Did you fuel up for Labor Day already?
As predicted, gasoline prices in the St. Louis area and across the country are on this rise as Hurricane Gustav moves closer to the oil fields and refineries along the Gulf Coast.
The AAA and the Oil Price Information Service was reporting this morning that the average price of a gallon of regular-grade gasoline in St. Louis was $3.50, up from $3.296 on Wednesday. Prices in Metro East generally are higher than the St. Louis number due to higher taxes.
Gasoline prices had been dropping this month. However, earlier this week the Associated Press reported that gasoline prices were expected to rise as Gustav threatened the Gulf Coast.
In Saturday’s Post-Dispatch, energy beat reporter Jeffrey Tomich will try to explain the yo-yoing prices and what we might expect in the coming days.
Why does gas go up 20 to 25 cents at a time, but only comes down 2 or 3 cents a week? I’m sick of this crap with these oil companies !!
They could discover the world’s largest oil reserve in the middle of Wyoming and gas prices would lower by 1 penny, but if it merely threatens to rain near a refinery, prices shoot up 25 cents…
So… we’re paying higher prices *now*, because a hurricane *might* hit some refineries in the near future?
I’ll never understand the way the market works.
I do not fall into the ups & downs of the fuel market since I drive diesel cars. Diesel is not a volatile as RUG (Regular Unleaded Gasoline) so the prices do not jump up and down as much. Since my ‘03 VW Jetta TDI has been averaging 50+mpg city, I can usually ride out these jumps in prices when I only fill-up once or twice a month.
This is an example of price gouging and everyone needs to file a complaint with the attorney generals office.
How can they rise the prices ‘on the chance’ a hurricane might hit? It’s called collusion or if you like this word better, a monopoly. How else do you explain that ALL of the stations raise their prices at the same time and they are always in sync.
Whatever happened to competition between retailers? The consumer is stuck, because we need our cars for transportation.
About the only recourse we have is to conserve, drive a little slower, reduce your trips. If 50% of American drivers did these little things, soon the gas supplies would be overfilling and the companies would have to reduce prices.
TimM
idiots…
has anyone listened to the news about this? The oil rigs in the gulf have largely been shut down - crew and equipment removed - to avoid damage and loss of life in case the hurricane DID move that direction. This, of course, has an immediate effect to the future supply. Was the effect worth $.20/gallon? Who knows - don’t like it? Don’t drive. It’s not that complicated.
Those of us complaining about gas prices need to take a look at ourselves and figure out why we have managed to build our lives around something that we have so little control over as a nation. There are plenty of options - and you, as a free citizen, have made lots of choices that effect your need for consumption. Do you live somewhere you can’t walk to work? Do you drive an SUV? Do you have more mouths than you can afford to feed? Do you not have some savings that will be used to help level your budget when things happen out of your control (such as gas prices go up)?
It’s easy to complain about the oil companies and all their big profits - but how many of us have looked at our investments/pensions/401(k) plans? I’d bet a significant portion of the countries retirement money is somehow tied to the energy market - so in economic terms, the more money these companies make, the better my 401(k) is going to look at the end of the year.
And for the record, I’m a bleeding heart liberal - not rich guy who wants to screw the poor. But when are people going to be held responsible for themselves?
Tim–the price gas stations pay for gas has increased by a comparable amount over the past week or two. Go look at http://www.nymex.com for the RBOB gasoline future. Gas station owners aren’t gouging anyone. They don’t set the price that you pay for gasoline–it’s determined by what it costs them to fill their tanks up from the refinery plus a little margin that doesn’t really change. Exxon and Conoco are even selling off all of their gas stations they own because they admit it’s a tough business.