work4bike

I also have to go online before listing the price of gas for my area.

LeeG

hmmm, maybe Obama had nothing to do with Libyas cutting production by 1million barrels/day. It wasn't GWs incompetence as an oilman that made folks blame him but his incompetence as a president to start wars in oil producing regions while putting them on the credit card AND continuing belligerent rhetoric towards Iran. People can say all kinds of things but making tit for tat arguments doesn't describe the world oil markets.

fattybikejones

It has alot to do with the gov basically kneecapping our near shore / offshore oil drilling with effin' epa regulations in re: carbon emissions from rigging equipment The US and its territories has more recoverable oil than most of the other oil producing countries COMBINED! We need to stop relying on foreign oil when there is more than enough right here on our soil! Drill baby Drill!

LeeG

wrong. You are conflating technically recoverable oil with economically recoverable oil. It takes money and energy to get that oil in place, not all of it is economically recoverable and for the oil that is economically recoverable there is a LOT more in the rest of the world, primarily the middle east.

Think of it this way, if that technically recoverable oil requires oil to cost $300/barrel to extract it and our economy will crash into severe depression with $250/barrel oil it really doesn't matter how much is there if we can't afford to get it. That's why our oil imports declined significantly since 2009 as prices have climbed up, we can't afford it but China/India can. Our offshore production did go up in that time but not as much as imports declined.
Focusing on increased domestic production as some kind of solution to increasing oil prices totally misses the reality we do not produce enough oil to maintain our economy. That trend has been going on since 1970 since US production peaked and has been declining since. The increased offshore production is not large enough to offset the larger onshore production that is in faster decline.

fattybikejones

All I will say is that the current administration is regulating the life out of us.

Ekdog

You've allowed yourself to be manipulated by power-hungry politicians who'll say anything to gain office. Further deregulation and "drill baby, drill" policies will not bring back the good ol' days of cheap oil. They're over. It's time to start dealing with that and start building a society that is less reliant on fossil fuels.

kjmillig

Roughly US$4.32 for mid grade. More and more people every year are driving cars, and bicycle use for transportation (other than school kids) is swiftly declining and currently only a very small percentage of folks still do it in Taiwan. One would think that in an overcrowded Asian country the reverse would be true.

contango 

Oh yes, I have such fond memories of when gas was as cheap as $4/gallon.

My local filling station is currently charing £1.36/litre.

£1 = $1.65 so that's $2.244 per litre, or abour $8.30 per US gallon.

xizangstan

They haven't even started yet. You won't recognize the USA in 3 years if they stay in power. And I think $10/gallon gas is quite likely. Which will matter only to those who still have money to spend on transportation fuel.

Better stock up on bicycle tires, chains, panniers...

Freakin'Chickin

Getting around 1,39CAN$/litre around Quebec City right now. I usually do all my errands by foot or bike (except for the weekly canoe moving), but next week I have a 850km drive to get to my new summer work, in Val-d'Or. I guess I won't come by very often during the summer, and I'll stay up north!

Oh, sorry... that should be around 5,51US$/gallon, and almost 1EUR/litre.

work4bike

First off, Libya's cut in oil to the world market has almost no effect on the continuing (and ongoing) increase in gas prices.

But aside from that, what are you saying? Sounds like you're saying: The current increase in gas prices is not the fault of Obama, but the increases during the bush years were his fault.

BTW, it's my opinion that neither president is at fault for the increase in gas.

LeeG

The need for regulation of various types existed before 2008. Whether it's to cultivate business or ensure the general welfare. Gov't support for energy industries and consumers desire for low cost fuel is resulting in severe vulnerability to a known certainty that US DID and world supplies of oil WILL decline. You have a wonderful opportunity to educate yourself on the topic. One may editorialize the construction of a bicycle wheel and the political biases of the individuals who built it but the wheel itself is true or not. Same with oil supplies. There is a physical reality about oil supplies that runs our economy that is not defined by political perspectives. There is no political reality to an oil fields dimensions and rate of depletion. How we respond to that reality has a political aspect but that doesn't mean you can make up physical reality like a political argument.
Your world view has accomodated a false viewpoint that the US has more oil than the middle east. It's worth looking at how you acquired that falsehood

LeeG

Uncertainty over world oil supplies is the largest part of the present increase with an underlying reality that world demand is increasing faster than supply. Libyas civil war and decline of sweet crude for European markets is a significant factor adding to uncertainty as well as Saudi Arabias miniscule increase in production to offset the decline. The national oil companies in the middle east add to the uncertainty by witholding accurate information about their production and reserves.
Price increases are inevitable into this century regardless of who the POTUS is but US invasion of Iraq while threatening to bomb Iran accelerated that uncertainty. Look at oil prices after 2003. Instead of ensuring our energy security by making a more efficient infrastructure we spent trillions making war in the largest oil producing region in the world. The militarization of our energy policy goes back to the Carter administration, was manifested fully by GW and continues now under Obama. I figure we'll do something different when we run out of money.

LeeG

WAG is that it's unlikely for gasoline to get that expensive in the next few years. Even China/India have a price point at which they can't increase consumption. If world oil prices shoot up too much the world economy will suffer and consumption will decline seesawing a dip in price, albeit at a higher low. More likely is that if prices of oil stay up above $120/barrel for long our economy will suffer enough that $5/gallon will feel like $10/gallon for those out of work. As much as you'd like to point to a political party being responsible for our economic problems they are bipartisan and American. Our economy grew on vast resources of fossil fuels, we have used up our own oil and the rest of the world provided more after 1970. Now the world can't provide more and it's time to change how we use oil.

work4bike

You seem to want to have your cake and eat it too. You like to lecture people about how they insert politics in this issue, but at the same time that's what you're doing.

Yes, GW did have had an effect on the oil price increase in the early years of the Iraq invasion, but so what. Should we base our national policy on fear of rising oil prices. We got rid of a dictator that killed thousands of people, that was worth the increase as far as I'm concerned, but I don't want to re-hash that part of our history.

The increase in 2008 was not the fault of U.S. policy. I basically agree with much of your post, but then you got to inject politics which is not totally accurate, some points are, but seems like a little too much of an agenda slips into your write up.

Another thing you fail to mention is the large decrease in prices in 2008, result of global recession. Basically a "restart" in gas prices. However, now we're seeing prices potentially being worse than seen during the bush years...again I don't blame Obama, but you seem to blame bush on some level for today's prices. That's pretty transparent.

crhilton

This is a nice summary of why it's called "peak oil" and not "oil running out." We're never gonna get to the last drop, not because oil fairies make it faster than we use it, but because the last drop isn't worth getting to.

crhilton

People really like cars.

crhilton

But it "restarted" to a higher low. IIRC it fell to around $40 for a short period then settled around $60-70.

Predicting the oil market is a tough job, I'm surprised by both your and LeeG's confidence about your analyses. But I agree that it was out of both President's control, mostly.

LeeG

Let's try this. An energy policy that focuses primarily on supply when we do not control the majority of our supply is misguided.

LeeG

WAG-wild ass guess. I don't analyze, mostly read and get a sense of fundamentals and consensus of experts. Pretty sure I've put sufficient modifiers about direction of trends and consequences instead of attempting to predict specifics of price.

LeeG

and yet talking heads on tv and a few individuals here say the US has more "oil" than the middle east. They're talking about orange juice and what's in the news is apple pie.

ZmanKC

Up $.10/gal to $3.80 this morning for ethanol. Premium was $4.12/gal.

I haven't really noticed an uptick in the number of bicycle commuters.

justadude

I see $4.09 to $4.25 per gallon for regular 87 octane gasoline in Miami, FL.

I hear it's $6.50 in Hawaii.

LeeG

not entirely but to some degree. The fear is based on some reality.

AlphaDogg

Around $3.60/gal for regular unleaded gasoline here in Denver, CO.