πΏπΆππΆ "not yet begun to fight"Seen in Seattle today. We're going to see $10/gallon before this is over. I guarantee it.
Also, a quick reminder before the replyguys come in. Yes, these are indirectly caused by the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. No, that is not because of a lack of crude oil. While that used to be true decades ago in the 80s, since then, the US has become the largest *exporter* of crude oil in the world. For us, this is a pricing issue, not a supply issue. Buying more crude from other countries would not solve this. We have plenty of supply, and even a ton in reserve. It's just costing us more to buy it because the price of gas is almost directly tied to the global oil market.
For other countries (China and Russia for instance), this isn't a pricing issue. It's a supply issue. Running out of oil for them means food can't get delivered to cities. It means factories can't run. It means electrical grids go dark. For other global super powers, running out of oil is a massive infrastructure clusterfuck.
If you like the fact that America isn't currently facing that existential threat, thank Obama and Biden. They did that for you.
Carson Hill"Thanks Obama"
Actually yeah. Say what you will, we used to have actual, functional, and dare I say it admirable humans elected as president in this country. People who left the country better off for them having led it.
Thanks, Obama. You were the best president I've seen in my 30-odd years of being an American. You did pretty damn good.
Whether or not we still *have* a country, let alone democracy, once Trump is wound out of office like a damn tapeworm remains to be seen.
-rb@Lana Iβm not an oil expert but apparently the crude oil from the US is light/sweet oil, but our oil refineries are built for heavy/sour oil, which isnβt compatible. So we export the oil we extract from the ground, and we import the oil we actually use.
Obviously we could build / modify refineries but corporations donβt have any motivation to do such an expensive upgrade.
hal
Virginicus@Lana Some enterprising politician should point out that our prices are going up because the so-called American producers would rather sell to Europeans and Chinese than us.
Cat West@Virginicus @Lana there is no patriotism or loyalty in the resource extraction industry. They take OUR national resources, pay almost nothing for them, destroy the environment (never rehab any of it) and sell it back to us at a rate derived essentially from the Spot Market, which is higher than OPEC or any other global org.
National resources should belong to the citizens first, not the corporations. But alas, I whine, therefor I am.
DressToKILT@Catawu @Virginicus @Lana America's imperative is to extract wealth by any means necessary and concentrate it.
C. R. Collins π³ πΈThat's what our prices were like last week in CA when I filled up. $60 to fill a Mini! π€¦ββοΈ
@crcollins I spend an average of $5-10 to fully charge my EV
@crcollins so happy I don't have to fuck with the gas stations anymore
EasydorWish I could afford one
@crcollins they're getting cheaper and cheaper. Check out used EVs
We have been. We live mainly on Social Security and get by day to day, but couldn't afford a car payment, let alone a down payment. But my husband's health issues have gotten better so he's been trying to get another contract job. If he finds something we might swing it eventually.
WeaselWhen gasoline reaches $10 per gallon they're going to have to go back to selling by the liter like they did in the 1970's when gasoline spiked over one dollar per gallon and the pumps didn't have the needed additional digit.
the vessel of morganna@weaselx86 @[email protected] Think they could drop the worthless 9/10ths of a cent bullshit and move the decimal? maybe not, at least some of the pump computers I've seen are so cost optimised they probably hard-wired the decimal π
Paul_IPv6
Jernej SimoncΜiΔ οΏ½@Lana I've read that in some areas the only reason it hasn't already gone above $10 is because the pumps can't be set to anything higher than $9.999β¦
(^^)
RootWyrm πΊπ¦
@Lana diesel is already $0.35 away from an all-time record, inflation adjusted, per actual experts. Who also expect it to breach that within 3-5 days, but possibly sooner.
Stations are lagging the rack price so badly that people should be expecting more than $0.30/gal jumps on gasoline when prices cycle.
And the actual impact still hasn't hit due to shipping lag times.
Stations are lagging the rack price so badly that people should be expecting more than $0.30/gal jumps on gasoline when prices cycle.
And the actual impact still hasn't hit due to shipping lag times.
The Sleight Doctor ππ@Lana East Midlands, England. Presumably an element of panic buying before Easter, but this was mid-afternoon, so I'm going to say anxiety about fuel shortages and/or price spikes due to Trump's stupid war on Iran, probably had something to do with it.
@ApostateEnglishman the UK has a high reliance on imports for crude oil, particularly from the United States, but about 12-14% does come through the Strait of Hormuz. I would consider this a supply issue rather than a price issue in the UK specifically.
Outfrost@outfrost I'm not well versed enough on the various types of fuel. Is 87 considered high? Low?
@Lana i'd think it's quite low. in Poland and Germany the baseline standard is 95 (and the "premium" whatever is 98), i remember being surprised to see 91 in Czechia but it's been a long time and idk if they still sell that
i *believe* higher octane number is better, since it tends to combust more efficiently in modern engines
SQLAllFatherThat's much more than what I saw in Seattle yesterday, and I was filling up the rental car right next to the airport.
@SQLAllFather SeaTac is generally about 20-30Β’ higher than other area gas stations. Here's the map for today showing similar prices and even much higher. Bear in mind, this is for the cost of Regular not Diesel.
Understood - the point I was awkwardly trying to convey was that yesterday the SeaTac price was much lower - $5.459 if I remember correctly. It jumped from that to $6.20 in one day.
Dave
Dave
Killa Koala@Lana This is what happens when you are both the world's largest exporter *and* the world's second largest importer of oil.
This is what happens when you sell most of your domestically produced oil to foreigners (because your refineries are not set up to handle your own oil) and import most of what you use from other foreigners. It was a sweet deal for the oil companies, and the country, until Donnie decided to go to war with Iran.
There is little that is indirect about America's exposure to the world oil market today, it was a deliberate strategy by Big Oil to save money and increase profits. A strategy that Obama, Biden and Trump all let them get away with.
I'm afraid that you can't blame this mess entirely on Trump, he certainly lit the match and applied it to the blue touchpaper like the madman he is, but his predecessors allowed Big Oil to keep the USA exposed to world oil markets when it didn't need to be.