How much did you pay for gas today?

$8.11 a gallon in Germany this week. Yikes.

www.thelocal.de/money/20120821-44475.html

 

The Europeans are so enlightened.

 

If that's enlightenment, leave me in the Dark Ages.

 

3.79 is the lowest I can find it around here.

 

I know it's easy to come to this conclusion, but it's really not likely. There are multiple transactional disconnects between "the oil companies" and your local gas station. Currently refinery utilization is at the usual late-summer peak because: A) we are close to being past the heavy-demand months; and B) this is the time of the year when refinery maintenance is typically done. When utilization is high ... and 93% is ridiculously high ... downstream inventories get strained, leading to these really fast ramp-ups. Gasoline consumers exhibit low price elasticity, so it's only natural that prices go up faster than they come down.

 

Was up as high as 3.59 at one station last week but it's dropped back down to 3.45 at the same spot. So maybe we've hit the peak here. One can hope.

 

$9.60 a gallon in Norway.

www.drive-alive.co.uk/fuel_prices_europe.html

 

International supply: More than adaquate.
Domestic supply: More than enough, we're exporting gas.
Demand: Lower than at previous historical levels, as gas consumption in this country continues to decline.
Inventory: Plenty on hand.

So naturally all signs point to a $.40 cent rise.

 

So if the U.S. exports gasoline, and prices in some countries are more than double what they are here, wouldn't we be surprised if prices here didn't increase?

 

The price of corn has doubled since 2011. With ethanol being 10 % of gas mix I believe that gas increase is partly due that factor.

 

3.63

 

Prices in many of those countries are significantly higher because of excise taxes on gasoline, not due to the actual cost of oil. Prices in some countries are well below what they are in the US. Yet prices don't decrease.

The point is, there's ample supply and inventory and demand is down. But since somebodxy sneezed in Jerkoffistan, oil traders can cite "instability in the market" when there actually is none, and the price shoots up.