Gas Prices: What causes the price of gas to change?

Question

What really causes the gas price to change? Is it Speculators in the Commodities market? OPEC? Supply and Demand of Oil Refineries or Oil Exploration? And how much do each of these contribute?

Answer 1

Supply and deman.

As you can see, most oils come from the middle east where war is currently wide spread. The supply is low but the demand is too high.

Answer 2

Speculators 50%

Sup & Demand 35%

Other 15%

Answer 3

It is not just supply and demand, that wouldn't explain gas shooting up so rapidly people!

One of the major reasons in the value of the US dollar dropping!  The economy is weak right now, and where we get most our oil from is not.  There for, we pay more for gas.

We also are depending more and more on foreign oil, which doesn't help us much when we pay consume so much gas day to day.

We didn't suddenly just NEED more gas every body!  We consume less gas if anything now since it has gotten to expensive.

It mainly has to do with the US Economy going to c**p.

Answer 4

the fact that gas is a natural resource which takes millions of years for the earth to make and the demand for gas is so high that were using it faster than it can be made. so someday were not going to have gas at all. but that wont happen for about another 100 or so years.

hope this gives you a hint to whats happening in the world.

Answer 5

the goverment getting our money

Answer 6

The oil supply. And how

much our inport is

costing us.

The demand is too high..

the supply is too low.

so it causes it to go

UP, UP, UP

Answer 7

oil supply and the refineries and companies controlling them.

also, supply and demand.

Answer 8

They all contribute.The biggest contributor is OPEC. They decide how much to drill and put out daily thus controlling supply. Our demand is always growing and supply needs to keep up to keep prices stable. We depend on gas so much that even gas prices that have trippled won't significatly affect demand. Even at $4.00 a gallon, we still need gas.  If they decided to increase output by a few million barrels a day it would certainly lead to a drop in prices. But they don't usually do that. Think about it. OPEC doesn't want oil prices to drop too low. Those countries make A LOT of money by exporting oil. So, in essence, it's a matter of supply and demand. Speculators contribute a lot as well.

Answer 9

Our Flatulence

Answer 10

Tired of Paying High Gas Prices? Then Read This

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Answer 11

A combination of things and they do include some of what you've listed in the question.

Speculators and traders have long contributed to the change of price in oil and this situation it is no different. Due to the demand the past few months traders have been bidding up or buying oil futures in hopes that the value will go up. In doing so this raises the price of oil per barrel (similar to buying stocks and holding) however, historically the price should go down because speculators do eventually sell prior to maturity. The rising economy in China and India in also fueling the price for speculators because the demand for oil in these nations are increasing.

OPEC plays an even bigger role due their ability to control production through the 13 nations (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuala etc.) that run it. If they decide to lower production, the price would go up do to the limited supply available for the market. Remember that lowering production does not mean lowering supply because the oil reserve is still there. It's merely a way to monopolize the market because they know they can.

Oil Refineries don't necessarily determine gas prices but it is disturbing to know that the corporations that run them do profit heavily and that is a major understatement. People should understand the rolling snowball effect where bad times in the economy usually raises prices (inflation) so everything goes up so even the cost of doing business will go up.

Oil Exploration: I think this plays a much bigger role than most people believe. Why haven't we opened up ANWAR for drilling? Huge amounts of reserves available and it bothers me that we aren't looking into it enough. Keep in mind that I am very big environmentalist and wouldn't support anything that I find damaging to the environment. Truth is people really need to do research on ANWAR and how important it is to us. That being said why haven't we begun offshore drilling yet?

THE REAL REASON: I think we are all in some ways to blame, I know it sounds harsh but it's the truth. Not because of what we've done (although we could cut down consumption) but for what we haven't done. We all must hold those in power accountable for their failures to act. I'm not a Republican or Democrat, I'm way beyond political parties, and this is why I urge everyone to write your local congressman and have them come back into session and vote on a resolution. It seems like these people are always on vacation while they continue to get paid with our tax dollars. The low President Bush approval rating and the even lower Democrat controlled congress rating is evident enough that the people are fed up.

We need to start offshore drilling as soon as possible. Yes I know, the argument people use is that it wouldn't help us until 7-10 years from now but that that's just not true. The price will go down, why? Because of the reasons mentioned earlier, OPEC will increase production to offset higher prices so they will start to decline. Just look at the price recently going down a little due to the President lifting the ban on offshore drilling. The big reason for this is that it stops our dependency on foriegn oil, and funding nations that continue to harbor terrorism.

Imagine if we didn't ban offshore drilling some 15 years ago, we probably wouldn't be in this problem today. We need to open up ANWAR, we need to be energy Independent. Produce our own energy through nuclear, wind and solar. WE MUST ACT.

Answer 12

SECTION 3: VARIATIONS IN GASOLINE PRICES OVER TIME

Q. What are the key factors causing gasoline prices to change over time?

A. A number of key factors cause the retail price of gasoline to vary over

time. First, and most importantly, gasoline price changes are caused by changes in

the price of crude oil. As figure 8 shows, the trend in gasoline prices has generally

tracked the trend in crude oil prices, although the two do not necessarily rise and

fall in lockstep. Second, gasoline prices vary because of changes in how much

gasoline we demand relative to the supply. Third, federal and state requirements

calling for special gasoline blends to improve air quality can make it more costly to

produce gasoline, thus increasing its price. Fourth, seasonal factors affect demand

and supply, and hence, the price of gasoline. Fifth, changes in taxes levied on

gasoline have affected gasoline prices over the past decade, but because federal

and state gasoline taxes remained relatively constant in recent years, they have not

significantly contributed to recent volatility in gasoline prices. Sixth, changes within

the petroleum industry, such as mergers, can also cause the price of gasoline to

change over time.

Answer 13

bush

:) haha  

Answer 14

100% of the cost of gas (in a free market without price controls) is based upon two factors:

1. Supply- How much is available, how hard is it to get (out of the ground, or to customers)

2. Demand- How much is needed?  How much are consumers willing to pay for it?

Answer 15

greed makes it go up, public outrage makes it go down

Answer 16

SUPPLTY AND DEMAND IS A BOGUS NOTION

The prices is based ON "What ever the buyer will pay"

Its because the Arabs know we will pay any amount -

But I don't worry about gas prices since I found the site by googling "1940 prices for gas Impossible You can Too" and watching the YoyTube vid I found