Why do gas prices keep rising?

Question

look i understand the whole supply and demand c**p, but when one week its 3.19 the next 3.45 were i live it dosent make sence, us middle class americans are the ones getting the worst of it as if we dont have money to spare with this BS economy, yea sure the people working for the oil companys dont care they are making billions off of us and can buy 1000's of gallons and not worry about it ,, i can bearly afford to drive to college, work, and daily errands any more this is bull c**p, somthing need to change fast, not this go buy a hybrid...thats not the point...the point is , the rich get richer the poor get poorer and anyone who wants a break has 2 kill some one these days to get one

Answer 1

Just to let you know, there are only 2 reasons why petrol prices are on the hike.

1. It is a precious fossil fuel. Since it's a non-renewable energy, you'll find the demands will overtake its supply.

2. If you're in Europe, price is high because they want people there to use renewable energy. They discourage the use of such dirty and limited fuel...

Answer 2

Gas is obtained from Fossil fuels. These Fossils are being used up way to fast, And are almost gone. Therefore, Its because the Source for Gas is dissapearing quickly.

Answer 3

It makes plenty of sense.  Lots of things happen in the world that can affect the price of gas.  

dollar loses value - causes price to rise because suppliers want to be paid in a stronger currency or raise the price.

Believe it or not, every now and again, terrorist blow up a major pipe or refinery in Africa and Middle East.

Americans increase demand as the season change.

Lots of power companies still use oil to heat homes and businesses and supply electricity.  That takes away from oil available for cars.

Answer 4

Oil tankers run on gas.  When they have to pay more for the fuel, then they have to charge more to ship their product, and the cost is carried over to someone else, namely, you.

As long as the price of gas goes up, it will continue to go up, because all the ships and vehicles that carry the gas to your station have to pay for the increase, which carries over to the end consumer, you.

I think the price would fall if government could give some sort of "gas credit" to the transportation vehicles.  So they wind up getting a break, and they carry it over to... you.

Answer 5

There's are 2 simple reasons why gasoline prices are increasing.  

1) Crude oil and gasoline are commodities.  Commodities are a popular hedge against inflation and a weakening currency.  We happen to be experiencing a weakening dollar.  Investors try to minimize losses by investing in global commodities.  This is why gold is also at record highs, almost $1000 per ounce.  When we had double digit inflation in the late 70's, gold was at a high then as well.

As the unrest in the mortgage and housing markets increases, so will the value of commodities.  This was why there was a slight softening of prices yesterday when the Fed announced its $200 billion relief plan for banks.  Increased liquidity is good for currency.  It's a small step in the right direction, but those investors who still have risky mortgage paper and don't want to downgrade it or write it off are extending the time until we hit bottom.

Look at the oil stocks.  They're actually down, along with just about every other stock.  We're not making more off you, we're making less.  Analysts know we're putting billions into capital projects such as increasing refining capacity in the US.  The top 2 oil companies, ExxonMobil and Shell, are pumping 25 billion each into capital projects.  If you windfall tax these companies, thos projects stop and the money goes to taxes.  The President understands this, which is why he's resisted following the populist sentiment.

2) Refining is the other reason that gasoline costs fluctuate so rapidly.  Refiners can't produce enough gasoline to meet daily demands.  Refinery time has to be split among all petroleum based products, not just fuels.  This makes them all more expensive, because companies are willing to pay more for the reinfery to focus on their product.  This makes all refinery time equally valuable.  The market anticipates the spring shutdown when refineries across the US do annual maintainence.  Spring is the best time, because the home heating oil season is over and the summer driving season has yet to begin.  By June, prices will moderate off of refinery pressures, but there's no saying what else will affect them.

Answer 6

don't know

gas prices are hateful.

dang u gas prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I now it sucks doesn't it.

Im with u man

FIGHT THE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

While Randy fancies himself the economist, it is important to understand that consumer demand is not the only thing driving the price of fuel up. It is also investors that are running the price of oil up above what it normally would be. I have heard estimates lately that increase from $30-$80 is normal and the amount over $80 a barrel is the portion that investors are responsible for. In fact, it was some rogue investor a few weeks ago that allegedly screwed with the market and drove it over $100. I have also heard through NPR and other news sources that the price of oil in the investment market is not sustainable and may crash, in the same way the housing market drove itself into an unsustainable upward spiral, only to come crashing down. No one can predict exactly what forces will act on the fuel market, but the undeniable facts are that while petroleum-based fuel prices rise and fall all the time, the prices have consistently trended upward since the first gallon was refined. The supply of oil that is part of Earth is being used up, it is not renewable, there is no viable replacement that is marketable on a large scale at this time, demand is rising, people are not conserving it, large quantities of it are controlled by countries not friendly to the United States or other U.S. allies, natural disasters, politics and terrorism often restrict the supply, and as a result of all these influences, the price never has and is never going to trend back down. I like the thought of a petroleum-investment bubble that is about to burst, but I am not counting on it any time soon. It is certainly a drag to pay what we are paying, which is now at an inflation-adjusted record high, but since you appear to be young you have a lifetime of choices ahead of you that can be made in favor of reducing your energy consumption instead of following the lead of so many people who feel that gross overconsumption of petroleum and other fossil fuels is somehow their birthright, which they express with their SUVs, motorhomes, dirt bikes, jet skis, generators, pools, hot tubs, million-light Christmas displays, 10,000 square foot homes, and every electrical and electronic convenience known to man. Your job is to make previous generations of energy gluttons look bad. You may proceed.

Answer 8

Since you obviously didn't live through the first "gas crisis" back in the early 1970's as I did, you fail to see just how important the "supply and demand c**p" really is.  And you fail to see how GM, Ford, Chrysler, et. al., made complete suckers out of the gluttonous American, so, until you see just how big a factor all that "supply and demand c**p" really is, you and the rest of us will keep paying higher and  higher gas prices, and hybrids aren't the answer, although  they might be helpful, but we took down the oil companies back in the early '70's and there weren't any hybrids.  So, put that in your pipe and smoke it.  God Bless you.

Answer 9

Im not a wiz, but I am a firm believer that a simple answer is the best, and I believe the goverment and/or the oil companies use the economy at an extent to cover up their BS and confuse us as to why gas prices are rising and don't want to admit they are greedy.  I have read very little about the various and complex reasons as to why gas prices are rising but I will stick to the main topic, which I think is supply and demand.  I understand if you don't have the supply to fill the demand then it makes much sense to charge more for your product or service, it takes more work to satisfy the demand, however, to me this would make more sense with other products and services who can't satisfy the demand. Like the new video gamesystems when they were just selling, for example, xbox, xbox 360 and Playstation 2 adn 3, they were $300 -$600 becasue they have a limited supply, and at that time if I'm not mistaken, for a while they could not satisfy the demand, and people who wanted a system could not get one.  My point is, I have yet to see a gas station or a city in the U.S. that can say, sorry we can't sell gas at the moment, we ran out!!!!  The way I see it is every city in the U.S. has the necessary  supply to satisfy the demand despite the demand growing due to our rising population leading to more cars on the road. I don't see anyone saying we are running out of oil, or we just can't satisfy the demand, I just hear the economy, taxes, wars, and other BS. If it came to the point that we cant supply for the demand of gasoline then that means we are running out of oil in the world and I think this is one natural resoruce we can't just reproduce.  Besides, the oil companies are businesses, and because of that they are making a profit on every sale, even when gas was chaeper and they still had billions of dollars, how the use the profit other than trying to come up with more BS to charge us more I don't know.  I know that its more complicated than this, like taxes, charges involving cost of shipping the gas, etc. but the main component is the charge for oil.  I could be wrong in everything or most of what I'm saying, but I try to give out my most educated opinion, despite my lack of knowlege on the subject, but I have seen experts being more of a DumA## then I thought possible, so who knows I could be right.  Bottom line is we all know that we don't have to be experts to know there is no need for gas prices to rise at such high prices, and that the oil companies are getting richer and looking for ways to be even richer, we get screwed as always.