D.O.E. Says "Whoops!" on Fuel Price Guestimates
Betting on fuel prices is like betting on a pool game between two unknowns in a shady looking backstreet pool hall. A month ago Uncle Sam's energy wizards projected diesel prices for the 2008 year. Today they're running the estimates up 18 cents a gallon. Here's the breakdown:
January: $3.31
February: $3.29
March: $3.27
Whole Year: $3.21
In the last two weeks the average retail price of diesel has actually dropped 9 cents a gallon. Hurrah! But keep saving up your pennies.
Gasoline prices are expected to shoot back up to over $3.40 per gallon in time for summer drives.
Office Photo Courtesy ricardo.martin on flickr.com
Labels: department of energy, diesel fuel, fuel prices
posted by Russ and Tiña De Maris at
12/20/2007 01:30:00 PM
23 Comments:
Oh Goodie
By
Fred, at 3:29 AM, January 05, 2008
What is the D.O.E. talking about? Diesel is $3.49 right now. Reg.gas is $3.14 this is in northern WI. I think they better check their crystal ball.
By
Anonymous, at 4:50 AM, January 05, 2008
Think yourselves lucky in US - in United Kingdom we are paying $2 a litre. Work that out and see just what we are paying and that is the cheapest gas. Diesel is $2.18 a litre - remember there are five litres in a UK gallon. Rip off or what.
Happy New Year from across the pond and safe and happy motoring.
By
Anonymous, at 7:29 AM, January 05, 2008
Here it is January 5, 2008 and our deisel price in Johnson City, Texas is $3.39 and has been for a month. I don't accept the D.O.E. magic based on the current administration's math. The administration is currently pro-business and does not want to scare us. To be blunt, greed s..ks!
The comment from across the pond couldn't be more right. In Eastern Canada this past summer 2007 we paid $1.30 per liter.
By
Traveli Ays, at 7:37 AM, January 05, 2008
What do we expect from this Administration. They just don't get much of anything right. Accuracy is not in the vocabulary of any of our Politicians up for re-election
By
Anonymous, at 8:22 AM, January 05, 2008
Here in Sequim Washington we are already at $3.59 per gal for diesel and climbing.
Prices have raised 10cents this past week.
By
Anonymous, at 8:29 AM, January 05, 2008
IT' A RIP OFF! Diesel fuel costs less to produce! It's just some greedy bastards making millions - Why do you think there isn't more alernative fuel development going on. The old fable about a 75 MPG carb sitting on a shelf of some big 3 automaker - is just that - a fable. However, 45 MPG is a possibility. Ask Washington. Ask the oil company's. Diesel is so high because our economy runs on trucks - and trucks use diesel.
By
Anonymous, at 8:40 AM, January 05, 2008
When considering the prices of fuel in other parts of the world or Canada, one must remember that those cost are all taxes and artificial. Nothing to do do with supply and demand.
By
Anonymous, at 9:31 AM, January 05, 2008
Supply and Demand is good or bad economics; depending on what side you are on.
Buy some stock in those Oil Companies and you should be able to take home some of the money they are making.
Put all trans-continental shipping on rail and I think there might be a significant drop in Deisel Price.
By
RALTucson, at 10:21 AM, January 05, 2008
Here in Kentucky in my area, diesel is 3.19 at wal-mart, and just across the road at the BP, its 3,29. My opinion--greed
By
Anonymous, at 10:55 AM, January 05, 2008
DOE must be getting wholesale prices from wholesalers. Retail prices seem to be $3.40+ in most paces in Washington State!!!
By
SellingMyDiesel, at 11:26 AM, January 05, 2008
Ditto to Sequim's message. I work at the Safeway Fastshop in Port Townsend and since October, the best price has been $3.49. Currently, it is $3.59. It's a good thing we're taking a year off from the road. Where are the prices lower to give DOE their averages?
-Fishbelly
By
Anonymous, at 1:07 PM, January 05, 2008
Here is sw Wa it's running anywhere from 3.42 up to 3.55, so the d.o.e. is a little behind times.
By
Pat, at 1:12 PM, January 05, 2008
G'Day
Down here in Aussie diesel is selling for around A$ 1.40 per liter here in Brisbane (capitol of Queensland) At 3.785 liters per US gallon this is A$ 5.30 per US gallon. Our exchange rate is about .88 cents, thus the indicated value is about US$ 4.66 per gallon. Still plenty of trucks on the road here. There is more and more interest in Diesel for cars and light trucks now.
Petrol is selling here for A$ 1.25-1.35 in Brisbane. The talk is for 1.50 per liter soon. Happy New Year.....
By
Anonymous, at 4:05 PM, January 05, 2008
Here in Atlanta, GA it is at $3.39 a gallon for diesel. So instead of long trip out in the motorcoach we are keeping it to near by states for now. no more coast to coast
By
George Henry, at 5:57 PM, January 05, 2008
Back home in Fort Lauderdale FL I was able to find Diesel for $3.39 and $3.41 at the cheap places, and most places are $3.49 to $3.59
I am visiting southern California right now, and it is a little higher at $3.49 to 3.79 per gallon!
By
Anonymous, at 5:59 PM, January 05, 2008
Why are fuel prices so high? Because Unions forced the rail business out with price fixing on truck shipping. At the time, it was suppose to be illegal. But, the government looked the other way and we went from a rail-based economy to truck-based.
After the union had destroyed the rail industry (it only took a decade), they raised their prices way over what the rails were charging. No rail company would attempt to rebuild the rails for fear the trucking union would price-fix them out of business again. Thus, our rail system - which went all over this nation - was ripped out in favor of roads.
With the dependence on oil, it was only a matter of time before the small oil companies were bought up and huge profits obtained by the remaining oil firms. We saw the results of that with rising oil prices at the pump over the last few years.
Today, we have China as a huge consumer of oil along with the U.S. the prices the DOE put out do not reflect reality. They never have. Government never gets forecasting correct (look at what the Fed did with the tech bubble and now the housing bubble). Anyone who depends on the government forecasts will be sadly disappointed more times than not.
We have the cheapest fuel prices in the world. Our prices, adjusted for REAL inflation (don't depend on the Feds inflation numbers as those changed their basis back in the 90's), are right around the same $/gal as we'd seen during the oil crisis of the 70's.
Adapt, adjust, overcome. Those words allow us to live with an ever-changing economy & world. If you choose to ignore any of those three words, you get left behind.
By
tommy, at 6:37 AM, January 06, 2008
There are vehicles out there which will help your budget, but most have gone away........why? Because nobody wanted to make them in decent volumn. My Renault back in the 60's got 40 mph.
My Chevy Geo automatic in 1987 got 48 mph and when I sold it 10 years later with 160,000 miles it had dropped down to 46 mph. But....it was a Suzuki, sold under the Chevy badge. Later they called it the Geo Metro, raised the performance and the mileage went way down.
My RV gets 6mph, 7 with the wind behind me. I'll use it, but a little less.
Americans just won't use a small economical car........not one that gets close to 50mph. It's not......"comfortable"!!
By
Bugle Boy, at 9:36 PM, January 06, 2008
Calling "greed" the cause of high energy prices is an easy and comfortable explanation, but probably a mostly erroneous one. To the extent that the boards of directors and the stock holders of energy companies are motivated by the desire to earn a profit, I suppose you could say that "greed" is the causative factor. On the other hand, is it reasonable for a company or an investor to put their resources at risk without the opportunity for a reward? Would you? If you want additional players in the price game, consider that the economies of several large countries in the world are growing rapidly. These economies place ever-increasing demand on the supplies of energy. Has anyone noticed the supply of energy going up? No? The law of supply and demand, then, says that the price should increase accordingly. In addition, if you want to point a finger at "greed", consider that the supplies of energy/petroleum are largely held by a CARTEL. That means near-monopoly and the opportunity to control their prices. I happen to like pointing an accusing finger at those guys. But, in fairness to them, would you willingly sell an item or commodity at a low price if you knew that there was a declining supply in the face of a high demand? One more point, there is no quick-fix lurking out there. Scientists and engineers are confronted by enormous obstacles. Nobody is "hiding" a 75 mpg carburetor. The mere profit motive would assure that such a device, were it possible, would be on the market.
By
powdrskier, at 5:08 PM, January 07, 2008
We're U.S. fulltimers now for nearly 8 years. We'll travel to Alaska and spend the summer, even though I predict that diesel through Canada and into AK will be at $5/gal. We have budgeted for it, hate it, but will accept it. And I still believe that fuel is underpriced in the US. If you hear ANY politician on any side of the isle say that he/she will bring down fuel prices, run away, for he/she is a liar.
By
Anonymous, at 9:45 PM, January 09, 2008
if you think gas is expensive now, all the democratic candidates are talking about removing the tax cuts from the oil companies! can you guess who will pay the difference! gas has gone up very little compared to everything else. and this ethanol hoax (which gives you less gas mileage) is responsible for the higher food costs.
By
Anonymous, at 3:09 PM, January 11, 2008
This is really interesting. I've been watching Wall Street and all of our happy speculators. (sp)
Apparently Wall Street is the one along with all the investors who are driving up the cost of fuel.
Things that didn't matter 4 years ago are now important enough to drive the cost up. Kinda like this: The local squirrei didn't pick-up enough nuts off the ground this fall and now he is hunting. So the cost of nuts is going up in the stores for the consumer to buy and feed the rodent.
Supply and demand? More like greed. The squirrel is doing fine on his own.
The oil industries really love the speculators as well as does OPEC. So what do we do? I don't know.
I do know that we all will have to make adjustments. In 2006 we took a extended vacation to the west coast and the average cost of gas was $3.26 per gallon.
The aftermarket will come out with all sorts of junk and scams claiming to increase gas and fuel mileage. They are out to make a buck. Simple things like slowing down, proper tire pressures, cold air intakes and free flowing exhausts, tuned engines, the right weight and type of oils all add up to improved mileage. As we used to say, "Keep the rubber down and the Iron up!"
Jon
By
Anonymous, at 10:03 AM, January 12, 2008
If we were to travel from Fla where we live to California and back it would cost over $3000 in fuel alone (7mpg@$3.49). That does not include side trips. Tell me how many people can budget that amount! Most of us cannot. The answer is stay close to home. I refuse to let the oil barrons take away my joy. One day they will drink their oil because of their greed. Brazil had the right idea and now they are energy independent. I tip my hat to them.
By
Don, at 4:57 AM, February 03, 2008
Post a Comment
<< Home