Alberta Fuel Prices...

[Ricktye]

So, does anyone else not wonder why we are paying pretty much the same price for gasoline today as we were when crude was in the ~$100/bbl range?
Is it a ripoff by the producers (who own the majority of the service satations), a new provincial or federal tax or??

I see the current price in Missoula is $1.93 US a gallon or ~$2.31 CAN and yet we're happily paying ~$3.80 a gallon here in Edmonton.

Thoughts or excuses?

[CanuckShooter]

It's a factor of supply and demand, with the shortage of oil and refining capacity they are forced to raise the prices to deter waste. :) or maybe that is to promote conservation....:thinking-006:

Maybe it's because the profit margins are so low on fuel that the stations couldn't survive without the convenience store sales....:thinking-006:

Really, I think it's because they can charge what ever they want...and not a blood soul with any authority will do anything about it. IMHO

[Sashi]

The Government would have been quick to jump on price gouging as blatant as this, but since it gives the Gov't extra revenue in their time of need they will ignore it. Unfortunately when the price of oil goes back up, the price of gas will sky rocket, so no one has to explain the price gouging collusion, between the big oil corporations and the government. :angry3:

[Leeper]

Quit travelling as much. Quit buying expensive fuel. Our lifestyle over the last fifty years has, more and more, been dependent upon the use of abundant fuel. We have become addicted to it and, as happens to many addicts, our pushers can and will squeeze us for every penny. Meanwhile, they will sanctimoniously proclaim their position as the driving force behind civilization and the best hope for the future of mankind.

[Ricktye]

Yeah, I kinda wondered about that too. How did we suddenly go from a (provincial) deficit to a surplus the same time as the price of gas skyrocketed? Coincidence?

The Government would have been quick to jump on price gouging as blatant as this, but since it gives the Gov't extra revenue in their time of need they will ignore it. Unfortunately when the price of oil goes back up, the price of gas will sky rocket, so no one has to explain the price gouging collusion, between the big oil corporations and the government. :angry3:

[avb3]

I'm still down in Florida.

Gas jumped from $1.85/gallon two weeks ago to $2.39. It jumped 12 cents in the past two days.

[Kim473]

I said it before Xmas. By mid summer we will be paying in Edmonton over $1.50 /L And oil will be below $ 100.00 / Barrel. That will be about a 30% increase in priceing. Hey, they can't make a liter smaller so they can't package it smaller right ? Just wait, they will think of a way to do that the next time around.

[79ford]

It will kill off demand and prolong the oil glut. The gouging will really come full circle and sort itself out. The largest inventory of oil the united states has ever had was after a major oil discovery and the start of the great depression in 1930 when inventories of oil bulged to a tank roof popping 513 million barrels.

Right now oil inventories sit at 435 million barrels, the second largest record in history for the usa. The current trend is about 7-10million barrel inventory builds per week so give it 10-12 weeks and there will be a new record oil glut.

World oil inventories are approaching 1998's record setting year, another two months and that record will be broken aswell.

Fuel high now, or low now.... theres no cheating the law of supply and demand when the tank roofs are about to be blown off and there is no where to put oil in some places:)

I dont care i cut my driving down big time. Fuel could be 2$ and the bill would be the same as it was 2 years ago

[Ricktye]

Wow! 12 cents/gallon... Went up 10 cents a liter or 4X as much here..... Must be free trade! LOL

I'm still down in Florida.

Gas jumped from $1.85/gallon two weeks ago to $2.39. It jumped 12 cents in the past two days.

[dmac]

I said it before Xmas. By mid summer we will be paying in Edmonton over $1.50 /L And oil will be below $ 100.00 / Barrel. That will be about a 30% increase in priceing. Hey, they can't make a liter smaller so they can't package it smaller right ? Just wait, they will think of a way to do that the next time around.

Did you come to that equation using a Ouija board? I do not understand your math.

[Sooner]

Ched had an "expert opinion" on the news saying the spike is due to a strike of union workers in the U.S. which is affecting the refineries production. So that's it. Whew, and I though it was gouging.

[TripleTTT]

http://www.albertagasprices.com/ This search engine works for U.S. and Canadian cities. I really think the U.S. based oil companies increase price stateside per gallon, then apply the same price increase in Canada, per litre, with no conversion! :angry3:

[schmedlap]

Yeah, I kinda wondered about that too. How did we suddenly go from a (provincial) deficit to a surplus the same time as the price of gas skyrocketed? Coincidence?
The "surplus" is for the 2014(or in a "fiscal" sense, 2014-15) year - it is much less than initially predicted, due to the low oil prices for the last part of such, but better than re-predicted at the time when the oil prices plunged. It isn't really a surplus at all, because it is based on the dodgy Horner accounting mode, separating "capital" and "operating" budgets entirely. Simplistically, in reality, there is a deficit (in the sense of comparing it to just pure cash flow) for 2014. The "surplus" is just on the "operating" side.
The severe impending annual deficit situation is what we are in for 2015, depending on what spending cuts and revenue increases are imposed, largely due to huge reductions in royalties, which are related both to volume of and revenue from resource extraction (nothing to do, in this sense, with retail gas sales).
The price of gas at the pump has almost nothing to do with any of this. The Provincial tax take on that is, generally, per litre, not per dollar. The government do not directly regulate what the gas retailer can charge at the pumps. The market (theoretically at least - supply and demand) determines that. Base oil prices (input prices) are a large factor, of course, but the price of gas at the pumps has virtually no bearing on government revenues. The volume sold does, because a general economic slowdown means less litres sold and thus less per volume tax collected. That factor may well kick in, but it hasn't yet.

[Heyupduck]

I think we have to buy it at the cheapest places (even if it is only a cent cheaper) to bring the prices down.
Until now, I have never bothered watching prices closely, or bothered trying to save a buck by buying at a cheaper gas station, but this is obviously gouging and collusion. The ONLY way to bring gas prices down isto buy at the cheapest places. Quite often hughes and domo are the cheapest.
The esso and shell on baseline and 50th st ALWAYS have the same price - disgusting.
If you don't think its gouging: 630 ched said on Tuesday morning that the wholesale price was down 2cents, but prices went up 8 cents.
I don't know how they get away with it.

So, play the long game, buy at the cheapest pumps and pass the message on.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

I'm glad it's going back up
With a 136L tank on my truck I felt I was ripping them off.
I can sleep better now that I know I'm doing my part and helping them again

[Kim473]

Did you come to that equation using a Ouija board? I do not understand your math.

Last summer gas was approx $1.15 or more X 1.30 or 30% increase = $1.495
Pretty simple math. Actualy 1.50 is more than a 30% increase. Gas was at times higher than 1.15 also, you get the picture. Gas will be over $1.50 by mid summer.

Gas at a few places in NE. Edmonton was at 92.9 this morning. If thats not price fixing then what is ? Shouldn't be above 0.80 at the very most if you compare price of oil /Barrel and price /L for gas over the years.
Gas Buddy has charts that you can look at to compare.