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Old Apr 19, 2011 | 01:50 PM
  #181  
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Originally Posted by bagwell
that's cuz you're on an island
Indeed, it maybe an island, but gas can go fast depending on weither your right foot decides it wants to be heavy or light as a feather.

My foot however, has a mind of its own... I have no control over my right foot.

On the bright side, if anyone ever decides to vacation down here at least they'll have an idea on what to expect with our gas prices.

Honestly I wish I was paying $3.70 per gallon cheaaaaaaaaaaap! I totally envy all of you American Neighbours! I really do need to move to USA one of these days!
Old Apr 19, 2011 | 01:55 PM
  #182  
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Originally Posted by IS-SV
Orzel - Thanks for the update from Bellingham area, not significantly cheaper than suburbs of CA.

btw, I've been up there a few times in the summer, enjoyed it.
I expect that the pricing isn't all that different up and down our coast. Sigh!

It is very pretty in the summer, however, we're still waiting for spring to arrive. We've exceeded our monthly rain "allowance" within the first 10 days of April, we're way ahead of the average for the year. We have yet to hit a 55 degree day, it snowed last Thursday, we have more snow in the mountains today than we did on April 1st, and it's been generally cold, wet and gloomy. I'm ready for some warmth and some sun.
Old Apr 20, 2011 | 11:29 PM
  #183  
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Wow!

Gas in Montreal is currently the most expensive in Canada at a mind boggling $1.434 per liter or $5.74/gallon....for regular gas!

Thankfully...since most of NA's oil comes from this province...our prices are still roughly $1/gallon cheaper than that.

http://money.ca.msn.com/savings-debt...2505582&page=1
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 11:03 AM
  #184  
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It's a free country and do what ever you think it make sense; nonetheless you're doing something about it. Here in U.S. there's virtually a gas station on every block. Yes, I also altered how I drive; cruise control at lower speed on long travel.

Voracious and insatiable appetite for money - rich oil companies companies in Texas are pushing in increasing their speed limit.
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 11:34 AM
  #185  
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Update - 1 week later up .12/gal to $3.999 for Sunoco 91.
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 11:55 AM
  #186  
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Originally Posted by frankeysd
Voracious and insatiable appetite for money - rich oil companies companies in Texas are pushing in increasing their speed limit.
Oil companies don't set the world crude prices....which is the biggest single factor in pump prices. Nor do they determine fuel-taxes, which also help determine the price. When the price of oil goes up, oil companies have to pay more for raw crude out of their own pocket, too.
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 12:08 PM
  #187  
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right under 4 dollars here in Orlando, FL...Glad i have my Honda Fit daily =x
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 01:47 PM
  #188  
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I love how the general public blames oil companies for gas prices.

So much ignorance.

Do people realize that government taxes makes up more in the price of gas than oil company profits?? That's right.

And do people realize that American oil companies have to buy the crude oil they refine at the world price which is dictated by many factors that oil companies have no control over - the biggest being government regulations?

Guess what the profit margin is for oil companies selling gas? 8%

Guess what the profit margin is for Apple selling an iPhone? 60%. Yeah, you read that right. iPad? 43% Funny you don't hear complaints here.

Seems people want oil companies to work at a loss or at least for free.
Old Apr 23, 2011 | 10:32 PM
  #189  
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil producer BP (BP) reported a 63% increase in profits Tuesday to a whopping $7.6 billion. Royal Dutch Shell's (RDS.B) first-quarter earnings increased 25% to a record $9.1 billion.

Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) and Apache (APA, Fortune 500) are both expected to post huge increases in profits later this week.

And when Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500) reports its first-quarter results Thursday, if it doesn't report a record profit, it will come awfully close. Analysts are projecting net income of $11.4 billion.
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 09:09 AM
  #190  
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iphone & ipad are utterly insignificant to lively hood of the people who just merely trying very hard to put food on the American family dinner table - they are not necessity!!!
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 10:44 AM
  #191  
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Originally Posted by -J-P-L-
I love how the general public blames oil companies for gas prices.

So much ignorance.

Do people realize that government taxes makes up more in the price of gas than oil company profits?? That's right.

And do people realize that American oil companies have to buy the crude oil they refine at the world price which is dictated by many factors that oil companies have no control over - the biggest being government regulations?

Guess what the profit margin is for oil companies selling gas? 8%

Guess what the profit margin is for Apple selling an iPhone? 60%. Yeah, you read that right. iPad? 43% Funny you don't hear complaints here.

Seems people want oil companies to work at a loss or at least for free.
sure, but you realize that:

Top 6 World Companies by Profits are Oil companies:

RANK COMPANY COUNTRY INDUSTRY SALES ($BIL) PROFITS ($BIL) ASSETS ($BIL) MARKET VALUE ($BIL)
16 Gazprom Russia Oil & Gas Operations 115.25 24.33 234.77 132.58
4 ExxonMobil United States Oil & Gas Operations 275.56 19.28 233.32 308.77
38 China Mobile Hong Kong/China Telecommunications Services 66.22 16.87 104.46 199.73
12 PetroChina China Oil & Gas Operations 157.22 16.80 174.95 333.84
18 Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil Brazil Oil & Gas Operations 104.81 16.63 198.26 190.34
10 BP United Kingdom Oil & Gas Operations 239.27 16.58 235.45 167.13
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/18/...2000_Prof.html
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 11:40 AM
  #192  
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Originally Posted by -J-P-L-
I love how the general public blames oil companies for gas prices.

So much ignorance.

Do people realize that government taxes makes up more in the price of gas than oil company profits?? That's right.

And do people realize that American oil companies have to buy the crude oil they refine at the world price which is dictated by many factors that oil companies have no control over - the biggest being government regulations?

Guess what the profit margin is for oil companies selling gas? 8%

Guess what the profit margin is for Apple selling an iPhone? 60%. Yeah, you read that right. iPad? 43% Funny you don't hear complaints here.

Seems people want oil companies to work at a loss or at least for free.

And some dont want oil companies to exist because they are solely responsible for technology not moving toward eco friendly and more efficient. Put in simple term: They are banking good while doing nothing.

Goverment is very close to big oil companies and all decisions made regarding taxing and pricing are upon approval of both.

Also big oil companies are hands down the biggest factors in crude oil price since they are the biggest buyers and the only ones who can pretty much control end user demand. Which means its in their interest to make oil crisis and shortages to expand their profits. There is no such industry as oil industry that holds humannity on a leash, its part of our existance. Banking is distant second I believe.
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 11:42 AM
  #193  
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Originally Posted by Infra
Well I was on vacation for a week and this post is old, but since you're new to this, I'll respond to some of my 2 posts you quoted.
I hope your vacation was good, but I'm not new to this. Perhaps new to this thread, but your misinformation is nothing new.

You wanted proof, please read http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...02&newsLang=en

Yes, I realize it is from 2010, but the information is relevant because it states they have done this for the past sixteen years.

XOM announced today that additions to its proved reserves in 2009 totaled 2.0 billion oil-equivalent barrels, replacing 133 percent of production. Excluding the impact of asset sales, reserves additions replaced 134 percent of production.
Originally Posted by Infra
You are terribly misinformed.
I agree - you are terribly misinformed and misinforming.

These additions are based on the corporation’s definition of proved reserves, which utilizes the long-term pricing basis that the corporation uses to make its investment decisions.
Long term pricing basis and investment decisions = holding those reserves for production when pricing will be higher, thus yielding more profits.

Originally Posted by Infra
What are you disagreeing with? What I stated was a matter of fact. In fact, you quote me exactly as proof companies actually made bad investments below.
Was it not clear what I disagreed with? I invite you to reread it because I'm not going to.

Originally Posted by Infra
They don't own the stores; they are franchises.
Not all stores are franchises. QT owns their own stores. XOM owns stores. And they also put their products in other areas - such as your local parts place, shops that do repairs, etc. My point, and you shouldn't as you so eloquently put it be pedantic, is that they are not making money solely on gas prices rising.

Originally Posted by Infra
You can't both blame companies for making bad investments when prices are low, and then gouging people on those same bad investments when prices are high. Occam's Razer please - the same investments are either bad or good depending on prices. And since companies most certainly do not hold production (do you have any idea what amount of storage volume, not to mention the logistics of transporting oil produced across the nation to some storage depot, would be required?), todays strip price is what they are paid.
I didn't do anything of the sort, first off. And yes, as shown above, they do in fact hold production back. When they report reserves increasing, there is no debate any longer on this. I agree with you that their investments can be good or bad depending on price since this is so blatantly obvious and profound. (a bit of sarcasm, but I digress...)

Originally Posted by Infra
You fallaciously assume they can either determine what they pay or how much they get. These costs are fixed at market rates - a company can either choose to invest or not with these costs and prices.
Proven wrong.

Originally Posted by Infra
Don't be pedantic. The intended meaning was very clear.
No, it was not, and I was not being pedantic. You stated oil companies don't charge for oil, which was and still is patently false. Don't be argumentative simply for the sake of argument.

Originally Posted by Infra
No, they don't. You can't argue this point - it's a matter of public record, but you seem to not have looked it up.
I can absolutely argue this false point, and I know the information. Don't even think for a nanosecond that I am speaking out of turn or accuse me of it - I'll prove you wrong any and every time you make an attempt to do so.

And as I said, people only see the record profits, they don't see the companies that lose money because they don't feel gouged by them. You can argue that one all you want, but you'd be arguing by yourself at that point.

Record profits in 2006, oil at $53 a barrel.

Half the price of today (roughly), yet profits were a record. I guess those reserves from the previous 10 years didn't come into play at all - given that they increased reserves when oil was $38 a barrel the year before...

Originally Posted by Infra
I fail to see how individual ignorance has any connection whatsoever to prices being manipulated by oil companies. Such things merely lead to sensationalist posts such as this one.
Just because you fail to see it doesn't mean people don't think that way. Much the same as many other areas - such as voting in the same geniuses who screw us into the ground every 2, 4, or 6 years, depending on the office, but that's an entirely different debate.

Originally Posted by Infra
As does every other major corporation. You should be mad at the politicians about this, not the for-profit corporations.
Who said I wasn't mad at both of them? They both exacerbate and manipulate every single loophole they can to put money in/get money from the pockets of those who make the decisions, which teeters on the brink of legal/illegal.

Originally Posted by Infra
A corporation is not a person. You should not anthropomorphize Exxon.
Uh, reread what I wrote. Wasn't talking about Exxon at all.

Big Mack
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 11:54 AM
  #194  
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Originally Posted by -J-P-L-
I love how the general public blames oil companies for gas prices.

So much ignorance.

Do people realize that government taxes makes up more in the price of gas than oil company profits?? That's right.

And do people realize that American oil companies have to buy the crude oil they refine at the world price which is dictated by many factors that oil companies have no control over - the biggest being government regulations?

Guess what the profit margin is for oil companies selling gas? 8%

Guess what the profit margin is for Apple selling an iPhone? 60%. Yeah, you read that right. iPad? 43% Funny you don't hear complaints here.

Seems people want oil companies to work at a loss or at least for free.
Problem here is that those oil companies are posting record profits of ~10 billion dollars while the US government is posting a deficit... so assuming those percentages you posted are true, then I wouldnt mind if the government took more and the oil companies took less
Old Apr 24, 2011 | 02:51 PM
  #195  
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^No kidding and this is the last place to go for business analysis because most don't have the background to discuss it well.

Some confuse gross profit (8%) with gross margin (around 40% at Apple ) not comparable and Apple btw does not have a gross profit of 40-60%.

Back on-topic, gas prices have been steady in this part of northern CA for about a week.



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