Smart people: Why are gas prices so low?
 

I dont watch the news, so whats going on? I just saw $2.79/gallon, I havent seen it that low in years and years :thumbsup

Is it something Obama did?

Rochard

Shhhhhh.... just go with it.

Fracking.

under obama us oil + gas production is at record levels

he pushed a secret button upon entering the oval office in 2008

Anything but low over here...

Midterm elections are coming up and the Energy sector people who own your politicians would rather continue owning them than have to go out and buy the new ones.

Could be fracking. Could be Saudi's pumping more oil to punish ISIS and Russia. Could be big money pulling their money out of oil due to QE ending soon and rumors of higher interest rates.

This!:2 cents:

there is no correlation between global oil supply/demand and USA midterm elections. or any elections for that matter.

it was Obamas fault when they went up - now what?

from my understanding- right now supply exceeds demand primarily because USA is producing shit tons more than ever due to fracking while Asia is needing/buying less oil.

Saudi Arabia (opec leader) is likely letting the prices fall due to being able to afford to in order to damage their competition- iran, isis, russia.

You can't seriously believe that.... Gas prices are set by a very small group of people in the Energy sector. A short term bump or valley in prices is absolutely something they can collude to happen for a period of a few months. Supply and Demand does not in any way set Energy prices. Speculators and special interests massively impact price in ways that have nothing to do with supply and demand. OPEC has not used supply-based pricing... ever. Neither has Exxon. Gas prices are also not in lock-step with oil prices. For example, the false reason given for recent spikes was a lack of refinery resources not a lack of oil. The real reason for higher gas prices is simpler.... profit.

Your viewpoint on this hasn't been accurate in decades, just as Earnings Per Share used to be important and now has very little to do with stock prices in many cases (and in fact much less than high frequency trading practices have to do with price) - the price of commodities is similarly rigged. :2 cents:

Recession!!:helpme

Opec's member countries have embarked on an oil price war to preserve market share...

If prices stay at $85, we will see a lot of investment, a lot of oil, going out of the market," he told the conference. "About 65pc of the producers, they have high costs. Not Opec

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/o...oil-price.html

god knows gas price in my country will go up

I very much believe it because people smarter than you (or me) believe it.

either way, what you wrote has nothing to do with the silly notion that USA politicians manipulate global oil prices to influence voting.

USA politicians do not manipulate gas prices directly... Exxon, OPEC and others definitely do. One reason they would dip prices is to help incumbents they already own get reelected to office rather than have to deal with new people in office who they would have to buy from scratch. :2 cents:

you won't win this argument.

http://www.orkuno.com/wp-content/upl...3/OilCrude.png

you have absolutely zero proof to back this up.

The price of crude oil is determined by global supply and demand. In recent years, worldwide demand for crude oil has increased, and at times caused global oil prices to rise. Crude oil is the single-largest factor in determining the price of gasoline at the pump in the United States.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+...m=0& ie=UTF-8

Here you go:

The demand for oil is dropping, and because we are having a warmer fall than predicted, and, because it is expected to be a warmer than usual winter.

Lower demand = lower prices.

There is also too much oil & energy right now. I forget when this happened (last spring?), but the US now exports more than it imports.

On a side note, republicans used to blame Obama for high gas prices. Now that gas prices are low and still dropping, does he get the credit? No of course not. Energy prices are based on supply, demand, and speculation.

http://www.eia.gov/finance/markets/

in my opinion, opec is manipulating price and not cutting supply to bankrupt the frackers. fracking is only profitable above $70 a barrel or so. Drive the price below that for a year, bye bye fracking competition. Do it several times over the next decade, and you'll never have people even trying to frack.
but what do I know.

Correct :thumbsup

Awe fuck why do I have to agree with you on this... lol

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/o...oil-price.html

Quote:
The drop in the oil price to below $100, the level many Opec members had endorsed, has raised questions over whether Opec will cut supply when it meets in November. Mr Badri said Opec's output was unlikely to change much next year, adding to signs a decision to cut in November is unlikely.


"I don't think 2015 will be far away from 2014 in terms of production," Mr Badri said at the annual Oil & Money conference in London. "There is nothing wrong with the market."
Brent crude has dropped more than a quarter from above $115 per barrel in June as abundant supplies of high-quality oil such as US shale have overwhelmed demand in many markets, filling stocks worldwide.

But lower prices pose a threat to supply outside Opec. While Opec's oil production costs are low, as much as half of shale output would be under threat if prices remain at current levels, Mr Badri said.

"If prices stay at $85, we will see a lot of investment, a lot of oil, going out of the market," he told the conference. "About 65pc of the producers, they have high costs. Not Opec."

Mr Badri did not predict the outcome of Opec's meeting on November 27, saying the decision was up to the group's oil ministers, and appealed for calm over the decline in prices.

"We do not see much change in the fundamentals. Demand is still growing, supply is also growing. Opec is reviewing the situation," he said.

a good article on that. http://www.theguardian.com/business/...ship-shale-gas

I'm not sure at what price Saudi oil becomes unprofitable but it is much less than the other OPEC countries. Saudi Arabia could very well also be trying to subvert iranian and russian oil.


I wonder how much longer OPEC will go without curbing production ..........

It is supposed to go up next year

Because of global warming we need less heating oil and the oil supply not being refined into heating oil is causing a supply glut of motor vehicle fuels to be refined.

There is more supply than demand for motor vehicle fuels because of the new Chevy Volt :1orglaugh

Lose-Win Mark LOL :thumbsup

:thumbsup

because you want to seem intelligent?

risky bidness, letting prices drop to crush the competition!


http://static1.businessinsider.com/i...2014.12.31.png

That's not possible! Only Supply and Demand dictate price! Didn't you see that?
Political, regulatory and competitive motivations have nothing to do with price.
Unlike everything else in the world, gas is unique in that only supply and demand matter.

The fact that "supply" is artificially and completely controlled by a tiny group of cartels is irrelevant!

/facepalm :1orglaugh

Supply and Demand...
More supply thanks partly to North american production

Demand is still lower as the global economy still is lagging.

In other news, the price of Cocaine is very high because "supply" is down according to drug dealers... and we all know the actual supply of any commodity is always identical to the real available amount of something. Nobody would ever pretend to have less of something or more of something to artificially dictate price. Nobody... especially not the Good Samaritans who run the oil business.

Oil prices dropped...watch the news, man. ;-)

fyi, all supplies are controlled by the suppliers. lolz. Saudi is a supplier, they CHOSE to not decrease supply, consesquently prices are what they are.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...asoline-prices

Price falls 7% more in a Presidential election year than in a year when no candidates are running, and this year supply must really be strong locally from all those oil rigs that litter the Ohio landscape. :2 cents:

did you read the entire article?

from the article-

Yes, I looked at the statistics and posted them. You looked at his opinion about the statistics. One is a set of a facts, the other is his personal point of view about those facts. Can you determine which is which? I fully agree politicians do not change gas prices.... I never said they did. The tools available to them would be far too easy for outsiders to notice. What I said, is that the Energy sector changes gas prices to suit their political interests by keeping incumbents in office rather than having to buy new ones or risk a rare independent voice getting elected. That remains... true.

Price is dictated by 'whatever they say supply is' and 'whatever they claim demand is' with a lapdog Congress overseeing it.
They like their lapdogs and know how to keep them on their laps.

LOL
I just hate it when you are right and I have to agree with you...
When you're right you're right... But it takes all the fun out of it...

filling up demand i think

from the article

do you understand what that means? but again, you have zero proof to back up the preposterous claim that midterm elections are manipulated intentionally by exxon et al changing global oil prices to impact local gas prices because that's cheaper than taking a new incumbent to lunch to get him on the dole.

it also assumes each and every current incumbent is on the dole with exxon et al and doing their bidding, again preposterous.

some statistics from your article you conveniently left out:

You don't think Congress is rigged? :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Enough congressional votes exist to have any particular issue go however Energy interests prefer. In each of those votes they can run out a dog and pony show to pretend some people are 'against big oil' and others are 'for big oil' but at the end of the day the votes always seem to come out favoring oil companies, pharma, large banks and other major corporate interests. It may come as a shock to you, but those same interests are also the largest contributors to political candidates... and they can make concessions or affect prices within their sectors to suit those same political interests.

Yes, I know the fact that it keeps happening over and over and over again for decades can be answered by "correlation does not equal causation" but at a certain point if it smells terrible every single time you fart, it's probably a good idea not to fart with your head under the blankets even if you don't know the exact chemical composition of your flatulence to prove cause and effect scientifically. :2 cents:

HUH? I don't think congress is rigged? I don't even know what that means in this context, congress rigged? like a card game? what?

global oil prices are analogous to farting under the covers?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

I see now where your level of understanding is in this.

fall/winter they go low.... spring/summer they go high. Every year like clockwork.

So....
1 - Multibillion dollar oil companies and OPEC have no vested interest in who might win elections in the United States?

2 - These same entities that spend billions funding political campaigns wouldn't also be willing to engage in artificially inflating or deflating prices to suit their political interests?

3 - Prices falling 7% more in an election year than in a non-election year is pure coincidence?

4 - Gas prices dropped by 55 cents (about the largest drop in the country) in Ohio during the run up to the elections this year because Lebron discovered new reserves in the parking lot after a Cavs game?

Have luck.

a study by Yale economist Ray Fair shows that dating back to 1948, there is little correlation between election results and gas prices.

Take 1992. Gas prices were at their lowest levels in decades. The economy was pulling out of a recession. And the president had just won a war in convincing fashion. What happened next? Voters gave President George H.W. Bush the boot.


Fast forward to 2004. The economy was again pulling out of a recession ? but gas prices were at their highest levels in decades. What happened next? President George W. Bush was re-elected.


on to 2012, gas prices climbed dramatically in the months before Obama was elected.

The United States is now the world's largest oil producer.... We are relying less and less on other countries for our oil needs. One of the biggest markets for oil is buying less oil from foreign governments, leaving the rest to scramble for what is left over. And they are in a price war.

I never understood why the price of oil is controlled by OPEC.