Advocacy & Safety - Retail Gasoline Rises to Another Record, AAA Says

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Retail Gasoline Rises to Another Record, AAA Says





NEW YORK (Reuters) - With the summer driving season still two months away, Americans kept digging deeper into their pockets at the pumps.

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For the sixth survey in a row, the AAA motor club said on Tuesday that the retail price of regular gasoline hit an all-time high.


Self-serve regular gasoline averaged $1.753 per gallon, up three-tenths of a cent from the prior record set Saturday, the AAA said. The motorist and travel group does not issue its survey results on Sundays and Mondays.


A month ago gasoline was fetching on average $1.69 per gallon and a year ago the average price at self-serve pumps was $1.66 a gallon, according to the AAA.


On top of that, earlier this week two other organizations announced fresh record high prices for self-serve regular gas.


The Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Energy (news - web sites), said on Monday its latest weekly survey of retail outlets showed an average of $1.758 a gallon for self-serve regular.


The private Lundberg survey also showed a record gasoline price. It said self-serve regular averaged $1.77 per gallon, making that a record on the books of this industry analyst.


The record gasoline prices reflect strong demand for motor fuel and high crude oil costs, which account for almost half the price of gasoline. The United States is the biggest customer of OPEC (news - web sites), which will meet on Wednesday in Vienna to decide whether to proceed with a planned output cut of 1 million barrels per day April 1.


Memorial Day Weekend in late May is the traditional start of summer for motorists.


Well-publicized record gasoline prices were cited by economists on Tuesday when the Conference Board (news - web sites)'s U.S. consumer confidence (news - web sites) index fell 0.2 percentage point to 88.3 percent. The Conference Board is a corporate-backed research group.


"Consumer confidence has improved but remains fragile due to primarily a soft jobs market and the recent rise in gasoline prices," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at economy.com inWest Chester, Pennsylvania.


While U.S. gasoline prices are considered high, prices at the pump in industrialized Europe are about three times the U.S. average.


And, when adjusted for inflation in 2004 dollars, the highest price was $2.99 a gallon in March 1981, according to the EIA.


The AAA said the state with the highest price was California at $2.13 a gallon, and the lowest average could be had in South Carolina at $1.62 per gallon.


The AAA was formerly known as the American Automobile Association.

What I find ironic is both Bush and Kerry are saying they will lower gas prices. Never mind the fact that oil production more likely than not has peaked and now will be in a downward spiral for the next 40-50 years.(Big clues; Shell has had to adjust their statements on reserves twice. The Saudis acknowledge they have peaked.). Oh sure gas prices might come down a little this fall but it's time to come out of denial. Instead of sending men to mars we should be using our money to develope alternative fuel and energy sources.
Yeah I realize it's a refining capacity issue and not supply at this time. My point is it's not going to get better in the long run.

With demand straining the supply system, we are all set for a gas price shock like we had in the Seventies. You think $2 is bad? Just wait.

lol... here in california, the bay area gas prices has already gone past over $2.07 for a 87 octane. for 89 octane.. it's already $2.17. that's the cheapest here mind you. there are some places like shell or chevron gas charges $2.17 or higher for 87 octane. that's why i'm riding to work. i seriously think that politicians should strongly make more room for bikers on the road. there are lot of roads around here that doesn't even have a proper bike lane. here in cali.. we're getting shafted up the a-hole for every day to day things. because we love the weather and sunshine here.. we have to pay over $800 for a studio apartment and over $1300-1400 for a 2 br apartment. not to mention the real estate here is crazy. sigh! :(

Funny how the Iraqi "war for oil" hasn't brought our gas prices down. They are higher now than before the war, probably due to the slowly recovering economy and subsenquent rise in demand. If the economy actually gets humming, gas prices could really shoot up...

Good news, really.

Good news, really.

Spot-on, William! Two factors fueled the famous American bike boom of the early 1970s: 1) Surgeon General Paul Dudley White; and 2) the 1973 gasoline "crisis," during which I was blissfully car-free. Our society suffers from gluttony at the dinner table and gluttony at the gasoline pump. Human-powered transportation is an admittedly small, but nonetheless vital, part of the solution. I also fervently hope that car buyers will start noticing the EPA gas mileage rating stickers again. Having bought new cars in 2001 and 2003, I am glad I stuck by my environmental and economic principles and selected the smallest engine available (1.8L, 2.4L) for each.

The first thing I look at when or if I'm wandering about a car lot is the mileage... it still baffles me that so few look or pay attention to it... everytime I put gas in the coffin I reset my trip odometer to judge my fuel efficiency. My g/f has no idea about fuel efficiency and doesn't understand why I even pay attention to it. I tried to get her to check her efficiency with ol'trip odometer check... but she completely forgot and just gassed up without checking what the odo. read. No matter how much I try to explain it, she just shrugs. But, hey, what do you get when you drive a midsize AWD automatic sedan... compared to my little 5spd Saturn :)

Unfortunately, a higher gas price easily leads to inflation, just look at what it did in the 70's. I'm all for getting people out of cars and in other forms of transportation, but high gas prices hurt everybody, even if you don't own a car. I would rather have cheap gas and get people to use public transit or bicycle commuting through monetary government incentives.

Unfortunately, a higher gas price easily leads to inflation, just look at what it did in the 70's. I'm all for getting people out of cars and in other forms of transportation, but high gas prices hurt everybody, even if you don't own a car. I would rather have cheap gas and get people to use public transit or bicycle commuting through monetary government incentives.

High gas prices will only hurt in the short term. Over time, high gas prices (and therefore higher international shipping prices) will bring manufacturing back to the USA because it will not be economically viable to make everything in China and ship it all over the world.

Our society suffers from gluttony at the dinner table and gluttony at the gasoline pump. Human-powered transportation is an admittedly small, but nonetheless vital, part of the solution.

I think that prices should be artificially higher for personnal use, and that transportation like public transit/or private mass transit/commercial trucking should be kept low.

This period has "forced" me to ride more, and I enjoy it to no small end. I value the trips in the Jeep (14 MPG) more, plan better etc. My co workers now take my ride/transit very seriously, and are looking to mimick. I'd LOVE to have more people in bike lanes with me.

The best way to force more dollars towards better mass transit and to get people to think outside the box is to make it expensive to drive. Sad, but true.

Spot-on, William! Two factors fueled the famous American bike boom of the early 1970s: 1) Surgeon General Paul Dudley White; and 2) the 1973 gasoline "crisis," during which I was blissfully car-free. Our society suffers from gluttony at the dinner table and gluttony at the gasoline pump. Human-powered transportation is an admittedly small, but nonetheless vital, part of the solution. I also fervently hope that car buyers will start noticing the EPA gas mileage rating stickers again. Having bought new cars in 2001 and 2003, I am glad I stuck by my environmental and economic principles and selected the smallest engine available (1.8L, 2.4L) for each.

Actually, the gas crisis ENDED the bike boom. Bicycle sales skyrocketed in 1971 and 1972 and were sailing in 73 then stopped cold when the embargo hit. That is because the bike boom was fueled by young, health concious americans with expendable income. The embargo tanked the economy and took away that expendable income. I have the bike sales figures from the 60's and 70's. I will post them if you are interested.

I think that prices should be artificially higher for personnal use, and that transportation like public transit/or private mass transit/commercial trucking should be kept low.

This period has "forced" me to ride more, and I enjoy it to no small end. I value the trips in the Jeep (14 MPG) more, plan better etc. My co workers now take my ride/transit very seriously, and are looking to mimick. I'd LOVE to have more people in bike lanes with me.

The best way to force more dollars towards better mass transit and to get people to think outside the box is to make it expensive to drive. Sad, but true.

Amen.

1) It still ain't as high as it was in the 80's (adjusted for inflation)

2) It's only going up. Opecs talking about dropping production. At some point, the Saudis will stop keeping world oil prices down, either by design or disaster. Demand is going up. Let's see: limited supply + increasing demand = hm, lower prices? Someone call Adam Smith.

What I find ironic is both Bush and Kerry are saying they will lower gas prices. Never mind the fact that oil production more likely than not has peaked and now will be in a downward spiral for the next 40-50 years.

Folks, both parties are clueless when it comes to our future energy problems. Newsweek had a good article on the prior energy policies back to the Nixon administration. It was a joke. We've wasted years in giving tax cuts to rich oil companies hoping they would make significant discoveries thus increasing suppy. Didn't happen.

Bottom line. Both parties still think we solve this problem buy using our oil reserves to lower the price (Kerry) or banning all these different clean efficient oil mixtures (which would speed production) and going to a dirty one (Bush).

Both of these solutions do not solve our future energy problems.

Funny how the Iraqi "war for oil" hasn't brought our gas prices down. They are higher now than before the war, probably due to the slowly recovering economy and subsenquent rise in demand. If the economy actually gets humming, gas prices could really shoot up...

Good one. The war was for oil but then it was found out that Iraq didn't have a lot of oil to begin with so it looks like they won't be paying us back for all the work we're doing!

The war bankrupted the country so the federal reserve had to keep the rates low and the dollar fell drastically. It's costing us more to buy oil with a cheaper dollar thanks to the war.

The high gas prices are costing me only $3 per week more factoring in 15K miles per year at 20 miles per gallon. $3. My co-workers were gripping and I told them to skip one days latte at Starbucks and it would cover the gas. Its not as bad people make it out to be. BTW I'm one of the few people that think taxes on gas should be higher. Theres absolutely no reason people need to drive what I drive.

Coffee, soda, water!!!, and milk all cost more than gas.
Its amazing......people pay $5 for a cup frothy mocha latte coffee whatever without blinking.

My goal is to become as car-free as possible. I save $2.00 in parking and another $1.60 in gas every day I ride my bike to work, which doesn't even count those expensive car repairs that hit when I can least afford them. Last time, I borrowed $2,500 to fix the transmission and I'm still paying for it.

And let's not forget that I'm healthier than almost everyone at work. (A young lady thought I was younger than Emily, a coworker, even though I have 10 years on her.)

But most people won't even consider riding a bike in traffic. It's just not an option they'd even think about, period.

it is scary in traffic. i still don't understand how ya'll handel that in downtown traffic level areas. it's the back roads, side walk and yards for me. if i ever get a bike good enough to commute on... sigh :rolleyes:

A $1.66 per gallon is CHEAP to the people of San Diego. It has been 4-5 years since
I have seen $1.66. These days its around $2.29-$3.05 per gallon. Gotta love the weather tax!

weather tax?

weather tax?

Yeah it is a local myth... the cost of living is so high from housing to college to gasoline everyone here believes that the year-round sunny weather and balmy temperature makes it worth it!

i wonder where the cheapes place to live is.

i wonder where the cheapes place to live is.

One of Canada's major cities.

I have to travel for work using my own vehicle. So, these higher prices really hurt. My employer only pays the vehicle the going IRS milage rate. (or so they call it).

So, no matter what anyone thinks about how the higher prices are a good thing, remember, there are those of us that ARE hurt directly by these high prices.

I have to travel for work using my own vehicle. So, these higher prices really hurt. My employer only pays the vehicle the going IRS milage rate. (or so they call it).

So, no matter what anyone thinks about how the higher prices are a good thing, remember, there are those of us that ARE hurt directly by these high prices.

You could make the same argument about any other commodity in the economy. Yet for some reason, fuel is the only one that seems to attract the controversy that it does.

Thing is, many people think that the oil crisis we are experiencing now is going to only get worse. There is a concept called "peak oil" which basically means we have reached the point where world production of oil will start to decrease. Not enough new discoveries will be made to keep up, and supplies will tighten more or less indefinitely. Many people say we have reached that point worldwide. The US reached its peak oil in 1970 or so, and look what happened as that supply dried up... But that time the rest of the world could pick up the slack.

Then again some guys invented that thing that turns garbage into oil, they will be rich if that works out...http://peakoil.org/images/peak_oil.jpg

So, no matter what anyone thinks about how the higher prices are a good thing, remember, there are those of us that ARE hurt directly by these high prices.

Live in the myth, use the morphine drip. Figure alternatives. That's the idea.

The gas, one day, will run out. What will you do then? Cry in your car?

I have to travel for work using my own vehicle. So, these higher prices really hurt. My employer only pays the vehicle the going IRS milage rate. (or so they call it).

So, no matter what anyone thinks about how the higher prices are a good thing, remember, there are those of us that ARE hurt directly by these high prices.

Folks. This is a major problem. Most of our cities are designed for motor transport and we can't redesign them for subways, trams and railroads. We are stuck with subdivisions the rest of our lives. In fact, many cities are impossible to ride a bicycle for any great distance. These folks are at the mercy of Opec and their leader who WANTS to see the price of oil go up!

As for me, I live in one of those older cities that has bus lines running down every street. I prefer to ride the 1.2 billion dollar light rail built just for my benefit so I can get to work on smooth rails without traffic. ;-) If you want to live in a community like this where public transport is cheap and efficient, you'll have to move. I can understand if you live in Cuba where moving is impossible but for the most part we bring our own misery.

The reason you don't want to move is the pain is not great enough. As someone said, milk, soda and coffee are more expensive than fuel so until gas goes up to where it is too painful to drive, alternatives will not be sought.

Until the price of gas bankrupts half the country most motorists will continue on driving.

As I said in a similar thread, we pay about $5.40 per US gallon (@$1.80/£).

America, we fe-e-e-e-l your pain!

I have to travel for work using my own vehicle. So, these higher prices really hurt. My employer only pays the vehicle the going IRS milage rate. (or so they call it).

So, no matter what anyone thinks about how the higher prices are a good thing, remember, there are those of us that ARE hurt directly by these high prices.

Next time, carpool and/or buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle. In 1979 I put $1.50/gallon gasoline into a 13mpg car. Twenty-five years later, I put $2.50/gallon gasoline into a 25mpg car, a huge savings when one factors in inflation. Because of global energy depletion, global climate change, and trade deficits, higher fuel prices are inevitable and, I would argue, desirable in the long run, despite the short-term pain and disruption they admittedly cause. By any rational measure, Americans unsustainably overconsume gasoline, and higher prices are by far the most politically and economically palatable way to deal with the problem.

We all know that gasoline prices will keep rising over time, with intermittent spikes, but we can easily reduce the impact through intelligent choices. The San Diego Northern Railroad's COASTER (Coast Express Rail) commuter trains had a record number of boardings last month, in direct response to gasoline prices, and to the benefit of gridlocked automobile commuters in the Interstate 5 corridor.

The San Diego Northern Railroad's COASTER (Coast Express Rail) commuter trains had a record number of boardings last month, in direct response to gasoline prices, and to the benefit of gridlocked automobile commuters in the Interstate 5 corridor.

I am a long time bus comuter and there has been a big spike in ridership in the last month. The bus I ride picks up a majority of the riders at two stops (Downtown Everett and then South Everett) the bus is standing room only after the first stop . I have never seen that many riders. Traffic is still slow in our I-5 corridor but at least the bus can spped by it all in the diamond lanes.

The reason you don't want to move is the pain is not great enough.


Very well put.

I have to travel for work using my own vehicle. So, these higher prices really hurt. My employer only pays the vehicle the going IRS milage rate. (or so they call it).

I know the going IRS mileage rate, and with any reasonably fuel efficient car, the IRS rate should more than cover gasoline on all but the worst of guzzlers. at 37 cents a mile and $3.00 per gallon, if my calculations are correct your car would have to get 8 miles per gallon to break even on fuel alone.

On the other hand, you made the choice to buy a fuel inefficient vehicle. A Volkswagen TDI gets 46 MPG highway, so at the current mileage rate diesel fuel would have to spike to $17.02 per gallon to only break even on fuel.

You buys your ticket, you takes your chances. Next time look at the mileage plackard of the vehicle with more than a cursory glance. If your current vehicle does do worse than 8mpg, my condolences.

take care,

Jester

P.S. I know that the mileage rate is supposed to compensate for wear and tear as well, but it was easier to do the math discounting that, and if a TDI were bought -- or any other car that gets reasonable mielage -- there would have been plenty of money left over for that.

Driving everywhere is not a necessity for everyone.

When the overall price of driving gets high enough, people might begin to envy me for having learned how to use a bicycle as transportation.

For many, driving is a necessity, however. These people are hurt the most by the tyranny of driving expenses.

What's ironic is that Henry Ford made his fortune making driving affordable to a wide range of American consumers. Once driving became a necessity, that was over.

Gas Prices Worldwide: March 21, 2004
U.S. Dollars per gallon, including taxes



Belgium: 3.36
France: 3.31
Germany: 3.49
Italy: 3.34
Netherlands: 3.87
United Kingdom: 4.16

The big boys aren't laughing so hard now when they see me driving my '93 Geo Metro, 3 cylinder-standard shift-5 speed, 35+ MPG piece of crap.

Matter-of-fact...they hate me. :p

Gas Prices Worldwide: March 21, 2004
U.S. Dollars per gallon, including taxes



Belgium: 3.36
France: 3.31
Germany: 3.49
Italy: 3.34
Netherlands: 3.87
United Kingdom: 4.16

There you go...... I was waiting for someone to post current worldwide prices. Back in the mid-seventies, I remember paying about 50 cents per liter (about $2/gal) for gas in Japan. Even today in most of these industrialized nations, you don't see private citizens owning SUV's and pickups. Comparatively speaking, I find $2/gal to be cheap. What makes it seem expensive are large vehicles which are used to burn these gasoline.

George

Another shocking fact, a cruise ship uses 9 gallons of diesel fuel a second.

Good one. The war was for oil but then it was found out that Iraq didn't have a lot of oil to begin with so it looks like they won't be paying us back for all the work we're doing!

I thought Iraq was number 4 worldwide in oil reserves?

Another shocking fact, a cruise ship uses 9 gallons of diesel fuel a second.

Holy Crap.

Another shocking fact, a cruise ship uses 9 gallons of diesel fuel a second.

I don't think so that equals 777,660 gallons a day They would have to stop for fuel a few times a day.

straight from the horses mouth: the Queen Mary 2 uses 175 gallons of diesel per kWh. Its max production is 67,200 kWh.
67,200
x 175
11,760,000 gallons

http://www.wartsila.com/english/pdf/Marine/MN_articles/diesel_electric_cruise_ships.pdf

i don't know if i did that right or not, but thats what the Cunard website said.

Well I haven't had time to research this too much but we have been discussing it at work. and a couple of possibilities have come up (by the way I work in the marine industry) first you need to look at the shear volume of the fuel they need to carry as well as the weight not feasible to carry. One of my co workers mentioned that maybe it is 9 gal a second to start the engines up and ge them going a lot of the cruise liners only run diesel long enough to ge the engines turned over then switch to bunker fuel to cruise. Another thing is when reading the bit you linked to the QEII is that it is basically hybrid and runs of electrical more than diesel and they talk about max usage i.e everything is running generators, pumps, engines and going full speed that never happens. Maybe there is a boat engineer out there that can explain how it works.

Yeah it is a local myth... the cost of living is so high from housing to college to gasoline everyone here believes that the year-round sunny weather and balmy temperature makes it worth it!

:werd: don't forget... besides the weather tax.. there is also the cheese tax... cuz it's california cheese.. lol

but yea 1.66 per gallon is hella cheap compared to gas price in cali. it's too ridiculous. pretty soon... there will no long have any middle income people, because there will only be high and low income only if this rate continues... :(

canada is the cheapest place to live dispite their double taxes. but at least you don't have to pay for your medicare.. unlike here.. seems like they jack up the medicare yearly for the fun of it.

Well I haven't had time to research this too much but we have been discussing it at work. and a couple of possibilities have come up (by the way I work in the marine industry) first you need to look at the shear volume of the fuel they need to carry as well as the weight not feasible to carry. One of my co workers mentioned that maybe it is 9 gal a second to start the engines up and ge them going a lot of the cruise liners only run diesel long enough to ge the engines turned over then switch to bunker fuel to cruise. Another thing is when reading the bit you linked to the QEII is that it is basically hybrid and runs of electrical more than diesel and they talk about max usage i.e everything is running generators, pumps, engines and going full speed that never happens. Maybe there is a boat engineer out there that can explain how it works.

11 million gallons of diesel is an insane amount, I was just going off of what I had heard on the Travel Channel when they were going through the systems of the ship(the engine room guy was saying 9 gallons a sec, maybe a minute, its been a while). I seriously doubt that there is even room on a cruise ship for 11 million gallons of anthing, let alone fuel. Im sure they use a lot though. This new "Freedom Ship" that they are proposing to build will run on a similar hybrid system, which would be 100 different electric motors to run it, not to mention all of the electricity the ship needs to function. Just a staggering amount of resources for no real cause.

well.. at least for cargo ships it's a sensible cause. and don't diss the big ships... they are the most efficient. more volume in relation to surface area = less friction and better milage. they have a cargo ship that is 3000 feet long the last i heard... have they made a bigger on yet?

well.. at least for cargo ships it's a sensible cause. and don't diss the big ships... they are the most efficient. more volume in relation to surface area = less friction and better milage. they have a cargo ship that is 3000 feet long the last i heard... have they made a bigger on yet?

OK, as a former Midshipman at the US Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY (Class of '03, 1st company, SB '04, resigned '01) I can tell you A) 9 gallons a second seems a leetle excessive. 9 gallons a minute is perfectly reasonable. B) It's tough for me to think in terms of ship length (I'm used to gross displacement) but the Jarhe Viking has a 1500 ft LOA, and I know the Arco Endeavour is bigger. Note that both of these are Ultra-Large Crude Carriers. It's less practical to build a container ship on these scales, for various reasons (being super-panamax is a bad thing, and do YOU want to work out the balance equations for a 3000-foot-long container ship?)

Siggy

but there is a 3,000 foot long container ship. i saw it on t.v. it was blue... i can't remember the name.. doesn't matter anyway.

Yes...

So the bottom line is, is there a bottomless oil well?