Aha! (fuel costs)

[Ever Victorious]

For those of you that don't know, I drive my personal vehicle for a living, and my company reimburses me 100% for parking and also a per-mile reimbursement.

I maintain a separate checking/debit account for my work expenses, so that I can keep them separate from my regular expenses. The only crossover between the two is $50 per month that goes from my personal to my expense account (I pay my cell bill out of my personal account, but I get a $50 reimbursement from work, which ends up in my work account).

For the past couple months, the balance on this account has been slowly declining, which is unusual. So this morning I sat down and did some math.

Check this out:

I drive approximately 36,000 miles per year now.

The Versa averaged 30 MPG. The Legacy gets 24. I can reliably squeeze 21 out of the Tucson (which is what I am currently driving, as the Legacy has no A/C).

At this rate, and with a cost of $3.50/gal for gas (average where I live), here's the breakdown:

Tucson expends 1714 gallons per year, at $5999 total annual fuel cost.Legacy expends 1500 gallons per year, at $5250 total annual fuel cost.The Versa would expend 1200 gallons per year, at $4200 total annual fuel cost.

It is literally costing me $150 more per month to run the Tucson than the Versa.

I suppose, on the bright side, I'm not paying a $360/mo car payment... but still, kind of irritating to see those numbers.

[kc5f]

Hey, EV, move to NC/SC! I don't know if it's the climate or the terrain or both, but I consistently get 33 mpg on my Versa. I drive 36,000 miles per year, too, and gas here has been averaging $2.70-2.75 for a couple of weeks, although I pay $2.65.

Even at $2.75, though, 1090 gallons comes out to "only" $3000 for the year. I'm sure we could find a nice spot for you to set up, as long as you don't mind trading the Pacific for the Atlantic!

[Ever Victorious]

Even at $2.75, though, 1090 gallons comes out to "only" $3000 for the year. I'm sure we could find a nice spot for you to set up, as long as you don't mind trading the Pacific for the Atlantic!

Sure... all you gotta do is find my wife and I equal paying jobs out there, make the weather less muggy in the summer so I can breathe, convince my wife and mother-in-law, and move us out there.

Oh yeah, and stop all hurricanes off-shore or in Florida, and stop salting your roads. :P

[marleyfan]

You're lucky you don't live in the Vancouver BC area. Gas got up to $1.30/litre on the weekend. That works out to $4.91 Canadian per US gallon. It dropped a bit by this morning tho so now it's only the equivalent to $4.53/USG. As far as I know we are paying the highest prices in North America.

[ThirstyRoss]

You're lucky you don't live in the Vancouver BC area. Gas got up to $1.30/litre on the weekend. That works out to $4.91 Canadian per US gallon. It dropped a bit by this morning tho so now it's only the equivalent to $4.53/USG. As far as I know we are paying the highest prices in North America.

Heard about this site on CBC the other day. Mostly it's just upsetting to learn what we *should* be paying.

http://www.gasgouge.ca/

Here in Toronto it's at around $1.08CDN / litre, so it's better than Vancouver, but we're still getting taken for a ride!

[Ever Victorious]

Heard about this site on CBC the other day. Mostly it's just upsetting to learn what we *should* be paying.

http://www.gasgouge.ca/

Here in Toronto it's at around $1.08CDN / litre, so it's better than Vancouver, but we're still getting taken for a ride!

For those in the states... http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

Translation: Don't live on the west coast, Nevada, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota or Nebraska.

[XterraVersa]

When I bought the Versa, gas was near $3.00. By parking the newly paid off Xterra, I was able to get the Versa for about $50/month. Now that it is climbing over $3, the Versa will be free.

[motoguy128]

Hey, EV, move to NC/SC! I don't know if it's the climate or the terrain or both, but I consistently get 33 mpg on my Versa. I drive 36,000 miles per year, too, and gas here has been averaging $2.70-2.75 for a couple of weeks, although I pay $2.65.

Even at $2.75, though, 1090 gallons comes out to "only" $3000 for the year. I'm sure we could find a nice spot for you to set up, as long as you don't mind trading the Pacific for the Atlantic!

You don't have to go that far. Iowa is running around $3.00. I know you've always dreamed of living in Iowa.

[Ever Victorious]

You don't have to go that far. Iowa is running around $3.00. I know you've always dreamed of living in Iowa.

I shall start my new life as a corn farmer tomorrow.

[proxim2020]

I find it strange that a Texas Representative had an unsolicited press conference about how oil companies aren't taking us for a ride Everyone thought it was odd that he would create a press conference out of the blue to say "It's simply supply and demand. They've been investigated and there was no evidence found of price gouging." Someone's getting some kickbacks....I mean a donation to their campaign for speaking at one of their oil conferences. Exxon shows record profits one year and comes back the next year only to beat that record. If I had a legal staff large enough to fill a 56 story office building, I think I would be able to hide some things also. I wish we had a meter like this to show how much people around this country should be paying. Then we would be on the road to show there's some price fixing going on despite what the crooks in Washington have to say.

[sambot]

THanks for the site reference.

Bought gas yesterday for $1.12 litre, in oil-rich Alberta. According to the gouge meter , I'm getting gouged 29.1Cents per litre above normal profit margins.

I'm trying to sell a turbo diesel beetle. Diesel is at 90 cents per litre. I'm thinking of keeping the beetle for a second family car.

[XterraVersa]

There is plenty of oil, the problem is refinery capacity.

No refineries have been built in 30+ years because of EnviroNazis and N.I.M.B.Y.s. Oil companies have tried building, but they have been stopped at every turn. Now look what that policy has cost us.

If it keeps up, gas will be removed from the comodities market and listed as a public utility where profit will be kept to a "reasonable" level.

But this is the USA, free market forever! If we don't want higher gas prices, you need to start lobbying your local polititians to have an oil refinery built.

[sambot]

There is plenty of oil, the problem is refinery capacity.

No refineries have been built in 30+ years because of EnviroNazis and N.I.M.B.Y.s. Oil companies have tried building, but they have been stopped at every turn. Now look what that policy has cost us.

If it keeps up, gas will be removed from the comodities market and listed as a public utility where profit will be kept to a "reasonable" level.

They are building refineries here, it's just that most of the refined oil is sent south to the US.

Gas jumped 9 cents a litre here (litre being about a quarter US gallon). I did the 30 litre top-up at a station that hadn't yet changed its price. The frustrating thing is, gas costs less in small towns than the cities.

And in my wanderings through the net, found this article on 4 myths on saving gas:

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/0705...-home

[proxim2020]

In Texas, they are building more refineries here very slowly. Everyone wants more, but no one wants one near their house since the BP explosion a couple years ago. The state's looking into suspending the 0.20 gas tax for the 3 busiest months of the summer (June, July, August). It's passed in congress, just waiting for the house. Then we should beat out the NC/SC folks in lowest price

[Rockhound]

Exxon shows record profits one year and comes back the next year only to beat that record...

Just a quick note regarding these "record profits"...people don't realize how biased their opinions are. Take a look at "Big Cola" - I mean, we pay about $6.40/gal for carbonated sugar water, but no one suspects Coca Cola or Pepsi of gouging. Oil and gasoline are refined products that take an emmense amount of work to extract from subsurface reservoir rocks. Heck, why not complain about "Big Milk's" profits?

Plus, I'm not sure if anyone is really aware, but the US is currently ranked 11th on the world's oil reserves list...because our heyday in oil production peaked many decades ago. Now, unfortunately, we rely on imports far too much to complain about gas prices. The price of gasoline is directly related to the commodity price of oil, which is rather high right now, and doesn't seem to coming down any time soon.

Also, a little insight into these "record profits". First off, as our nation's conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs become more and more scarce, we've moved to 'unconventional' targets, such as shale gas, coal bed methane, and tight gas sandstones. All of these targets require far more technology to drill and complete a well, with diminished returns as compared to a shallow oil gusher in 1930. The drilling and well completion companies also want a piece of the pie, so to speak, and drilling/completion costs have escalated recently as well. So...if we want companies to continue to drill wells here in the US, then we better get used to somewhat higher prices. Supply and demand is real, as are refining shortcomings.

Another tid-bit, many times in the past (the good ol' days) gas prices have been higher than today's, when adjusted for inflation. Even in the oil boom days of the 1940s, the national average was $0.29/gal, which is equivalent to $2.50/gal today...and wages have increased at a faster rate than have gas prices. So ~$0.29 back then was proportionately higher to average wages than is $3 today.

By the way, I happen to be a geologist for a mid-size oil company...sorry for the 'lecture' but people should be more informed as to how we explore for hydrocarbons, how wells are drilled (and how much they cost), and the technology involved in extracting these hydrocarbons. Higher prices are helping companies produce oil from unconventional sources, like the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta. If I generate a prospect, but the economics run on that well show that we won't make any profit based on the expected recovery from that well at the current (and future) commodity price of oil/methane, then the well isn't drilled. Hence the sluggish domestic drilling during the '90s, the time of $10/barrel oil and sub-dollar per MCF gas.

Every company is out to make a profit, that's how it works. We're lucky that we aren't paying the UK's gas prices (up to $7.75/US gal). People gladly pay $4 for a cup of Starbuck's cofffee, and $1 for 20oz of soda, but balk at the idea of $3 or $4/gal gasoline. Plus, believe it or not, these "record profits" are helping the major companies (like BP) develop alternative fuels. 'Cause guess what? They don't want to get left behind when fossil fuels become scarce and new fuel technology comes along.

[marleyfan]

Not quite sure what the cost of Cola has to do with a discussion about gas prices. Our transportation industry doesnt rely on Cola. Pepsi can charge as much as they want as long as people choose to pay it. We don't have that luxury with gas. If I want to drive my car I have no choice but to pay what the station charges. The fact is that cars are still pretty much a necessity. Cola isnt. As for record profits and the cost of exploration and production, aren't all cost associated factors calculated BEFORE the bottom line? Those profits are AFTER all exploration costs are accounted for. So I'm not quite sure what your point regarding profits was.

[Martini]

I live in Medford, OR and the gas here is extremely high. Which is just great cause I'm about to buy my first car.

3.43 here at Safeway not including their .03 discount with the Safeway card.

A good way around this is...a credit card. There are a few credit cards out there that give 5% off of grocery, gas, and other items. Thats about 20 cents a gallon you can save. Draw back is it is on a credit card...but hey, responsibility is responsibility.

[Rockhound]

Not quite sure what the cost of Cola has to do with a discussion about gas prices. Our transportation industry doesnt rely on Cola. Pepsi can charge as much as they want as long as people choose to pay it. We don't have that luxury with gas. If I want to drive my car I have no choice but to pay what the station charges. The fact is that cars are still pretty much a necessity. Cola isnt. As for record profits and the cost of exploration and production, aren't all cost associated factors calculated BEFORE the bottom line? Those profits are AFTER all exploration costs are accounted for. So I'm not quite sure what your point regarding profits was.

Well, sorry to take this thread even further off topic, but I'll try to reply.

You missed the point. This really boils down to defining 'necessities'. It would seem that the necessity of cars is far different in other cultures than our own. For the folks who slurp a Coke or Starbucks in the morning just to stay awake, they'd argue that those purchases are just as much a necessity as their car's fuel. Don't you see? The price of gas is driven by the demand, among other factors of course. If all those planned boycotts were successful, that is, if nearly all Americans would not buy gas for a couple days, the price would go down. The price remains high because usage remains high. If people quit buying Coke, they'd drop the price accordingly. In terms of simple economics, the two are really quite similar.

My primary point regarding profits was that exploring, drilling, completing, and producing are all becoming more and more expensive - as are the resource plays that many companies are targeting. I mentioned the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta...the processing costs involved in extracting crude from this formation are immense, and as such, activity in such plays was almost non-existent a decade ago. The cost of extraction and processing far exceeded the commodity price of oil at that time. High oil prices today make exploiting such resources a possibility today, however. We've got potentially prolific reservoirs waiting to be tapped, like gas shales, but they require even higher monetary input and drilling technology to pursue. If you can't see how these 'record profits' are reinvested into such pursuits, then I don't know what else to say.

The common misconception for most folks is that the oil companies set the price of oil. They don't. Their activities affect the price of oil, but they don't control it - it is a commodity traded as a future. Drilling activity was limited in the '90s due to the low oil prices - because it just wasn't profitable to drill wells at those prices. Accordingly, profits were slim during this time as well. The price goes up, activity increases, and profits increase, it's all cyclical.

People hate oil companies because of their profits, yet if their own business were to enjoy such success, they'd defend their right to do so vehemently.