Sound Off on Current Diesel Price

Tom Servo · May 8, 2012

Gouging can be a good thing and I can use diesel prices to explain it.

I live in a hurricane prone area, and after the storm passes fuel can be in short supply due to power outages and blocked roads. Now imagine you have a line of cars at the only gas station in town that's open. They have 100 gallons of diesel fuel in the tank and before the storm it was priced at $3.939 a gallon.

In the ensuing panic rush to find ANY available fuel, people will tend to hoard and buy as much fuel as they could. It would only take a few Powerstrokes or Excursions to empty that pittance of fuel.

BUT — what if it was priced at $8.509 a gallon? People would only buy what they need because they know in a day or six more stations will come online and the price will be back to (somewhat) normal. Each trucker and TDI driver would reluctantly shell out for a gallon or two, and what once would go into 2-5 vehicles before running out would now serve 50-100 vehicles.

***

Most prices here are still $3.939 or thereabouts; in Mobile it's down to $3.699 at one station and some others are in the range of $3.759. One Shell manages to still be $4.249 though so all's right with the world.

rkskeet · May 9, 2012

Current Price in my region as of today - RUG $3.69 - down $0.30 from its high and D2 $4.09 - down $0.20 from its high in the area. Seems like all of it is still way too high.. It would be nice if the scale of up and down prices flows at the same pace. Weather it is an up tick or down tick, we still seem to get pinched in the pocket. Here is a novel idea, bring back the good old day's at $0.28 gal for regular gas. I seem to recall that I did pay that price for fuel once upon a time in my life many years ago. Of course that last comment was made tounge in cheek.. Cheers!

TornadoRed · May 9, 2012

rkskeet said:
Here is a novel idea, bring back the good old day's at $0.28 gal for regular gas. I seem to recall that I did pay that price for fuel once upon a time in my life many years ago. Of course that last comment was made tounge in cheek.. Cheers!

If the price is too low, then consumers will buy up all there is, creating shortages. And producers will stop producing, because they lose money on every gallon.

To add to what Tom Servo had to say: for most of us, the last time we saw severe shortages and long lines at fuel stations, it was following a natural disaster. Or, it was back in the 1970s when the government tried to fix prices for domestically-produced crude oil, to prevent oil producers from earning windfall profits.

The lesson here, of course, it to beware of any politician who bad-mouths profits and the companies that earn them.

kjclow · May 9, 2012

I paid $3.84 on Sunday in Tega Cay. That was the lowest since early Feb.

DK · May 10, 2012

A nice experience at the usual Irving station today. I pulled up to the usual pump. The price was 3.939. A voice came over the speaker near the diesel pumps asking me to replace the nozzle and start over. The reason?
She said the price was coming down. The display on the pump changed, and I ended up paying $3.919. They didn't have to do that.

Tom Servo · May 10, 2012

DK said:
A nice experience at the usual Irving station today. I pulled up to the usual pump. The price was 3.939. A voice came over the speaker near the diesel pumps asking me to replace the nozzle and start over. The reason?
She said the price was coming down. The display on the pump changed, and I ended up paying $3.919. They didn't have to do that.

Now that's the kind of filling up story I like to hear.

sandflea · May 10, 2012

$3.87 today in Phoenix. At least it's gone down a bit. Still out of control!

Rickstah · May 10, 2012

OKC - I saw it was 3.77 at 39th and MacArthur today, but I was still on 3/4 and ground my teeth as I passed by, lol...then gasbuddy told me it was 3.49 at 10th and MacArthur...

...screw 3/4, I'm goin there tomorrow, lol

SilverGhost · May 11, 2012

There is a little spread around here. One Shell is holding or creeping up at 4.26/g and several others (RaceTrac, Hess) are actually down slightly at 3.95 - 3.98/g.

Jason

ssamalin · May 11, 2012

Tax the oil companies that sell here, shell, exxon, bp etc, they are the biggest and they make trillions gouging us, not rocket science though some here make it out to be. Use that tax revenue to run enough refinery output to stabilize diesel production for domestic use. Walla, simple solution to our oil company rip offs. We are awash in oil, demand is down, get the speculators and greedy oil companies out of the way by a competitive refinery system. That's what Delta Airlines just did, they bought their own refinery. It's what the tax payers need too. And yes we need to transition away from the fossil era due to it's poisoning the planet faster than predicted. So use some of those taxes to at least counter evil oil company climate change denial propaganda and invest in renewable energy.

TornadoRed · May 11, 2012

Something to be a bit concerned about...

While domestic crude oil inventories, at 380 million barrels, are the highest in two years, distillate inventories at barely 120 million barrels are the lowest in two years and somewhat below the normal level for this time of year. A year ago, ULSD stocks were 103.3 million barrels, but this week they are down to 87.4 million barrels. That's a drop of 10 million barrels in just five weeks.

Almost all the drop in distillate stocks under 15 ppm sulfur is in PADD 3, the Gulf Coast region. Very soon, maybe within days, the Seaway Pipeline will start carrying oil from Cushing OK to the Gulf Coast, reversing its original direction of flow.

So, maybe the Gulf Coast refiners have intentionally lowered their inventories of expensive refined products made from expensive imported crude, to make room for cheaper gasoline and distillate fuels made from cheaper crude from West Texas and North Dakota?

Rickstah · May 11, 2012

Tornado, I think it is obvious that the only things that happen accidentally when it comes to crude and distillate maneuvering, are, well...accidents, lol. I took your last stmt to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek

.

TornadoRed · May 11, 2012

ssamalin said:
Tax the oil companies that sell here, shell, exxon, bp etc, they are the biggest and they make trillions gouging us, not rocket science though some here make it out to be. Use that tax revenue to run enough refinery output to stabilize diesel production for domestic use. Walla, simple solution to our oil company rip offs.

"Walla"? Do you mean, "voilà", from the French, meaning "look here?

ssamalin · May 11, 2012

Diesel output/barrel crude refined in Europe is higher. We can highly efficiently upgrade our infrastructure to do the same. Just stop Exxon et al from rigging the system folks.

Thirstyturtle328 · May 11, 2012

Paid $4.05 today in Jacksonville, NC. That's the cheapest I've gotten it since buying my Golf about 2 months ago. $4.17 is the most I've paid. The day I pay under $4 I'll cum in my pants.

Tom Servo · May 11, 2012

Rickstah said:
OKC - I saw it was 3.77 at 39th and MacArthur today, but I was still on 3/4 and ground my teeth as I passed by, lol...then gasbuddy told me it was 3.49 at 10th and MacArthur......screw 3/4, I'm goin there tomorrow, lol

That's so low I'd be skeptical. Ever since GasBuddy introduced "awards" on their mobile app, people have been entering fake prices to earn the "Perfectionist" award, which is handed out after entering all grades of fuel so many times in the app. Unfortunately it does not take into account whether a station actually carries all grades, despite that functionality being built-in to the GasBuddy Master Station List.

Unless you know the station a) actually carries diesel and b) is known to be cheaper than everyone else, I'd take the price with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, if it IS real, that's quite a good bargain and definitely worth checking out if it's not too far out of your way.

Rickstah · May 11, 2012

Good point, Tom...I pass by that place a lot and it does have the lowest prices generally...I'm goin over in a few minutes, lol

darrelld · May 11, 2012

Tom Servo said:
That's so low I'd be skeptical. Ever since GasBuddy introduced "awards" on their mobile app, people have been entering fake prices to earn the "Perfectionist" award, which is handed out after entering all grades of fuel so many times in the app. Unfortunately it does not take into account whether a station actually carries all grades, despite that functionality being built-in to the GasBuddy Master Station List.

Unless you know the station a) actually carries diesel and b) is known to be cheaper than everyone else, I'd take the price with a grain of salt.

On the other hand, if it IS real, that's quite a good bargain and definitely worth checking out if it's not too far out of your way.

I noticed a lot of bogus reports on gas-buddy and don't use them anymore. I now use iGasUp, ties into the same database as Sirius Travel Link. Reads credit card swipes to obtain fuel type and price.

Rickstah · May 11, 2012

I predict oil prices will drop now, lol

http://news.yahoo.com/nevermind-apocalypse-earliest-mayan-calendar-found-180438279.html

Tom Servo · May 11, 2012

darrelld said:
I noticed a lot of bogus reports on gas-buddy and don't use them anymore. I now use iGasUp, ties into the same database as Sirius Travel Link. Reads credit card swipes to obtain fuel type and price.

I'd check it out but it's iPhone only.

sandflea · May 12, 2012

Rickstah said:
I predict oil prices will drop now, lol

http://news.yahoo.com/nevermind-apocalypse-earliest-mayan-calendar-found-180438279.html

Hahahahahahahaha! Whoops

HUVW · May 12, 2012

darrelld said:
Reads credit card swipes to obtain fuel type and price.

I wonder what else it obtains from the credit card swipes?

BOT:

Current diesel fuel price back home in Hungary: ~$7.26/GAL
Current gasoline price (unleaded) in Hungary: ~$7.24/GAL

Current super unleaded price in Kuwait: ~$0.88

I have yet to see a station here in Kuwait sell diesel. I know they do somewhere considering there are vehicles which utilize diesel, but all the fuel stations I frequent with passenger cars do not sell diesel.

ssamalin · May 12, 2012

I hope the Teamsters cut a deal with Delta Airlines to stabilize the diesel supply in the US. It could profoundly effect prices. Delta has just purchased a refinery to control it's fuel costs. The best solution would also be change the constitution to allow export taxes and tax diesel exports, which is where all our fuel is going now. I notice there's no right wing ideologues screaming about the free market lately. No maniacal repeated lies about supply an demand.

sandflea · May 12, 2012

HUVW said:
I wonder what else it obtains from the credit card swipes?

I wondered the same thing when i read that.

kjclow · May 12, 2012

TornadoRed said:
Something to be a bit concerned about...

While domestic crude oil inventories, at 380 million barrels, are the highest in two years, distillate inventories at barely 120 million barrels are the lowest in two years and somewhat below the normal level for this time of year. A year ago, ULSD stocks were 103.3 million barrels, but this week they are down to 87.4 million barrels. That's a drop of 10 million barrels in just five weeks.

Almost all the drop in distillate stocks under 15 ppm sulfur is in PADD 3, the Gulf Coast region. Very soon, maybe within days, the Seaway Pipeline will start carrying oil from Cushing OK to the Gulf Coast, reversing its original direction of flow.

So, maybe the Gulf Coast refiners have intentionally lowered their inventories of expensive refined products made from expensive imported crude, to make room for cheaper gasoline and distillate fuels made from cheaper crude from West Texas and North Dakota?

This helps explain the rumors of price hikes heading into Memorial Day Weekend.

It is interesting to see you speculation that the Gulf area refineries may actually be paying attention to where the cheapest and largest domestic crude supplies are.

Oh, B5 at Loves in Fort Mill, SC was $3.84 last night. Both cars are near full so it doesn't help me this week. I was filling my daughter's Toyota at $3.39 for rug.

fueledtothefinish · May 12, 2012

donDavide said:
So I guess they paid the people at East Anglia University too? (Climategate) Back to topic, I saw price drop more, I saw alot of $3.8X9s in A.A. County today

what do you mean back on topic? this is the sound off on prices thread not the post your local price thread.

donDavide · May 12, 2012

fueledtothefinish said:
what do you mean back on topic? this is the sound off on prices thread not the post your local price thread.

Read the thread newbie, don't tell what I can or can't post.

SamJammerTDi · May 12, 2012

fueledtothefinish said:
what do you mean back on topic? this is the sound off on prices thread not the post your local price thread.

What are you talking about? Everbody is posting prices of what they pay or have seen. I also fail to see you "sounding off" in your post.

TornadoRed · May 13, 2012

ssamalin said:
I hope the Teamsters cut a deal with Delta Airlines to stabilize the diesel supply in the US. It could profoundly effect prices. Delta has just purchased a refinery to control it's fuel costs. The best solution would also be change the constitution to allow export taxes and tax diesel exports, which is where all our fuel is going now. I notice there's no right wing ideologues screaming about the free market lately. No maniacal repeated lies about supply an demand.

Oh, did you want to engage in dialogue? I'm a right-wing ideologue willing to volunteer to tear you a new one, anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately for you, I can support every argument I make with facts. That's your problem, you have no facts.

TornadoRed · May 13, 2012

A week ago, most of the low-priced stations around the Twin Cities were charging $3.999, and only one -- conveniently close to my home -- was charging $3.939.

Since then there have been dozens of stations that dropped their price for ULSD to $3.899, and I was able to fill up today for $3.859, without driving too far out of my way. That's the lowest price I've paid since January 24th.

Sound Off on Current Diesel Price

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