Eric Boehlert: Oil prices down, gas prices up -- the press snores

[babylonsister]

https://pressrun.media/p/oil-prices-down-gas-prices-up-and

Oil prices down, gas prices up — the press snores
Big Oil gets a pass

Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago


When it comes to gas prices, here’s math the media doesn’t care about:

Right before Russia invaded Ukraine, crude oil was trading for $99 a barrel, and American motorists were paying $3.61 at the pump. Crude then quickly jumped to $130 and gas prices soared to $4.30. Last week, crude tumbled back down to $99, but we’re still paying the same $4.30 for gas, according to AAA.

For a press that obsessed over gas prices as they climbed, while platforming Republican claims that President Joe Biden was to blame for the energy inflation (another White House “crisis”), the media have now lost interest in the gas station saga. It’s another case of putting extra energy into chasing Bad News for Biden stories. And news outlets have shown no interest in putting Big Oil under a microscope to highlight what role they play in today’s stubbornly high gas prices.

Is price gouging a factor today? Democrats think so. “As American families work to make ends meet, Congress must take action to investigate reports of illegal profiteering, anticompetitive business practices, and price gouging within the oil and gas industry and hold public hearings, as appropriate,” wrote 32 members of Congress who signed a letter to U.S. House and Senate leaders urging “immediate investigations.”

The press couldn’t care less. During the week of March 6-12, when they were in a frantic mode, often reporting live from outlier gas stations that were pushing astronomical prices, “gas” was mentioned 1,450 times on CNN, CNBC, Fox News, and MSNBC, according to TVeyes. By contrast “price gouging” that week was referenced just 45 times. There hasn’t been an ounce of media skepticism in play for this story.

snip//

There was a time when the mainstream media cast a constantly skeptical eye not only on Big Oil, but on Big Business in general. Today, they get a pass, while Biden gets the blame.

[Lovie777]

1. Isn't one of the GQP's strategy for mid-term is to protest at various . ...

gas stations. Mind you, not at the oil companies' corporate offices.

[ck4829]

6. If it really became an issue, I'd bet they would try to thank oil companies instead

“Thank you for standing up to big govt socialism” or some nonsense like that

[3Hotdogs]

2. Regular in Essex County N.J. went from $4.35 average to $4.02 on Friday.

A post on D.U. about a week ago, .... oil at the"per barrel," has to filter through refineries, then wholesaler's and finally to the local station. The local station guy is still paying price based on 10 days ago. He has to pay cash, up front, when he gets a delivery and we are now talking several thousands of dollars per delivery, depending on the size of his tanks.

He can't take the chance of a re-bump up in wholesale so he has to keep money in reserve. The gas that he purchased on February 25th, may have cost him $3.38 per gallon. He sold that in two days and the next delivery cost him $3.52 per gallon. If he sold his original tank-full at $3.48, he is in trouble.

I hope this makes sense.

[jaxexpat]

16. It's basically the same for refineries. The " value " adders.

As soon as the market shows a per barrel increase, they raise their sales price on refined materials. They don't wait until they are forced to pay the market price.
"Anticipating" the market is the hedge scam the refineries perpetually play. Of course, in a capitalist society, it is everyone's responsibly to maintain profitability for commodities traders. That's why we tolerate their reticence to accept and react to the reality of lowered crude prices. They've been doing it for so long it's become invisible, like the myth of the "business cycle". The magical hand of the business god to whom we all dutifully worship.

[NullTuples]

27. I forget - how is it then that they can raise pump prices overnight?

[Emile]

3. Predatory Capitalism is alive and well. Nobody cares

about the smuck who has to pay the price to the wealthy.

[3Hotdogs]

4. See why post above yours.

And I agree, the oil companies are gouging.

[OldBaldy1701E]

8. 'Predatory Capitalism' is the M.O. of this country. (n/t)

[jimfields33]

12. Gas fell 20 cents yesterday in my area.

[Emile]

15. You ever notice gas prices shoot up like a rocket and fall like a feather?

Big oil will blow smoke up our asses with different reasons, but for some reason the price always drops slower than it went up.

[jimfields33]

20. I agree. It's funny that people get excited at a 20 cent drop after it went up 1.50.

[ck4829]

5. K&R

[spanone]

7. As prices were going up our local news could barely talk about anything else...now crickets

[marie999]

9. In Eastern NC our price of gas at Sam's Club has gone from $4.27 to $3.78.

[Kaleva]

10. Gas had dropped to $3.86 where I live

[kacekwl]

11. "Big oil" has been playing this game forever.

Although not on this scale they have always raised prices overnight by 25-30 cents a gal. then slowly drop 2-4 cents every couple of days. I've commented about this many times and I inevitably get the comment about summer,winter,fall fuel blends and maintenance issues for the increase. These are fixed expenses and if a real thing anymore are a cost of doing business. Think about the amount of money made when price is raised that amount with no extra cost to the oil companies for just one week. Billions in pure profit and continued corporate welfare payments and you're right the press snores. They never lose and often do better when a " crisis " occurs.

[Kaleva]

14. Local gas stations do that

[Captain Zero]

33. The game is price gouging every chance they get.

nt

[CaptainTruth]

13. Gas is down everywhere around me.

Local Sunoco went from $4.49 to $4.29 overnight when oil dropped in price, I was surprised how fast it came down. Now, about 4-5 days later, it's $4.15. Other stations are down to $4.09, & BJs was $3.89 last week, it's probably lower now.

[llashram]

18. always profit in

a crisis and after. The oil companies have always taken advantage of us out here. Hopefully, someone in the current administration will make a phone call, email at least?

[MichMan]

19. If we are really serious about combating climate change, gas taxes need to be increased

Price at the pump needs to be $7 per gallon if we expect people to transition away from fossil fuels.


It's unrealistic to demand cheap gas and then expect people not to use it fueling up big pickups and SUV.

[jimfields33]

21. Who is going to run on that platform?

[MichMan]

23. Depends what is more important. Tackling climate change or cheap gas ?

Many experts are predicting climate change will cause weather disasters, mass flooding, food shortages, homelessness, and loss of life.

[Bow To The Robots]

30. Regressivism.

Suggesting $7 gas will save the planet is a fallacy. And like every proposal to squeeze the consumer to compel desired outcomes, these proposals harm the marginalized and the working poor disproportionately. The closer you get to the bottom of the wage scale, the deeper the impact.

Please bear in mind we are not just talking about filling your tank so you can take the kiddos to soccer practice: Oil is the basic component of everything you buy.

Whether an iPhone, a head of cabbage at your local farmers market, or Steve Colbert's Tesla, oil is used in its production and transport to market. And every dollar's increase in the cost of crude translates to several dollars at the cash register... Dollars the poor can ill afford under the best of circumstances.

[Ron Green]

32. That's why economic (and population) de-growth ought to be a

serious argument. Our level of consumption, and our need for comfort and convenience, brought us here - but shouldn’t keep us here.

[Oldtimeralso]

22. Tell me why

If crude goes down the oil gougers tell me that the oil is going down but it takes 4 to 8 weeks to see it at the pump, but if it goes up it takes 4 to 8 seconds to make it to the pump!!!

[Emile]

31. Exactly +1!

[uponit7771]

24. K&R, more proof FAUX sets what "rates" and the other M$M follow stoking MAGA lines of

... offense vs telling the whole story

[TeamProg]

25. Big corporations all want the same thing so they cover for each other. n/t

[Chainfire]

26. It is now Spring. It will be time to reformulate from Winter Profits to Summer profits.

You know that will cost us a bundle.

If we were smart we would nationalize the oil industry along with several others like health care...

The literally have us over a barrel...

[Aussie105]

28. Shock! Horror! Outrage!

Gas prices up! Who to blame?
Media thrive on that stirring up of outrage.

On the other hand, kittens rescued out of a tree, gas prices coming down . . . no outrage fuel there.

Gas went up here by 40c per liter, overnight, have stayed on $2.20 rock solid since then, for weeks.
(AU money - you do the conversion. If you do that, and the same for UK prices, you will see why the big 5 MPG / gallon trucks aren't too popular.)

As if the fuel in underground tanks suddenly went up by that much, overnight.
Waiting for it to come down . . . but it's not happening.
When it does, media will be crickets about it.
Not like media saying . . . well, we may have over reacted, so sorry! Just ignore the whole stirring you up thing.

Media using things to stir outrage, not a new thing though.

But Australian media have found another fuel related issue to generate outrage about.
Fuel Security!

Australia used to have 7 refineries, mostly using crude shipped in.
They were slowly shut down, now we have only two.
It's easier (ie cheaper) to ship in the refined product. From Singapore, mainly.

Diesel - we have 3 weeks supply stored locally. Petrol, probably a bit more.

But 'future fuel security' is now a hot topic.
Where was the shock-horror-outrage as it happened, over decades?

[Bow To The Robots]

29. Commodities 101.

Uh, this Boehlert character has demonstrated a 3rd-Grade understanding of the commodities market. This is a galactically complex topic which this simpleton has distilled to a laughable fallacy... and his facts are wrong to boot.

WTI and BRENT are, as of this writing, ~$112 and ~117. https://oilprice.com/

The current spot price of crude oil and the retail price of refined petroleum -- gas, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel -- have no rational relationship. The gas you pumped today was refined over the past several weeks from crude purchased over a month ago. The wholesale cost of unrefined petroleum is driven almost entirely by the global futures market(s) which are driven entirely by global inventories and daily production metrics. Like any other commodity, oil is subject to the law of supply and demand, and futures contracts are purchased by commodities traders to hold and sell.

This article: Epic fail.