Ruh-roh, gas prices may rocket up 24 cents/gallon

all thanks to nothing other than speculation



Gas Prices Might Increase 24 Cents
Analyst Predicts It Could Be 'Brutal, Horrendous'

(March 4) Gasoline prices could rocket 24 cents a gallon the next few days, as stations across the USA scramble to keep up with big jumps in the prices of oil and wholesale gas, a veteran energy-price analyst forecast Thursday.

"It's going to be brutal, horrendous," says Peter Beutel, president of energy-price tracker Cameron Hanover. He has followed energy markets for nearly three decades.

Thursday, light, sweet crude oil for April delivery traded as high as $55.20 a barrel in New York before closing at $53.57.

A 24-cent jump in the price of gas would bump unleaded regular to a nationwide average of about $2.16 a gallon, blowing through last May's record of about $2.06. It could go higher as increased warm-weather driving in another two months pushes up demand, and therefore prices, forecasters say.

Adjusted for inflation, gas would have to hit about $2.95 for a record.

The price increase translates to "$90 million a day, every day that it remains in effect," which could be several months, Beutel says.

"Petronoia is in full flower. Retail gasoline has some 25 to 28 cents a gallon in increases ahead just to catch up to what has happened with wholesale (gas prices) since Christmas week," says Tom Kloza, senior analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. He foresees a record-breaking peak but not until the last half of this month. "What I can't determine is whether that level will last, like it did last year" or drop back as refineries ramp up gasoline production.

Petronoia is Kloza's description of when petroleum traders become irrationally afraid there won't be enough oil and gasoline later, so they buy now, bidding up prices.

The government's short-term-energy-price expert thinks the analysts are overreacting. Oil and wholesale gas prices have increased a lot, agrees Michael Burdette, senior analyst at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, but it takes about eight weeks for those changes to be completely reflected in pump prices. "In the next eight weeks, (wholesale gas) prices will change, so it's a moving target." At worst, he sees a dime jump in the near future.

Seasonal maintenance and other disruptions had U.S. refineries operating at just 89.3% capacity last week, lowest in four months, making traders jumpy about supplies.

The U.S. dollar has fallen in value recently, also, and foreign oil sellers, who control most supplies, want more dollars per barrel to compensate.

Those factors outweigh the U.S. government's midweek report showing ample supplies. U.S. inventories of crude oil, from which gasoline is made, were up a hefty 8.6% from a year ago and up 0.8% from the previous week. Supplies of gasoline were up 10.1% from a year ago, and even with a week ago.

Bleh, just when I got fillups down to $35/tank.

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

89 octane

NoooooooOOoooooooOOOoooooooo!!!!!!!

Drill in Alaska & off shore. I'm might think about being a Geologist again

How about NOT depending on foreign oil so much and even better, how about not depending so much on oil to begin with!!

Originally Posted by frog

Why not use foreign oil. It's typically cheaper because it's easier to get at.

There's NOTHING on the planet that gives you the bang for the buck that a gallon of gas does.

How about a gallon of vodka and a half dozen tri-delta sorority girls?

Originally Posted by Claresecl

NoooooooOOoooooooOOOoooooooo!!!!!!!

was that you or did Conrad hurt his back again?

Originally Posted by Ågent99

How about NOT depending on foreign oil so much and even better, how about not depending so much on oil to begin with!!

You start by selling your BMW and get a bike
Let the market dictate what happens. And tell the tree huggers to stick it up their assess, we are drill in the US

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

Already there..... 89 octane cost me $2.49/gallon this week already. Only a month ago, it was down to $2.22 or so.

Maybe your sig should be:

Welcome to The OC - What do you drive? How much do you make? How much $$ does it take to fill your tank?


(j/k)

Originally Posted by Salvator

Maybe your sig should be:

Welcome to The OC - What do you drive? How much do you make? How much $$ does it take to fill your tank?


(j/k)

Originally Posted by TeamM3

was that you or did Conrad hurt his back again?

That was me. Gas price hikes suck!

I'm jealous of Jason - he can put regular unleaded in his Lexus. I think it costs the same to fill his SUV as it does to fill my car

Originally Posted by Claresecl

That was me. Gas price hikes suck!

I'm jealous of Jason - he can put regular unleaded in his Lexus. I think it costs the same to fill his SUV as it does to fill my car

I thought it was your reaction to your commute today. Did they let you through the roadblock?

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

I know, I know, I know!!!!

I just can't bring myself to pay for 91 octane until the price gets lower than this....

One thing to keep in mind (other than the loss of performance) is you may experience decreased gas mileage when using lower octane fuel... The engine retards the timing to take care of knock issues, and in the process, you end up giving it more throttle to compensate...

For example: If you save 15 cents a gallon by buying the cheap stuff, and you put in 10 gallons, you've saved $1.50... Or the cost of about 3/4 of a gallon... That 3/4 gallon would have gotten you, say, an extra 15 miles... Meanwhile, if you had run premium, perhaps you would have gotten 27 Mpg (like me ) instead of the 22 or 23 you are getting now... over the 10 gallons, that's an additional 40 miles, or the equivalent of almost 2 gallons of gas... yet, you only payed for an additional 3/4 gallon... $1.50... Make sense?

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

Given my combination of highway & street driving every day (50/50) and my commute is normally 20 minutes one way.... I get about 20 mpg on average. Is that good or bad? My car is 4.5 years old now...

if you drive like you post, then no, that's not bad

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

Given my combination of highway & street driving every day (50/50) and my commute is normally 20 minutes one way.... I get about 20 mpg on average. Is that good or bad? My car is 4.5 years old now...

I would expect more in the low to mid 20's, but "your mileage may vary"... My wife's 525iT, which is driven about 60 Hiway, 40 City gets around 24/25MPG... and she is usally into the 80's on the highway... I do know that in our ("former") Volvo S70, running 89 instead of 93 exacted about a 2 to 3 MPG penalty... we went back to 93 in it...

Originally Posted by Alamo

You start by selling your BMW and get a bike
Let the market dictate what happens. And tell the tree huggers to stick it up their assess, we are drill in the US

I hope gas goes to $4/gallon!! It'll get some of them outa my way....

Originally Posted by ·clyde·

I thought it was your reaction to your commute today. Did they let you through the roadblock?

I heard about it before I left the house and opted to work from home this AM

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

Really???? My husband's 1995 Lexus LS400 had trouble with regular unleaded. At 100,000 miles he had to replace his catalytic converter and the reason he was told was because he was using 87 octane from Arco (not a name brand like Chevron or Mobil). That was about 5 years ago, and since he's been using 89 Chevron, he hasn't had a problem since. He has about 180,000 miles on that car and still drives like a dream... even after my 720's.

If he keeps any car for 100k, I would be shocked. But yes: his last one, a 2002 RX300 and his current one, a 2004 RX330 both take regular unleaded. It even states that in the manual.

Originally Posted by Claresecl

I heard about it before I left the house and opted to work from home this AM

smart cookie

Originally Posted by BMW4phillygirl

Huh? Sorry, I don't follow... You mean, I mean I post fast and often?

Either that or he's saying your posts are a crash waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by Alamo

You start by selling your BMW and get a bike

Why make the choice? I sold my BMW, bought a bike, and still have a BMW. Man, 24 cents a gallon is almost 90 cents more a fillup for more than a week's worth of travel!

I do wonder if you're motivated more by a love of gasoline or hatred of those who give a thought to the environment - no, wait, I don't wonder.

And at $0.24/gal more, gas prices will still be about $2/gal BELOW where they should be.

$4/gal gas would force much needed decisions to be made in this country.

Originally Posted by TD

And at $0.24/gal more, gas prices will still be about $2/gal BELOW where they should be.

$4/gal gas would force much needed decisions to be made in this country.

Originally Posted by ·clyde·

Why is that more suitable to his comment than to the ones beefing about gas prices?