Humped at the pump
May 7th, 2007 at 2:03 pm by Dr. S
Big Oil now appears to be doing its drilling in the asses of American motorists.
Gasoline prices have surged to a record nationwide average of $3.07 per gallon, nearly 20 cents higher than two weeks earlier, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday. The previous record was $3.03 per gallon on Aug. 11, 2006.
But despite inventory fears that have sent prices higher, there are signs that the rising prices at the pump may be peaking.
Just two weeks ago, the U.S. average for a gallon of regular gas was $2.87, but the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide on Friday showed an increase of about 19.5 cents to $3.07. That’s up 88.4 cents since Jan. 19, Lundberg said.
The recent increases are due mostly to refinery problems, Lundberg said, noting there have been at least a dozen additional partial shutdowns in the U.S. and internationally that cut refining capacity.
Yeah, refinery problems. You know what else you’re supposed to believe? That this ass-ramming you’re currently experiencing is temporary, that prices are merely a reflection of Wall Street supply jitters and that the market will take care of everything.
Please. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, do you believe for a minute that prices will be lower at the end of the month than they are now? For two years in a row, ExxonMobil has had the highest corporate profits in human history and it isn’t about to start going backwards now. You know what happens to companies that fail to outperform the previous year’s earnings, no matter how much money they make, don’t you?
The next time we’re likely to see an appreciable dip in prices is during the runup to the election next year. Normally, with Duh-bya in the trouble he’s in, Bush’s industry buddies in would probably come to his rescue with a piece of good news that, for this administration, would be about as rare as a fuel-efficient SUV. But he’s such a lost cause that they’re not bothering.
$3.49 here in northern California. Yikes.
I seem to recall Enron playing this same exact game with California utilities.
There has been only one time in my life (I once paid 18 cents per gallon when I was in high school)when gas didn’t go up over the Labor Day weekend.
Guess.
2004 when GWB needed all the help he could get. “Refinery” problems are an extremely convenient excuse that can be used any time profits need to rise.
Are we supposed to believe that the oil guys couldn’t anticipate this situation?
It’s not good here, but we were in London, Ontario last week, and gas was $1.04/liter, pretty close to $4/gallon.
We aren’t the only ones getting screwed.
$3.49 in Seattle, too. Funny how the left coast is always forty cents higher than the national average, and Texas is always under. One more way in which we are forced to subsidize the madness.
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