Vijay

While this is slightly off-topic, it does have some real relevance for RS4 owners since, well, our cars don't exactly "drink responsibly".

Was talking with a group of guys last night about the whole gas price thing. One person theorized that the current Republican government is deliberately keeping gas prices up and will then will slowly drop them immediately prior to the election in November to influence voters to go Republican. The guy I spoke to actually lived in Saudi Arabia for a few years and told me gas there is still about 50 cents/gallon, and that gas prices in the U.S. really have nothing to do with crude oil availability but rather many other political agendas. Gas prices could be much lower if the U.S. government really wanted it that way. Anyway, this is just an interesting theory that came up in conversation, so I thought I would share.

edwardschmedward

It's true.

bpp

happening for the "good of the party" and the select few...think "New World Order" for control of the money, the resources, the POWER. I get so friggen angry over all this I could spit!
I'm surprised there hasn't been some kind of organized move through the internet for a "STOP BUYING GAS FOR ONE DAY A WEEK. We're told lightheartedly, but factually last summer "don't be surprised if you see $100/barrel" and it happened! A few months ago we're told "don't be surprised if you see $4/gal" and we're a few cents from it...THINK ABOUT IT, DON'T SIT ON YOUR HANDS. There's $hit going on that's pretty scary for most if not all of us...for control of the money, the resources, the POWER.

CanuckRS4

This is called capitalism with a capital C. Everything is justified in the name of making money.

April

lemmings will come and go. Gas will never be a cheap as it once was, but once the speculators find a new market to chase, things will get better.

Bob W.

look at the price of gas in Iran or Venezuela...35cents/gal. You want that, ok, you can have their infrastructure and government too. Most of what we in the US pay at the pump are taxes, and most of THAT is state-mandated, not federal.

James P.

and depending on your state, it can vary from 10c - 40c I think.

For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax is 28.6 cents per gallon, plus 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per gallon

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_tax">See this link for more info</a>

sashko

a gallon of gas to cost $2.74. So most of it is the crude oil price not taxes. Take a look at California's price break down:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/index.html

sparkhill

Crude prices certainly have an effect, but the conversion you used is off a little. One 42 gal barrel of light sweet crude yields about:

20 gal gasoline
9 gal diesel/home heating oil
4 gal kerosene
10 gal other stuff

There are some processing gains associated with the refining process. The proportions can be varied somewhat depending on the relative values of different fuels, i.e.: if one product suddenly became incredibly expensive, the refiner could shift some production toward the more profitable product.

End pump prices are crazy. They shoot up like a rocket when crude prices spike, but float back down like feather when crude prices fall.

CanuckRS4

That's because greed is in control of the prices, not market supply/demand factors.

So for example...let's say Shell, they get oil out of the ground here in alberta...costs them about 40-50 bucks a barrel to do so, probably less in actuality. then they sell it to their own refinery for the going rate...let's say 110, then transport it to gas stations and sell for $1.30/Litre. A company that does cradle/grave so to speak on fuel is making a literal fortune.
Suncor will have 350,000 barrels per day production this year, so figure conservatively $50 profit per barrel at current prices x 350,000 per day before it hits the refinery. That's 6.4 billion profit to that point.
Not bad at all.