OT- gas prices

2.39 here. Just went down from 2.49

2.25-2.40 in the DC/Baltimore area. I drive a diesel so the 2.40ish has been awesome.

DoubleEgger said:

I paid $7.69/gallon today. 

Makes me feel a little better.  I think we're still at around $3.13 or so per gallon up here (maybe $3.23).

$2.25 here. We are all subsidizing them good ol' boys in Texas. They look out for #1 for sure. Still, 225 is considerably better than it HAS been!

$2.29 at Costco & Sam's in my area.
Paid $2.99 for a dozen eggs on sale yesterday!  

I am getting Diesel in FL from 2.39 to 2.65 depending on which side of the road I fill up on. 

1.89 here

Just filled up at $2.85 in central California, but 3 of our oil drilling customers have laid off over 2,000 between them because of the low price of oil.

I saw $1.95 In south Jersey today. Ever since I converted my house from oil to natural gas last year the price if oil has been falling.

Anyone looking for a stock tip or a horse to bet on?

What is driving this?  @SGH any idea?

@Dobie ?

Thanks, Obama!

SGH said:

EGGjlmh said:

What is driving this?  @SGH any idea?

@Dobie ?

The biggest thing that is driving it is high production. When oil was extremely high for so long, that's when the super majors  start farther exploration and production. Just in the Gulf of Mexico, in the past 2 years there have been several major reserves brought online. Just to name a few that I have worked on: BP Thunder Horse, Shell Cardamom, Shell Stones, Hess Tubular Bells, Exxon Hadrian South, Exxon Julia, Deep Gulf Energy Kodiak. All of these are massive, high yield reserves that are producing at near capacity or will be very shortly. When you add in all of the fracking in the North, and Saudi Arabia producing at a all time high, it creates a glut of oil and prices fall. The fields that I named above are just a few that I personally worked on. There were several more in that same time frame that I did not work on that came online or are in the process of coming on line as well. Kodiak and Cardamom will producing at full capacity around the first of the year. Prices will fall even farther for a while. But don't get to excited. Once the majors recover their upfront investment to bring these wells online, they will cut production and drive the price back up. This is a tactic that they have been using for well over a century now. It was a practice that was perfected by the former giant and parent to almost all American oil companies. The Standard Oil Trust. Rest assured my friend, just as sure as the sun sets in the west, you will live to see $5.00 a gallon gasoline. And it really won't be that long before it happens. Once their initial investment is recovered, all of these fields will be throttled back to 1/3 capacity. This will create a "fake" shortage and prices will soar again. I call it fake because the oil is there and tapped, they just reduce production. They can ramp up or down at will anytime that they want. Just the deep water fields brought online last year has enough reserves and output to run America for the next half century. There is no shortage of oil. Except when they want it to be. 

Thanks sir for the in depth explanation.  Although I enjoy saving money at the pump, I realize that many people in the oil industry count on it as a living such as yourself.  I continue to hope that oil stays down in price but at the same time hope all other Americans in the oil industry can also make their fine living as they should.

Here is a another very intriguing fact. Sitting just a few miles off of the Florida coast around what is known as the Destin Dome is a massive proven reserve that currently can not be produced due to environmental laws. If Chevron and ConocoPhillips had the green light to produce this reserve that is so close to land, gas would be almost half of what it is right now. It's a monster reserve that is already proven and it's cheap to produce due to its very close proximity to land and two major refineries. I'm all for conservation, I honestly am. But less than a dollar gasoline sure is appeasing to me. I can ramble on and on for days about this stuff. The reason that I like talking about it is to enlighten the non oilfield workers about just how much oil is really out there. When you hear the term shortage, it's just a strategic market manipulating a strategy. Nothing more. I will make one last point for the real young folks out there. For as big as the Gulf is, it is dwarfed in size by both the Pacific and the Atlantic. If there is enough oil in the Gulf to easily run America for almost the next century, how much do you think lies in the even deeper waters of the Atlantic and Pacific? The amount there is beyond comprehension. I won't personally live to ever see it, but plans are already in the works to push out into the very deep waters of both. For all the young people reading this, you will live to see the day that Saudi Arabia no longer sits at the top of the production food chain. Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon/Mobil will surpass them when they bring these extremely deepwater wells into production. As of today, we are already sitting sub sea main lines in over 7,000 feet of water. Something unimaginable only a decade ago. The plan for the very near future is 15,000 feet water depth. Then after that, 25,000 feet. It's happening faster and faster everyday as ROV and spooling technology keeps advancing. My whole point in all of this is that we have both the reserves and refining capabilities to have 25 cent a gallon gasoline. So the next time you are paying 2$ a gallon for gas and thinking you are getting a good deal, remember this is exactly what they want you to think. You are actually getting screwed, only now I have made you aware of it. 

Thanks for the insight!