oil prices at this time, it should be used for a ready to tap reserve. Hopefully we can build a new refinery or two, hasn't been one built in a while.

#39 Postby **Pburgh** » Mon May 24, 2004 7:02 pm

I agree Bill!!

Yankeegirl · #40 Postby **Yankeegirl** » Mon May 24, 2004 10:28 pm

I am not a Yankees fan.. I am a Red Sox fan... I like the Astros too..But back to the gas prices, it doesnt matter how much people complain about the price of gas, the fact is, we still need it...all we can do is pray that it evens out sooner than later...

Lower Gas Prices Coming Soon - Oil Prices Drop $1 Per Barrel

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