Premium gasoline

[woodym3]

An article in the Post several years ago talked about the wholesalers having different prices for various parts of a county, even one as small as Arlington.
The only apparent reason is marketing purposes.

Lee Highway in Arlington between Harrison and Lexington Streets has 5 stations and they all appear to me to have the cheapest brand-name gas this side of Woodbridge.

I came down Lee Highway tonight: Premium ranged from $3.059 at an Exxon at Westmoreland Street to 2.919 at the Sunoco. Most were $2.979.

[SharkD]

This is criminal. Despite the fact that we just lost 17% of our refineries, 11% of our offshore wells and our only deepwater offshore oil facility, this is criminal.



A gas station in Stockbridge, Ga., posts prices for gasoline from $5.87 to $6.07 per gallon Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe)



Gasoline customers check prices and leave at a BP station in Stockbridge, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2005. Gasoline price soared Wednesday toward $3 a gallon in many parts of the country, surpassing that level in some places, such as this station, as key refineries and pipelines remained crippled by Hurricane Katrina, crimping supplies and leading to caps on the amount of fuel delivered to retailers. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe)

[SMOODY]

Look on the bright side. If this keeps up, you should be able to buy a Hummer (or any other large SUV) real cheap.

[AlfaEric]

Look on the bright side. If this keeps up, you should be able to buy a Hummer (or any other large SUV) real cheap.

Wouldn't you know that I would go and buy an SUV just before this...

---Eric

[ob325]

My "reference" gas station in Arlington jumped overnight from $2.939 to $3.219 for premium. Even the cheap stuff was $3.02. Sadly, until gas gets to about $8/gallon it is still cheaper for me to drive to work than take Metro (not to mention the time savings). Please don't let it get to where Metro is cheaper.

Down here in Florida, my dad said he paid $2.78 this morning around 5am at the Gate on his way to work. Coming back from the airport it was $2.98. Gate is their cheaper carrier since it's refined locally (like Crown in DC). The national stations (Shell, BP) were just a few pennies cheaper than they were in Arlington this AM. I guess Florida is lucky because they aren't on the Colonial pipeline like we are in DC.

[M-technik-3]

$3.19 at Hess Rt 1 Alexandria. Reserves were tapped and still going up.


Here comes a recession....

[bwiz]

I was speaking with a friend of mine who works for Exxon Mobil and sells wholesale fuel through the pipelines and he says buying 89 octane is a waste. They mix 40% premium and 60% regular. He said you are better off mixing 50/50 your self or even 60/40 premium/regular and end up with 91 octane that way.

Anyway...I will still buy 93..too lazy to do two transactions at the pump and an entire tank you are only looking at a five bucks difference.

[weezer]

Here's the thing......The Oil companies can charge whatever prices they can. Just so you all should know, most of our oil and gas are imported from Canada. Yep, they are The US' largest oil supplier and second is Venezuela, not Saudi Arabia and we don't get most of our gas from the gulf coast. Especially the northern part of The US. But why are we paying these prices? Call it free market economy, capitalistic, supply and demand, etc....but that's what it is. So, let's boycott buying gas on Sundays. Just one day out of the week, that should hit the oil companies a good 10-15% of less sales. So, all this talk in the news about not enough refinery is bull***t. Many US oil refineries were closed because it was cheaper to import gas (yes, gas not crude oil) from Canada and elsewhere.....remember the outsourcing of US jobs? Just like the steel industry not too long ago, the US autoparts industry recently and IT administrators currently?

[Pinecone]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

Yes, gas companies can charge what they want, but since there are other companies, who will gladly cut prices by 1 - 2 cents per gallon to increase the percentage of the business available, you get into a competition setup, which results in gas prices stabilizing to a fairly low price based on actual costs. It is called supply and demand and capitalism.

[NoSoup4U]

It is interesting to see that the oil companies have profits in the BILLIONS. I guess the increase in gas prices was merited b/c crude oil cost so much more to refine ... I agree with Congress ... tax the crap out of those profits since they gouged the customers to get it.

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

It is interesting to see that the oil companies have profits in the BILLIONS. I guess the increase in gas prices was merited b/c crude oil cost so much more to refine ... I agree with Congress ... tax the crap out of those profits since they gouged the customers to get it.

Why? What about all the money they lost when oil was dirt cheap? Why should they be penalized for increased demand? Why is it that the oil companies must operate with MUCH lower returns on investment than virtually any other company out there?

[NoSoup4U]

Why? What about all the money they lost when oil was dirt cheap? Why should they be penalized for increased demand? Why is it that the oil companies must operate with MUCH lower returns on investment than virtually any other company out there?

Why? Do you own stock in oil companies or futures in them?

I just find it disingenous that the oil companies stated they were going to LOSE a significant amount of money if they did NOT raise their prices; but, the 3rd quarter profits clearly indicate that this is not true. If they made millions -- that's one thing; but, give me a break, billions in profit? It shows that they did not need to raise their prices.

I mean, the problem I see is that they raised prices and the consumer price index on EVERYTHING also increased ... it's a domino effect felt across the entire spectrum and not just limited to oil production/gas companies. I do not mind the oil companies making legitimate increases in price to match increased costs -- but, it should be done within reason.

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Dude.

When you sell BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF OIL, your profit had better be in the billions. If it isn't, then you shouldn't be in business.

Either we nationalize our oil companies and set artificially low oil prices so that the U.S. government pays for this, or we stop whining about the oil companies making a 10% margin.

[OwnedbyDuncan]

Last time I checked it is free country and you can make as much as you want as long as you do it legally or dont get caught. Look at the revenues or gross income of the oil companies. Damn sure hope they are generating profits in the billions. If you dont like capitalism leave the country. Pack up your crap and move to France or Sweden. Enjoy the taxes there. Exxon/Mobil did not do anything illegal or immoral. They made an honest buck a few billion times over. More power to them. So its okay for you to make as much as possible but not the the oil companies. What a load of crap! If you dont like their profits then dont buy gas. Get E320 and use biodiesel.

[Pinecone]

Notice NO news story tells the PERCENTAGE profit?

Back when Exxon made 1 Billion in one quarter for the first time, everyone was up in arms. The profit, as a percentage of GROSS sales, was under 7%. And this was back when the prime was around 6%.

Nick is right, when you sell BILLIONS, you profits will be in billions also.