Matt Lauer interview with Exxon this morning

[CanadianGuy]

Assuming the price of gasoline in the United States right now is hovering near 3$ a gallon. Here is a list of countries paying less than that for gasoline. Prices listed are per gallon in US dollars. Not surprisingly, some of the lowest prices are in the middle east.

I gotta wonder what the Venezuelans are smoking to sell it .12c a gallon. How is that even possible?

Well, lots of gov't subsidies are at play on the list from Saudi Arabia down.

So .. how does Puerto Rico get it so cheap? A LOT less taxes for one..

-
Cuba Havana $3.03
Taiwan Taipei $2.84
Lebanon Beirut $2.63
South Africa Johannesburg $2.62
Nicaragua Managua $2.61
Panama Panama City $2.19
Russia Moscow $2.10
Puerto Rico San Juan $1.74
Saudi Arabia Riyadh $0.91
Kuwait Kuwait City $0.78
Egypt Cairo $0.65
Nigeria Lagos $0.38
Venezuela Caracas $0.12


--

Now, here's a list of places where it costs more..

Netherlands Amsterdam $6.48
Norway Oslo $6.27
Italy Milan $5.96
Denmark Copenhagen $5.93
Belgium Brussels $5.91
Sweden Stockholm $5.80
United Kingdom London $5.79
Germany Frankfurt $5.57
France Paris $5.54
Portugal Lisbon $5.35
Hungary Budapest $4.94
Luxembourg $4.82
Croatia Zagreb $4.81
Ireland Dublin $4.78
Switzerland Geneva $4.74
Spain Madrid $4.55
Japan Tokyo $4.24
Czech Republic Prague $4.19
Romania Bucharest $4.09
Andorra $4.08
Estonia Tallinn $3.62
Bulgaria Sofia $3.52
Brazil Brasilia $3.12

Which list is longer? Gas is frequently called a commodity. Dictionary.com defines a commodity as this "Something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage".

Clearly gasoline is not sold on the basis of most goods. Cost of production/marketing/transportation etc + reasonable mark-up = consumer cost. But rather it is sold on what the market will bear.

Bicker is on the right track, in a very simplistic sense, you want gas to be priced lower in the US.

ACTUALLY USE LESS GASOLINE.

If everyone uses less, gasoline inventories will build up, spot prices will fall.. demand will fall.. and the market forces will bring the price of gas down. (barring an international 'event' or other actions that can have effect on oil ie : Iran's Nuclear ambitions).

Drive the same as you always have, complain on an internet message board and pay 3$ a gallon .. and gas will stay at 3$ a gallon or more likely -> go higher.

Here in Canada gas is around 4.00 US a gallon (4.40 $C) .. and I drive a LOT less than I used to. I average around 2 - 5 miles per day.

J

 

[reeeoga]

Venezuela has its supply and refineirs. The government there sets the price. They make and use as much as they want then sell the rest.

On another topic brought up earlier, Bush had an energy plan for 3 years. Congress refused to enact it. When they did they had changed large sections of it. They removed the short term relief section (ANWAR and increased Coal Production) and had cut the long-term section also (increased Wind and Renewable resource develpment).

I find it to blame Bush for an energy crisis that started in the early 1970's. We had an oil embargo and very short oil supplies. What did congress do? They restricted the oil companies from drilling in the best places to get oil. They also insisted that we use Eastern Coal (that is higher in Sulfer and more expensive to get at, thanks directly to Senator Bird) instead of the better Western Coal. They also greatly restricted the develpment and building of Nuke plants. And restricted the ability of those Nuke plants to clean up their waste.

 

[DISUNC]

Assuming the price of gasoline in the United States right now is hovering near 3$ a gallon. Here is a list of countries paying less than that for gasoline. Prices listed are per gallon in US dollars. Not surprisingly, some of the lowest prices are in the middle east.

I gotta wonder what the Venezuelans are smoking to sell it .12c a gallon. How is that even possible?

Well, lots of gov't subsidies are at play on the list from Saudi Arabia down.

So .. how does Puerto Rico get it so cheap? A LOT less taxes for one..

ACTUALLY USE LESS GASOLINE.

If everyone uses less, gasoline inventories will build up, spot prices will fall.. demand will fall.. and the market forces will bring the price of gas down. (barring an international 'event' or other actions that can have effect on oil ie : Iran's Nuclear ambitions).

Drive the same as you always have, complain on an internet message board and pay 3$ a gallon .. and gas will stay at 3$ a gallon or more likely -> go higher.

Here in Canada gas is around 4.00 US a gallon (4.40 $C) .. and I drive a LOT less than I used to. I average around 2 - 5 miles per day.

J

Thanks for the list! Quite interesting. To me it reads those in Bed w/ the Mideast, get cheaper prices...those NOT in bed w/ the Mideast...Higher prices!

So much for supply and demand!

My problem with this whole scenario is that INDEED the Americans Individual consumtion of energy HAS been less...especially since the 70's...Yet The price of Energy has increased! This also has been true in recent weeks.

You state to "ACTUALLY USE LESS GASOLINE" Well that is precisly what we have been doing (even most) recently, yet oil prices went UP again!!!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12686003/

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/06/gas.prices.ap/index.html

From my personal perspective (and not much different from others) We do use LESS so WE PAY MORE!!!!!!!!

It is getting to the point where, Really HOW MUCH MORE CAN WE CUT BACK, without seriously lessening the quality of life! As some have suggested here, not all of us Americans are using gasoline & energy frivously! In fact most Americans are quite energy efficient. As I stated before, WE AMERICANS HAVE STUCK TO OUR END OF THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION "deal". WHY NOT THE OIL COMPANIES!

How much more can we turn the heat down?
How much less can we turn the A/C up?
How much more less can we drive? There really is no such thing as Sunday joy rides anymore! It is safe to say that we drive because we HAVE to...for various reasons!
How many COLD showers should we take!
How many candles can we burn, at both ends, without burning the house down?

 

[Uncleromulus]

I guess we could all slow down a bit?? Complaining about the price of gas and then wasting it driving at 80+ MPH seems pretty silly. Just got back from a WDW trip, up and down I-95---MORE cars and trucks than I've ever seen on any previous trip and and virtually nobody interested in doing anything less than 70.

 

[CanadianGuy]

DisUnc:

I noted, the companies with the cheapest rates, were gov't subsidized. Not necessarily in bed with the middle east. Venezuela? Not in bed with the middle east.

And I might point out that yes, your quality of life WILL be affected by the cuts. That's the point. If you just try to keep things as they are, that's not really cutting back.

You'll note that countries in Europe, where free health care is the norm, pay thru the nose for fuel. In most of those countries, owning a car is considered a luxury, not a necessity. It's a completely different mindset.

And yes, fuel prices have risen. In part because all the 'easy to get at' oil.. has been gotten at. And American demand has risen (overall).. while the rest of the world is also demanding more oil. Add to that your president's inane foreign policy (and I'm being exceeding polite in referring to it as a policy) ... and you have the recipe for the energy disaster playing out in the world markets.

Most of Iraq is still not producing oil.. three years after the invasion. The country was working at damn near capacity before Dub-Ya decided that Saddam had to go.

Dub-Ya made a big mistake over there and it's one ALL oil-consuming countries are going to be paying for .... for years to come.

One bright spot, is the oil-sands project in Alberta, here in Canada. There are something like TRILLIONS of barrels of oil waiting to be recovered there. The process is more costly than normal oil drilling.. but oil just has to be around 55$ a barrel for it to make economical sense to recover oil-sands oil.

TRILLIONS of barrels of oil. That's a lot... but it's a few years away from coming fully online.

J

 

[bicker]

Business relies on predictions for everything, because there is typically either no practical way to based thing on actuals, or doing so would be prohibitively expensive and incurring that cost would foster no greater profitability. For example, the price of hotel rooms at WDW is not based on actual demand, but rather on expert forecasts for demand.

Yes, the forecasts do factor in the expected impact on demand from high prices. The prices would be a lot higher than they are if they didn't.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Bicker raises a good point.

In fact, while budgeting for my upcoming trip to Walt Disney World, which will involve driving from Maine to Florida, I chose to forecast gasoline at 3.50$ ~ 4$ per gallon. I figured budget for the worst case.

Had I not been able to afford a trip assuming 4$ a gallon gasoline, I would have either flown if that was possible or stayed home.

Of course, only 19 days away, it seems more likely that gas will hover between 2.50 and 3.30$ for most of our trip. Bonus.

J

 

[reeeoga]

One point that is not being discused is Iran. If you go back about 2 months, the president of Iran stared talking about removing Isrial from the maps. Within days the cost of oil went up $3 a barrel. Several weeks after that, again the President of Iran started talking about killing Jews, oil goes up $3-4 a barrel. Iran is an oil producer. They are spending large amounts of money on Nukes. They need more. They can pump a barrel of oil for $2-4. They can now sell the oil for $72 a barrel. Thus they are making a large profit and are using it to build their nuke program.

How people in the USA use oil has less to do with the cost than who else is using oil.

Iraq, at the moment, is producing about 15% less oil now than the year before the US led invasion. At the same time Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the other Arab nations have increased their production to exced the lost Iraqi oil. The excess oil is being purchased by the government of China. China is willing to buy oil at $60 or greater to keep their economy going. They are getting the money to do this by selling products to the USA. It is a vicious cycle. The good part about this is that as consumerism increases in China, they are less likely to do anything militarily to Tiawan or the USA.

International trade at its best

 

[CanadianGuy]

reeoga:

You're right about the price of oil -- to a point.

I can assure you that if demand for gasoline (a refined oil product) were to drop precipitously over a defined period of time.. The price for gasoline would drop to a certain extent as well. Iran would still have an effect, but increased stockpiles of gasoline in the American pipelines would eventually cause the price of gas to drop.

The fact remains that 19 mpg SUV's are the norm on a lot of American (and Canadian) roads.

J

 

[reeeoga]

Note about Gas prices

Cost in the area has dropped 18 cents per gallon in the last 2 weeks. I have done quick cost budget thinggie (technical term ) and the new cost of gas would save me $25 for a round trip to WDW. Or to put it into real world terms: 1 T-shirt with a dwarf on it

Just thought you might like to know.

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

Welcome to a global economy...the real world.

What I meant by that is that we don't need to worry about other countries and what other people think. It's not about them. Our situation is ours and ours alone. Why should what goes on around the world matter or determine what we do? Either the world is one (which clearly isn't the case) or we're alone (which seems more the case). We need to worry about our country and what's happening here and figure out what we can do to rectify the situation.

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

Gas is officially down thirty cents a gallon in my area now. I was shocked when I saw the prices yesterday. I certainly hope it stays this way. It's only twenty cents more than we were paying last year and that's not that big of a difference.

 

[bicker]

Why should what goes on around the world matter or determine what we do? Either the world is one (which clearly isn't the case) or we're alone (which seems more the case).

Uh, no. Things aren't black-and-white like that. Rather, the reality is somewhere between the two extremes you've outlined. We do have to worry about how what we do affects other countries, because of how that affect will result in them doing what they'll do, and how that will affect us. We cannot dictate to the rest of the world, nor can we ignore it.

 

[reeeoga]

The thing that I find wierd is that the news media is reporting a drop of 1.5 cents "Nation Wide". I am seeing a drop in the area of 15 to 18 cents. another poster is seeing 30 cents. So what is making these 2 area drop so much and not the rest of the US and Canada?

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

Uh, no. Things aren't black-and-white like that. Rather, the reality is somewhere between the two extremes you've outlined. We do have to worry about how what we do affects other countries, because of how that affect will result in them doing what they'll do, and how that will affect us. We cannot dictate to the rest of the world, nor can we ignore it.

Bicker, you're far too literal. I'm not suggesting we play ignorant. I'm just saying we've been in places we shouldn't have been!!! We don't always have a right to meddle in the lives of others nor do they always have a right to meddle in ours. I don't mean this offensively, but I have to wonder if you debate everything in real life. You seem to always have a response for everything and I think you read into people's responses too much. It's hard to get a point across on the internet. You're right, it's not that black and white. I never meant to imply that it was.

 

[bicker]

Bicker, you're far too literal.

And you're far too confrontational.

Seriously: I disagree. I think some folks read way too much into what other members post. Think of it this way: If you meant what you typed literally, wouldn't you be insulted by my assuming you really didn't mean what you wrote? I don't impose such assumptions; I respect you as a poster enough to trust that you'll communicate what you mean in what you write. Furthermore, again as a matter of respect for you as a poster, I never read anything into what you write; I take it at face-value. I've been communicating online for over twenty years, and I find that this approach is the only approach I find respectable.

So, having said that, I won't assume to know what you meant with regard to your earlier message. deltachi8 said to you, "Welcome to a global economy...the real world." What did you mean to respond?

 

[deltachi8]

What I meant by that is that we don't need to worry about other countries and what other people think. It's not about them. Our situation is ours and ours alone. Why should what goes on around the world matter or determine what we do? Either the world is one (which clearly isn't the case) or we're alone (which seems more the case). We need to worry about our country and what's happening here and figure out what we can do to rectify the situation.

Ignoring the world's problems and issues will only cuase further problems. History has taught us that - (isolationism after world war I). You certainly have to worry about what other countries do and think, its vital not just to the economy (trade defciet, anyone?) but to eveything else as well - opression, wrong, hunger, natural disasters.

 

[starwood]

As far as ANWAR is concerned - the last think we need is to drill in a protected environment (there are so few of them left) for a measly amount of oil that will only last a few years. What is needed is alternatives to fossil fuels. Hybrid cars are a good beginning but we have a long way to go.

 

[bicker]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it had found no evidence that oil companies illegally manipulated gasoline prices or constrained oil refining capacity to restrict supply.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060522/ts_nm/energy_gasoline_ftc_dc_3

 

[Littlemotherhaywood]

And you're far too confrontational.

Not confrontational, just forward