[NOS2Go4Me]

FocusGuy7476,Mar 4 2009, 08:44 PM Wrote:

habmann,Mar 4 2009, 08:30 PM Wrote:You honestly believe that in that one simple paragraph you've explained the relationship or as you claim lack of relationship between the price of oil and gasoline?

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
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tried to simplify things as much as possible, in 10mins, that I could. Its a very strange relationship that fuel and oil have. feel free to summarize it better if you would like.
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All I have to say is bunk. Sorry man. If that were true, the base price of a barrel of light sweet crude would have MUCH less weight on the gasoline retail market than it does right now. If that were true, the price of gas would drop as fast as it rises. Obviously, that's very rarely the case.

I use http://www.oil-price.net/ for my historical oil price list and then plot that against the historical (yet anecdotal at bast) cost of gas, both in Toronto and in North Bay (Toronto being the largest retail gas market in Canada, North Bay being an obvious choice). I get my historical gas price data from ontariogasprices.com.

Of course, OntarioGasPrices.com is hardly a statistical or scientific source with checks and balances. However, common trends appear and can be verified against the North Bay prices and their expected mean spread from the Toronto average prices.

The bottom line is that it's an oligopoly. Nothing forces the hand of any other station around a particular station to raise their prices, other than greed.

On one hand, gas station operators historically don't make THAT much on gas sales. They depend on confectionery, car supplies, car washes and other revenue streams to generate a profit. On the other hand, I've heard a lot of bitching over the years from gas station attendants and owners who don't understand why they're the target of car drivers' ire. It's simple - you're the person they're handing the cash to when they buy their gas. You're the one who rolled the cost of a litre of gas up by 10 cents a litre or more as they were pulling in. That's $8 more than they planned on spending on 80 litres of gas! It's no wonder we breathed a sigh of relief as gas fell down to the 70-79 cent range. As it stands, North Bay averages 87.5 cents / L tonight.

Gas pricing is one of the worst, if not THE worst form of opportunism that exists today that is also legal to practice. Hike the cost of a loaf of bread by 50% because of war in the Middle East and I guarantee you people will riot. The government will step in and legislate the cost of bread after conducting a large and expensive audit of the situation.

Why doesn't the government complain about it themselves? They say it's a "free market", plus they get two levels of taxation from the sale of a litre of gas (GST and "gas tax"). So, the higher the cost of gas, the more taxes they rake in on each sale. Besides, do you really think civil servants give a s*** when they have to fill government-leased/owned vehicles? Of course not! They're not paying for it!

Gasoline is extortion. We have no real viable alternatives to bridge short, medium and long-distance transportation seamlessly in this country while affording ourselves even a fraction of the convenience of owning a vehicle of our own.

Here's a hint: the automakers aren't the ones stalling green power rollouts, major fuel economy increases in vehicles (a lot of tech is FINALLY coming online in the next 5 years) or the advent of electric vehicles / hydrogen vehicles.

And... I've officially shat all over Nathan's thread.

Sorry Nathan :(