Why Are Gasoline & Home Heating Fuels So Expensive?

blue83camaro wrote:

coaledsweat wrote:There is in fact a fairly constant percentage limit of what products can be had from a barrel of crude. A 44 gallon barrel of crude can deliver about 20 gallons of gasoline at best. There are similar limits on the lighter and heavier distilled products.

Guess I should have researched before opening my mouth. There are practical limits to each product you can get out of a barrel. Here is a interesting site http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/refinery.html
From the few places I looked they get anywhere from 20% to 50 some % gasoline out of a barrel.
There are many factors that create the differnce in yield two of them where the oil came from and where it is being refined.

Sorta what I figured, not 90/10 and 10/90, but a bit variable in the 50/50 middle.

There are oil wells all over the mountain behind my house, when the price goes above $60 a barrel they pump it, below that there's no money. It takes either gasoline or electricity to run the pump and most of these wells were used up in the 20's. Some guys use the natural gas to run the power. If you are interested check out this site, these pictures look like my backyard. http://www.petroleumhistory.org

Cracking breaks longer carbon chains into shorter carbon chains via a catalyst at a temperature and pressure that I would not have believed was possible without an explosion or fire which would happen if there was a failure in the system....

I heard Sean Hannity talking about oil prices today on the radio and about how Hillary Rotten Clinton is requesting a release of oil from the strategic oil reserves to help force a drop in the price of oil.. This makes her look like a hero and a do-gooder in the eyes of the gullible masses, however she failed to take into account the real reasons for the high price of a barrel of crude, some of which include:

1) The US imports 60% of it's oil. That leaves us at the whim of the country producing that oil.

2) The environmentalist crusaders and their agendas have had sucess in persuading lawmakers to prevent construction of new refineries (no new refineries built in the US for over 30 years), as well as preventing exploration for new sources of domestic crude oil, also the tapping of large known oil fields (Anwar, off-coast, etc.), Existing domestic refineries are currently running at full capacity. The lawmakers also have their sights set on the gradual ending of COAL MINING.

It has been explained that the environmental effects of drilling in Anwar or other areas is minimal and doing so would allow the US to produce enough crude to be energy independent, resulting in a lowering of the rising cost of fuel. The actual profit in a gallon of gas to the refineries is about 8%, a large part of the price of gas is TAXES. I don't see the government lowering these taxes to help lower fuel prices! Why...because taxes are needed to fund the government.

Instead people like Hillary focus on spending our tax money on...well here's the link to what she says she would do....

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/energy/

Some politicians are more concerned with their image and their legacy in the history books then the actual hard facts surrounding an issue and how to best resolve it. Some of the things an honest politician would have to do would not be the most popular idea and may cement his defeat at the next election, it's a shame most of them are more concerned with climbing the political ladder and becoming Queen Of The World.

Just my 2 cents...

I must say A very good 2 cents well spent

Thanks very much.

The gas tax is roughly 16% the cost of a gallon of gas in OH. 8 years ago it was roughly 30% the price of a gallon of gas. So they have not risen proportionally. Gas tax is the fairest way to pay for roads. It is simple the more you wear them out the more you pay. Bigger trucks tear up the road more and they also use more gas, so they pay more to use the road. Everyone has the option to not pay gas tax quit driving and get a horse. The only other way to pay for a road is a toll road. We can privitize them like most are doing now. Private companys must make a profit so they do it by charging more.

Because They Can...........................

Cyber36 wrote:Because They Can...........................

Damn straight!! (Same reason why bank robbers rob banks)

In my opinion, in a time of war for the major oil companys to be virtualy "raping" their fellow citizens (highest profits in history for any type of business) & ruining our entire economy is not just immoral &illegal (to conspire with other to fix prices).......it really is TREASON!!
I say we nationalize the oil industry & throw all the CEO's (& families or even just acquaintances) in prison!

Thought it may be a good time to re-open this thread because prices are going to start to soar again after Tuesday's election!

Take a look at my predictions (from 1/4/2007 at 11:48am..1st page & 1/5.. 7:05pm on page 2of this thread last year) & tell me I'm paranoid & wrong again.

Sorry Devil. You'll have to decide about paranoid but you are wrong. Gas and heating fuel have dropped because of the price of crude oil on the world market has plummeted. If you think the US can control that then maybe you are paranoid. Prices spiked which triggered less usage. Decreased demand caused prices to start to fall. Changes in the rules for commodity traders also contributed. There isn't some vast storage of gas and heating oil in the world. The products are pumped, refined, shipped and used. If there is a hiccup in the stream, such as a big drop in demand, it's like the line of traffic that has to suddenly stop. It snakes back through the line. This may be over simplified but the bottom line is, the republicans cannot control the economy or world oil prices. If they could, they would have caused tham to fall long before this. McCain has taken a huge hit on the economy.

coalkirk wrote:Sorry Devil. You'll have to decide about paranoid but you are wrong. Gas and heating fuel have dropped because of the price of crude oil on the world market has plummeted

I see that Terry but you & I both know that the oil companies control the refining of crude into gasoline & that, whatever the fairy tale is going to be this year, there will be a steep price increase in gasoline prices in the U.S. starting right after the election.....Wanna bet some coal on it?

OK Dick, you're on. Define right after the election. Prices will eventually go up as they always flucuate. I'll wager my prize lump of Superior stove coal that's sittng on the shelf over my desk. (See John, you arn't the only one who decorates with coal). What are you betting?

coalkirk wrote:OK Dick, you're on. Define right after the election. Prices will eventually go up as they always flucuate. I'll wager my prize lump of Superior stove coal that's sittng on the shelf over my desk. (See John, you arn't the only one who decorates with coal). What are you betting?

I'll say that gasoline prices will start to rise again by mid to late November & will continue to rise until we are at or above the $4.00 per gallon mark again, probably as early as X-mass but certainly by mid January.

As far as what I'm betting....I don't have a huge "Family Heirloom" like the lump of coal you have but I can offer you a nice 40 lb polyethylene bag of Blaschak nut coal?