Sound Off on Current Diesel Price

[tdidieselbobny]

Yep-it's going up DAILY here..... was $2.719 last Sat (10/17)-it was $2.919 this morning.....it should be over $3 by Weds. or Thurs. I bet....this is my local Hess.

 

[jbright]

$2.89 at the BP station on 71st St. in Indy.

 

[Bob_Fout]

Yup, $2.89 in west central IN and east central IL.

 

[Joester]

filled up yesterday for $2.59/gal on I-44 around mile marker 220. (near cuba, MO)

 

[TornadoRed]

Filled up yesterday at New Century FS. Regular diesel $2.799, premium $2.849, cheapest gasoline $2.549

 

[Kymerik]

2.89 all over cincinnati atm :/ oh well

 

[TDI2Fan]

B5 - $2.699 @Quarles Shell at I-95 & Route 3.

 

[Diesel_Mikey]

Seen it anywhere from 2.549 to 3.059. I paid 2.799 last week at the BP on 12th Street just this side of the Holland Tunnel. It's worth pointing out that (a) the stations going towards the tunnel have seemingly random pricing for both D2 and all three grades of gas...typically higher than average because they know they're still cheaper than their NY counterparts so people would rather fill up before they cross. (b) the Shell next door to this BP was where I saw 3.049, which underscores my point about bizarre pricing.

 

[TornadoRed]

Something odd this week... on the futures markets, gasoline has risen relative to heating oil, and in fact HO is now just slightly cheaper. A week or two ago the HO was priced 10-15 cents above RBOB regular gasoline for blending. We might get some hint as to what's going on, when the weekly EIA report comes out later this morning. But the analysts expect stocks of both fuels to drop slightly -- from high levels for gasoline and from record levels for distillates.

Both went up about 10 cents/gallon last week at the pumps.

 

[boutmuet]

Hovering around $3 here at most stations. Lowest prices are around $2.79. Still cheaper than unleaded gasoline at most places.

 

[bbq]

Around $3 at most here. Lowest I've seen is $2.799 in Larkspur. Breaking above lowest unleaded by a couple of cents at some stations.

 

[rkskeet]

Here in the State College area - Ranging from $2.89 to $3.02gal.. Ave is around $2.95/gal.. One thing I have learned with this latest round of price hikes is that it is not related to supply and demand.. Plenty of supplly with lower than historic demand in the USA... Now they are tying the increas in with the weak dollar and speculators... Last year it was based on supply and demand.. Just the usual BS excuses from the EXCUSE BOOK to gouge Joe public... Pi**ed Off and Mad as He**!!!! There, I have vented!!!

 

[TornadoRed]

One thing I have learned with this latest round of price hikes is that it is not related to supply and demand.. Plenty of supplly with lower than historic demand in the USA... Now they are tying the increas in with the weak dollar and speculators... Last year it was based on supply and demand.. Just the usual BS excuses from the EXCUSE BOOK to gouge Joe public...

Since the late September low of $66/barrel, crude has risen about 21%.

The late September low for RBOB regular gasoline of about $1.63, wholesale gas is up about 24%.

And heating oil is up about 18% at the wholesale level.

So I do not see any problem with the price levels for either gasoline or diesel -- they are tied to the price of crude, crude has risen in price, and it is likely to go much higher because of Obama administration policies. Obama wants the dollar to go even lower, to encourage exports, but of course this raises the price of all imports including oil.

The danger, of course, is that only a handful of countries are running surpluses so are thus able to buy Treasury bonds and finance the trillion-dollar annual deficits that Obama is predicting for the next ten years. (If his health care and cap-and-trade legislation passes, the deficits will be even bigger.) If China and the Arabs stop buying Treasury debt, then the value of the dollar will collapse and the price of oil could spike to $200 or $300 a barrel in a matter of months or even weeks.

RE: "Gouging". It has no meaning in economics and in fact does not really exist in economic terminology. It is a purely political term.

 

[rkskeet]

Tornado, what you fail to say with your economic hypothesis is why oil has gone up when there is no real DEMAND to warrant it being in SHORT supply.. In fact there are tankers off shore housing CRUDE because it CANNOT be consumed FAST enough... The DEMAND is far lower than supply and has been for the past year.. Yet, the price continues to go up.. In the END it is because those holding the PURSE strings can charge whatever they want for their product but it is a shame to do so when there is no true shortage of product..

GOUGING (aka GREED) has a meaning in my and I am sure many peoples pocketbook. That truely relates and has meaning in the publics everday economics even if you are of another opinion...

Oh, I do agree that Obama's policies are taking this country on the wrong track... If enacted, thay will greatly stunt and or harm the natural growth of this great country!!!!

 

[TornadoRed]

Toranodo, what you fail to say with your economic hypothesis is why oil has gone up when there is no real DEMAND to warrant it being in SHORT supply.. In fact there are tankers off shore housing CRUDE because it CANNOT be consumed FAST enough... The DEMAND is far lower than supply.. Yet, the price continues to go up..

You are focusing only on the fundamentals for oil, but ignoring the fundamentals for dollars. For the last year the supply of dollars has been increasing at an exponential rate. Money is not only a medium of exchange, but it is a store of value. If the supply of something, including dollars, increases faster than the demand, then the price of that thing drops relative to other goods. Oil is a hard commodity, dollars are a soft commodity, and right now a lot of people would rather hold oil instead of dollars.

It does not matter how full the tanks are at the terminals, or how many supertankers are sitting offshore, or even how weak demand is currently. Right now the increasing price of oil is 100% caused by fear that the dollar will keep dropping in value.

In the END it is because those holding the PURSE strings can charge whatever they want but it is a shame to do so when there is no true shortage of product.. Shortages or percieved shortages are CONTRIVED.. I do not believe that they are natural.. GOUGING has a meaning in my and I am sure may peoples pocketbook. That truely relates and has meaning in the publics everday economic evei if you are of another opinion...

I guess we are just going to agree to disagree on this. You seem to think that there is someone or some organization out there who controls the oil market, who can turn it on or off whenever they like. This is incorrect, as was proven in the early 1980s when OPEC was unable to prevent crude from falling to <$10/barrel from $30 or even higher. If someone controls the oil market, someone who pushed crude to $147 in July 2008, why were they unable to keep it from dropping to ~$30 back in Feb-March 2009?

A discussion of the meaning or lack of meaning of the term "gouging" will have to wait for another time.

Oh, I do agree that Obama's policies are taking this country on the wrong track... If enacted, thay will greatly stunt and or harm the natural growth of this great country!!!!

It does not matter if they are enacted, just the fear that they MIGHT be enacted has already greatly harmed the American economy.

 

[Diesel_Mikey]

If we're going to talk about the weak dollar, let's not pretend it happened overnight: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3019291.stm ; http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/03/dont-blame-greenspan-opinions-columnists-housing-bubble.html .

That said, I paid $2.659 yesterday, about 6 cents more than RUG.

 

[heuiinj]

2.83 to 2.89 in Northern Nevada.

It's funny how folks remind us the oil companies are "gouging" when unjust ever increasing fuel taxes imposed by the various GOVERNMENTS, state, county and federal are forgotten and rarely mentioned.. And hardly ever mentioned by the media..

The problem is voter awareness...

 

[aja8888]

$2.61 at Valero here. Has taxes in it too.

 

[rkskeet]

heuiinj, point well taken about taxes...

 

[psaboic]

Price the difference between off-road diesel and on-road diesel in your area. the difference is the damn tax. In my area of WA we are paying 53 cents a gallon in taxes. At $2.99 a gallon that is 18% of the total price just in taxes!!

 

[boutmuet]

Price the difference between off-road diesel and on-road diesel in your area. the difference is the damn tax. In my area of WA we are paying 53 cents a gallon in taxes. At $2.99 a gallon that is 18% of the total price just in taxes!!

In California it is more ridiculous. We pay 80 some cents per gallon on top of the hidden tax we pay for being forced to pay for "special California blended fuel"

 

[lovemybug]

Was driving tonight and saw that prices for both gas and diesel had dropped a few cents. Gas down to about $2.69 and diesel down to about $2.85.

 

[TDI2Fan]

ULSD - $2.659 @Southern States by Shannon Airport; B5 - $2.799 @Quarles Shell, at I-95 & Route 3

 

[Nevada_TDI]

***If someone controls the oil market, someone who pushed crude to $147 in July 2008, why were they unable to keep it from dropping to ~$30 back in Feb-March 2009?***

The answer is the greedy POS's that are the on trading floor on Wall Street.

Okay, technically it is the greedy bastards that don't give a rat's butt about people that aren't financially liquid to the extent they are, and all they want is more. More yachts, more trophy wives, and more Louis VIII cognac and whatever else they really don't need. It IS all about image, isn't it?

B5 still $2.71,and B20 still $2.79 in Minden, Nevada, at Bentley Fuels.

 

[TornadoRed]

***If someone controls the oil market, someone who pushed crude to $147 in July 2008, why were they unable to keep it from dropping to ~$30 back in Feb-March 2009?***

The answer is the greedy POS's that are the on trading floor on Wall Street.

The futures markets are tiny compared to the cash markets. 80 million barrels a day are traded for cash. No single person, company, or cartel controls this trade. Hedgers take large positions and either deliver or take delivery of the physical product. Speculators typically seek quick profits, sometimes only holding a position for a few minutes and rarely holding an overnight position -- too risky even for them. But they provide liquidity when a large producer or user needs to buy or sell a large order in a short period of time.

 

[TornadoRed]

Crude was stuck in a range from $65-75 for most of the summer and into September. Now the range has moved up to around $77-82. Unless there's a change in monetary policy, the dollar will continue to weaken and crude will probably climb back over $100 by spring.

 

[lovemybug]

Crude was stuck in a range from $65-75 for most of the summer and into September. Now the range has moved up to around $77-82. Unless there's a change in monetary policy, the dollar will continue to weaken and crude will probably climb back over $100 by spring.

Just what we need to stifle the economy just when it's trying to recover.

 

[TornadoRed]

Just what we need to stifle the economy just when it's trying to recover.

There are several items on the congressional agenda that can do more damage than a gradual increase in oil prices.

 

[lovemybug]

There are several items on the congressional agenda that can do more damage than a gradual increase in oil prices.

True, but this one will affect something that people see every day. You don't hear people gruble too much about healthcare costs until they get the bill from the medical provider, but you hear them grumble all the time because every time they drive past a gas station, the price just keeps going up.

 

[TDI2Fan]

ULSD - $2.599 @Southern States by Shannon Airport; B5 - $2.719 @Quarles Shell, at I-95 & Route 3