Gas prices.....Who controls the market?

[x.system]

I got this in my email the other day and it seems to make sence to me. They say $3.00 a gallon by summer and its getting closer here. We are up to $1.79 for the cheap grade and I was paying $1.50 around christmas. Anyway, read it and lets hear some thoughts.

Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 7:09 PM
Subject: Join the resistance!!!!


To all I have passed this message onto,

As all of you know I spent 20 years in the ocean transportation industry for 20 years, I can tell you first hand how the following plan can and will work. If you look at the price of oil vs. the price of gasoline and heating oil compared to just a few years ago, the oil companies are getting richer buy the minute. Support the smaller companies and show the majors that we will not pay for their high salaries, bonuses and stock options.


Join the resistance!!!!

I hear we are going to hit close to $3.00 a gallon by the summer. Want
gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united
action. Phillip Hollsworth, offered this good idea: This makes MUCH
MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going
around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that
because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas.
It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them.
BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work.

Please read it and join with us!

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super
cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.97 for regular unleaded in my town.
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to
think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50- $1.75, we need
to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the
marketplace....not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each
day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see
the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not
purchasing their gas!

And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on
our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas
prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here! 'is the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline
from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.
If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices.
If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas
buyers.

It's really simple to do!! Now, don't whimp out on me at this point...keep
reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to,
at least, ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least
ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the
sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten
friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes
one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this email out to ten
more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could
conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!! Acting together we can
make a difference.

If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. PLEASE HOLD OUT
UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.
THIS CAN REALLY WORK.

Real Estate Consultants
Rex K. Olsen
Realtor/Sales Associate
Tel. 908-658-5577 Ext.1041 or 908-464-5590
Cell. 732-371-8888
E-mail: rexolsen@recnj.com
Web site: www.recnj.com

[CHAINSAW]

I aint emailing no one.. lol I work in the oil and gas field, so high gas prices just means more bonus', and raises for me... it puts food on my table. :-P

[smokinwrench]

I agree I hate paying high price for gas, but if gas and oil had inflated like everything else has we would probably be paying $8.00 per gallon. Rember it wasn't that long ago that you could buy a new pickup for $15,000. Heck I remeber them and I don't concider myself to be that old. Everything is a lot more expensive than it use to be. I think in Europe they pay lots more than we do for gas.

[Billy Golightly]

My mom was talking about this the other day, and I told her I was glad I was driving a Diesel While the price difference won't be real big between the 2, every ltitle bit helps. And if the fuel prices do indeed go to $3.00 a gallon I can always run tax free diesel At that kind of price per gallon it would be cheaper to just pay the fines!

[smokinwrench]

I can always run tax free diesel At that kind of price per gallon it would be cheaper to just pay the fines!

Here is a nice little quote I found on the net: · Having dyed diesel in the fuel tanks attached to a licensed motor vehicle:
First Offense: $2,500 fine, Class A misdemeanor
Second or Subsequent Offense: $5,000 Class 4 felony


I have read somewhere of other fines. $100.00 for every 1 gallon of capacity of your fuel tank(s). EX: 35 gallon tank=$3500.00 fine.

[Eric]

the gas prices are wack!!! here in illinois its 1.80 where i live but in Baton Rouge Louisiana its $1.15. Now answer me this... do politics have anything to do with this?

[x.system]

My mom was talking about this the other day, and I told her I was glad I was driving a Diesel While the price difference won't be real big between the 2, every ltitle bit helps. And if the fuel prices do indeed go to $3.00 a gallon I can always run tax free diesel At that kind of price per gallon it would be cheaper to just pay the fines!

I'm in the market for a new vehicle and am considering that as an option for the long run. Buying a diesel that is, I don't think I would run off road diesel. Truck drivers will keep diesel down, they've done it before. They have alot of control in this market. If all the trucks came to a stand still everyone would be hurting.

[compaqkoci]

we don't need to stop buying gas at other places we just need to bomb some more country's and take their OIL!!! :-D

[J.D.]

Basterds. It's up to 1.95 a gallon for regular here. It's all about money, is what it is. I don't buy Exxon or Mobil gas anyways, I usually buy Chevron gas.

[smokinwrench]

I work on the pump engines at a fuel storage facility. It was explained to me that all gas and desiel are the same until the tanker pulls up. At that point it has different additives put into it to make it a brand name. So Exxon just uses a little couple different additives than say Chevron. I don't think it matters what you do if they want the price to be $1.95 per gallon they know you will pay it.

[Billy Golightly]

Have any of you guys ever heard of bio-diesel?

[x.system]

I work on the pump engines at a fuel storage facility. It was explained to me that all gas and desiel are the same until the tanker pulls up. At that point it has different additives put into it to make it a brand name. So Exxon just uses a little couple different additives than say Chevron. I don't think it matters what you do if they want the price to be $1.95 per gallon they know you will pay it.

I'm sorry but I don't believe that for a minute. Look at what happened when the truckers came to a stand still last year. Diesel was on the rise and they didn't stand for it. Have you noticed diesel hasn't went up nearly as high as regular gasoline, its almost the same price it was last summer, which is still to high. They already know they can't pull a fast one on the truckers because they WILL do something about it.

If everyone buys from a smaller company and stays away from the 2 largest companys Exxon or Mobil , you don't think that will hurt them? I know for a fact it will, I have seen at least three smaller gas stations close their doors this year alone in my town because of gas prices. We already have price wars in my town and its the smaller company's trying to stay alive that are doing it. Wait until Exxon or Mobil are the only companies left, you think you pay alot now.

Lets all be sheep and pay $8.00 a gallon for a gasoline and see where that gets us.

[AirManCam]

Wow...IMO diesel is the only way to go. My friend has a brand new F350 supercrew, and he can get around 800 miles on a tank full!!! And with diesel being cheaper....I think my next truck will be a diesel!

[YTZ250#1]

we don't need to stop buying gas at other places we just need to bomb some more country's and take their OIL!!! :-D

I thought Bush said this war was going to bring gas prices down.WTF is up with that??We could have took full control of the place and had 25 cent a gallon gas.What a waste of good soldiers dying every day to catch a couple of bad guys.We should just wipe them all out and get it over with,you know we will be there for 20 more years at this rate.And I'm sure by then gas will be at least $8.00 a gallon.

[TimSr]

I applaud these groups with good intentions but their suggested actions are based on total ignorance.

The Exxon that drills crude, the Exxon that refines crude, and the Exxon Franchise for gas stations, and Exxon dealers are each totally separate and independant entities. Refineries buy crude from whatever sources are available. It may be Exxon from Alaska, but the largest holder and seller of crude is a bunch of 3rd world countries who band together for price fixing, that we call OPEC. Crude price is based on supply and demand. When prices drop, OPEC decreases production, which increases demand, and crude prices go back up. They simply control crude price by turning off the faucet and deciding when to turn it back on again. This is why some people feel domestic drilling is important to wean us off of OPEC as our main supplier.

Refineries buy it, turn it into gas, and sell it to gas stations through distributors to whoever wishes to buy it. This means your Exxon refined gas may be supplying Dairy Mart, Stop N go, Earl's Shell station, Bobs Citgo or Exxon stations. Only problem with refinement is the EPA has about 12 different standards of refinement and required additives, depending on what part of the country the gas is going to. The gas for some places costs more to make than gas for other places, and just by virtue of having to make several kinds of gas instead of one, productions costs are greatly increased. A company can have an overstock of California gas, and a production problem with Michigan gas which can cause price spikes in one area while prices may remain much lower in others.

Then as it gets to gas stations, you have company operated Exxon stations, which are owned by Exxon, and run by Exxon salaried employess, where they may or may not be selling Exxon refined gas. You also have independant dealers, who are small business people who own their gas station, employ their own people, and buy into the Exxon franchise so they can display an Exxon sign, and get marketing and business assistance from Exxon in exchange for complying with Exxon dictated business standards.

But wait, we arent done yet! From crude to pump, your gas gets taxed every time it moves! In Ohio there is a sticker on the pumps that says $.69 of each gallon of gas is federal, state, and local taxes. Think of it. If gas were FREE it would still cost .69 a gallon just to pay the taxes on it! When I started driving in 1978, gas SOLD for $.56 a gallon!

I have no idea what an oil company makes from a gallon of gas. Most of your overnight price jumps are from your independant gas stations trying to take advantage of inventory in the tanks bought at a lower price. These are mostly small time station onwers, not oil companies. Longer term pump price increases are from refinement and distribution price increases. And of course, when OPEC raises crude, those increases are eventually reflected in pump prices. Do small time dealers gouge us when they get an opportunity? Sure, but overall, at the end of the year, they dont make much money selling gas. Do refineries gouge us? Probably, when crude prices increases are immediately followed by refinery prices before any of the higher price crude has ever been obtained. Do we get gouged on crude by OPEC? Bend over buddy! Do we get gouged by domestic drillers in Alaska and Texas? The main reason we import so much crude is because drilling costs in the US based on environmental regulations has driven most of them out of business. In many cases its cheaper to import than to drill in the US.

I guess its easy to just blame "BIG OIL", and our politicians are dependant upon your ignorance to deflect the blame to the "BIG OIL" for problems they cause. I have no idea if they are burning us, and neither does anybody calling for action to punish them. I dont know what they make on a gallon of gas, but Im willing to make a wager that "BIG OIL" makes far less money on a gallon of gas than your government. If you want to blame somebody, why not blame who is most responsible? Did your politician bitching about "BIG OIL" vote for the Clinton gas tax? Did he vote to repeal the Clinton gas tax?

My basic phone service went from $26 to about $40 in the last 10 years. First instinct is to blame those greedy bastards at Sprint, but when I look over teh bill, I notice Sprint increases amount to less than $1.00. The others are all new govt taxes and surcharges.

You want lower gas prices, get more crude from the US, make more uniform environmental standards for refinement, and get rid of the majority of the EPA standards which are idiotic, and start peeling off the taxes, and we could easily have sub $1.00 gas again.