Yet another "gas prices" thread.

Looks like it's staying down in socal. $3.22 and falling, which should put pump prices at around $3.85 by April, and hopefully down to ~$3.50 by May.

Bloomberg 85.5 Octane CARBOB Prompt Gasoline Price/Los Angeles Analysis - MOGLCB85 - Bloomberg

 

That's about where local prices are at for me.

Orange County Gas Prices - Find Cheap Gas Prices in California

Yucca Valley Gas Prices - Find the Lowest Gas Prices in Yucca Valley, California

I can't believe that norcal is > $5/gallon!

 

What kind of compressor do you use for your CNG F150?

 

Five years of pumping for two hours of driving!

 

Looks like gas prices are finally dropping around here. Down about 13c from their high at the local station I usually frequent.

I'm wondering if the difference between contract highs and prices on the spot market will end up making the drop bigger or smaller. On one hand, if the bigger stations set their prices to whatever the independents are selling gas for, in order to make more money, then the drop will be pretty big. Otoh, if the independents take a hit in order to drop prices to what the bigger stations have, then gas prices will drop a modest amount.

Given that businesses tend to act as cartels (even if they are informal), rather then compete, I'm thinking it's likely the drop will be substantial, but only time will tell I suppose. If prices drop below $4/gal in California, we'll know which one it is.

 

Demand has been dropping, but yeah, supply is tight due to refinery problems. Once those resolve themselves the upward pressure on national prices should cease. Even now the rate of increase in national gas prices has dropped to about 3c/week, but it'll likely take more reductions in demand and resumption of refinery operations to reduce national prices.

 

I remember that. Right before the Gulf War we didn't screw up as much, the government opened the SPR and gas dropped below $1/gallon, even in California.

 

Kinda. The first is true for pretty much everything. Inflation will always drive the price of something up unless it's price is always going down, which is pretty much impossible.

The second as a general trend is pretty much accurate (in the context of real dollars), but as a statement of fact isn't strictly speaking true. Real oil prices after the seventies dropped below the cost in the late 1800s.

The general trend is that something will cost a fair bit initially, then prices will drop to some floor with sufficient production, then they will rise to some higher average over time.

Crude Oil Prices 1861 - 2009 - Forbes.com

 

Looks like prices on the low end (new gasoline shipments) are down almost a quarter locally. They should drop another ten cents in a week or so, but it looks like wholesale spot is staying high enough to keep prices slightly above $4/gallon. All I need is another quarter to cool off Prius sales and get some leverage in terms of negotiating.

 

It's not oil prices that are causing the gas price increases. Since the beginning of this year, oil prices in the US have increased by maybe a few percent, while gasoline prices have increased by nearly twenty percent. The refinery problems I mentioned earlier, and possibly a bit of speculation in the gasoline futures market, and behind the gas price increases.