Utahns Getting Gouged At The Pump

Often, Utah's gas prices increase and decrease just after national gas prices. Take this chart of the last six years:



And, for most of the past year, it's been a similar situation:



However, the past couple of months, Utah has seen gas prices rise far more than the national average.



Is there an explanation for this? Probably not.

Obama's New Ad Accusing McCain of Being In Big Oil's Pocket

Somehow, I don't think the pocket is exactly the part of a pair of pants John McCain is in...



-Bob

You're getting screwed at the gas pump

Remember, profits are what comes AFTER costs....

Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total SA wrapped up a string of gargantuan, record-breaking earnings reports Friday, a stretch in which six of the major international oil companies topped $50 billion in combined profit for the first time.
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While the profits of unparalleled size have brought withering criticism from Washington and disgust from consumers across the country, very few were surprised. Crude prices during the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago.

Chevron said Friday its second-quarter profit rose 11 percent to a record $5.98 billion.

Revenue rose significantly to $82.9 billion from $56.1 billion a year ago.

But results for the second-largest U.S. oil company missed Wall Street forecasts and shares fell.

Like its competitors, Chevron made the bulk of its money at its exploration and production arm, also known as the upstream, where income nearly doubled from a year ago to $7.25 billion.

Chevron said the average sales price for crude and natural gas liquids was $109 a barrel in the quarter, up from $57 a barrel in the year-earlier period.

In addition to Chevron, soaring commodity prices led to record quarters for Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips, BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Exxon Mobil stood apart even from this crowd, logging the largest ever quarterly operating profit for a U.S. company. Barring companies that made huge profits on one-time gains like bankruptcy settlements and spin-offs, Exxon Mobil holds the top 10 records for biggest U.S. quarterly earnings.

French energy company Total SA said Friday its profit climbed 38.7 percent in the second quarter to $7.38 billion. Quarterly sales rose 23 percent to $75.25 billion.

Altogether, the profits of the six companies jumped more than 40 percent in the second quarter to $51.5 billion, the first time big Western oil companies have ever reached that level.

Total's earnings were at the top end of analysts' expectations.

Unlike some other oil majors, Total reported production growth of 1.3 percent in the second quarter.

Also Friday, Norway's state-controlled StatoilHydro ASA reported a 37 percent rise in second-quarter net profits to $3.7 billion.

At Chevron, the company division that refines and sells gasoline actually swung to a loss of $734 million in the quarter after earning $1.3 billion a year ago. The culprit: those same crude prices that lifted upstream earnings.

Like its peers, Chevron doesn't produce enough oil on its own to feed its refineries, forcing it to buy some on the open market. And it wasn't able to raise the price of gasoline and other products fast enough to recover its own rising costs for oil.

Chevron also said that planned downtime at some refineries contributed to the loss.

"The higher cost of crude oil used in the refining process was not fully recovered in the price of gasoline and other refined products," said Chairman and CEO Dave O'Reilly. "As a result, our downstream operations incurred a loss in the second quarter, with most of the loss taking place in the United States."

Chevron said overall production in the quarter fell about 3 percent from a year ago, hurt in part by production-sharing contracts. However, on a conference call with analysts Friday, company officials said project startups will increase production in the second half of 2008 and the company should meet or exceed its full-year volume target.

Chevron shares slipped 71 cents in afternoon trading to $83.85. They've traded in a range of $76.40 to $104.63 in the past year.

Total shares fell 1.2 percent to 48.79 euros ($75.95) in Paris.

Daily Show: Panderer's Box

The Gas Tax Scam

I stole this from Facebook:

CONFIDENTIAL/URGENT POLITICAL PROPOSAL

Dear Sir

First we must solicit your confidence in this issue. This is by virtue as being utterly confidential and "top secret".

We are SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON, the wife of the former United States head of state, PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, and also SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, friend and associate of current head of state PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH. We got your contact through business inquiries as we were searching for contacts of a citizen who can help save our and our family's political careers since our country has been frustrating us.

We are top officials of the United States Senate Government who are interested in importation of oil into our country with funds that are presently trapped in the FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND dedicated to improving transportation. We wish to send this money to overseas accounts in the MIDDLE EAST but cannot due to restrictions in Congress Transportation Equity Act requiring that this money must be spent to build roads, bridges and high speed trains.

If you accept we will deliver to your a sum of 30 DOLLARS in the summer 2008 in form of a "GAS TAX HOLIDAY". You will then deliver this money to accounts of our friends in Middle East by taking it to your nearby gasoline station where they have information to forward the money. Please supply your bank account, social security number, address and your vote in DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES AND NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION.

But bear in mind that this transaction requires absolute confidentiality. Do not visit WWW.GASTAXSCAM.COM where there is information about dangers of our proposal and a petition to stop us from this diversion of funds.

PLEASE NOTIFY US URGENTLY OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS PROPOSAL

Awaiting your rapid response

Yours truly

SENATORS HILLARY CLINTON AND JOHN MCCAIN

Got Gas?

I've got gas, and it stinks.

No, I'm not talking about farts. That gross and juvenile and I know that it still is making you laugh anyway. Go ahead. The world needs a good laugh right now. I'll wait.

Welcome back. Sorry to kill your buzz, but have you driven past a gas station the past couple of days?

To show you how bad and how fast it's been:

Today $2.587
Yesterday $2.571
One Week Ago $2.341
One Month Ago $2.207
One Year Ago $2.227

(From saltlakegasprices.com)

That's over a 10% increase in a week!

Think if other things went up 10% in a week.

Or if gas keeps the trend.....

May 1: $2.859
May 8: $3.160
May 15: $3.492
May 22: $3.859
May 29 (Memorial Day): $4.264

That means a drive to Kamas and back for Memorial Day Weekend, assuming you get 20 mpg, would cost you $21.32, assuming you don't fill up in Kamas.

Ouch.

-Bob

Gas Prices

Someone just responded to this post from last year on gas prices.

Like then, I will use Utahgasprices.com to figure how much increasing gas prices are costing me. I now average about 1.5 gallons of gas per day.

Today's average gas price: 2.528/Gallon
Yesterday's avg price: 2.498/Gallon. Annual cost of this increase: $16.43
Last week's avg price: 2.439/Gallon. Annual cost of this increase: $48.73
Last Month's avg price: 2.303/Gallon. Annual cost of this increase: $123.19
One year ago's avg price: 1.857/Gallon. Annual cost of this increase: $367.37

-Bob