Yea, "cheap gas"

DutchmenSport wrote:
I started driving and paying for my own gas in 1971 when I was 16 years old. I vividly remember the first time I got gas at the pump myself, for my own car, that I paid for myself from working, making my money ... not sponging off my parents..... it was 17 cents a gallon. I thought that was a horrible price! Well, when I was making $1.60 an hour, it probably was!

Yep, I remember the good old times. but for that 1.60 and hour you could buy 5 gal of gas and a burger basket for you and your girl friend and maybe have money left over for two ice cream cones.
today you make 25.00 hour you get 2 gal of gas and two SMALL fast food burgers.
Jay D.

"The U.S. Just Became a Net Oil Exporter for the First Time in 75 Years"

valhalla360 wrote:

Veebyes wrote:

Are the people smaller in the rest of the world so they fit in smaller cars easier?

Thy buy smaller because big brother says they will penalize those that don't.

They buy smaller cars because they are more fuel efficient in countries where gasoline is $4-$7 per Gallon. They are also cheaper to buy initially.

As for "Big Brother". In China the best selling car for years was the biggest Buick made (and it was made in a factory in China) And Ford Motor is looking at a very big new Lincoln Continental for sale in China. In actual terms Big Brothers don't all have the same agenda.

There is also the widespread belief that Japanese and Korean cars are more reliable than US made ones. Thus the Toyota (any Toyota) is the most favored car in Thailand and Cambodia and in many many other countries.

Simplistic ideas of what motivates people are rarely accurate.

Veebyes wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

ppine wrote:
Compared to the rest of the world we still have cheap fuel. We always have. This is a rich country and people don;t give it much thought.

The rest of the world has cheap fuel too...they just tax the daylights out of it.

As soon as you cross the border into Canada you see far fewer big SUVs & many more of the crossover size. You don't see many 3500 trucks.

That is a broad generalization. Come to Western Canada. Most every HD pickup IS a 1 ton, NOT a 3/4 ton and the gazz guzzlers are very prominent, unless of course they are replaced by a smaller vehicle that serves as a greater status symbol, IE Bimmers, Mercedes, etc.

Speaking of MPG, I think I just read that a 3 cyl. turbo Focus gets 50 highway, 40 city. A little slow with 123 HP but not bad. I do love my 2017 Focus 4 cyl.

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
I see nobody here has mentioned shale.

Thee is a geopolitical analyst named Peter Zeihan. His two books are THE ACCIDENTAL SUPERPOWER and THE ABSENT SUPERPOWER - The Coming Shale Revolution.

He also has a number of YouTube videos of his public speaking appearances. Very interesting to watch. Here's one mostly on shale:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du7jG1aDkdM

Some of the takeaways:

The US and Canada are already functionally energy independent. By 2020, we won't need the Canadians anymore. The Saudis, the Iranians, and the rest of OPEC can go to Hell.

The price of shale oil is already below the price of conventional oil, and it's still dropping.

Iowa's going to have to figure out something else to grow. We simply won't need Ethanol anymore.

It would be nice if it was that simple...but it's not.

While most of the above is based in fact there are some other important factors.

America does not produce ALL the different types of crude to make all types of fuel and plastics. Different fuels and products are made from Crude that has to be purchased or traded for from other countries. So while it may be true that we will LESSEN our dependence on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia we will not be able to tell them where to go.

As for Shale being cheaper than Pump and pipe (conventional well) this is just not true. The average cost to produce from this type of production is as low as $10/barrel going upwards to $40 depending on WHERE it is produced. The worldwide average is about $30/bbl.

Now Shale cost is lucky to BREAK EVEN production cost wise at $40 per barrel and can cost as much as $60/bbl. This cost is also affected by location and type of well.
(keep in mind these costs do vary and may be different depending on what is included in figuring the cost)(my figures come from Investopedia)

As for Ethanol. The fact is that ethanol costs more to produce and transport than it saves on oil. Ethanol is primarily a subsidy for Corn Farmers. It is highly political and has nothing to do with Crude oil costs or availability. And no matter what happens in the world wide crude market we are unlikely to see the Ethanol subsidy go away.

So while we are in a good position it is not as rosy as presented in the above post.

CA Traveler wrote:
Gas Buddy is a great app. I mainly use it with the RV to fill up in lower priced areas and drive past the higher priced areas.

But check out Gas Guru. It's ICONs are colored, green for the lower priced stations, which can be helpful.

There are pros and cons to both apps of course.

Yep. I save on average $4 a fillup. that really adds up at the end of the year.

Gas Buddy is a great app. I mainly use it with the RV to fill up in lower priced areas and drive past the higher priced areas.

But check out Gas Guru. It's ICONs are colored, green for the lower priced stations, which can be helpful.

There are pros and cons to both apps of course.

Optimistic Paranoid wrote:
I see nobody here has mentioned shale.

Shale? Forget oil shale, how about natural gas from shale. Any idea how much is under WV,PA,OH,NY? And thats the Marcellus, have hardly even touched the Utica. It's why Shell is investing billions in this and there are at least two more in the planning stages by others.





BECHTEL

Veebyes wrote:

Are the people smaller in the rest of the world so they fit in smaller cars easier?

Thy buy smaller because big brother says they will penalize those that don't.