What I Paid for Gas Today

[Drak]

While we revel in the bargain price of gasoline, there are others who are raking in the dough...the wholesale distributors of fuels whose profit margins have ballooned.

 

You may be interested in the man who is now the wealthiest elected official in the US, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam...

 

 

FORBES: HASLAM WORTH $2 BILLION

 

THE RICHEST POLITICIAN IN AMERICA

 

Gov. Bill Haslam is now worth an estimated $2 billion, making him the richest elected official in the country, according to a new analysis by Forbes. The business publication notes declining gas prices have helped Pilot Flying J company, the Haslam family business that does $38 billion in sales. Lower prices for a barrel of gas can translate to better profit margins for a retail gas company. That means more money per barrel for Flying J, and more money for Haslam, who owns 15 percent of the company, according to Forbes. A lot more money. Since August, Forbes says, Haslam’s worth has gone from $980 million to an estimated $2 billion.

Wow, imagine having a billion, let alone two. I suppose at that level, the world is one's oyster. I just hope they do the right sort of things with all that extra, like Carnegie did.

[MikeL]

Wow, imagine having a billion, let alone two. I suppose at that level, the world is one's oyster. I just hope they do the right sort of things with all that extra, like Carnegie did.

 

Here's an indication:  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/haslam-donating-45-million-per-year-to

[methodwriter85]

Gas finally hit 1.99 in Delaware. It was awesome. I haven't seen gas that low since like 2004.

Edited January 25, 2015 by methodwriter85

[Drak]

Here's an indication:  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/local-news/haslam-donating-45-million-per-year-to

 

I browsed that article, but it turned out to be a bit more in-depth than I expected. I think Gates is doing good things with his charities to fight various diseases around the world. According to his Wikipedia article, "On December 9, 2010, Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a commitment they called the "Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge." The pledge is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their wealth over the course of time to charity." That's pretty generous, but I notice only three billionaires opted for that route.

 

 

Gas finally hit 1.99 in Delaware. It was awesome. I haven't seen gas that low since like 2004.

 

Ain't it awesome? I hope the gubbamint is doing the smart thing and stockpiling gas in the Strategic Reserve or whatever. It's kind of a shame though to realize the Saudis are doing it all just to shock America's budding industry, the shale or whatever it is they tapped up in the Dakotas. Well, we've seen boom-and-bust before in the Old West, towns that came and went when gold was found.

[lovesickpuppy]

I paid for fuel $1.99 a gallon yesterday morning.

[Daddydavek]

In the western suburbs of the metro St. Louis area I paid $1.76 this morning.  

[JamesSavik]

With my Kroger discount, I paid 1.60 a gallon today.

 

[Valkyrie]

I'm insanely jealous of those of you able to pay less than $2.00 a gallon.  Gas is $2.48 here. 

[ferrisD]

here comes the BOOM

 

http://www.statista.com/statistics/204740/retail-price-of-gasoline-in-the-united-states-since-1990/

[TalonRider]

Paid $2.14 on 1/29/15.

[TetRefine]

Gas went up 20 cents in 3 days here in the city at the place in my neighborhood.

[MikeL]

Gas went up 20 cents in 3 days here in the city at the place in my neighborhood.

 

Yep.  The fun times are over.  Gas prices are on the rise.

[TetRefine]

Yep.  The fun times are over.  Gas prices are on the rise.

 

Glad I filled up when I did. I paid $2.05 in Delaware, so that should last me 2-3 months.  

[MikeL]

Glad I filled up when I did. I paid $2.05 in Delaware, so that should last me 2-3 months.

 

A regular Mario Andretti...

[methodwriter85]

I'm pretty accepting of gas prices as long as they're under $3.50. After they hit about $3.75, I get rageful.

[Daddydavek]

I paid $1.99 on my way to my mom's this morning and I noted it was $2.19 on my way back around 1:00 pm.  

[MikeL]

While it's obvious to all that gasoline prices have started back up, there's a very good reason why they may decline again soon:

 

From Bloomberg:
 

The recent surge in oil prices is just a "head-fake," and oil as cheap as $20 a barrel may soon be on the way, Citigroup said in a report on Monday as it lowered its forecast for crude. 

 

Despite global declines in spending that have driven up oil prices in recent weeks, oil production in the U.S. is still rising, wrote Edward Morse, Citigroup's global head of commodity research. Brazil and Russia are pumping oil at record levels, and Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran have been fighting to maintain their market share by cutting prices to Asia. The market is oversupplied, and storage tanks are topping out.

 

A pullback in production isn't likely until the third quarter, Morse said. In the meantime, West Texas Intermediate Crude, which currently trades at around $52 a barrel, could fall to the $20 range "for a while," according to the report. The U.S. shale-oil revolution has broken OPEC's ability to manipulate prices and maximize profits for oil-producing countries.

 

"It looks exceedingly unlikely for OPEC to return to its old way of doing business," Morse wrote. "While many analysts have seen in past market crises 'the end of OPEC,' this time around might well be different," Morse said.

 

 

From Wall Street on Parade:

 

...a lot of people have been quietly wondering what happens to the price of oil when the glut becomes so extreme that the world runs out of storage containers to hold the oversupply or the cost of storage becomes uneconomic as the price of oil languishes.

 

Adding to the end of OPEC thesis,, the International Energy Agency (IEA), an autonomous group representing 29 member countries, released its Medium Term Oil Market Report yesterday. The report concluded that North America would remain a top source of oil supply growth for the remainder of the decade. IEA Executive Director, Maria van der Hoeven, said shale oil (or Light Tight Oil, LTO) produced in the U.S. and Canada has changed the market and “may have effectively turned LTO into the new swing producer.” Heretofore, Saudi Arabia, a member of OPEC, was seen as the key swing producer, cutting output to stem price declines in times of slack demand or overproduction.

 

 

 

[Timothy M.]

If you had to pay more for your gas, then you might buy more economic cars and use less of a finite and polluting resource. And I'm not talking CO₂ (and climate change), but oil spills and air pollution from traffic.

 

I won't even tell you how much we pay for gas in Scandinavia (partly due to VAT and other taxes), since you probably won't believe me. and because I'm too lazy to convert from kroner and liters to dollars and gallons, lol.

[Ron]

I think that's around $7.20 or so a gallon in US dollars, on average if the figures pan out. That's a lot of money.

[MikeL]

According to http://www.numbeo.com/gas-prices/city_result.jsp?country=Denmark&city=Copenhagen, one liter of gasoline costs DKK 11.30 in Copenhagen, about USD 6.49 per gallon.  Wow!

[Timothy M.]

thanks Ron and MikeL - yes that sounds about right. We've also had a dip in prices recently, to around 9.30 - 9.70 DKR per liter, but a couple of months ago we were looking at 12.75 DKR / liter and even went above 13.00 at times.

 

Although to be fair, the minimum wage is a lot higher in Denmark too.

Edited February 10, 2015 by Timothy M.

[Daddydavek]

Here's a link to what gasoline or petrol costs are by country around the world based on dollars per liter.  It was updated on 09 February 2015.  

Despite the North Sea Oil, it appears that the UK and the Scandinavian countries pay about the most.

 

 

http://www.globalpetrolprices.com/gasoline_prices/

[Timothy M.]

Thanks, DD. Yes, I'm not surprised this is so. It's a way of forcing people to be responsible about how much gas they use and how much they drive. Politicians also discuss other means to encourage people to use public transport and bikes.

 

In addition, we tax cars heavily, particularly in Denmark. In fact, the taxes are so high, the car manufacturers set a lower initial price of cars in Denmark, in order to make the retail prices better after the tax percentage has been added. This means diplomats and other foreign people who don't have to pay VAT sometimes go to Denmark to buy their cars, since if they export the car from Denmark, they don't have to pay the Danish taxes.