DALLAS – Oil industry behemoth Exxon Mobil’s earnings rose to $10.49 billion in the third quarter, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company. Its shares briefly rose to a 52-week high.
And gas is over $2 a gallon because???
Because everyone uses it not stop. It is a simple concept. They are making record profits because a barrel of oil is $60. Exxon doesn’t make it $60 they just benefit from it. Tell consumers to use less oil then you will see the price drop.
I don’t really buy that logic Doc. What caused it to drop from $3 to $2? Don’t tell me we reduced our consumption by 1/3 since the time I was gassing up my boat this summer.
Prices are always higher in the summer. A government requirement forces refineries to use ethanol to produce gasoline. Especially in the summer. The use of ethanol will drive up the cost of gasoline. The price has now dropped because A) ethanol is not required as much in the winter months, B) we actually have a surplus on oil supply, and C) consumption is down.
Both oil and natural gas are in a surplus right now and only a cold winter will cause prices to increase again (or a major world event). Barring any world problem I expect this year to be fairly stable as far as prices. I don’t think we will see the rollercoaster of price like we have the past year and a half. However, when summer rolls around expect prices to increase some no matter what. Remember Oil is a world commodity. What one country does, or does not do, can affect the price of oil. Also, we are actually able to produce more oil due to high prices and engineering breakthroughs.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ask/gasoline_faqs.asp#high_gas_prices
This one too
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html
because the rich get richer and the poor get poorer… GREED
Thanks for the feedback Doc. I will definitely check out the links you provided. I find a few items of interest in this conversation:
1) Prices definitely get higher in the summer.
2) Oil companies appear to be banking huge profits and not passing it on to the consumer.
3) The untrained masses seem to be mad about 2.
4) The world’s uncertainties effect prices and we are surely living in a time of uncertainties.
5) And maybe the most sobering, we will soon to expend our fossil fuel resources if nothing changes.
Thanks for the food for thought.
Gas sucks!!! Drink water…oh wait sorry I ment use corn oil or moonshine. They both work. LOL