Gas Prices...Strange Magic or Upside Down?

There has been a lot going on in the world over the last few weeks.  Gas prices still get some media and blog attention, but with prices lower than anyone could have imagined just two months ago, people and reporters have clearly moved on to other immediate and interesting news.   There are still a few nuggets out there though, so I thought I'd share. 

1. Pain at the Pump Takes a Winter Holiday - The National Post talked to skilled industry observer Michael Ervin and a few others about what's happening with gas prices and where things might go.  No surprises given prices haven't dropped to these levels since 2002.  But I loved this line... Mr. Ervin warned that even though it doesn't appear that crude oil will rebound in the near future, gas prices are impossible to predict.
2. That's what BMWBlog learned the hard way.  In a post "Boy, was I wrong..." the US author says he figured gas was going to hit $5 a gallon earlier this year....and he wasn't alone. I ran a poll on here and many of you have agreed with me, 33% said "Way above $5/gallon and even closer to $6″, others were a little more optimistic, 30% said "Under $5″ and only 10% of you believed the gas price will stay the same.
3. Lastly, over at the humourous J-Walk Blog, they conclude that since gas prices have dropped so dramatically, they won't stop until they hit zero.  As a result, they make a few bold predictions:

• Designer gas will be made available for $5 per liter, come in collectible bottles, with the first one featuring Diana Ross.  
• Electric Light Orchestra will switch to gas.

There appears to be some sort of disco connection.  Perhaps a throwback to the fuel shortages of the 1970's?   Or the amount of energy consumed to blow dry the incredibly large amounts of hair found on Diana Ross' or Jeff Lynne's head?

Gas price predictions will obviously continue.  As Michael Ervin points out...it's probably better to take the humour route when making them.

Photo Credit: shootingstargaze

EDITOR'S NOTE: I had to come back and clean up some spelling mistakes and typo's.  Still figuring out this new TypePad screen.  Sorry.  Jon

Comments

[24.]

Congress ordered the price lower.

Electric light orchestra? They didn't have the blinking lights back then.

[Ian Caldwell]

Yet again the crooks at Petro-Canada are gouging the Canadian consumer. The price of crude oil has dropped nearly 15% over the last two days. You would expect the price of gasoline to drop wouldn't you? No, not in Petro-Canada land it doesn't it went up 10 cents a liter today, which is about a 15% increase. Let's see. The price of oil goes down 15% yet the price of gas goes up 15%. Gasgouge.ca calculates that Petro - Canada is gouging consumers by 7.8 cents a liter at the current prices. New corporate theme for Petro-Canada. "We're Here to SXXX You"

Note: the X's were added by the blog editor - my kid reads this.

[marvin orth]

Two things bother me about gas prices. If they are a commodity traded by supply and demand, why then did we pay about $1,50 per litre when gas prices were at $150 per barrel and now that oil is trading at under $40 per barrel we are paying 90 cents per litre. Should we not be paying around 40 cents per litre? The other peeve I have is when they raised prices even before the hurricane was to hit in the gulf island. That made as much sence as lowering the price of gas because sunny weather is coming.

[Carlos Jose]

I'm with Marvin on this - the prices rise quickly on crude speculation, but drop more slowly when crude prices drop. We hear about everybody cutting crude production due to a glut on the market, and it is reflected in crude prices. Gasoline supplies are high, but so are prices compared to where they were when crude was last this cheap. They talk about market forces and exchange rates determining pricing, but there is more at play (ie the parent oil companies consistently want to make huge profits at our expense).

[Rob]

I am sure you get this type of email everyday but there are many people fed up when they are being ripped off by the big oil companies.

As you know oil has been going down for a while now and gas has very very very slowly followed suit to about 68 cents in Calgary. The last couple of weeks oil went up in one or two days and the very next day or two gas shot up to 83 cents. Oil is now down around 33 dollars a barrel and gas has not moved.

Why is this and why is gas high. Gas should be about 49 cents maximum and please do not tell me that it is supply and demand because there is enough supply and less demand.

[glenn Olsen]

like most people,i feel confident that we the consumer are being gouged by the various parties involved in the supply of gasoline.I see the cute little sticker on the side of the pump that gives me the breakdown of gasoline pricing, how can i check to confirm that the wholesale price of gasloline and the sticker jive.In simple if i was to work backwards from the price at the pump would i arrive at the wholesale cost of gas.,and why does there appear to be such a descrepancy between crude costs and wholesale cost.Last question why does every news station show the price of crude several times during a news broadcast when it has little relavance to the final consumer cost,wouldn't the wholesale cost of fuel or showing both be more relavent? Any light you could shed to this ignorant consumer would be appreciated