RV Fuel Issues & Prices - Post 'Em Here!

South of Phoenix it's about $3.40 today. But that seems very cheap considering the upcoming summer trip to Alaska where Canadian prices will be about double that price.

DelCamper wrote:
SRT

Are they several refineries within the same company or several companies? Its common to schedule turnarounds (Refinery speak for planned maintenance shutdowns) just prior to the switch in winter/ summer fuel blend change. Often things need to be modified to facilitate that.

Most often the increased cost is a crude oil price increase not a refinery margin increase.

Ditto! SRT---Why not investigate the EPA and the government departments which require the seasonal change to 55 different blends of gasoline or the double refining of diesel to remove sulfur (lower SO2 emissions). All of this while studing the feasibility of using aircraft to inject SO2 at high altitude to reduce global warming which is what happens after a volcanic eruption. :S

Its interesting how the industry has changed from the 1970s. The refining sector was treated like rough neck oil drillers with limited safety procedures relative to the danger. An oil refinery is really more closely aligned with a chemical plant than an oil well. Union Carbide spun the industry on its heels and the majors divested themselves of all but their most lucrative refinery assets thereby facilitating the refining only industry. The deep pockets are in the E&P sector.

Oil refineries are much safer and far more efficient today.

When I went on the drilling platform tour in Morgan City, LA, we were told that a new level 6 drilling platform cost about $6.5 BILLION each. Prior to the moratorium there were 24 in the Gulf. These level 6 platform are about 4 acres in size and have 7 levels or about 28 acres of floor space. WOW. They also said that about 90% of the gross profit went into the "upside" or exploration. This is expensive to drill in the few places that are still OK. The Deep Water Horizon was in water 6,000 feet deep and then drilling down and additional 2 miles below the surface of the bottom. We have billions of barrels onshore and in shallow water that are "off limits".

I have linked to some interesting photos of the drill rig photos below. This tour is publicly available if you are ever in that area.

http://www.linandnancy.com/morgancityla.html

SRT

I just checked refinery margins and they're at roughly $5 a barrel or 12 cents per gallon. Typically a margin of $8 per barrel or roughly 20 cents a gallon is needed to pay for everything and future upgrades often mandated by the DEP that does nothing (often counterproductive) to increasing capacity throughput.

Sometimes in a low margin environment maintenance is scheduled because it just does not pay to push the equipment for so little.

There is a huge difference between the Upstream side of the industry which is Exploration and Production (Called E&P) with the Downstream side which is Refining and Marketing.

The oil peg established in the early / mid 1970s establish a direct relationship of US money supply to oil prices globally. Keep putting more money into circulation through the front door, back door or window and prices will guaranteed increase.

SRT

Are they several refineries within the same company or several companies? Its common to schedule turnarounds (Refinery speak for planned maintenance shutdowns) just prior to the switch in winter/ summer fuel blend change. Often things need to be modified to facilitate that.

Most often the increased cost is a crude oil price increase not a refinery margin increase.

I saw $3.29 here in Central Florida, but probably won't last. I thought your elected Senator was on Saturday Night Live.

Gasoline prices have now risen to "incredible" levels for our area - $4.19 to $4.27 a gallon. Diesel is actually cheaper. Our elected representatives in the Senate are calling for an investigation (another one) into why several refineries decided to "go down" for maintenance at the same time. All I know is that it is getting darned expensive to drive our vehicles (glad we don't live in California :B). Especially since the snow has finally melted and the roads are ice free.

SRT wrote:
Yesterday gasoline prices leaped up 20¢+ to $4.19 a gallon (one station at $4.35) at many stations. Seems that two refinery's in the Chicago area shut down for maintenance. I'm curious as to why, being about 300 miles away, our gasoline prices increased. Across the river there is a refinery where we get our gasoline. Seems to me that we, the consumer, is getting it the shorts, again :E. This "massive" increase is a "sneaky" way increase someone's profit margin.

actually heard today that they are shut down in 4 areas in midwest.
bumpy

We are back down to $3.39 for gas at Shell and most others.