I’ve just gotten an e-mail that asks people not to buy gas tomorrow, September 1, as a protest against gas-price gouging because of the hurricane. I’ve decided I won’t buy gas tomorrow — an easy choice to make since I almost have a full tank, anyway, and not buying gas is easy when you’re almost fully loaded — but I get the sense that people don’t really get what’s going on.
So, a quick recap:
1. There’s a war going on in one of the world’s major oil producing regions. A war started perhaps on misrepresented intelligence, possibly for bogus reasons, but a war nonetheless.
2. China and India, thanks to the telecom and internet booms and busts in the nineties, are both developing internal-combustion economies that need fuel. The demands of two billion people in search of oil raises prices for us three hundred million Americans.
3. Environmental concerns and not-in-my-backyard attitudes have prevented the construction of new oil refineries in the US for several decades. Fewer refineries must now produce more gasoline.
4. Large numbers of SUVs and pickup trucks on the roads increase the size of gas tanks and the frequency at which those gas tanks must be filled.
5. Several oil companies have recently downgraded the size and abundance of their proven oil reserves, meaning that they have said, “sorry, but we don’t have quite as much oil in the ground that we can pump out as we thought we did.”
6. One of the major oil-producing regions of the US has just been shut down due to weather issues, and may remain shut down for several weeks. This deprives refineries of the raw materials necessary to make gasoline, which they must now buy and transport over greater distances.
7. At least two Gulf of Mexico oil rigs broke free of their moorings; one smashed into a bridge, the other got flung up onto the coastal highway in Mississippi. I’ve seen pictures. The cost of that equipment lost, at least, and more, will be passed on by oil companies to the refineries, and by the refineries to us, the consumers.
8. Saudi Arabia has had difficulties exceeding its daily and monthly pumping quotas for some time now; it is possible that the oil fields there are closing in on their maximum production thresholds.
9. The world appears to be approaching “Peak Production” overall: that is, the amount of oil pumped out, refined, and burned is greater than the amount of oil left in the ground. The remaining oil will need to be extracted using more expensive, more elaborate, more technically difficult, and more environmentally challenging methods.
10. Accidents at several major US refineries (which are overworked because no one wants a refinery built near them) have shut down other parts of the American system for producing gasoline and other petroleum byproducts.
Therefore…
Because of increasing demand and diminishing supplies of a non-renewable resource, which must be refined using a complex and environmentally unfriendly manufacturing process, prices for this resource and its byproducts will rise.
Thank you for your alleged attention.
seems to me prices were pretty steep last year at this time as well, and they did go down for a bit before climbing again….
nonetheless….
I am fashioning a saddle for my dog 🙂
seems to me prices were pretty steep last year at this time as well, and they did go down for a bit before climbing again….
nonetheless….
I am fashioning a saddle for my dog 🙂
Damn.
That’s a BIG dog!
Where can I get me one?
Tom
Not to mention refusing to buy gas for one day does not actually reduce aggregate demand for gasoline as most who do not buy it tomorrow will feel the need to within the week. (Most people don’t get 38 MPG like you do, Andrew! ^_~) Like it or not, the integral part an automobile plays our current lifestyle is something that can only be addressed in the long term, and there are no immediate alternatives to personal transportation such that we can actually depress demand far enough to affect market prices.
Read the comment by, and follow the link to Snopes… you’ll see that this another good idea gone bad, or worse that it’s an active hoax. Sorry ’bout that.
Mostly I used the e-mail as an excuse to explain the issues surrounding gas prices. Lots of folks don’t seem to get it.
It’s gonna go even higher than that, love. Sorry, but it is…
Love you. Just finished lunch, and going off to pottery for a bit. See you soon?
Thanks for the hoax information. I read through the article and it makes sense. Plus, as you say, I’ve got ten good reasons why gas prices are going to rise no matter what gas we buy or on which day.
I saw an article today in the paper that said gas prices were going to hit $3.25 in the near future, but that prices would come down in a little while. I think that’s bull, personally. Prices will reach that price, and continue to be there or higher for a long, long time.
Welcome to the beginning of the Long Gas Crisis.
This no-gas day is a common hoax. Snopes has the details on it.
For one thing, the letter says not to buy gas because of gouging, but all the reasons you listed above are very good reasons why the price of gas is going up (mostly due to very tight supply and high demand). It’s not gouging so much as: “Everyone wants this and we don’t have a whole bunch of it”.
If you’re not buying gas because you want to protest our dependance on oil, well, that’s another matter entirely, but it’s not a permanent solution.
later
Tom
This no-gas day is a common hoax. Snopes has the details on it.
For one thing, the letter says not to buy gas because of gouging, but all the reasons you listed above are very good reasons why the price of gas is going up (mostly due to very tight supply and high demand). It’s not gouging so much as: “Everyone wants this and we don’t have a whole bunch of it”.
If you’re not buying gas because you want to protest our dependance on oil, well, that’s another matter entirely, but it’s not a permanent solution.
later
Tom
Thanks for the hoax information. I read through the article and it makes sense. Plus, as you say, I’ve got ten good reasons why gas prices are going to rise no matter what gas we buy or on which day.
I saw an article today in the paper that said gas prices were going to hit $3.25 in the near future, but that prices would come down in a little while. I think that’s bull, personally. Prices will reach that price, and continue to be there or higher for a long, long time.
Welcome to the beginning of the Long Gas Crisis.
Not to mention refusing to buy gas for one day does not actually reduce aggregate demand for gasoline as most who do not buy it tomorrow will feel the need to within the week. (Most people don’t get 38 MPG like you do, Andrew! ^_~) Like it or not, the integral part an automobile plays our current lifestyle is something that can only be addressed in the long term, and there are no immediate alternatives to personal transportation such that we can actually depress demand far enough to affect market prices.
Gas was $2.89 today at Cumberland Farms in Willimantic. I was glad to get it yesterday for $2.54. Eeks…
Gas was $2.89 today at Cumberland Farms in Willimantic. I was glad to get it yesterday for $2.54. Eeks…
It’s gonna go even higher than that, love. Sorry, but it is…
Love you. Just finished lunch, and going off to pottery for a bit. See you soon?
Well, unless my benefactor comes home in time tonight to fill up my tank, I’m gonna have to buy gas tomorrow to get to work :-(. Ah well…
I wonder if these things really do any good at all anyway?
Well, unless my benefactor comes home in time tonight to fill up my tank, I’m gonna have to buy gas tomorrow to get to work :-(. Ah well…
I wonder if these things really do any good at all anyway?
Read the comment by, and follow the link to Snopes… you’ll see that this another good idea gone bad, or worse that it’s an active hoax. Sorry ’bout that.
Mostly I used the e-mail as an excuse to explain the issues surrounding gas prices. Lots of folks don’t seem to get it.
I’m glad. It’s always nice to be able to give a quick recap in ten talking points.
that was informative. thanks 🙂
that was informative. thanks 🙂
I’m glad. It’s always nice to be able to give a quick recap in ten talking points.