[Fred R]

Originally Posted by jeriteri

I've Tweeted the POTUS a couple of times on the gas price. I asked him to watch the companies raising their prices due to Harvey. I can't believe the Texas area temporarily shut down would cause a raise in prices. Once back up they will catch up. Maybe not for some of you but others are still working and raising a family and have to travel far to work so this .25 a gallon adds up in a months time. I'm sure the increase will last much longer than the facilities are shut down. Who's watching them? No one. They have always done what they have wanted with pricing. Remember when we were paying 3.50 and up a gallon. They will do it again if they are allowed to. Write your Congressman now before the gas gouges your budget.

I'm sorry to bust your bubble, but Congress does not control oil prices.

[Daddymac]

There was 2 pipelines, That move the Gas out of Texas, That were shut Down. It supplies Gas all around the US.

[JoMar]

Originally Posted by jeriteri

I've Tweeted the POTUS a couple of times on the gas price. I asked him to watch the companies raising their prices due to Harvey. I can't believe the Texas area temporarily shut down would cause a raise in prices. Once back up they will catch up. Maybe not for some of you but others are still working and raising a family and have to travel far to work so this .25 a gallon adds up in a months time. I'm sure the increase will last much longer than the facilities are shut down. Who's watching them? No one. They have always done what they have wanted with pricing. Remember when we were paying 3.50 and up a gallon. They will do it again if they are allowed to. Write your Congressman now before the gas gouges your budget.

Government taxes....you might be confused over what their involvement is with the market. We control pricing by using products or not using products.

[Chi-Town]

Just gassed uo at the Shell on 466. About 30 cents higher than last visit.

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[SFSkol]

As I understand it it is similar to LIFO, (Last in first out) inventory accounting method. Since replacement costs increase (Last In) it affects the new First Out price. It happens in reverse when replacement prices go down. How quickly that happens is an altogether different issue.

[jeriteri]

Originally Posted by Fred R

I'm sorry to bust your bubble, but Congress does not control oil prices.

OK thanks for the info. BUT, if government can control the cost of electricity, they should be able to control the cost of gasoline which is a large portion of a family's budget because it's already high to begin with.Thank you for your comment.

[Gordon82]

I worked for over 30 years for Colonial Pipeline. I called the office the other day and asked about how Harvey had affected our facilities. Although none of our facilities were damaged, 3 of our major injection sites were closed due to refineries being shut down, so our total volumes are well down. We normally deliver well over 2 million barrels (1 barrel = 42 gallons) a day.

The supply in the distribution system is probably 7 to 10 days, but what always happens is everyone goes out and fills up their cars at the same time, similar to a run on a bank. So with less supply, prices quickly rise. Gouging only occurs when there are few suppliers. There are gas stations all over the place, so that is not what is happening here. Prices will fall once the refineries are back online.

[tuccillo]

Electricity and gasoline are fundamentally different. Gasoline is produced locally from crude oil, which is a global commodity. Electricity is produced locally, primarily with locally produced coal and natural gas. If you have been overseas you will notice that gasoline is generally a bargain in this country. Some argue that our gasoline is priced too low and the taxes on gasoline (already a pretty good chunk of the cost of gasoline) should be higher to support road and bridge infrastructure construction. The Government does attempt to exert some influence on prices by occasionally releasing crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but I believe the current price bump is due to Houston refinery issues, not the supply of crude.

John Stossel has an interesting column in the paper today.

Originally Posted by jeriteri

OK thanks for the info. BUT, if government can control the cost of electricity, they should be able to control the cost of gasoline which is a large portion of a family's budget because it's already high to begin with.Thank you for your comment.