How much does trading oil on the market change the price of gas , compared to supply and demand … as Hoppy would say : discuss .
World wide supply and demand are a factor over the long term, but often the value of the dollar, current inventories, and the refinery change overs have more of an impact short term. Oil trading, imho, is more of an inventory factor. You can see this affect both before and after inventory numbers are released each week.
Even the hurricane season seems to now be built into pricing, so one no longer sees a run up when storms approach the gulf.
As for supply and demand, we in the US still pay less than the rest of the world, with the exception of subsidized countries and oil producing countries, so there is only one way for pricing to go, especially as other countries become bigger users.
Yeah, I think that the current prices are creeping up because of inflationary pressure. I think that market influences can tamper with “oil contracts” in the SHORT TERM and push them up as we saw a couple of years ago, but remember, gas prices didn’t double when oil prices did, and oil prices came crashing back down. A lot of people that paid $170 for a contract barrel of oil probably just never took delivery on it and ended up losing the price of the contract. Large institutions like airlines, buy 2-3 year contracts when they can get them cheap to stabilize what they pay for gas. I would imagine that entities like BP, etc have a way to lock in the price for a few years as well. I don’t know any of this for sure, but I think that the only ones who really suffer from oil contract speculation is the people dumb enough to pay >$100 for an oil contract. Remember, this is only a paper saying that they are allowed to purchase oil for that much. It doesn’t mean that they eventually do purchase for that much. If you had an “option” to buy oil at $140 because you thought it was going up to $200, but then reality happened and oil is selling on the market for $90, wouldn’t you just throw away your worthless $140 contract and pay market price? I THINK that is what actually happens. However, if you were smart enough to buy contracts for $70 early on, then you are getting a better price.
Since oil is traded only in dollars, I’d say it’s a supply & demand issue concerning the dollar more so than fuel itself.
Richie
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Still paying close to 4.40 a gal out here in WA state! Hope it drops soon, gonna burn thru close to 200 gals drivin home next week!
Russ B.
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God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
Well if it’s any consolation, it’s $3.30 here.
“Those who have the ability to make a difference have the responsibility to do so.” Thomas Jefferson
I wonder how much the ethanol content changes the pricing. Here’s my train of thought. I do not store gas. I run my boat dry, empty the tanks (portable) into my car(daily driver). I keep just enough gas in my truck so I can make to a reasonable distance. I use it only for utility, towing, moving large items. That way the fuel does not degrade or go bad like ethanol has a tendency to do. I used to keep more fuel on hand and would fuel up when the price dipped. Now I have to pay as I go and cannot take advantage of price drops. I currently have no gas for the lawnmower or weed eater, I will get that only when I need it. I know I am probably not the only one that does this, but it emphasizes the season gas usage, in the summer I buy a lot more fuel.