Gas Prices dropped in your area ?

[dlrp_bopazot]

here in France we're now paying the average of €1,27 per liters in USD that's around $7 a gallon compared to $10 this summer .

Even European Airlines had to drop their Fuel Surcharges .

how much is a gallon of gas in your area ?

[wendybeth]

We noticed gas is now $2.99 a gallon, but it's at least about .20 cents cheaper across the border in Idaho. We have a pretty high gas tax here in Wa state.

[Morrigoon]

$3.22/gal at the place on Katella between DL and the 5 south. Probably 10 cents higher around here, I didn't look.

[Betty]

Yep - 3.23 a gallon at "cheap" gass place on my way to work. It's dropped - but not nearly as quicly as the price of oil has dropped.

[Snowflake]

I paid $3.44 for regular unleaded in SF at Fillmore yesterday. Since it was a Shell station, I figure it was a really good deal, Shell is typically higher (and I was running on fumes). Since I am no longer commuting, I have to say, it's been a pleasure, this is only the 3rd fillerup since April!

[BarTopDancer]

$3.33 last week at Costco. Costco is only a few cents cheaper than the other gas stations these days.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Between $3.20 and $3.30 in our area for the last couple of weeks. CP found $2.99 in North Vegas yesterday. She got change back from $40 filling my car up!

[Brigitte]

$2.69 at Costco here yesterday.

[Kevy Baby]

$3.12 this morning at the Arco at Baker at the 73 (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=costa+mesa,+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=33.680216,-117.880034&spn=0.001667,0.002012&t=h&z=19)

[JWBear]

$3.17 at the ARCO at Trask and Brookhurst.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I think we paid $3.35 yesterday. We're down to filling up only one gas tank a week most weeks! Once in a while we have to fill both cars in the same week, but generally not.

[cirquelover]

Here in Oregon we are about $3.29 but my Mom in Iowa keeps bragging about $2.29 for gas there.

[Kevy Baby]

Here in Oregon we are about $3.29 but my Mom in Iowa keeps bragging about $2.29 for gas there.Yeah, but she lives in Iowa. I would rather pay the higher gas prices.

[scaeagles]

3.01 1/2 mile from my house yesterday.

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but it is bothersome to me that oil has dropped 50% and gas has only dropped 25%.

[wendybeth]

Wouldn't the answer be the same that is applied to the question of why gas is so expensive in the first place- refining? I imagine it takes time to refine, and it will be a while before oil refined now hits the market. I don't buy that argument, but that's all we've heard when people question why gas costs so much in the first place and criticize the oil companies for price gouging. I suspect it's really the same phenom that affects grocery prices- 'price stickiness'. (Greed).

[Kevy Baby]

I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, but it is bothersome to me that oil has dropped 50% and gas has only dropped 25%.I have been meaning to do a price of oil vs. price of gasoline comparison. The 50% vs 25% doesn't mean too much in and of itself as gasoline is only one part of a barrel of oil. Also, the cost of gasoline production includes much more than just the raw input material cost.

For example, if the cost of oil represents 50% of the total cost of gasoline, then the numbers make sense. If gas started at $1.00 per gallon, $0.50 of that is crude oil cost, then a 50% reduction would bring the crude oil cost down to $0.25. The other $0.50 stays the same, reducing the total cost of the gasoline to $0.75. This would be a 25% reduction from the starting point of $1.00.

(This info is from one web site (http://spaces.covers.com/blog/ApacheM/Politics/06202008-FYIWhats-made-from-a-Barrel-of-Oil.html?t=0), but others (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html#Howused) corroborate it):
One 42 gallon barrel of crude oil yields:
19.5 gal of gasoline
9.2 gal of distillate fuel oil (Diesel and home-heating oil)
4.1 gal of kerosene-type jet fuel
2.3 gal of residual fuel oil (used in industry and marine)
1.9 gal liquefied refinery gases
1.8 gal coke
1.3 gal asphalt and road oil
1.2 gal petrochemical feedstock
0.5 gal lubricants
0.2 gal kerosene
0.3 other

[Kevy Baby]

Found an interesting Department of Energy web site (http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/) on this topic.

Interestingly, from 2000 to 2007, when the average price per gallon (PPG) was $1.91, crude oil represented 48% of the cost. In 2007, when the average PPG rose to $2.80, the cost of crude became 58%.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/images/gas_pumps.png

[blueerica]

$3.33 last week at Costco. Costco is only a few cents cheaper than the other gas stations these days.

$2.69 at Costco here yesterday.

I'm right in between. For once. There was a point and time when gas was cheaper just about everywhere else this summer. Things have dropped quickly for us - a.k.a. aboutu 25-cents over the past two weeks, maybe a week and a half. I even just saw a 3.07 earlier - but I'm thinking I didn't clear all the sleep out of my eyes, so we may have dropped 7-cents MORE over night!

[Ghoulish Delight]

The 50% vs 25% doesn't mean too much in and of itself as gasoline is only one part of a barrel of oil.
The 2nd part of your analysis is right, but this part is not, just to be pedantic. If pay $180 for a barrel of oil and use, say, 70% of that barrel to make gasoline, than I paid $126 for the portion of oil used for gasoline. If I then buy the next barrel at $90 and use the same amount of oil, then I've paid $63 for that portion of oil. That does indeed scale.

But you are correct that just because raw material costs drop doesn't mean overall production costs drop in proportion.

[Kevy Baby]

The 2nd part of your analysis is right, but this part is not, just to be pedantic.Alright Mr. Pedantic... :p

I actually rewrote the post and forgot to clarify that one line. It should have more correctly stated that "One cannot expect the cost of gasoline to drop the same percentage as the cost of oil as the raw material cost only represents a part of the cost of a gallon of gas."

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'm with you on the conspiracy theory but I think gas drops just before an election and then will rise after it.

The downside of lower gas prices is lowered demand for alternative energy and more people driving. Or at least feeling good about driving.

[Kevy Baby]

When doing a quick search, I stumbled across a November, 2006 article on the Seattle Post Intelligencer web site (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/290734_gasprices02.html). I was amused by the opening paragraph:

Enjoy the price of gasoline now, because when the Saudis lower production, we could go right back to the $3 nightmare of three months ago. Washington state is especially affected -- regularly in the top 10 highest, 20 cents a gallon more than the national average ($2.42/gallon vs. national average $2.22 last week).Oh how I wish we could return to that nightmare :)

[alphabassettgrrl]

It's all relative. People will tolerate a slow rise in price.

[cirquelover]

I went to fill up at Chevron today and it was only $2.78!! When Gary filled his car just last week it was 3.29, that's quite a drop!

[belleh5]

$3.07 at AM/PM in Sacramento.