A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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A computer glitch caused gasoline to be sold for $1 at a Pasadena gas station. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices hovered around $3.35 in Katy. A gas prices war between a Kroger and a Walmart station had sent prices to $3.14 earlier this week. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices hovered around $3.35 in Katy. A gas prices war between a Kroger and a Walmart station had sent prices to $3.14 earlier this week. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices hovered around $3.35 in Katy. A gas prices war between a Kroger and a Walmart station had sent prices to $3.14 earlier this week. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices hovered around $3.35 in Katy. A gas prices war between a Kroger and a Walmart station had sent prices to $3.14 earlier this week. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices hovered around $3.35 in Katy. A gas prices war between a Kroger and a Walmart station had sent prices to $3.14 earlier this week. (Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle)
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In this March 31, 2011 photo, a worker changes the numbers indicating gasoline prices on the sign at a gas station in Cranberry, Pa. Retail gasoline continues to set records for this time of year. The national average increased nearly 2 cents overnight to $3.725 per gallon. Pump prices have climbed by more than 65 cents per gallon since January, costing Americans an additional $247 million per day for the same amount of fuel.(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) (Keith Srakocic / AP)
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A man on a skateboard passes a 76 station with fuel prices in the $4.00 range in Los Angeles Monday, April 11, 2011. With the price of gas above $3.50 a gallon in all but one state, there are signs that Americans are cutting back on driving, reversing a steady increase in demand for fuel as the economy improves.(AP Photo/Reed Saxon) (Reed Saxon / AP)
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In this March 31, 2011 photo, Daniel Dona pumps gas at a Shell gas station in Menlo Park, Calif. With the price of gas above $3.50 a gallon in all but one state, there are signs that Americans are cutting back on driving, reversing a steady increase in demand for fuel as the economy improves.(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Paul Sakuma / AP)
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Gas prices are displayed in Wantagh, N.Y., Tuesday, April 12, 2011. Gasoline pump prices continue to set new records for this time of year. The national average for a gallon of regular rose 2 cents on Tuesday to $3.79, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) (Seth Wenig / AP)
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A price board is shown at a Shell gas station in Novato, Calif., Thursday, May 5, 2011. Oil tumbled nearly 7 percent Thursday amid new signs that demand for fuel in the U.S. is weakening. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
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In this May 5, 2011 photo, the price for one gallon of unleaded regular gasoline is seen on the sign outside a BP gas station in Beachwood, Ohio. Americans are switching to more fuel efficient cars and driving fewer miles, but purchases of gasoline are still gobbling up an increasing chunk of the nation’s pocketbook. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) (Amy Sancetta / Associated Press)
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In this photo taken May 5, 2011, a woman fills up her vehicle at an Arco gas station in Mill Valley, Calif. Americans are switching to more fuel efficient cars and driving fewer miles, but purchases of gasoline are still gobbling up an increasing chunk of the nation’s pocketbook. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
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FILE - In this May 5, 2011 file photo, contractor Mylan Johnson pumps gas into his truck at the Marathon Station in Moreland Hills, Ohio. Consumers spent more on gasoline, clothing and autos in April, pushing retail sales up for a 10th straight month. But much of the gain came from a surge in gasoline prices. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta, file) (Amy Sancetta / Associated Press)
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Erica Antwi gasses up her car at the Braeswood Shell Station at 8521 Stella Link, Friday, May 13, 2011, in Houston, as people give their opinions about the high cost of gas prices. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle)
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Gas prices at the Valero station on Fresno just east of IH-10 west ranged from $3.68 a gallon for regular unleaded to $3.89 a gallon for diesel fuel. (Tuesday May 24, 2011) JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (JOHN DAVENPORT / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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A car passes gas prices at a filling station Friday, May 27, 2011, in Philadelphia. For every $10 a household earns, almost a full dollar now goes toward gas _ forcing Americans to rethink what they spend on everything else, including the family vacation. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
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Gas prices at a Tetco and Exxon on the 10,000 block of San Pedro ranged from $3.73 a gallon all the way up to $4.01 a gallon for super unleaded at the Tetco. (Tuesday May 24, 2011) JOHN DAVENPORT/jdavenport@express-news.net (JOHN DAVENPORT / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS)
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People pass gas prices at a filling station Friday, May 27, 2011, in Philadelphia. For every $10 a household earns, almost a full dollar now goes toward gas _ forcing Americans to rethink what they spend on everything else, including the family vacation. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
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In this June 22, 2011 photo, gas station manager Joseph Sublett changes a sign reflecting lower prices in Little Rock, Ark. Wary of a new surge in gas prices, the Obama administration has decided to release 30 million barrels of oil from the country's emergency reserve as part of a broader international response to lost oil supplies caused by turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Libya.(AP Photo/Danny Johnston) (Danny Johnston / Associated Press)
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FILE - In this July 1, 2011 file photo, a man pumps gas at a crowded Shell gas station in Little Rock, Ark. Oil is climbing as analysts ratchet up price forecasts for next year as supplies get tighter.(AP Photo/Danny Johnston, file) (Danny Johnston / Associated Press)
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In this Aug. 15, 2011 photo, a motorist pulls the nozzle out of his gas tank after fueling his car at a station in Augusta, Maine. For the first time in months, retail gasoline prices have fallen below $3 a gallon in places, including parts of Michigan, Missouri and Texas. And the relief is likely to spread thanks to a sharp decline in crude-oil prices. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach) (Pat Wellenbach / Associated Press)
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C.R. Martinez (left) takes a photo of the gas price to send to his cousin in California while he brother Ismael (right) looks on after filling their car up with $2.98 gas at a Valero gas station in northwest Houston near W Little York Rd. and T.C. Jester Blvd., Thursday, Sept. 29, 2011.
"We just got back to town from California where gas was $3.89; this is the cheapest gas we've seen", C.R. Martinez said. "I told my cousin he needs to bring his RV to Houston just so he can drive it."
In this Oct. 10, 2011 photo, motorists look for an empty gas pump at a Valero gas station in Miami Gardens, Fla. The oil market is choosing to view the barrel as half full, and the price has risen about 28 percent in a month. Should drivers worry that holiday shopping money will instead go to the gas tank? (AP Photo/J Pat Carter) (J Pat Carter / Associated Press)
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Jim Jackson of Stephenville, Texas, fills up Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, at a Rudy's Exxon station in Nacogdochoes, Texas. Jackson, who is partners in an oil production company in Stephenville, said increasing fuel prices haven't impacted his driving habits but his lifestyle and spending have changed as he tries to save more for an uncertain economic future. (AP Photo/The Daily Sentinel, Andrew D. Brosig) MANDATORY CREDIT (Andrew D. Brosig / Associated Press)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Gas prices are displayed at a Chevron gas station on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gas prices in California are 34.1 cents a gallon higher than last year and according to some analysts the gas prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Gas prices are displayed at a Shell gas station on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gas prices in California are 34.1 cents a gallon higher than last year and according to some analysts the gas prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Gas prices are displayed at a Conoco Phillips gas station on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gas prices in California are 34.1 cents a gallon higher than last year and according to some analysts the gas prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Gas prices are displayed at a Conoco Phillips gas station on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gas prices in California are 34.1 cents a gallon higher than last year and according to some analysts the gas prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 18: Gas prices are displayed at a Chevron gas station on January 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Gas prices in California are 34.1 cents a gallon higher than last year and according to some analysts the gas prices could get close to $5 a gallon in some areas during the warm-weather driving season. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
By Erin Mulvaney Houston Chronicle Staff Writer
If you Google $5 gas, you are bound to find millions of articles predicting historic gas prices this summer, but a gasoline analyst says you shouldn’t believe those predictions.
Tom Kloza, chief analyst with Oil Price Information Service, noticed the numerous $5 gasoline predictions in the media recently, but he said $5 gasoline prices aren’t likely to take a hold nationwide. He said the experts predicting $5 gas aren’t any more accurate than famous predictor Nostradamus in the 16th century.
“Many of the stories quote ‘experts’ who give the skinny or the scoop on why this will be the year that Americans need Lincoln’s picture on the legal tender necessary to purchase a gallon of unleaded fuel,” Kloza wrote in an email. “Let me make myself perfectly clear. This is nonsense.”
So what are the chances of $5 gas this summer?
“The chances of nationwide gasoline averages approaching $5 gal are about as good as having the Spice Girls perform a tribute to Demi Moore at the Oscars,” Kloza wrote.
Former Shell executive John Hofmeister has been beating the $5-per-gallon drum for more than a year. Hofmeister said gas prices are likely to rise because of rising tensions with Iran, refineries closing in the northeast and ongoing fallout from the Gulf of Mexico moratorium.
Hofmeister said the current administration policies have also caused gas prices to rise, and those policies are unlikely to change in time to ward off $5 gas.
Kloza provided a chart showing the gas prices since 2000, and he said it shows while $5 is unlikely.
Year Valentine’s Day Price July 4th Price
2000 $1.36 gal $1.65 gal
2001 $1.49 gal $1.49 gal
2002 $1.21 gal $1.40 gal
2003 $1.64 gal $1.49 gal
2004 $1.64 gal $1.89 gal
2005 $1.89 gal $2.27 gal
2006 $2.29 gal $2.93 gal
2007 $2.23 gal $2.95 gal
2008 $2.98 gal $4.10 gal
2009 $1.97 gal $2.62 gal
2010 $2.62 gal $2.74 gal
2011 $3.13 gal $3.57 gal
2012 $3.51 gal ???
The chart shows that a bubbling and re-bubbling of gas prices, similar to those seen in the housing market in the late 20th century and early 21st century, Kloza wrote.
The chart also shows that record-high gasoline prices in 2008 rose 34 percent between Valentine’s Day and the July 4th weekend. Kloza added:
The Giants also won the Super Bowl in that year, and perhaps that will be the talisman that trumps macroeconomics, consumer fatigue, demand destruction, and healthy global supply of gasoline. If Giant’s Super Bowl victories are a harbinger and a similar spike is in store, the arithmetic adds up to an average gasoline price of $4.70 gal on July 4, 2012.
So you shouldn’t worry too much about $5 gas or believe everything you read on the internet, Kloza writes.
He said gas prices are likely to settle between $3.75 and $4.25 per gallon at the peak in May before falling in later half of 2012.
I blame Obama. I also blame him for the 50% increase in the Dow since he took office and the renewed economic growth we are seeing. Increased growth and demand will push up fuel prices.
$5 or $4.70, does it really matter? Prices have almost double since Obama took office. Each year his policies have helped increase the price at the pump more than any time in the last decade. Just look at the chart. An Ave yearly increase of .51 a gallon.
“He said gas prices are likely to settle between $3.75 and $4.25 per gallon at the peak in May before falling in later half of 2012″ – Man, what a relief. I thought I might actually have to cut back on driving. lol
Wow! the chart shows jus thow bad Obama’s policies have been for our country. Prices on everything goes up when the cost to transport goods and services go up. Obama has to go, he has been a complete failure no matter how you look at it.
The ‘predictions’ are just to prepare y’all motorists to stay bent over at the gas pump. When these oil bandits get through with you, you might as well not even wear your pants at the pump.
. . . I like to go to the Bloomberg site and see what the experts predict about everything. . . .they rely on historical information and try to make judgements about the future. . . .
Sometimes, they are correct. . . that’s the nicest way to say very oftern all are wrong. . . .
$5.00 gas can come in a blink . . . if Israel attacks Iran and war breaks out. . . . the SWIFT decision to cut off Iran might be another trigger. . .I don’t know what the price of gas is going to be. . . but neither do any of the “experts”
Tell Mr. Kloza that gasoline went up 6 cents overnight in my area of Houston. As gasoline goes up there is less and less money available for the rest of the economy.
Just get the Democrat out of office or be ready for more increases. Wait and see. We have seen it now and it will happen again. Be like an ostrich with your head in the sand or wise up.
OK, maybe my math is wrong, so help me out here. Tom Kloza, chief analyst with Oil Price Information Service, said “are likely to settle between $3.75 and $4.25 per gallon at the peak in May before falling in later half of 2012.” He then posts a chart showing Valentine’s Day prices to 4th of July prices. 2008 had a $2.98/gal to $4.10/gal or a $1.12/gal increase. I get that being a 37.5% increase. So a $3.51/gal 2012 price should become a $1.32/gal increase or $4.83/gal. Even if Kloza used the dollar amount increase, and NOT the %-age increase, how does he predict $3.75/gal to $4.25/gal? If prices “peak” in May as he claims, why use 4th of July prices on his chart? Anybody help me out?
Our Federal Government needs to enact legislation outlawing energy trading. A middle man should not be allowed to hijack the price of fuel in the United States.
Obama and his boy Bernacke are totally reposnsible for the price of oil being where it is and that directly impacts the price of gasoline. When the Big Zer0 took office, gasoline was hovering around $1.89 becasue oil had collapsed all the way to $44.50. It was Obama and Bernacke who decided to monetize some of the federal debtby printing more currency. By then, AUG 10, when they finally admitted to printing an extra $1.3TRILLION, gasoline was up to the $2.70 range. Why? Monetizing debt devalued the US dollar. Because oil is traded in dollars, the effect on the price of oil was nearly an overnight jump of 17%.
Then you have Owebama’s war on the petroleum industry which has prevented or slowed US energy production.
If gasoline gets to $5 you can lay the blame squarely on the Idiot-in-Chief’s sholders.
The price will climb because gasoline is the USA’s biggest export item and exporting it from the USA keeps the availability and price high. The price will probably quickly fall after the election.
Where is all the national furor over gas prices that prevailed during the ’08 election? It became brazenly clear that our voices made a difference, why the papthy now?
The gas companies are at it again, they push the price of a barrel up at the drop of a hat, the mention of the middle east and it goes up. The summer blend is another excuse. Yet we pay and they make record profits. They close refineries for repairs up goes the price. Our imports have dropped but their profits have not. They got us with a gun to our heads because there is no other fuel for cars. Best thing the government could do is break up the monopolies so the competition is there like it was in the past. No competition today just high fuel prices.
And quoting an article on this very subject:
“this data is interesting because it is un-manipulated, that is, it is not “seasonally adjusted” or run through some black-box modifications like so much other government data.”
A couple of points.
1. Oil and refined products are a global commodity, keep in mind that countries in our hemisphere subsidize fuel prices so heavily trying to insulate their people from reality that it pushes refined product costs beyond mere consumer supply and demand economics.
2. The US exported more refined hydrocarbon products in 2011 than anything in the entire economy. It is somewhat one dimensional to assume one person or country is responsible for the run up in prices. We must comprehend that prices of fuel are determined by a much broader market than simply the “Big Three” trying to “put it to” the US consumer.
I’m hoping for a Republican president in 2013, but if you think this will result in lower gas prices, well, good luck with that. Better check with the Chinese.
The price gouging by Big Oil in raising gas prices is somewhat troubling but not nearly as much as the price gouging implicit in the record profits for Government Motors.
Isn’t it obvious that if GM can report such profits that it should sharply reduce the prices it charges for its products? After all President Obama is the man who can call the final shots with respect to pricing policy given the billions of dollars lent to this company at virtually zero interest rates.
We all know how he feels about obscene profits and has vowed to end them. However, in the case of his auto holdings, he seems to think that such profits will result in doubling the price of GM stock at which level he can sell the U.S. holdings and get out without a loss.
Well, he has badly miscalculated since the UAW will soon be demanding much bigger shares of GM revenues for its members in the form of wages and benefits. Further, a substantial portion of such profits were generated in the Peoples Republic and newly imposed restrictions on earnings transfers and taxes being imposed by the Chicoms on an ad hoc basis on such earnings seem certain to reduce the final sums realized in the U.S. by GM.
P.S. Historic data on gasoline prices can be interesting and these data would have been much more relevant if they reported prices and availabilities (fights at the pumps over scant supplies coupled with long lines and rationing) during the 1970 Arab Embargo in crude shipments following U.S. support of Israel despite Arab warnings. Oh and be certain to adjust such prices for the depreciation of the dollar over these past forty years or so.
Yep, let’s use Nostradamus to predict prices, instead of basic MATH. Most gasoline is refined along coastal refineries. That crude input price trades closer to Brent than WTI. That price is $120/bbl. The May 2012 futures indicate a price $.20/gallon higher than today for gasoline. Add in the risk of supply disruption from Iran and $5/gallon is a very high possibility for the US Northeast and California. Yep, the states that vote for Obama and block the Keystone pipeline that moves that cheaper WTI to refineries in the gulf coast is blocked by Obama. Stupid is what stupid does.
You can do everything in your power to make the oil companies happy, and they will accept everything that you do for them, but they will not give you cheap gasoline in return, that’s not how the game works. Every single quarter they make billions in profit, the figures are staggering, and I am not talking gross revenues, I mean profit. Every year we go through the same carousel of fake reasons why gas prices need to go up. Put the blame where it really lies instead of where you might wish it lies, otherwise you sound foolish.
April 25th, 2008. Obama blames US presidents ever since Nixon in the 70′s for increasing gas prices and promises that he would rein in higher gas prices when HE is in office(besides implementing a middle class tax cut). But now, people are quick to decry any such blame for higher gas prices to his administration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnLP12X3EgM This article originally made the claim that a so-called expert that $5 gallon gas SURELY would never happen. It has been changed for obvious reasons. It is not unlike the “experts” who predicted with “virtual certainty” that last summer’s drought would continue through this Winter, Spring, and early Summer. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/water-supply/texas-drought-continue-through-spring-experts-warn/
Bookmark this article when gas hits $5 a gallon and ask Kloza about when the Demi Moore tribute by the Spice Girls; at the Oscars nonsense starts! But don’t blame this President even though he blamed everybody else last election.
Nevermind wondering if gas will get the $5/gallon … the more you wonder, the more the oil bandit scumbags will raise the price. Just keep bent over at the gas pump … When it gets to $6/gallon, you can ask the gas station for your complimentary tube of K-Y Jelly.
Moderators: Apologies for the curse words. Here’s a clean one.
I’m sorry, did no one notice that this guy just tried to use a football team to justify his prediction of gas prices? Who writes this crap? And did you idiots just suck that right up in your haste to make a political discussion out of this?
Secondly, a failed business model, outdated technology, and speculation make for expensive gasoline, not a president who happens to be someone you don’t like. FYI the market takes care of the market, the president doesn’t take care of the market. And the market certainly doesn’t take care of the president.
But if you look deeper into the article you see that future prices are higher than ever….seems like speculators are the real culprits here. Oh and closing 3 refineries hasn’t helped keep the prices down. Just imagine what the prices might be with no speculation and those refineries open.
And Obama isn’t the first President to see $4 gas prices. Try watching what was said back in 2008. That isn’t Obama behind the POTUS podium talking.
Brilliant, really. Gas has doubled in under a decade. So scare the masses with $5 or $6 predictions. Then when gas is an outrageous $4.50, the people will thak you for it.
There’s one in every crowd…..someone always chimes in with that scientific/economic mumbo jumbo about supply and demand and how the market dictates the price of gas and we can’t blame it on politicians. We’re not dumb..we know it is market driven, but can’t you just let us complain about politicans without bringing in that argument. it sounds so much better and it is a lot more fun to blame everything on politicians. Please let us live in our fantasyworld where supply and demand doesn’t exist and we’re happy and dumb and can complain and blame whomever we want.
Because of the success of the likes of Solyndra and electric cars! Yeah team!!
Headline: “$5 gas is a bold prediction that surely be wrong”
That grammar “surely be wrong”.
I blame Obama. I also blame him for the 50% increase in the Dow since he took office and the renewed economic growth we are seeing. Increased growth and demand will push up fuel prices.
Hear the case against gas getting to $5 huh ?
when that happens , gather those who made it possible and take them to the hanging tree !
$5 or $4.70, does it really matter? Prices have almost double since Obama took office. Each year his policies have helped increase the price at the pump more than any time in the last decade. Just look at the chart. An Ave yearly increase of .51 a gallon.
Increase
2009 $1.97
2010 $2.62 $0.65
2011 $3.13 $0.51
2012 $3.51 $0.38
Ave $0.51
Has any POTUS ever pushed for gas to cost the more? This doesn’t hurt the 1% he is always complaining about. This hurts the middle and lower class.
In before the wing nuts blame Obama, gays, Muslims, women, and minorities for high gas prices.
“He said gas prices are likely to settle between $3.75 and $4.25 per gallon at the peak in May before falling in later half of 2012″ – Man, what a relief. I thought I might actually have to cut back on driving. lol
Is this an article for junior high school students?
Wow! the chart shows jus thow bad Obama’s policies have been for our country. Prices on everything goes up when the cost to transport goods and services go up. Obama has to go, he has been a complete failure no matter how you look at it.
It’s Bush’s fault! Opps, can’t use that one any more.
Vertical trust much?
The ‘predictions’ are just to prepare y’all motorists to stay bent over at the gas pump. When these oil bandits get through with you, you might as well not even wear your pants at the pump.
. . . I like to go to the Bloomberg site and see what the experts predict about everything. . . .they rely on historical information and try to make judgements about the future. . . .
Sometimes, they are correct. . . that’s the nicest way to say very oftern all are wrong. . . .
$5.00 gas can come in a blink . . . if Israel attacks Iran and war breaks out. . . . the SWIFT decision to cut off Iran might be another trigger. . .I don’t know what the price of gas is going to be. . . but neither do any of the “experts”
Tell Mr. Kloza that gasoline went up 6 cents overnight in my area of Houston. As gasoline goes up there is less and less money available for the rest of the economy.
Just get the Democrat out of office or be ready for more increases. Wait and see. We have seen it now and it will happen again. Be like an ostrich with your head in the sand or wise up.
It’s no secret, $4 and higher gas cripples this nation.
Is this supposed to be a serious article? Has the writer graduated from high school yet?
OK, maybe my math is wrong, so help me out here. Tom Kloza, chief analyst with Oil Price Information Service, said “are likely to settle between $3.75 and $4.25 per gallon at the peak in May before falling in later half of 2012.” He then posts a chart showing Valentine’s Day prices to 4th of July prices. 2008 had a $2.98/gal to $4.10/gal or a $1.12/gal increase. I get that being a 37.5% increase. So a $3.51/gal 2012 price should become a $1.32/gal increase or $4.83/gal. Even if Kloza used the dollar amount increase, and NOT the %-age increase, how does he predict $3.75/gal to $4.25/gal? If prices “peak” in May as he claims, why use 4th of July prices on his chart? Anybody help me out?
Sounds like they’re whipping people into a frenzy just in time for the fracking debate.
Our Federal Government needs to enact legislation outlawing energy trading. A middle man should not be allowed to hijack the price of fuel in the United States.
Obama and his boy Bernacke are totally reposnsible for the price of oil being where it is and that directly impacts the price of gasoline. When the Big Zer0 took office, gasoline was hovering around $1.89 becasue oil had collapsed all the way to $44.50. It was Obama and Bernacke who decided to monetize some of the federal debtby printing more currency. By then, AUG 10, when they finally admitted to printing an extra $1.3TRILLION, gasoline was up to the $2.70 range. Why? Monetizing debt devalued the US dollar. Because oil is traded in dollars, the effect on the price of oil was nearly an overnight jump of 17%.
Then you have Owebama’s war on the petroleum industry which has prevented or slowed US energy production.
If gasoline gets to $5 you can lay the blame squarely on the Idiot-in-Chief’s sholders.
The price will climb because gasoline is the USA’s biggest export item and exporting it from the USA keeps the availability and price high. The price will probably quickly fall after the election.
Where is all the national furor over gas prices that prevailed during the ’08 election? It became brazenly clear that our voices made a difference, why the papthy now?
The gas companies are at it again, they push the price of a barrel up at the drop of a hat, the mention of the middle east and it goes up. The summer blend is another excuse. Yet we pay and they make record profits. They close refineries for repairs up goes the price. Our imports have dropped but their profits have not. They got us with a gun to our heads because there is no other fuel for cars. Best thing the government could do is break up the monopolies so the competition is there like it was in the past. No competition today just high fuel prices.
Bob, actually, gasoline demand is DOWN….
Please see this chart:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p8JX_24dGIc/Tz0YdA5bi3I/AAAAAAAABHQ/xpGHlsKRiLA/s1600/ScreenHunter_02+Feb.+16+08.52.gif
And quoting an article on this very subject:
“this data is interesting because it is un-manipulated, that is, it is not “seasonally adjusted” or run through some black-box modifications like so much other government data.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-why-gasoline-consumption-tanking
<<<>>>
Maybe there really ~isn’t~ the increased growth and demand you give Obama credit for… ;-)
Charles, regime change. Obvious double standard.
A couple of points.
1. Oil and refined products are a global commodity, keep in mind that countries in our hemisphere subsidize fuel prices so heavily trying to insulate their people from reality that it pushes refined product costs beyond mere consumer supply and demand economics.
2. The US exported more refined hydrocarbon products in 2011 than anything in the entire economy. It is somewhat one dimensional to assume one person or country is responsible for the run up in prices. We must comprehend that prices of fuel are determined by a much broader market than simply the “Big Three” trying to “put it to” the US consumer.
USA! USA! USA!
I’m hoping for a Republican president in 2013, but if you think this will result in lower gas prices, well, good luck with that. Better check with the Chinese.
The price gouging by Big Oil in raising gas prices is somewhat troubling but not nearly as much as the price gouging implicit in the record profits for Government Motors.
Isn’t it obvious that if GM can report such profits that it should sharply reduce the prices it charges for its products? After all President Obama is the man who can call the final shots with respect to pricing policy given the billions of dollars lent to this company at virtually zero interest rates.
We all know how he feels about obscene profits and has vowed to end them. However, in the case of his auto holdings, he seems to think that such profits will result in doubling the price of GM stock at which level he can sell the U.S. holdings and get out without a loss.
Well, he has badly miscalculated since the UAW will soon be demanding much bigger shares of GM revenues for its members in the form of wages and benefits. Further, a substantial portion of such profits were generated in the Peoples Republic and newly imposed restrictions on earnings transfers and taxes being imposed by the Chicoms on an ad hoc basis on such earnings seem certain to reduce the final sums realized in the U.S. by GM.
P.S. Historic data on gasoline prices can be interesting and these data would have been much more relevant if they reported prices and availabilities (fights at the pumps over scant supplies coupled with long lines and rationing) during the 1970 Arab Embargo in crude shipments following U.S. support of Israel despite Arab warnings. Oh and be certain to adjust such prices for the depreciation of the dollar over these past forty years or so.
Yep, let’s use Nostradamus to predict prices, instead of basic MATH. Most gasoline is refined along coastal refineries. That crude input price trades closer to Brent than WTI. That price is $120/bbl. The May 2012 futures indicate a price $.20/gallon higher than today for gasoline. Add in the risk of supply disruption from Iran and $5/gallon is a very high possibility for the US Northeast and California. Yep, the states that vote for Obama and block the Keystone pipeline that moves that cheaper WTI to refineries in the gulf coast is blocked by Obama. Stupid is what stupid does.
You can do everything in your power to make the oil companies happy, and they will accept everything that you do for them, but they will not give you cheap gasoline in return, that’s not how the game works. Every single quarter they make billions in profit, the figures are staggering, and I am not talking gross revenues, I mean profit. Every year we go through the same carousel of fake reasons why gas prices need to go up. Put the blame where it really lies instead of where you might wish it lies, otherwise you sound foolish.
With Obama in office, $6 a gal will be more like it.
Five bucks a gallon is actually UNDERSTATED.
Obama must go.
April 25th, 2008. Obama blames US presidents ever since Nixon in the 70′s for increasing gas prices and promises that he would rein in higher gas prices when HE is in office(besides implementing a middle class tax cut). But now, people are quick to decry any such blame for higher gas prices to his administration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnLP12X3EgM This article originally made the claim that a so-called expert that $5 gallon gas SURELY would never happen. It has been changed for obvious reasons. It is not unlike the “experts” who predicted with “virtual certainty” that last summer’s drought would continue through this Winter, Spring, and early Summer. http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/water-supply/texas-drought-continue-through-spring-experts-warn/
Bookmark this article when gas hits $5 a gallon and ask Kloza about when the Demi Moore tribute by the Spice Girls; at the Oscars nonsense starts! But don’t blame this President even though he blamed everybody else last election.
Nevermind wondering if gas will get the $5/gallon … the more you wonder, the more the oil bandit scumbags will raise the price. Just keep bent over at the gas pump … When it gets to $6/gallon, you can ask the gas station for your complimentary tube of K-Y Jelly.
Moderators: Apologies for the curse words. Here’s a clean one.
I’m sorry, did no one notice that this guy just tried to use a football team to justify his prediction of gas prices? Who writes this crap? And did you idiots just suck that right up in your haste to make a political discussion out of this?
Secondly, a failed business model, outdated technology, and speculation make for expensive gasoline, not a president who happens to be someone you don’t like. FYI the market takes care of the market, the president doesn’t take care of the market. And the market certainly doesn’t take care of the president.
Will one of you clowns explain how Obama is to blame when the demand is at its lowest level since 1997?
http://www.businessweek.com/finance/rising-gas-prices-not-demand-driven-02142012.html
But if you look deeper into the article you see that future prices are higher than ever….seems like speculators are the real culprits here. Oh and closing 3 refineries hasn’t helped keep the prices down. Just imagine what the prices might be with no speculation and those refineries open.
And Obama isn’t the first President to see $4 gas prices. Try watching what was said back in 2008. That isn’t Obama behind the POTUS podium talking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIHDPd7jHjE
Brilliant, really. Gas has doubled in under a decade. So scare the masses with $5 or $6 predictions. Then when gas is an outrageous $4.50, the people will thak you for it.
The powers that be want higher gas for several reasons. We should be using natural gas but those in control will not let it happen.
The prices will magically fall right before the November election.
Its $5 for 87 in some places now.
There’s one in every crowd…..someone always chimes in with that scientific/economic mumbo jumbo about supply and demand and how the market dictates the price of gas and we can’t blame it on politicians. We’re not dumb..we know it is market driven, but can’t you just let us complain about politicans without bringing in that argument. it sounds so much better and it is a lot more fun to blame everything on politicians. Please let us live in our fantasyworld where supply and demand doesn’t exist and we’re happy and dumb and can complain and blame whomever we want.