Oil's surge in 2010 paves the way for $4 gasoline

[bluesbassman]

Source: AP

The price of oil is poised for another run at $100 a barrel after a global economic rebound sent it surging 34 percent since May. That could push gasoline prices to $4 a gallon by summer in some parts of the country, experts say.
-snip-
Gasoline expert Fred Rozell predicts that 15 states - including Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut and Rhode Island - will see gasoline prices top $4 a gallon by Memorial Day. "A dollar more per gallon isn't that much - probably about $750 more per year for each motorist, but there's a psychological aspect to gas prices," he said. "People are going to be up in arms about this."

Higher oil prices have fattened oil company profits. Excluding BP PLC, the four other major investor-owned oil companies posted combined profits of $59.7 billion in the first nine months of the year, a 49 percent increase from the year before. Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron Corp. and Total SA are expected to earn $81 billion for the full year.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-31-22-03-04

---

$750 per year will go a long way to ensure the oil companies continue to 49 percent increases in profit so I guess it really is "that much" isn't it Mr. Rosell.

Market manipulation will be the modus operandi for 2011.

[jus_the_facts]

1. Gulf Coast Oil Geyser: Debate, Too Late, You've Built Our Funeral Pyre....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8263857

:nopity:

[bluesbassman]

4. I wonder how much of the $81b in profits...

are being put back into safer extraction and delivery technology.

[howmad1]

28. Better to ask the question:

How much of that $81B are going in to rethuglican and Dem pockets?

[mindwalker_i]

2. Bring it on!

Maybe we'll get serious about solving this world-wide problem.

[bluesbassman]

7. If past experience is any guide, we won't.

We can hope this time is different.

[mindwalker_i]

15. You're probably right

I keep hoping that various problems will get worse so that we (collectively) will do something about them. I'm sure other people are gauging where to stop so that we don't do something about them.

[doc03]

3. Well the payroll tax cut of 2% will give a person making

$30000 a year $600 extra to spend. If he drives 15000 miles per year and his car gets 20MPG he will use 750 gallons of gas. If gas goes to $4.00 a gallon he will spend $750 more for gas. All other forms of energy will go up and every product you buy will go up due to increased shipping charges. So just how many jobs is that cut in payroll taxes going to create? Looks to me like all that stimulus will go right in the pockets of the rich, nice going Obama.

[girl gone mad]

6. That, and the health insurance premium hikes.

The rentiers are doing fine.

[bluesbassman]

8. Big Oil an OPEC have bean counters too.

Funny how that math works out isn't it?

[paulk]

5. if gas goes that high, we'll see a double dip recession for sure

imho

[NeoConsSuck]

23. $4 gas was the reason

why the recession was so deep. If you recall, when the global economies were crashing, the speculators were still bringing the price of a barrel of oil to $140+.

[Downwinder]

9. Look at it as a 30% devaluation of the dollar. nt

[doc03]

11. That is the only way to pay off our massive debt, devalue the

currency.

[dipsydoodle]

25. That's part of the reason

that the oil price is increasing. It's to compensate for a reduced value dollar. OPEC can keep that up forever or at least until petrodollar recycling becomes defunct and oil is priced differently.

[Downwinder]

29. If it were just inflation, profits would not go up. n/t

[KillCapitalism]

10. $4? LOL yeah maybe if we're lucky.

I'm thinking $5 or maybe even $6.

[Frisbee]

24. Yeah, I was expecting $5 this summer...

long before reading this. And $6 before the end of 2011 will come as no surprise to me.

[neverforget]

12. This is going to kill whatever economic recovery there is.

[doc03]

13. That's the stated Rethug/Wall Street plan to make sure

Obama doesn't get re-elected.

[truthisfreedom]

14. I've put in an order for an electric car.

When my Tesla arrives in March, I'll be getting the equivalent of 99 miles/gal and will be able to recharge my 200+ mile range car for about $3 using any electric outlet. Screw the oil companies.

[IDemo]

20. I am not jealous

Not even a bit.

:cry:

[awoke_in_2003]

35. and only a very few...

(myself not included) can afford that.

[midnight armadillo]

39. A bike gets 900 mpg

at a tiny fraction of the embodied energy of a car.

You can beat a bike with a velomobile and cruise around at 30 mph under human power.

[xchrom]

16. Think how much money $4. Gas will lift out of the economy

For that single product.

That's gonna hurt all right.

[Knight Hawk]

17. Drive less

Everytime fuel goes up I use less of it.ALWAYS think ,how can I do this in a more efficient manner?On many weekens my vehicle does not even get started.Plan things to do at home or very close to where you live.Plan your grocery store visits so you make fewer of them.If you forget to pick someyhing up ,live without it.It is good for your soul/karma.As Ghandi said"there is a unuverse between our needs and our desires".

[bluesbassman]

19. Good advice, but what if you've already adopted that strategy?

During the last price surge, we really looked at how we were driving and made adjustments to minimize our fuel useage. So even if we tighten it up some more, it's certainly not going to offset a 25% increase in fuel costs.

Here's the kicker though; when fuel goes up this significantly it has an impact on the cost of most everthing else we need to buy. I think that $750 per year estimate from the article is probably much lighter than what the true cost of the increase will be.

[bhikkhu]

31. I've been commuting by bike since 2008

...which has made relative poverty fairly enjoyable and affordable. I'm still not looking forward to the grocery bills going up, though...

[Knight Hawk]

34. I hear you

But one can just about always cut more.If for any reason you cannot increase your income you can get very imaginative and look at every expence you have.Sometimes it is just time to say good bye to something we don't think we can live without but after getting it out of our lives find out we cannot not only live without it but are happier and or physically or mentally better off without it.For example I asked everyone in advance NOT to spend any serious money on me this XMAS because I was cutting down on my spending a lot.I trimmed back on my cable bill and am going to cut my cell phone bill by about 40% next week,my only phone .Im telling people who call me to do so after hours .I quit eating red meat some time ago for 3 reasons:health,environment and fiscal health.I live for the most part in one room of my house .My power bill has dropped by 70%.These may be drastic measures but I think we may be in for some drastic times.Just sayin...............

[lfairban]

42. Yes, by about 25-28%.

According to this site:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_home#tab2

Share of U.S. Oil Consumption for Transportation 72%

It also says:

U.S. Petroleum Consumption 18,771,000 barrels/day

Which is about 860 Mgal./day or about 314,000 Mgal. per year

That is around 1000 gal./person/yr.

You will probably pay in total about $1000 more per year.

[Javaman]

43. Drive slower.

I believe a return to 55 is in order. But alas, conservation is taboo these days.

[Kat45]

18. "A dollar more per gallon isn't that much." Excuse me?

To someone who is unemployed, to a worker making minimum wage, to a fixed income retiree, to someone living paycheck to paycheck, it IS that much! This WILL be a burden on those who are already struggling to get by.

[dballance]

22. Thanks for saying what I was thinking

[Javaman]

44. An addition 750 bucks a year is a freakin burden!

just another water carrying halfwit who doesn't live in reality with the rest of us.

he's probably making high 6 figures a year, what does he care?

as the divide increases, the metaphorical pitchforks will eventually come out.

on edit: I'm railing against the guy in the article, no you. Just commiserating with you. :) Cheers.

[mbperrin]

21. Talk around here is $5. Some older rigs are being

refurbished.

Just what I hear around> I've been out of the industry for 30 years.

[bhikkhu]

26. yes, and here we go again. To predict the obvious:

The previous recession was caused in large part by economic growth outstripping energy availability, and then the rising cost of energy strangling further economic growth in the crib, so to speak. It was widely talked about and predicted at the time. In the time between then and now, it has also been widely predicted that as soon as economic growth resumed it would again be strangled in its crib, so to speak, by rising energy costs.

The essential dynamic to understand is that economic activity requires energy, and energy is increasingly finite. Geologists generally agree that the net energy available to us from fossil fuels may never increase from the rate of availability we reached in 2008. Which is to say, economic activity may never sustain that level either.

Best hopes to our becoming a wiser species as cultures built upon abundance turn the corner.

[dipsydoodle]

27. Maybe it's mind over matter

Possibly your administration doesn't mind that you don't matter. Their policy of quantative easing effectively devalues the dollar and the oil suppliers reprice upwards to compensate for the lower value of their receipts. Now you know one of its effects.

The profits of the oil companies can sometimes be a red herring. If broken down across the sheer amount of fuel sold to a per gallon basis you may not find it makes that much difference. Aside from that - take away the profitability and you might just find you've got a huge supply problem.

disclaimer - I have no association whatsofuckingever with any oil companies. Just pointing out a few facts of life.

[sarcasmo]

30. While 50,000 are on the waiting list for electric cars.

[lib2DaBone]

32. Pure speculation.. the ENRON boys up to their old tricks...

As the Banksters and Repukes continue to suck every last penny from the working poor.

Who will stand up for those struggling? Those who have to drive 100 miles a day just to hold a minimum wage job?

After all.. it's the Republican mantra that all unemployed are lazy and the fact they can't find a job is their lack of effort.

So when millions are trying to scratch out a living.. you would think the Repukes and Mr. Obama would support the masses with (at least) reasonable gas prices...

Loot.. strip....and fray the American people is NOT fiscal responsibility. Let's see if Mr. Obama capitulates with the Repukes.

[BeFree]

40. Carter warned us this would happen

And here we f'n are. Getting screwed by big oil and no alternative on the horizon.

Obama bought GM and what did he do? He told them to build gas guzzlers for profit.
Obama is either for us or against us. I wonder.....

[Skink]

33. good luck trying to trade the SUV in.

you paid 32,000 last year you might get 18 for it.

[Historic NY]

36. Maybe it time to get the speculators, for good.

[harvey007]

37. Map of current gas prices nationwide

http://gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

[jennied]

38. The only plus side I can see is maybe people will stop buying guzzlers.

[Safetykitten]

41. Quiz time. What happened the last time gas spiked like this? Oh, about three years ago.

[AlphaCentauri]

45. So we are subsidizing oil companies, in other words we are paying for the golf oil spill