Is there a chart or graph somewhere that correllates Oil barrell price to avg US gas price?

[evident]

Don't know if this belongs in P&N but it would be interesting to see when the last time oil was at this price (around $114 now i think?) what the avg gas price was. i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

 

[Fern]

My guess is that the correlation is not as direct as many believe.


E.g., if a refinery was destroyed up wouldn't the price of gas go up? But what does the price of oil have to do with that?

What about all those different blends for various states and Summer time, they make gas prices go up but again have nothing to do with the price of oil.

Fern

 

[RightIsWrong]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/gifs/Fig2.gif

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/...pri_gnd_dcus_nus_w.htm

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wtotworldw.htm

You could probably d/l the info into a SS and do some comparison. I'm worn out from finding the info.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: evident
i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

Gas prices never decrease as fast as oil prices do. That's because gas stations have to use the gas they sell today to pay for the next shipment. The profit on gas stations selling gas is razor thin so they can't get caught with their shorts down if the price of oil shoots up.

A better comparison might be looking at the price of a barrel of oil versus the wholesale price of gasoline. But even that is dependent on regional forces like the dozens of different blends of gas that is mandated.

 

[sandorski]

Yup, Lag is going to occur, although I suspect the Lag to Lower Prices will be more than the Lag to Higher Prices.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: evident
Don't know if this belongs in P&N but it would be interesting to see when the last time oil was at this price (around $114 now i think?) what the avg gas price was. i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

they didn't go up quite as much either because refinery profits are being squeezed.

they're not going down as fast because prices are sticky downward. if you're a gas station (most of which are not owned by the company whose name is on the marque), you're going to be as slow going down as you can be. you bought that gas at last week's price with the previous weeks' money and now you have to sell it at this week's price.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: evident
i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

Gas prices never decrease as fast as oil prices do. That's because gas stations have to use the gas they sell today to pay for the next shipment. The profit on gas stations selling gas is razor thin so they can't get caught with their shorts down if the price of oil shoots up.

A better comparison might be looking at the price of a barrel of oil versus the wholesale price of gasoline. But even that is dependent on regional forces like the dozens of different blends of gas that is mandated.

Gas prices in Michigan are more expensive right now than when it was $135 a barrel.

 

[Cattlegod]

wouldn't lag provide opportunity for arbitrage?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Cattlegod
wouldn't lag provide opportunity for arbitrage?

with the regional blends that are required from place to place, and the fact that the stuff has to be transported, arbitrage would involve significant risk merely due to the time involved and the limited market. this isn't like bank computers arbitraging various electronic markets nearly instantaneously.

 

[StageLeft]

Yes, there is a site, somebody linked it here a week back. texasrefineries.com or something like that but it was for each state and showed the price of crude and gas. It seemed to indicate prices at pump have fallen faster than they went up but I am not buying it. Pumps around here are VERY slow to lower their price, we're down only about 7.5% from peak price.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Yes, there is a site, somebody linked it here a week back. texasrefineries.com

or something like that but it was for each state and showed the price of crude and gas. It seemed to indicate prices at pump have fallen faster than they went up but I am not buying it. Pumps around here are VERY slow to lower their price, we're down only about 7.5% from peak price.

Would you trust anything from Texas?

 

[herkulease]

here

just check off "show crude prices"

you can expanded it out to 6 years if you like. But it gets hard to see.

I'm not sure if they are using average price from AAA or from user input.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: herkulease
here

just check off "show crude prices"

you can expanded it out to 6 years if you like. But it gets hard to see.

I'm not sure if they are using average price from AAA or from user input.

So basically if crude is 113 a barrel like it is right now, gas should be about 3.50 a gallon in the US. according to the chart.
Its 3.80 today at my nearest pump.

 

[Duwelon]

What are the chances we'll see $2 a gallon gas again in the next 2 years?

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: evident
i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

Gas prices never decrease as fast as oil prices do. That's because gas stations have to use the gas they sell today to pay for the next shipment. The profit on gas stations selling gas is razor thin so they can't get caught with their shorts down if the price of oil shoots up.

A better comparison might be looking at the price of a barrel of oil versus the wholesale price of gasoline. But even that is dependent on regional forces like the dozens of different blends of gas that is mandated.

Gas prices in Michigan are more expensive right now than when it was $135 a barrel.

Congrats. You live in Detroit, Michigan. Where even the dead are fleeing town.

 

[BarneyFife]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: evident
i have a feeling that gas prices at the pump aren't decreasing as much as the oil price is

Gas prices never decrease as fast as oil prices do. That's because gas stations have to use the gas they sell today to pay for the next shipment. The profit on gas stations selling gas is razor thin so they can't get caught with their shorts down if the price of oil shoots up.

A better comparison might be looking at the price of a barrel of oil versus the wholesale price of gasoline. But even that is dependent on regional forces like the dozens of different blends of gas that is mandated.

Gas prices in Michigan are more expensive right now than when it was $135 a barrel.

Congrats. You live in Detroit, Michigan. Where even the dead are fleeing town.

You didn't answer my question.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: BarneyFife

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: BarneyFife
Gas prices in Michigan are more expensive right now than when it was $135 a barrel.

Congrats. You live in Detroit, Michigan. Where even the dead are fleeing town.

You didn't answer my question.

Yes, I did. Michigan sucks.

Go back and read my previous post and Fern's. While the price of a barrel of crude is the major component of the price of gas, regional differences such as the blend of gas that is mandated, taxes, refinery capacity for that region, transportation issues, etc can cause major differences in the price of gas from state to state. There are any number of issues in your general area that can cause gas prices to be higher.

Looking at the Michigan gas history, the average price went all the way down to $3.80 on 7/30 (barrel of oil was at $126.77) and is at $3.83 now. One month ago the average price for Michigan $4.16 when the price of a barrel of oil reached $147.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Yup, Lag is going to occur, although I suspect the Lag to Lower Prices will be more than the Lag to Higher Prices.

In an extreme way... When something happens and Oil spikes from point A to point B, gas spikes from A to B that same day or the next... When the issue goes away and oil drops back to point A - Gas slowly drops back to point A over 2-3 months.

The victor? Exxon... again. Imagine that.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: herkulease
here

just check off "show crude prices"

you can expanded it out to 6 years if you like. But it gets hard to see.

I'm not sure if they are using average price from AAA or from user input.

So basically if crude is 113 a barrel like it is right now, gas should be about 3.50 a gallon in the US. according to the chart.
Its 3.80 today at my nearest pump.

It's $3.50 in South Carolina.

Differing levels of state taxes is another variable to factor in.

Fern

 

[jpeyton]

Does anyone have a chart that plots GWB's days in office against the price of crude/retail gas/oil company profits?

 

[mooseracing]

Looking at the Michigan gas history, the average price went all the way down to $3.80 on 7/30 (barrel of oil was at $126.77) and is at $3.83 now. One month ago the average price for Michigan $4.16 when the price of a barrel of oil reached $147.

Too bad that chart is way off. At the end of July when gas prices were falling, they hit 3.5x North of Detroit and over in the Southwestern Corner.






And just to add mroe crap to the fire; Someone posted on another forum of a gas price war in Houston, IIRC around 2 bucks a gallon.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: mooseracing

Looking at the Michigan gas history, the average price went all the way down to $3.80 on 7/30 (barrel of oil was at $126.77) and is at $3.83 now. One month ago the average price for Michigan $4.16 when the price of a barrel of oil reached $147.

Too bad that chart is way off. At the end of July when gas prices were falling, they hit 3.5x North of Detroit and over in the Southwestern Corner.

It is an average for the state of Michigan as a whole. I can drive from my job to my house and see prices vary by as much as 10 cents depending on the gas station. If I went into Atlanta, it could be 10 to 20 cents higher.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Does anyone have a chart that plots GWB's days in office against the price of crude/retail gas/oil company profits?

Even if there was it would be off the charts.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
they're not going down as fast because prices are sticky downward. if you're a gas station (most of which are not owned by the company whose name is on the marque), you're going to be as slow going down as you can be. you bought that gas at last week's price with the previous weeks' money and now you have to sell it at this week's price.

But, why do they go up nearly instantly when some bad news is announced from the middle east? "During peace talks, the ambassador from Iran sneezed" is greeted with station owners rushing out the door to raise the price a nickel.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: ElFenix
they're not going down as fast because prices are sticky downward. if you're a gas station (most of which are not owned by the company whose name is on the marque), you're going to be as slow going down as you can be. you bought that gas at last week's price with the previous weeks' money and now you have to sell it at this week's price.

But, why do they go up nearly instantly when some bad news is announced from the middle east? "During peace talks, the ambassador from Iran sneezed" is greeted with station owners rushing out the door to raise the price a nickel.

Because it is tough to pay your wholesaler $3.50/gal for gasoline when you're selling it for $3.49/gal.