$2.00 Gas

[bjanakos]

Regular Unleaded is going for $2.19 in the Chicago Suburbs. Premium is still a bit high averaging around $2.65. The marina is usually a few ticks above that. So given the current market, I could be looking at $2.75 gas next season.... WOW! Maybe I can be a little more liberal with my fun trips.

Diesel is still a whole dollar above ($3.19). I imagine it will eventually trickle down.

Fingers crossed that they don't figure out a way to jack it all up on us.... Anything under $2.50 at the marina and I will be ecstatic!

[prowlersfish]

I hope diesel catches up

[The Dog House]

The lowest I've seen in New Jersey was $2.23 per gallon for 87 octane. From what I've read, the prices are expected to remain low. The decrease in cost is due to the fracking technology now being used. The United States has always had the most oil of any country in the world. The problem was the United States oil was difficult to extract, which didn't make it cost effective to get. The new technology has reduced the cost of getting the U. S. oil, so the price has come way down. As long as fracking is allowed, I don't expect the price to increase substantially.

[BarryL]

Here is my .02,

I agree that the Fracking has brought the price of a Barrel of oil down because we can now be self sufficient and are in fact an Oil Exporting country right now because up until recently with the price of oil being at record highs it was profitable to frack for domestic use and export.

Here are a few more thoughts. Not that long ago Oil was $115 a barrel and gas was $4.20-$4.75 at the pump on land. The cost at the pump has not reduced itself by the same percentage as a barrel of oil has so if there were no politicians or big oil companies messing with the free market gas at the pump would it be down to $1.70 a gallon and a barrel of oil would be near $55-60 ? Problem with that is, Fracking becomes profitable above $74 so if oil drops below that per barrel the cost of fracking is more than the expected revenue (If you believe the pundits) so that would remove the incentive to frack and then supply would go down and naturally the price would go back up to a level that the Saudi's are comfortable with.

Could it be that Saudi Arabia is not reducing production to squeeze out the smaller Opec nations that rely more heavily on the price of a barrel of oil to fund their economies? In turn those economies would have to cut production with the hope that prices would go back up or they would have to increase production to get the same annual revenue.

Low oil prices are good for the American consumer, High oil prices are good for oil companies and oil producing nations. Who do you think is going to win that battle? Yep the guy with the oil...

If the Saudi's/OPEC want the price of oil to go back up all they need to do is keep production up and drive the price down for the near future. Fracking will cease because it will no longer be cost effective. In the mean time Americans will get re-addicted to cheap gas, SUV's that get 15mpg and Big Old Trojan boats that get less than 1mpg. As soon as that fracking stops the Saudi's/OPEC will again hold the golden ticket and regain control of the worlds oil prices.

I think that if you want stable oil prices and don't want to be held hostage by the OPEC tie the cost of a barrel of oil (the only thing they have for the world market) to the cost of a bushel of grain (What we have) and see what happens. As it is right now we give grain to foreign countries in the form of "International aid" that grain is all funded by the American tax payer not only via tax revenue but also by farm subsidies (another for of taxation) to keep the prices low but production high so farmers continue farming. We are the worlds bread basket, They are the worlds Oil barrel. Lets tie the two together and see who would rather eat than jack with the price of oil.

I am sure there are many more forces at play than the average guy is aware of but if we can get a few summers where it doesn't cost $1200 to fill the boat up I wouldn't complain too much.

Have a safe and Happy New year and pray for summer. 96 days till splash...

Barry

[larryeddington]

Bad things will be jobs, at least in oil production. Good thing it is putting the hurt on Putin in Russia, he has sanctions and I understand the global PPB is below what he can pump it for, ergo no money and he is getting less popular to his people. The bear needs to go back into hibernation.

Perhaps this should be in pontifications but my .02c worth.

[bjanakos]

...Not that long ago Oil was $115 a barrel and gas was $4.20-$4.75 at the pump on land. The cost at the pump has not reduced itself by the same percentage as a barrel of oil has so if there were no politicians or big oil companies messing with the free market gas at the pump would it be down to $1.70 a gallon and a barrel of oil would be near $55-60 ?...

Some fellas and I at work were recently discussing this, mostly because of the delta in relation to fuel oil.

We did some remedial math based on data we can get from google and to the best of our abilities we arrived at a possible conclusion that there is still $100-barrel oil in the inventory and this is why it seems prices rise much fast than they drop. Basically, a refinery fills a storage tank with $100-barrel oil. They use half a tank and sell it off... Then they top off the tank with $50-barrel oil. So the value of that tank is now $75-barrel and this is where the market price gets set; and they aren't taking a loss.

Prices are still falling, but starting to level out. Eventually the older;more expensive inventory will filter out and once the barrel price stabilizes, the fuel prices should eventually get back to traditional ratios, if not better due to modern efficiencies. But since the changes in the federal fuel tax structure, it will be difficult to reach those low-lows if the price gets much under $50-barrel.

We were looking for a comparison of how much diesel gets produced in relation to gasoline, but did not find anything of value. However, being that we are at the beginning of winter, the demand for heating fuel is at its highest. Those who rely on fuel oil for heat have already placed their orders, and the demand is higher than average because of the unseasonably cold we experienced last year. So the demand on diesel is on the high right now.

Anyway, I hope it keeps going....

[bjanakos]

As a side bar....

When I was first looking to buy this boat (F-32), marina gas was nearly $5 at the time. My buddy joked that the boat "Doubled in value" with full tanks of gas. So it was like getting $1200 back for free!

Now it's closer to $600.

It's still a loss I am willing to take!

[kevinz]

We have been dealing with $5.00 gallon of gas for the boat for so long, I don't really care who, what, why gas is dropping!! I just know that we are planning a lot more longer trips this year.

[lawyerdave71]

It is exciting news! I am tickled about it. Like we actually can move the boats now!!!!!!

[lawyerdave71]

bjanakos

Don't know if you are aware of this but gas in Waukegan has traditionally been the cheapest in the area. It never went above 4.10 last season whereas it was close to 5.00 everywhere else!!

[bjanakos]

bjanakos

Don't know if you are aware of this but gas in Waukegan has traditionally been the cheapest in the area. It never went above 4.10 last season whereas it was close to 5.00 everywhere else!!

I usually gas up in Waukegan on the way home from fishing Anywhere on that strip east of 41 is usually pretty good price wise (the locals are a little dodgey). I don't know why, but it usually is cheaper there by at least $0.10. I went through there yesterday and it was a bit higher. Kenohsa was at $1.99 yesterday for regular, but premium is still above $2.50.

Harbor gas never made it to $5. I think $4.60 was the highest I paid.

[rossjo]

Saw $1.95 gas (not on water) and filled the truck on $2.75 diesel this week! Woohoo!

[Flyboy]

Just paid $1.55 per gal in St. Louis, hope this translates over to the marina this year.

[The Dog House]

Just saw 87 octane gasoline for $1.979. That's the first time I've seen gas under $2.00 in many, many years.

[bjanakos]

Just paid $1.55 per gal in St. Louis, hope this translates over to the marina this year.

Holy smokes!

Still hovering above $2.00 here. And it went up last week when the market took a hit. $2.29 the highest and about $2.16 the lowest. $1.89-$1.99 in Kenosha WI.