a dull dy at work led me to do a little informal research. are you aware that at the crude price of $65/barrel, gas in metro halifax was over 1.10/L. Wait a minute – thats the price we are paying now, with crude at over $100/barrel. Hmmmm, why is it that we are paying the same price now as we were when crude was almost 1/2 as much? could it be WE ARE GETTING REAMED?!?!?!
http://www.halifaxgasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx
This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2008.
If your informal research was all it took to invest on oil futures at the NYSE everyone would be as rich as Bill Gates. A loaf a bread would be like 500 bucks. Do you really want that? *sigh*
You ever look up what gas costs per liter in Venezuela? It’s like 4 cents a litre. And the OPEC countries are all less then 20 cents per litre. So why is it that Canada, with our oil sands as something like the second largest oil deposit in the world, still paying 1.10/L?The oil industry is messed up. A butterfly farts in Pakistan and oil prices jump $10 a barrel. I realize there are a lot of factors that go into gas prices: supply and demand, refining capacity, distributors, etc,…but I can’t help but picture a table of oil tycoons sitting around a table in their black 10-gallon hats, stroking their moustaches and reading the headlines in morning paper looking for something to pin the next price-hike on.
I think you should continue that research. if you are paying the same today be thankful that the US dollar is so shit or else you would be paying closer to $2.00 a litre. the local refineries buy the crude in US currency and then it goes into the market based on the trading price from market.I have to admit the oil industry really is to blame for not educating how they make money but I guess no other industries really do either. the dudes with thier 10-gallon hats have zero control of what you pay at the pump. it is a commodity that is traded on the nymex. they make money becasue they still pull it from the ground for $20 a barrel and then can now sell it for $110 to the refinery because thats what the market tells them.also, not one drop of that alberta gold ever makes it to us in the east (Toronto included). All of those pipelines point directly south. we are getting royally hosed out there man. we get all of our crude from the north sea, middle east and south america / gulf of mexico.it’s the big banks and investors who have no other good place to invest (besides gold) who are driving the price sky high for no good reason. it’s going to get worse, so people have to stop complaining and start doing something about it. move closer to your job, carpool, walk, bike whatever.
purchasing powerpowerless $uckers
If the price of gas is getting you down, there are a number of things you can do. Somebody already mention carpooling, biking or taking transit. I’d like to add car-sharing.Buy local products or at least try for things that didn’t have to be shipped half way around the world. Buy less plastic.Invest in renewable energy source.We need to let the oil producers (Canada included) know that we can live without such a huge dependence on oil.I too enjoy cherries in the middle of winter. Would I survive without them, yes.