We still are, and US production continues to grow. But that has nothing to do with world oil prices, which sets our oil prices.
Oil and natural gas prices are up in part because much of the free world is shunning millions of barrels a day of Russian oil and BCF of natural gas, rightly so.
I have not really nailed this down. Dividends for stocks are ok, but stock market crashing. Places having trouble keeping help, but unemployment down. Housing prices getting overbids, and people loosing living quarters. Food prices up, but one cannot get baby formula.
Just to bitch was looking a month ago looking at a former greasy spoon, 2 eggs, meat hash browns and toast $11.95. Decided to check the price today in case I mis read it. Now $13.95. Thank goodness we can cook or stay at hotels with free breakfast. I cannot imagine the shock of an otr trucker getting stung for a rip off breakfast price
And sure gas went from 4.79 to 5.09 and we have an air alert from all the pollution coming up from the south, guess traffic and manufacturing not affected.
The shutdown was actually voluntary on the part of Abbott labs. The deaths of two infants (and the sickening of several other infants) from Abbott’s formulas was unusual, but I would hope that nobody would find that to be acceptable.
Another case where the press gets it wrong. I’ve heard it was shut down by the feds and also heard that it was voluntary.
Returning to the topic of cars/trucks and the shortage of “Blue Def” fluid for diesels, this problem began several months ago, and–like virtually all product shortages–it is a worldwide supply chain issue.
Drove by the station tonight and another 11 cents. Getting very close to $5 but mid range is there already and my non-oxy lawn mower gas was $5.25 a week ago. Might be close to $5.50 by now. So we’re 10-20 cents a day. In the bad old days I used to fill up every day as a method of dollar cost averaging.
I’ll see you and raise!
Mrs JT bought gas on Monday and the price at the same station was up 25 cents on Tuesday. I delayed until Tuesday to buy gas since that’s traditionally the lowest price day of the week. Not anymore I guess. Stuff happens.
I do not want to get all political (whoever happens to be in office right now kind of is what it is) but does no one else find it strange that all of the shortages, higher prices, etc are suddenly all “worldwide supply chain issues” or “covid related”, or, etc? The only issues we seem to think we have any control over are racial, sexual, or environmental.
I find the high price of gasoline a little odd as well. I can understand why gasoline price might be higher in Europe, but the USA is an entire ocean away from the conflict in Ukraine. I’m presuming – without any evidence – that oil companies selling gasoline in the USA are simply taking advantage of what they perceive to be a good business opportunity. Instead of allotting their products to USA residents as a patriotic service, the CEO’s are probably moving as much of their US produced oil products as possible to other parts of the world where it commands a higher price.
Well…it’s either a global market or the oil companies are price gouging. It can’t really be both. Either the production in the US matters or it doesn’t. I think we’d be wise to facilitate domestic production. Pretty much all we can do.
The problem is, increasing domestic production would do USA residents no good at all if the oil companies simply shipped the extra US-produced product out of the country. I guess we need to know how much US produced oil is crossing the border, compared to before the Ukraine situation.
That is true. Assuming they ship ALL of it out of the country. I think we should produce what we use. Is that possible? I have no idea, but it would be nice!
We’ve had this discussion before. The government doesn’t control gasoline supply or prices. If suppliers can get more money for selling someplace else, they will. Also, the supply chain doesn’t change instantly. Gasoline purchases were way down for two years and now there is a lot more demand. Just because you want gas doesn’t mean it will be instantly available. Wells and refineries have to start up again. Even then it may not be economically viable to start the marginal wells that were kept running because they barely paid their way.
@jtsanders … good explanation. Do we know how much US produced oil is crossing the border now, compared to before the Ukraine situation?
According to? I have driven the same amount. We took vacations. Perhaps I am an outlier. It’s not really quantified who has done the same driving and who hasn’t, as far as I can tell. There’s a whole lot of jobs that cannot be done by “working from home”, although I’d have liked that, myself. I think the reduced demand for a period is suspect, to some degree. But, I worked through the covid debacle. I had to. A lot of us did, because life has to go on. I wonder exactly how many people did vs. did not.
On the other hand, I bought a bicycle from a guy the other day who paid $1k for it during the pandemic. List price, $750. I bought it for $350 a year later. Lol. Covid drove the price up because a lot of folks were off work and looking for something to pass the time. But, a bike is a bike! Great, bike, BTW. Beats the heck out of my 30 year old Specialized!
That, is a hard to nail down answer from what I’ve seen. Are we net exporters or not? Is it crude or refined? Are we net exporters of crude and/or refined? Is production increasing or decreasing? From what I’ve gathered, overall production has decreased. Which I think is not a good thing. If we are going to use it, I’d rather use/produce our own.
Don’t sell your specialized. I have a 1985 Stump jumper, folks on the trail say “great classic you go there”. Then I watch as they pedal away on their full-suspension 13 speed carbon fiber, while I sit on my no-suspension model, wondering why my butt is so sore … lol …
Unfortunately since Covid started I’m not able to drive my Stump jumper to the mountain bike trail head. Calif won’t let me drive my Corolla. So, like you, I got a Covid-bike, a 7 speed hybrid, better configured for neighborhood rides than the Stump jumper. A neighbor gave it to me for free. Well, the price was zero dollars, but not exactly free, took about 20 hours of labor and $125 in parts/tools to get it working again. But it works good now, enjoying rides daily.
Actually, it can be both as evidenced by the record earnings and share prices for Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, and the other major players. In case you hadn’t heard, Exxon-Mobil’s share price increased by 71% so far this year.
While I get a substantial portion of my income from Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, and Marathon stock dividends, I would prefer that these companies be a bit less greedy–even if it decreased my dividends.
Calif won’t let me drive my Corolla.
Why can’t you use the truck to haul it to the trail head?