Gasoline prices: up, and rising

[onehandle]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Gas prices rose more than eight cents in the past two weeks to a national average of $2.87 per gallon of self-serve regular -- and are expected to further rise -- according to a national survey released on Sunday.

That marks a rise of 69 cents at the pump since late January, Trilby Lundberg, publisher of "Lundberg Survey," said. The "Lundberg Survey" tallies gas prices every two to three weeks at about 5,000 gas stations.

The latest survey was conducted Friday.

The current price is about four cents lower than a year ago, Lundberg said, and it is about 15 cents less than the all-time peak in August.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/22/news/lundberg_report/index.htm?postversion=2007042216

[Monkeyman]

1. And Oil Prices Dropped

[NickB79]

30. They're up again, over $64/barrel

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/4739638.html

[Union Thug]

2. It blows me away how little coverage this is getting. Prices are higher than ever..

$3.21/gallon for regular unleaded where I live and yet everyone is going about their business like nothing is happening.. It's surreal.

[unblock]

4. the bias is astounding. carter got reamed over gas prices.

what's more, shrubbie PROMISED to keep oil under $30/bbl. remember, he said he'd just jawbone the saudis and tell 'em to open the spigots.

[Union Thug]

8. That's right - lil' george was s'posed to be the jawbonin' diplomat.

Now that he's the decider, the only bonin' going on involves Americans bent over the barrel of their high, mighty, and most reverend CEO class.

[tridim]

12. Maybe it's time for President Pelosi to jawbone the Saudis

and the Democratic Congress to jawbone the American oil companies.

[cliss]

16. What a fabulous photo.

I can't tell if it's Photo Shopped. Either way, it's worth Gold.

At long last.....:smoke:

[tridim]

32. Absolutely not photoshopped

It came from the same event where Rove did his little hip-hop dance.

[Barrett808]

33. Do we know what Pelosi said to W?

Sure looks like it was juicy.

[MikeNearMcChord]

9. Didn't Clinton/Gore get their stuff stomped on for

$1.45/gallon gas?

[unblock]

15. yes, i believe they did. little did we know that the problem was gas prices were too LOW!

silly democrats were trying to make gas affordable, when they should have been making it insanely lucrative!

[Double T]

6. corporate america controls the message; prices of EVERYTHING.......

continue to rise sharply, yet the inflation rate is ONLY 4.5%. Liars, all of them!

[tridim]

13. Grocery store prices are obscene.

Food prices are rising as fast as gasoline, probably due to the rising price of gas.

4.5% inflation my ass. It's feels closer to 20%.

[kath]

3. well, we all knew that they would raise prices real high again after the Nov election -

I just thought they were going to do it a lot sooner...

[wordpix]

14. they've been inching it up so we wouldn't notice, esp. since we're paying high electric prices, too

Electricity has gone up nearly 100% in CT in the last 3-4 yrs. So much for "deregulation." What a bullshit deal that was. Rise up, people! Take down these mo-f'ckers.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Summer is coming.

Like the turning of the leaves in Fall, gasoline prices go up in the summer to take advantage of the poor cash strapped American who travel for summer vacation.

[tabasco]

7. That's why we're in Iraq, folks!

Mission accomplished for the Bush oil mafia.

Having the US Army sitting in Iraq allows Bush's cronies to control the supply.

Why do you think they lied so much to start this illegal war?

Follow the money.

Brazen profiteering.

[chknltl]

11. I believe that you are right tabasco

This thread by a fellow DUer made a lot of sense to me and agrees with what you say:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x716561

In a nutshell: They are sittin on the oil over in Iraq in order to deliberately keep prices inflated!
If that is Big Oils sole purpose for having our military over there then it is no stretch that these bastards are inflating the prices at the pumps as well.

[wordpix]

24. the "easy targets" Bushco hit in Iraq were for one thing: secure the oil & oil profits!

no doubt about it.

[dweller]

10. Summer is a'coming

what would happen if 50-75% of the summer vacation crowd were to stay home?

the tourist business would take a hit, for sure. but then their complaints would travel upwards, and the price of fuel would plunge (somewhat) to entice.

someone needs to call the bluff.
dp

[cliss]

17. Here in Oregon, it's Ugly.

$3.29 per gallon.

But in Palo Alto CA, it's obscene.

$3.79.

[electricmonk]

18. Gas price charts

http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx

You can go back up to six years and put in individual cities too.

[Dogmudgeon]

19. Enjoy the low prices while you may

Three of the world's five largest oil fields are in decline -- Ghawar (Saudi Arabia), Cantarell (Mexico), and Burgan (Kuwait). Saudi oil production is down at 8% per year, and the Mexican oil industry is in a panic.

It's the end of the cheap stuff. The end of the Petroleum Era is probably a few more years off, but NOW is the time to "make other arrangements".

Gloom-and-Doom? No. Just the end of the go-go years.

--p!

[Javaman]

25. I give Mexico 3 years before it's society melts down...

since the oil industry is nationalized according to it's constitution, the corrupt gov't there refuses to cut back on the amount of graff they take and put more money into exploration.

40% of the oil revenues pay for various gov't services. When that starts eroding, things will get dicey.

Since the U.S. sends 20% of our corn to Mexico as exports and at the same time, moron* wants to increase ethanol production by 20%, that additional corn has to come from somewhere.

And recently the Mexican gov't tried to float the idea of ethanol production of it's own and on that news alone the price of corn shot up, the people went ape shit and staged massive protests.

So to recap, Mexico can't privatize it's oil for additional exploration, they can't turn to ethanol because the people will go crazy, and their imports of corn will suffer a hit as we make more ethanol.

Weeeee, those of you who live in border states, such as I do, illegal immigration will be the least of our worries as the refugees begin spilling across in about 3 years.

[NickB79]

28. Only 3 of 5? I thought they all were in decline

The North Slope in Alaska is in decline, as is the North Sea off Norway. Who's left to maintain oil production?

[Dogmudgeon]

36. The Top Five oil fields

1. Ghawar (Saudi Arabia) 70-100 billion BBL (Wikipedia seems to cite low figures)
2. Burgan (Kuwait) 60-70 billion BBL
3. Cantarell (Mexico) 20-25 billion BBL (often cited combined with Chicontepec as #2, but Chicontepec is mainly asphalt)
4. Daqing (China) 20 billion BBL
5. Samlotor (Russia) 20 billion BBL

These are the five usually cited by international petroleum and geological organizations, with approximate total reserves figures for sweet light crude and condensate. There are over 45,000 fields, but fewer than 500 produce over 60% of our oil. The Wikipedia List of Oil Fields gives slightly different figures and includes asphalt-like tarry crude, which is markedly more expensive to produce, and oil shales/oilsands, which are very difficult and expensive. There are also about ten more fields that are in the 15-20 billion BBL range; and a number of big Iraqi fields which contain low-quality oil that may yet be profitably exploitable, totaling 30-300 billion BBL.

The North Sea and the North Slope aren't in the top five but they are big fields -- each about 15 billion BBL. The oil under the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve is estimated at around 10 billion BBL.

The world demands over 80 million BBL per day. The math is not encouraging. No disaster is forecast, but a painful decline is inevitable without some new, miraculous technological innovation. Whether we have a disaster depends on how we deal with all our energy crises, emerging food-production crises, and climate change. We are going to have to radically change our lifestyle, and fairly soon.

There is usually a good discussion or two on the DU Energy and Environment forum.

--p!

[Vidar]

20. As long as Exxon & Halliburton profit, all is right with the world.

[riverdale]

21. I can't believe Lundberg saw Jennifer Aniston's o-face

I think if I had a million dollars I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.

[salin]

22. That is roughly a 30% increase from late January to mid April.

10% a month? Given that the current increases no longer seem to be tied to market spikes and declines for oil, I would guess that the oil corps are trying to find out "what the market will bear" (how high they can raise and keep charging before people cut back at a rate that decreases the profits).

[Sabriel]

26. It's a good thing my salary increased 30% during the same period.

Not.

I'm making less now than I was 3 years ago. There's nothing like being a state employee.

The only thing that infuriates me more than needlessly rising gas prices is hearing the quarterly "earnings" reports out of the Big Oil sector.

[and-justice-for-all]

23. Why are we paying these exuberant prices for fuel??

ExxonMobil PROFITED $40Billion and we are left to continue on filling the pockets of stuffed suits??!!

I am so sick of the 98% of us filling the pockets of the 2% of 'them'!! FUCK THEM!

We need a National day(s) of no driving...3 days of no one putting that shit in their cars. We should also DEMAND that bigAuto bring back the EV!

[goddess40]

Because the free market is dead!!

The oil companies (health care, health insurance...) charge outrageous prices because there is no reason not to - since ethics and morals are dead in the business community too.

[goddess40]

31. Because the free market is dead!!

The oil companies (health care, health insurance...) charge outrageous prices because there is no reason not to - since ethics and morals are dead in the business community too.

[unkachuck]

37. dead indeed....

....we seem to have a 'planned economy' in which the average American doesn't get to vote for the untouchable 'planners'....

[THUNDER HANDS]

27. i would kill for 2.87 where i am

Long Island, where's it's 3.05 and climbing.

[NickB79]

29. Two words: Peak Oil

You don't have to be a doom-and-gloomer to recognize that oil production globally is in trouble.

[Imagevision]

34. Two words...other alternatives...!!

[Telly Savalas]

35. Alternatives? You don't seem to get the point of this thread.

The idea is to consume as much oil as possible as cheaply as possible.

It's good for the environment.