What Kind of Fuel Am I?

[Long Run]

I wondered about the additives and such, but the issue is probably moot since the tribe likely cannot get anything but fuel sold throughout the state. I agree that they do not need to impose California state and local taxes and fees. It is also not clear whether they are passing all of the savings on to customers, or setting an attractive enough price to swing people into their facility and perhaps have a small percentage of customers decide to come into the casino/restaurant for an hour or more (in which case, they could have an artificially low price as a loss leader). Just found the substantially reduced price interesting enough to comment on.

[Bicycle Bill]

For whatever it's worth, I'm in western Wisconsin and filled up wth 87-octane unleaded last Tuesday; pump price was $3.44⁹ per gallon... and I see, according to the GasBuddy app I use, it's already down another nickel (to $3.39⁹) since then.

I also saw an article on the Yahoo news feed that claims gas prices are poised to start falling '... like wet feathers'.

Stay tuned... !

-"BB"-

[Econoline]

Most gas stations around here seem to have regular unleaded for $3.69⁹, with a couple of outliers in each direction.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Much to my surprise, given the "oil is going up because of Gaza" . . . . $2.799 here in the past couple of days. Filled up tonight at Sheetz

[Burning Petard]

Here in Northern Delaware today it is mostly about $3.109 but a little search can find small areas where everybody is below three dollars. The lowest I have spotted is 2.799. But the good stuff for your Porche or Bimmer is still above four dollars, even at Costco. I can't imagine what it is in Philly. Yesterday I was in WAWA (major area independent convenience/gas chain) and in front of me was a Mercedes with PA plates filling up.

snailgate.

[Jarlaxle]

$3.19 for regular yesterday. Liz reported $3.90 for 93 octane and $4.15 for diesel.

[Joe Guy]

Yesterday it was $5.49 for regular at one station and $5.79 two blocks down the street from it.

[Methuselah]

The price range in SoCal was $5.50 to $6.00 a few weeks ago. It has been steadily dropping, Lowest price seen today was $4.79 per gallon.

[Jarlaxle]

$3.09 for 87 today. Man, I'm glad I don't live in Kali.

[Econoline]

Driving to and from Lansing MI in the last couple of days I bought regular unleaded for $2.99⁹ in Michigan and saw other places (in northern Indiana) where it was selling for as little as $2.89⁹.

[Joe Guy]

I'm restarting this thread after seeing BSG's reference to gas prices yesterday in another thread. This is my photo of yesterday's price close to my home. The price has been higher than this in the past, but news stations are talking about gas reaching $8.00/gallon down in Los Angeles.

I thought that maybe showing the prices here in California might make everyone else feel better about what they're paying....

[BoSoxGal]

How much is state tax there?

Nevermind I found this https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/stat ... 20receipts.

And I still don’t get why California gas is so much higher even with the highest gas tax in the country.

[Joe Guy]

How much is state tax there?

Nevermind I found this https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/stat ... 20receipts.

And I still don’t get why California gas is so much higher even with the highest gas tax in the country.

I think it has to do with the cost of processing our special 'environmental' fuel blends and not having many refineries in this State.

[ex-khobar Andy]

And good old capitalism has a lot to do with it. I often visit friends 30 miles or so south of here, so still Kentucky, not much closer to refineries etc. Gas is regularly 10 - 15 cents a gallon less there. Sometimes more. Invisible hand, etc.

[Sue U]

On Monday after Trump started the war (so, March 1) I filled up my car at $2.679/gal. Today's price at the same station is $3.279/gal. That's more than an 18% increase in 10 days. I won't fill up again until sometime next month, but given the trajectory of this colossally stupid military adventure and the administration's complete lack of planning for its effects, l expect the price to be substantially higher by then.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Here in our part of NE Ohio, Sheetz 1 is $3.49 for 87; Sheetz 2 is $3.29 for 87; and Marathon is $3.47.

Sheetz 2 was closed for three or four months to be refurbished and they are trying to get customers back.

[liberty]

On Monday after Trump started the war (so, March 1) I filled up my car at $2.679/gal. Today's price at the same station is $3.279/gal. That's more than an 18% increase in 10 days. I won't fill up again until sometime next month, but given the trajectory of this colossally stupid military adventure and the administration's complete lack of planning for its effects, l expect the price to be substantially higher by then.

Shouldn't the goal to keep gas prices high so we can finally wean the country off hydrocarbons and force a shift to renewables? Apparently, all we need is $5‑a‑gallon gas and suddenly everyone will be driving electric cars. Don’t you already have an EV yourself? And what’s your take on Charging oil executives as ‘environmental criminals’ and throwing them in prison where they supposedly belong?

[MajGenl.Meade]

No no. The goal is to make Amurika grate again.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

“BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons"

So . . . rich oil companies make a lot more money from Trump killing people but that doesn't matter because President (sic) Trump is more interested in mythical nuclear weapon prevention. And also in improving edumacation in America so people spel things rite.

[Sue U]

Shouldn't the goal to keep gas prices high so we can finally wean the country off hydrocarbons and force a shift to renewables? Apparently, all we need is $5‑a‑gallon gas and suddenly everyone will be driving electric cars. Don’t you already have an EV yourself? And what’s your take on Charging oil executives as ‘environmental criminals’ and throwing them in prison where they supposedly belong?

While high gasoline prices do increase demand for EVs, high *oil* prices actually undercut transition to a clean energy economy:

***

On the one hand, energy analysts say, soaring prices for gasoline, diesel and other products made from crude oil will drive cost-conscious consumers more quickly into electric vehicles and boost investment in competing clean technologies like hydrogen.

But at the same time, these high prices will also drive more drilling of oil and gas around the globe, as fossil fuel companies rush to cash in, sowing the seeds for the boom to turn to bust. That will make oil abundant and affordable again.

That is a pattern that the world has seen repeatedly in the oil age, and one that has punished clean energy investors harshly in the past.

Here are some of the arguments on either side of the debate:

CONSUMER SHIFT

When fossil fuel prices rise, consumers start to take electric vehicles and clean energy alternatives more seriously – not just for their environmental benefits but in hopes of eventually saving cash. It is a scenario that played out after oil nearly broke $150 a barrel in 2008, giving a boost to electric vehicle sales.

Global sales of electric vehicles are growing, particularly in China and Europe, and to a lesser extent, the United States.

And the Paris-based International Energy Agency, the industrialized world's energy watchdog, has said rising oil prices could increase the pace of electrification of the transport sector and also accelerate the transition to renewable power sources like solar and wind, whose costs have dropped in recent years.

But at the same time, sales of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles in 2021, a year of steadily rising oil prices, were on track to hit 45% of global car sales, which would set a record in both volume and market share, according to the IEA.

That SUV demand canceled out the efficiency gains of EVs and has raised questions about the degree to which high oil prices influence the transition.

Analysts also point out that cars and trucks only burn about 20-25% of the world's petroleum, with other sectors such as manufacturing, marine transport, aviation and agriculture making very few gains in fuel efficiency.
"We have not seen any sign of energy transition yet," in those sectors, said Claudio Galimberti, an analyst at Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy.

HIGH PRICES SPUR DRILLING

There is another dynamic at play. For decades oil has been caught in a boom and bust cycle: High prices spur investment in oil and gas drilling which, in turn, leads to lower prices that increase demand for oil. There is little reason to think this time would be any different.

In the United States, for example, the world's largest oil producer, drillers are already preparing to boost output. U.S. oil production is expected to soar next year to an all-time high above the 2019 record of 12.25 million barrels per day before peaking at 13.88 million bpd in 2034, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

High prices would only accelerate this trend, not slow it.

Most of the world's oil reserves, meanwhile, about 65%, are controlled by national oil companies fully or partially owned by state governments.
The governments of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Iraq all quickly get richer when oil prices rise because they are among the world's lowest cost producers of crude, a trend researchers say deepens commitments to the petro-economy.

"High oil prices prolong the idea even with the most high-cost producers among the national oil companies that they can survive the energy transition, rather than work on pivoting away from oil into clean energy," said Paasha Mahdavi, a political science professor at University of California, Santa Barbara.

They also reinforce the notion that reinvesting the society's wealth in oil is "optimal for balancing government budgets today and in the future," he said.

There is some nuance, though: Saudi Arabia, for example, is leading an effort to generate hydrogen produced with green energy like wind and solar at its mega city of the future NEOM, a project that it is funding with petrodollars.

"Higher oil prices do allow low cost petro states to continue making investments in some of these decarbonized solutions, but only among this small group," said Mahdavi.

VOLATILITY KILLS COMPETITION

This tendency to meet high prices with increased supply leads to another problem for clean energy: volatility.

Rapid swings in prices make it hard for investors to plan and can even kill some alternative energy projects, said Deborah Gordon, who leads the oil and gas solutions initiative at RMI, a Colorado-based research group on energy innovation and efficiency.

"The much bigger risk for the energy transition is volatility," Gordon said. "It's not high prices or low prices, it's this ongoing shift."

Source: Reuters

And no, I don't own an EV, I own a hybrid that gets 51 mpg and I drive very little as it is, which is why I only need to fill the tank once every 4 to 6 weeks or so. I doubt I buy more than 150 gallons of gas a year. If I had a plug-in EV, I'd be getting charge from an electric power plant supply that is burning fossil fuel. I haven't researched the math, but In terms of fossil fuel use my guess is that at worst it probably works out to be a wash: the oil/gas/coal equivalent of 150 gallons of gasoline won't spin a turbine very far. In a year or so I won't have an automobile at all, because I'll be living in a walkable city.

And yes, I do think that oil company executives should be held responsible for the lies they've told in order to enrich themselves and their companies at the expense of public health and property damaged by pollution and climate change. I think the same should apply to asbestos and tobacco company executives as well. Whether the charges and penalties are civil or criminal is a policy choice that makes little difference to me.

[Sue U]

No no. The goal is to make Amurika grate again.

A bit of shameless self-promotion there, innit?