Thanks for the recommendation. I'll see if my library has it. Of course if I wait til next week to drive over there it may cost me an extra 50¢.

Several years ago the author of this book came and spent some time on the trading floor of the exchange. At the time she was working on a project (which obviously turned out to be for this book), and she was very inquisitive as to how the trading process worked, etc. She would spend her days on the trading floor picking the brains of various traders and exchange representatives.

I had the pleasure of being introduced to this lady and I must say that she was a very well read and educated person about the oil industry as a whole. I was impressed by her vast knowledge about the oil industry. I remember during a conversation once, her talking about Iraq and how the oil business over there was never going to benefit the Iraqi people and only served to finance and support Saddam's own power and dictatorship. A very insightful lady.

Thanks for sharing about her book Saladbar.



Don Cardi

Stallionette, you've hit the nail on the head. "We" are not going to do anything effectively about it for the foreseeable future. We've been on this fule saving track at least since the Carter administration and we are now using much more fule than way back then. We are in love with our vehicles and we find any number of reasons and excuses to not limit our driving. The way America is built, there is just not that much more we drivers can do to limit fuel consumption. We need to give upthe ghost.

Yea that is in the book. I would love to meet her. She not only seems very knowledgeable but very brave! She traveled deep into many foreign countries and war zones for her comprehensive oil research. I have a greater understanding of gas/oil from the local pump, trucks, distribution centers, stock trading to the refineries here and in the foreign lands of Venezuela, Chad, Iran, China etc.

I for one DO want an answer. I want the truth!

Salad: You can't handle the truth!

(Salad IS the truth. I shall read the book fervently! )

I'm going to read it too.

I guess when you are paying only .40 cents a gallon, you don't care about wasting gasoline!



Don Cardi

It's up AGAIN!! I went back to my Shell station, where I just paid $2.519, and paid $2.559!! WTF????

I paid $2.41 yesterday. DC since you have alot of knowledge on the subject will you tell me why it's more expensive where you and SB are than where I live?

I can just imagine what it will be this Summer

I can't tell you exactly where this info come from, but on my way to work this morning, listening to the radio, they said they predict gas will go up (at least here in CA) at least another 30 cents a gallon in the next couple months. Hope it's not true.


TIS

I paid $2.61 yesterday for regular grade.

The main reason that gas prices vary from state to state has to do a lot with taxes and surcharges imposed on the sale of gasoline by the city and state. Plus you must also factor in the cost of doing business by the retailer in the state that they have their business / gas stations in.



Don Cardi

Absolutely. Gas in NY is over $2.70 a gallon. To get the price of $2.55, I had to go to neighboring NJ, and consider myself lucky to get that price.

For me the price has been set at $2.55 for a week and a half although I sometimes get it at a neighboring town for $2.49. But it's not worth the savings to make a special trip.

It is $3.25 in the bay area.

But I drive a Prius so I only fill up about once every two months. Doesn't hit me too hard, but hard enough.

I would like to here from some of our overseas friends on what they are paying for gasoline in their respective countries.

According to a UPI article, the cost of gasoline in Iran is being raised to .43 cents and will be rationed.

Iran raises the price of gasoline
TEHRAN (UPI) -- Iran's parliament has decided to ration gasoline and raise prices May 22 as part of an effort to lower demand.

Gas prices have been frozen at about 34 cents per gallon for three years in the country, but high consumption has led to 40 percent of the nation's gasoline coming from foreign sources -- sources that may be hampered by United Nations sanctions aimed at the country's nuclear weapons program, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The new price for rationed gas will be about 43 cents per gallon, with additional fuel sold at an inflated price.

The parliament set April 20 as the deadline for the government to decide on the size of the rations, the higher price of gas purchased beyond the rations and the method used to enforce rationing.

Mahmoud Abtahi, a deputy in the country's parliament, predicted the price hike will cause a "severe shock because petrol is the life blood of the economy." He said the new prices are unfair to low-income groups.



Don Cardi

How far is the drive to NJ for you to get cheaper gas?

South Jersey - $2.33, but it was $1.93 a month ago. Wow, my butt is sore.

Hi there MC!!!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry, but anything under $2.00 sounds like a real bargain these days!!


TIS

I just had to pay $3.26 a gallon here in the Bay Area... I'm going to go curl up in the corner and cry now.

I was surprised today that gas went down 2 whole cents to 2.39. I guess I should be greatful huh?

$2.53 today.

It's $2.44 in Little Chicago. I got a new truck, and it's quite the stretch from a Ford Escort. I'm going broke just trying to keep gasoline in the fucking thing!

Holding steady at $2.559, as long as I go to NJ. It's 20-30 cents per gallon more in NY.

Went down to $2.35 today. Yea!!

Wow, that's a good price. I'm still at $2.53.

Overnight it went UP 12 cents Why so much?

That sounds like the station is price gouging now.

Retail gas stations are allowed to raise or lower their prices once a day. Usually they get a directive from the parent company sometime in the mid afternoon based on the closing price of the open market that day.

The scam here is that if the station is charging $2.50 a gallon and the price of gas drops on the open outcry market that day, they will claim that they cannot lower it because they paid a high price for what they already have in the ground. But if the station is charging $2.50 a gallon and the price goes up on the open market that day, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will raise their price that afternoon.


Don Cardi

I seen that they were getting gas themselves this morning. Did it go up where you are today?

The prices in my area have gone up more than 20¢/gallon since this thread was started. The local average for regular here is now $2.79.

Maybe Exxon is afraid they won't have another record profit year.

I went to my in-laws yesterday and on the way to their house I passed a BP station it was 2.33 and when I passed by it on the way home 2 hours later it went up to 2.59. That is just not right.