Shell is pulling workers off their platforms in the Gulf as the tropical storm approaches. I see oil prices jumping back up the $10 or so they have fallen. And gas prices will probably go up about $.40 today. Best of luck to you all.

on MSNBC today

However, investors were somewhat encouraged, and the major indexes regained some ground, after oil prices took another big drop. after major producers such as Royal Dutch Shell said Tropical Storm Dolly would not likely disrupt operations in the Gulf of Mexico. A barrel of light sweet crude fell $3.95 to $127.11 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Let's see how the rest of the next couple of days plays out. That is a good sign, for sure.

Sad...but I was happy to pay $3.95 a gallon today

$3.81 here although I've heard of a few 3.7x's

Paid $4.35 for midgrade in the Corvette yesterday afternoon.

Filled up the the local supermarket at 3.54 today.

Stations in Peoria are all over the place. One place was at 3.75 yesterday, but came up to 3.79 where a few others are. Then most are at 3.85 or 3.89. It's times like this that get me mad. Based on the price of oil alone, the prices should be lower than they are. And if everyone pays the same for the gas at the refinery, why are the prices so different? And if the local news interviews the same gas station owner again, and he says he loses money selling gas (he's at 3.95 today), I might just drive to his station and punch his lying face in!

Prices here were at $3.899 this afternoon. Didn't have time to stop and fill the truck. Billy, the gas station guys aren't the ones getting filthy rich., it's the oil companies themselves. Granted, a goodly portion of the gas stations are owned by the oil companis themselves these days, but it's the oil companies and the oil producers that are raking it in.

I knew these days were coming; I was astounded that it took as long as it did (not that I'm happy about it at all). The oil companies have us by the proverbial short hairs or worse; we have to have oil, for most of us there is no other viable option, and there you have it. Supply and demand. If you have a commodity that is in high demand, you can raise prices 'til the cows come home and suffer very little, if at all.

We're going thru our annual "Retailer Ripoff Month". Last July Utah had the highest average prices in the country, and it looks like they're shooting for that honor again. Gas at "my" station is typically 10-12 cents below state average, and it's $4.15 right now...

The real pissers:
There's a refinery 10 miles away-
We're paying this price for watered down 85 octane-
every drop of our oil comes from Wyoming or Canada.

There is 3 times more oil traded on paper every day then real oil. That sounds to me like a lot of people besides just the oil companies getting rich off us.

Bowline, if the price at the refinery is down and the price at the pump is still up, the retailer is doing just fine.

I saw that oil went down another $3/barrel today. So it looks like I was wrong, you should fill up tomorrow? Why didn't gas price fall $.10 today, like they would have gone up if the oil barrel price rose $3? Cause the stations are keeping the price as artificially high as possible.

I can accept that the price of gas is going to be higher today and in the future than it was in the past. But what I can't accept is the "artificialness" of it.

If D-Rod is reading this, with all your computer knowledge, can you create a chart that shows the oil per barrel price every day, along with the national average price of gas? I'll bet you all a nickel that the last time oil was at the price it is today, the avergage pump price was not this high.

here ya go

http://www.oilnergy.com/1combo.htm

Our Marina fuel is still at $4.50/gal. Gotta get some tomorrow afternoon.

We've been in the 4.30's for a while so you may have a little ways to go.

My biggest issue is the pricing compared to oil. Oil goes up $10 and gas goes up 20 cents. Oil drops $10 and gas drops 3 cents. Oil goes back up $10 and gas goes up ANOTHER 20 cents.

But, as someone else said, they've got us by the nuts and they know it.

$4.25 for regular at my local Shell station. It has been within a dime of that since memorial day. It doesn't seem to matter what the price of crude does.

Andy, the price of gasoline related to crude oil is conspicously missing from those charts. See what I mean? Noone will make that chart, cause it will prove exactly what I and SB are saying. The price either goes up artificially fast, comes down artificially slow, or a combination of the two. I know the oil companies' profit margin stays about the same. It's not them, it is the gas station owners, or the refiners that are making a higher profit margin right now. The price of gas in direct relation to the price of oil should be about $3.65. But it's nowhere close to that.

Oil price fell again today, will your gas station's prices go down tomorrow? They should, by at least $.05.

the purple line is gas, the green line is oil. They track pretty close but gas does not spike as abrubtly as oil

Well, yeah, I sort of see that, but that chart has too many other lines and the measurement is all in oil dollars. I guess I just want data points that show how much farther apart the relative price get when the price of oil goes up. Maybe I'll study that chart closer and see if I can make the chart myself. But I doubt it.

Why doesn't gas go down like oil prices?

Simple.

When a retailer fills his tanks with 10 cent higher gas, their tanks are "empty". So the price goes up 10 cents.

But when they fill up with 10 cent cheaper gas, for some reason someone ordered gas when the tanks were nearly full, so they have a little bit of cheaper gas mixed in with all that higher priced stuff. Price goes down 2 cents. If you're lucky, after 5 loads of gas, you'll actually see the 10 cent decrease. But---2 loads before that happens, the price went up 15 cents...


HOWEVER---as big a chip on my shoulder as I have about oil companies, that sort of 'price fixing' is practiced by nearly ALL businesses....if the lastest bushel of tomatoes goes up, ALL the tomatoes in the store goes up...

3 weeks ago I bought a seal kit for the Mariner outboard on the Party Cruiser. I paid like $56 for it. The package is dated 1994! It's been on their shelf for 14 years! Funny thing, my outboard is a 1995! ---I asked the counter guy "any way I can pay what it cost in '94, since YOU guys probably only paid $6 for it?" Was good for a laugh, but I was still out $56...

I can't speak to on land, but being involved where I slip my boat, our fuel is priced on replacement cost. A lot of things you buy every day are priced that way, too. Sometimes you take a bath, sometimes you make out.

Here in SW Michigan
$3.99 yesterday $3.86 today WTH! Probably be $4.25 tomorrow!

It's $4.25 today here. (Actually $4.34)

See, raise it 'til we squak, then back off a bit and will all feel so good. That's the game that got diesel from $1.36 in Fall 2001 to %5.00 today.

3.71 in Sylvania Ohio which is 1 Mile into Ohio from MIchigan
3.95 in Michigan

If gas stations around here aren't replacing their inventory in less than a week, they are doing something wrong, Todd. That's my point, they've all bought gas at a lower price, but not all are passing it on yet. That's my gripe.

Strange pricing around here. In town, stations peeked at 4.11 last week and have dropped to 3.78 today. Diesel peeked at 4.75 to 4.79 and has dropped to 4.69.

Ten miles away at a Flying J truckstop, prices peeked last week at 3.99 but have only dropped to 3.91. Diesel peeked at 4.69 there and dropped to 4.55 today. Flying J is usually a good .05 or .10 cheaper on both gas and diesel. Flying J's got to be turning gas over faster than local stations so not sure what's up with their gas prices.