Paid $3.239 a gallons today! ouch...
I work for a small local Oil Co and we sell about 9 million gallons of combined distillates a year, the price increases are crippling in this economy to us and consumers!
There are a number of factors contributing to the high cost of gas...
The biggest current contributors to the rising cost are speculators and swap dealers,and taxes! Not the big evil oil companies or the refiners.
Energy speculation is a massive growth industry, I believe as of 2008 71% of forward contracts on WTI oil were held by speculators, NOT investors (users) who actually dealt in the physical movement of oil.
Back in 2000 only 31% were speculator derived. The intent way back when, of hedging (buying/selling of contracts) was to help balance the cost and help protect against price spikes of product for the companies who actually needed it! Airlines and such.
The CFTC and other regulatory entities need to be able to limit positions and increase the margin requirements for non oil investors, State retirement systems, massive banks and speculators need to get out of oil trades and back into NYSE and out of NYME...
Lastly, watch the value of the US Dollar vs other world currencies, it goes down, oil prices go up, it goes up, oil prices go down, prices are not nearly pegged to supply/demand anymore, but using supply/demand as an excuse provides a wonderful smoke screen...
I work for a small local Oil Co and we sell about 9 million gallons of combined distillates a year, the price increases are crippling in this economy to us and consumers!
There are a number of factors contributing to the high cost of gas...
The biggest current contributors to the rising cost are speculators and swap dealers,and taxes! Not the big evil oil companies or the refiners.
Energy speculation is a massive growth industry, I believe as of 2008 71% of forward contracts on WTI oil were held by speculators, NOT investors (users) who actually dealt in the physical movement of oil.
Back in 2000 only 31% were speculator derived. The intent way back when, of hedging (buying/selling of contracts) was to help balance the cost and help protect against price spikes of product for the companies who actually needed it! Airlines and such.
The CFTC and other regulatory entities need to be able to limit positions and increase the margin requirements for non oil investors, State retirement systems, massive banks and speculators need to get out of oil trades and back into NYSE and out of NYME...
Lastly, watch the value of the US Dollar vs other world currencies, it goes down, oil prices go up, it goes up, oil prices go down, prices are not nearly pegged to supply/demand anymore, but using supply/demand as an excuse provides a wonderful smoke screen...
