Check this out... working in Europe I pay 4.19 a gallon. However if I have to buy on the German economy the gas is 8.85 dollars A GALLON. One good thing about high gas prices is people drive less, Heck I get 30 mpg and I still take the free shuttle, bus or bike.
Sell the monster in the driveway and by another MINI

 

$4.49 today

 

Just out of curiosity, how many people have 100 mile daily commutes in Europe?

 

Here at work we ar not talking about MPG as much as we are CPD (Cost per Day) to get to and from Work. Since that what pays for the gas/oil anyway.
My Wife drives GMC Yukon XL, she wants to sell it and get a better MPG car. She drives 3 miles to work, 6 miles total per day, Cost me a smooth $100 to fill her up every 6 to 8 weeks. Why (besides being green ) would I want to spend $40-$60k on a hybrid SUV (cause that's what she wants to drive ) to save, let's say half, of the gas she now buys. So it cost us $3.33 CPD for her to get to work now.
I on the other hand drive Winnie to work at around $5.50 CPD. some of the people I work with are around $12-14 CPD. That is when I would park the SUV/Truck (because there is NO resale value to speak of) and get a better CPD ride.
Europe - short commute, USA - big country - Lots to see - Suburbia - long commute. I think you hit it on the head OctaneGuy!

 

I drive 400 miles a week, I dont know about others.

 

I'm sure this has been said, but I'm paying way too much for way too little!!!

I've also caught info on the major news networks that we'll be paying more than $5.00 toward the end of June.

So much for jet skiing this summer I do believe. We can afford it, but I refuse to pay for it when it comes to fun. Our jet skis are still sitting weatherized.

 

Interesting about the CPD. For me it costs $10 per day or with todays current gas rates--about $150 a week to fill up my MINI.

I asked about how many miles people drive, because although I've only visited Europe a few times, my impression was that unless you are regularly traveling to other countries, most people aren't driving very far--thus the reason why micro cars like Smart Cars are popular and safer than being driven here in the USA.

And while people like to say that we have cheap gas in the US compared to the rest of the world--I know that even if gas got to be $10/gallon, I'd still be forced to make my 100 mile daily commute or else either move my business closer, or move my family closer..but there isn't any alternative transportation that would be less costly---well I have dreamed of buying a small homebuilt plane, lol. Here in SoCal urban sprawl is the norm. Unlike many states in the US that actually have city centers--Los Angeles doesn't have a center--so we all live where ever we want or can afford. I have an uncle who was driving 100 miles from his home to work every day--one way. Eventually he got an apartment and went home once a week, and eventually he got divorced, lol.



Is that the norm? I mean, I know most of my friends drive atleast 50 miles a day to commute to and from work.

 

I passed the Chevron station in Colfax, CA off highway 80 when I was bringing my new Clubman home the other day, and premium was at $4.80! That station is always more expensive, but that's the worst I've seen it.

I'm paying about $4.60 on average here in Grass Valley.

 

It's getting so bad, people are stealing fuel.
...Morgan said truckers are also robbing each other because the price of gas is so high.

"It has gotten real bad," Morgan said. "Some of our owner operators at our company have fueled up and awaken in the morning to find their tanks empty." ...

 

On Sunday, I filled up at $4.539/gal. This morning it was $4.729/gal. WTF?!?!?! Nineteen cents in four days?? I think the next time we hear about "record oil company profits" there will be rioting.

 

Me too...I filled up on Sunday as well $4.56/gallon...I know see like $4.70/gallon...DANGA.

 

Drove down upper Market St in SF yesterday about 9:15 AM. Passed a Chevron station at $4.799 and a 76 at $4.619. About 2 hours later the 76 had raised their price 10 cents.

Thank goodness I got gas the day before yesterday for $4.519 at a 76 station on Geary / Stanyon.

 

Yeah...its almost like you have to jump on that low price when you see it. What kills me is that the Oil Companies are reporting record profits.

 

So is anybody resorting to buying gas at Costco yet? I am leaning that way but trying not to.

 

Mass protest. We all rent golf carts until next fall. An entire gasoline boycott. Plug her in and cruise (very slowly) to work. At least the ENRON Execs are already in jail for price fixing....

 

4.05 Meijer

 

over 5£ a gallon here

 

$4.51 Shell

 

And pretty soon it will be:

 

$4.69 at a Chevron.

 

$4.45/gal. 92 Octane, Shell, Vancouver, Wa.

 

$3.65....

 

Someone posted about how the oil companies toil to meet the vast requirements, etc. etc. I understand that the increase in demand in Asia, particularly China/India, affects the market, as does the decline in value of the dollar. But c'mon people - Asia's demand has not increased dramatically since last year, nor has ours. Every time an "analyst" opens his mouth in a vague reference to "worries about supply" or "unrest in the oil producing nations" the price jumps like a well-trained dog. Gee, unrest in the middle east, there's a shocker - who saw that coming? In my business, and every other one I know except big oil, when the supply of raw materials increases, even if much of it is passed down to the consumer, my profits remain constant, if I'm lucky. Somehow though, Exxon's profits continue to go through the freaking roof. Where else you gonna fill up? It's a closed market.

 

Most of our stations have been around $4.07 for premium this week. Thursday I caught 2 BP stations at $3.88.

The Mini didn't really need much, but I pulled in to top off. I wasn't far from home so I drove back home and grabbed the F150 that the Hubby had drained from a return trip back from VIR (Virginia International Raceway) trailering his Shelby. Even with just under a quarter tank I spent an easy $75.

 

There are three simple things going on.

ONE: Declining production. all oil fields decline in production until they are abandoned (not economically productive). Typical oil fields get less than 50% of the oil out of the reserve, average is in the 35-40% URR (Ultimately Recoverable Reserve). Of the 20 elephant oil fields found in the world capable of producing more than 1million bbls a day, there is only two left (Gharwar and Cantarel) able to sustain that production, and one may no longer be able after this year (Canteral - Mexico).

TWO: Increasing consumption. Most of the Asia is increasing consumption, or flat with consumption.

THREE: Oil reserves DO NOT equal oil production! Oil generally is NOT pumped, it is flowed under natural pressure. When you get to the point of 'pumping' the oil from the reservoir, you are at your end.

So even if a country has flat or declining demand, declines in production still put upward pressure on price.

Indonesia is removing itself from OPEC as it is no longer an oil producer, but an importer, a perfect example of oil field declines. The export land model where consumption offsets production exports to the point the state becomes and importer. The USA is a perfect example of this.

Declines in world oil exports (by EIA data) have been -1.1% 2006, and -2.2% in 2007 and -3% YTD from the ultimate export output in 2005.

'Big oil' profits have been huge recently as they are getting $130 bbl on oil reserves they booked at $10 bbl, 20 bbl, or $30 bbl oil. They took the risk then to produce oil 10-20 years ago at a NEAR LOSS! Now are reaping the benefits. Now you cannot book a new reserve at that cost. You are more likely to book costs at $50-80 bbl depending on the difficulties of the reserve. It is expected the ultra deep Jack oil field find to book production costs in the $80-100bbl range.

I have fractional ownership of a number of oil&gas wells. The costs are extraordinary. $1 mill to $2 mill per well, and that is for easy to access land based drilling. We invest $90-$100 million in a drilling program (2-3 programs per year) for about 30 wells and hit 90%. I am a tiny investor in this, let me emphasize tiny, the minimum to get in was a serious financial struggle/risk for me.

If you really want to know what is going on besides the rhetoric there is lot's of data out there. I spend my time reading NAM (of course), and Rigzone, Chron, Aljazeera (eng), Upstreamonline.

Just remember when filling up. The refineries have been discounting gasoline all spring and there is actually a glut of refined gasoline on the market. Small comfort I know.

Why is our oil under their sand anyway?