Peacein the Middle East?? Gas: $2.81

I paid $3.12 for premium in St. Louis yesterday. Not bad since I'm on a college budget.

novaderrik wrote: prices are set by some combination of speculation of demand out into the future and some sort of black magic formula that is controlled by our reptilian Illuminati Freemason Build-a-Burger overlords..

...known as The Pentaverate

Even so, shuttling the kids around in the minivan and my wife's lengthy commute, we spend near $500 a month on gas. It could get a little lower and I wouldn't mind.

while 3 bucks a gallon is a relief compared to $4+, it's still triple what it should be. Anything more than a buck a gallon for 87octane is too much.

Get off my lawn

Thanks Obama!

In reply to Gearheadotaku:

the days of sub $2 a gallon of gas are over because the days of below $90 an oil barrel are over.

most Opec nations have had to jack up the price of their exports. why? because most opec nations are some form of non-representative government, but are trying to not have a revolution from their populace. So over the last 20 years in particular, they've been spending money on tons of social programs to keep their people placated and dim witted while they rule.

It doesn't matter how much it costs Saudi Arabia et al to drill for oil, because they need to sell it for X to take care of themselves now.

madmallard wrote: So over the last 20 years in particular, they've been spending money on tons of social programs to keep their people placated and dim witted while they rule. It doesn't matter how much it costs Saudi Arabia et al to drill for oil, because they need to sell it for X to take care of themselves now.

I once aggressively overheard a conversation between some Albertan oil zillionaires and they thought this was a great idea.

Only about 11% of crude oil burned in the US comes from the Middle East.

Fun facts:

"The United States relied on net imports (imports minus exports) for about 40% of the petroleum (crude oil and petroleum products) that we consumed in 2012. Just over half of these imports came from the Western Hemisphere. Our dependence on foreign petroleum has declined since peaking in 2005."

"...over 50% of U.S. crude oil and petroleum products imports came from the Western Hemisphere (North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean, including U.S. territories) during 2012. About 29% of our imports of crude oil and petroleum products came from the Persian Gulf countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates."

By far, the largest importer of crude oil to the United States is Canada.

the oil per barrel cost is the main part of the cost, but part 2 of the cost component is that there is almost no refining in the US or Canada.

even if we produced more oil, we're operating at like 95% and up capacity. we even closed a refinery last year in the US.

Of course... as soon as I'm ready to go shopping for a gas guzzling vehicle, gas prices drop, thus deluding the snopes into thinking they'll stay low forever and therefore driving truck prices up... nice.

Tonight, on the way home at the same station as yesterday (Sam's Club) I got gas for $2.73!!

The two other stations closest to there were both priced at $3.29. Sure, Sam's can often be a couple of cents less than non-member stores but $0.56 cheaper! That is like 20% cheaper.

I fear the end is near and prices are heading back up.
If I just had a realistic way to purchase 100 gallons, I would.

$3.56 here the other day (93 Octane).

I think 87 was $3.18

bastomatic wrote: Haven't stopped at a gas station in over a month. I'm actually semi-convinced that my decision to purchase an electric car will single-handedly cause gas prices to drop to 1998 levels, and make automakers come up with infinite mileage cars for rock bottom prices at the same time.

i felt the same as you, so I countered my electric car with the purchase this week of an 8.1 liter Suburban 2500 4x4. I'm sure prices will rise because of it...