Who is gouging us on oil prices?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well congress is looking into the oil companies gouging us on the price of gas. Its almost funny. Oil companies make a average profit of 7.7 cents per gallon . Here in NY you pay 62 cents a gallon in taxes per gallon. Now whos ripping us off? The state doesnt even produce or sell any gasoline.

[Tribesman]

Don't you mean the vendor that runs the filling station as a franchise for the oil company makes 7.7 cents profit , not the oil company itself .

[Xiahou]

I was just thinking about the same thing, while watching some coverage on those hearings. I think oil companies are just about the only industry in the country that is supposed to apologize for making a profit.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

No I mean the oil company itself.

An industry-wide study in the late 1990s showed that oil industry profits amounted to an estimated 7.3 cents on each gallon sold.1 More recently, ConocoPhillips reported that during the third quarter of 2005 earnings from its U.S. refining and marketing operations amounted to 9 cents per gallon, out of industry average retail price of $2.60 per gallon during the quarter.

[Papewaio]

Australians pay Aus 38 cents a litre.

Which converted to US dollars and Gallons is US $1.25 per Gallon.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

in the UK it's up to something idiotic.

Probably pushing $10 a gallon.

guess what most of that pays for?

[kiwitt]

The Yanks are only now complaining because they don'y have as much tax as other countries.

Die SUV Die

[Kaiser of Arabia]

We need to invade more nations and take their oil. Oil-hoarding pagans... *grumbles*

[KafirChobee]

in the UK it's up to something idiotic.

Probably pushing $10 a gallon.

guess what most of that pays for?

It pays for all of them having health insurance, it pays for them having an adequate social security system, it pays for them having a social structure that doesnot cowtow to the very wealthy, it allows for one of the best educational systems in the free world (the real one, not the US one), it forces conservation and it enforces environmental conformance - not to many Humvees in the GB, I bet (unlike Beverly Hills - the Gov. of Calif. owns like 5 of them).

The idea that the poor oil companys aren't gouging the f' out of us is BS. Look at the pump price, right there it tells anyone worth taking an interest what the taxes on a gallon of gas are. The oil companies are making an estimated 20 - 25 % profit margin at the moment, and claiming it is simply a supply side method of adjustment (demand - as they lovingly call it). Yeah, sure. Did you know they are selling it cheaper to the Chinese (fact - go look it up in Time, Nov 7, 2005). These guys are thugs. Their child molesters - and we are the children being molested.

An investigation is needed, and laws need to be passed prohibiting corporations from profits that exceed 7 % a year (prior to re-investment).

When Carter left office, two years after actually, an investigation was asked for by the Reagan "team" (Republicans in Congress) into why the price of peanut butter and peanut products had suddenly sky rocketted. Oh, dear. Jimmy did something to influence the market as President. Fact was, Reagan had requested that a surplus of peanut butter be stored for emergency - as was cheese (remember the great cheese and peanut butter give aways?). Reagan was quiet as a mouse, until it came out about his admin's involvement - then it was "oh, is that what y'all were talking about?".

This is, different. I know people that invested in oil company stocks (Exxon, etc) that are both gleeful and embarrassed about the checks they have receive (dividends) - they all wonder how it is.

It is, because we have an oil rich administration. We have a group (hell, Condi has an oil tanker named for her - former Exxon Emplyee, you know?) in power that owe their alliegance to a few men - all in oil (or the MIC).

Trying to make me feel that the poor oil companys are just making due, is like convincing me that a blow job is worse than creating a war.

[Strike For The South]

my god we agree

[Xiahou]

An investigation is needed, and laws need to be passed prohibiting corporations from profits that exceed 7 % a year (prior to re-investment).

Totally ridiculous.

[bmolsson]

Now whos ripping us off?

Nobody. They just want you to take the bus......

[discovery1]

An investigation is needed, and laws need to be passed prohibiting corporations from profits that exceed 7 % a year (prior to re-investment).

This is a TERRIBLE idea that would doom the economy. Why?

The industries with the higest profit margins are generally the youngest. By enacting such a law, you'd be dooming our economy. Imagine if such a law had been around prior to the vast expansion of the software industry? No would invest in it since the returns would be no better than many other industries and you would have the rist that comes with any new industry. Result: no personal computing revolution.

Oh, and BP rocks. Their machines an't charge more than 3 dollars a gallon.

[Papewaio]

Prior to re-investment?

So no more training including safety?
No more new equipment that is environmental efficient, safer for the worker and wastes less time?

[Crazed Rabbit]

Three words: Supply and Demand.

I know some people like to foolishly dismiss it, but they have not, obviously, adequately studied all the factors behind the price.

Prior to re-investment?

So no more training including safety?
No more new equipment that is environmental efficient, safer for the worker and wastes less time?

Whoa, steady there. You're attempting to use facts and logic to actually reason with a leftist.

I didn't see anyone here calling for oil company subsidies when the price per barrel was real low. But now, after having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on individual refineries, when they are finally reaping the return on their investments- which are high risk and require 100's of millions in capital, some louts want to tax them, which would reduce investment in new fields and refineries, just like it did in the 1970's.

How are prices going to go down? With new investment in refineries and fields.

Crazed Rabbit

[Papewaio]

But I am a lefty... who also believes in individual responsibilities and state run health and education...

[Crazed Rabbit]

Well, obviously you're not all the way gone. Perhaps there is hope for you to see the light yet, my friend.

Crazed Rabbit

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Let me get this straight again. The oil companies are gouging us by making 8 cents a gallon on their investments but the government isnt by making 50 cents a gallon without investing anything? And just who are these evil oil companies? Dosent the money go to the stockholders? Arent these ordinary Americans like you and I?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well isnt it a bit hypocrytical of congress to ask why the oil companies are making so large a profit when their making 4 times the profit off the oil companies product than the oil companies do themselves? Shouldnt they roll back the oil taxes if they want lower prices. Isnt it a fact that many libs like Gore want higher taxes on oil so that we develope alternative fuels and they are now the ones screaming the loudest. This is madness. Again as long as the money goes to the government its fine with either party. Heaven forbid it goes to citizens like us.

[Xiahou]

I didn't see anyone here calling for oil company subsidies when the price per barrel was real low. But now, after having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on individual refineries, when they are finally reaping the return on their investments- which are high risk and require 100's of millions in capital, some louts want to tax them, which would reduce investment in new fields and refineries, just like it did in the 1970's.

How are prices going to go down? With new investment in refineries and fields.

Crazed Rabbit

Thank you.
That's something those strutting fools in DC can't seem to wrap their brains around. Either that, or they just can't pass up a chance to grandstand.

[bmolsson]

Let me get this straight again. The oil companies are gouging us by making 8 cents a gallon on their investments but the government isnt by making 50 cents a gallon without investing anything? And just who are these evil oil companies? Dosent the money go to the stockholders? Arent these ordinary Americans like you and I?

You are not fair to the US government. They are investing big time in oil. The Iraq invasion doesn't come for free you know......

[English assassin]

Well isnt it a bit hypocrytical of congress to ask why the oil companies are making so large a profit when their making 4 times the profit off the oil companies product than the oil companies do themselves?

Well, no, Big G, because taxation used to pay for government spending is not the same as a return on capital (AKA profit). You are trying to compare apples and cheeseburgers. Still, if you would like to see the US government forgo its tax take on petrol, and cut the amount of revenue lost off your military budget, that's fair. Its your country.

Ah, gotta love the right. They think their MBTs grow on trees.

Anyway, if y'all actually drove cars that did more to the gallon than a tank, it wouldn't bother you so much.

Oh, and petrol over here is about 8-10 USD a gallon, and civilisation hasn't ended.

[Aurelian]

Yesterday, I heard the CEO of Exxon interviewed on the "Charlie Rose Show", and then on C-Span Radio before the Senate. He mentioned something interesting about the refinery situation. He said that while no completely new refinery locations had been opened up in the US in the last 30 years or so, over the last 10 years they have expanded existing operations equivalent to three new refineries. He explained that a refinery relies on a huge number of secondary suppliers for parts and chemicals, and that they are all located near existing refineries. A new refinery in a "clear field" situation can't be easily supplied by that network, and is thus just not cost-competitive with existing operations. So, instead of creating "new" refineries, companies have chosen to expand operations on existing sites to take advantage of the more efficient supply situation.

That helps explain a couple of things: First, it is one of the major reasons that we keep hearing that no "new" refineries have been built. Second, it is one of the reasons that the refineries seem to be so heavily concentrated near each other. It's not really a great idea from a disaster management standpoint to have so many of our refineries sitting next to each other on the Gulf Coast, but it makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of the industry's cost structure.

[yesdachi]

Here is a quote from a Washington Post article. LINK.

Now, even as high gasoline prices continue to anger motorists and aggravate financial problems at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the oil companies have begun to report record quarterly profit. Yesterday, British energy giant BP PLC reported a $6.53 billion third-quarter profit, up from $4.87 billion in the same period last year. And tomorrow, analysts expect Exxon Mobil Corp. to show that it earned nearly $9 billion over the past three months -- the largest corporate quarterly profit ever.

They are making plenty. Too much if you ask me and it has been at our expense. I find it funny that as soon as the gov starts investigating, the prices have dropped between 50 and 80 cents here in my city. They oil companies are a big evil monster monopoly and the fact that the gov hasn’t torn down this monster with anti-trust laws shows just how far in bed they with them. $6+ billion in profits in a single quarter! Screw them! Like others, my gas expenses have gone up by more than $200 bucks in that same quarter so companies like BP can make $1.66 billion more than last year! Or so Exxon can have the “largest corporate quarterly profit ever”! As a country we are in difficult financial times and these jackholes are making record profits by tightening the screws on us. I would feel differently if they had to do something differently but they had little or no additional effort or expense, only raise the prices.

I am a huge fan of capitalism but there has to be safeguards in place to stop crap like this. The safeguards are being ignored and the people are getting hosed.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

KC: you make me laugh. I'm from the U.K.

"It pays for all of them having health insurance"
You may have missed the post on my woes with using the NHS but surely you didn't miss the crap that EA's family is going through because they relied on the NHS. Guess what? I pay for private health insurance as well as my taxes (that are spent like a drunken sailor by the NHS).

"it pays for them having an adequate social security system"
Adequate my arse. I was unemployed for a while, guess who got into debt in a bad way?

"allows for one of the best educational systems in the free world (the real one, not the US one)" - eh, no, not anymore unless you're talking about media studies or drama.

"it forces conservation and it enforces environmental conformance" well, if you're talking about going with things like wind power (destroys natural beauty, not very effective unless you cover a place in windmills) rather than nuclear power (looks ugly in one small place, provides lots of power).
CThe government also deals with rural society disastrously, the reason the countryside looks how it does is because of farmers and estate management but that sector of the economy has been badly let down.
Also how about such practices as strip mining that still go on. nice way of conserving the environment.

"not to many Humvees in the GB, I bet" - plenty of urban SUVs though.

We get taxed hugely so that a welfare state that lets people down can be managed inefficiently. That's what it pays for.

[Reverend Joe]

Well isnt it a bit hypocrytical of congress to ask why the oil companies are making so large a profit when their making 4 times the profit off the oil companies product than the oil companies do themselves? Shouldnt they roll back the oil taxes if they want lower prices. Isnt it a fact that many libs like Gore want higher taxes on oil so that we develope alternative fuels and they are now the ones screaming the loudest. This is madness. Again as long as the money goes to the government its fine with either party. Heaven forbid it goes to citizens like us.

Wait... so, if the government drops its taxes, the oil companies will drop their prices?

*checks around* No, we are not in the Gaddah da Vida... so something is amiss. What in hell makes you think the oil companies will drop their prices if that happens? They are the worst of the capitalists, and if anything, they will raise their prices again and claim it is because of "disruptions caused by a shift in government policy".

Oh, and those profit margins don't add up. I recently found out, in the Wall Street Journal, that the oil companies are making billions every year in net profits. That's after taxes and expenses. Actually, I managed to calculate that they make more money every second than my father does in one year. So **** them.

[Taffy_is_a_Taff]

a few years ago protesters forced the U.K. government to slightly reduce tax on fuel.

the price went down.

And when I say forced I mean they physically blockaded refineries and generally tried to shut the place down.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Wait... so, if the government drops its taxes, the oil companies will drop their prices?

didnt say that. But the government is certainly soaking you far more than the oil companies. In fact many liberals are in favor of rasing gas taxes so we dont use so much. Again they should be thanking the oil companies.

Actually, I managed to calculate that they make more money every second than my father does in one year. So **** them.

Typical liberal class envy. Again the profits from the oil companies dont go to a scrooge Mc Duck character sitting there counting his money. Most of it goes to the shareholders who are ordinary americans.

[Mongoose]

The only thing that bothers me about the oil companies is that they operate like a monopoly, as they all raise prices at the same rate and time...hmmm... Aren't those kind of agreements illegal? In a free market, if a company price gouges, they get mauled be the competition. in this kind of market, the only one getting mauled is the consumer.

taxing them more and taking the profits isn't going to help anything though. It's just going to make them gouge more.

[yesdachi]

Actually, I managed to calculate that they make more money every second than my father does in one year. So **** them.

Liberal class envy or not I’m with you, **** them!