I'm Finally Mad at the Oil Companies (NF)

[Garyv]

Heading out the our local Bluewater Anglers club meeting yesterday I filled my wife's car at $102.5 which was enough of a rip since Dryden was at $89.5, and the fact I live about 45 Km from the refineries in Sarnia so transportation is negligible. Today after oil prices per barrel fell yesterday and again as I checked before posting this are down another .19cents a barrel I drive by the same Esso station and the price is $104.9. Plain and simple if their isn't collusion between the Canadian companies then they must all be sharing the same pricing computer. Shortage my butt it's just another excuse to make higher profits, and don't give me that we all should be driving a hybrid, if you do I want to know what will happen when all those batteries begin to need replacing, oh well it's only lead no emissions! We use to have about 44 refineries in this country now if i am not mistaken we have 14 so want to raise profits just say shortage and raise the price because who will really be able to know the real reason behind this...... did I hear someone say profits.

 

It's illegal to scalp tickets to an event, you can get prosecuted, but scalp gas well that's just the oil business.

 

I haven't called my Mp or Mpp in a while so I enjoyed doing so today and even though it will most likely have no effect at least I feel better. In fact after posting this rant I also feel better not happy but better!

Edited March 14, 2007 by Garyv

[ketchenany]

I agree with 100%a nd when crude goes up it shouldn't reflect at the pumps for 90 days or so :wallbash: :wallbash:

[just2manylures]

Well I am glad you finally got upset. I have been for about 2 years now. So I don't think I will ever be happy with them again!!!

[Steelcat]

Just think of the day after Katrina whip through New Orleans, the price immediately jumped up to $1.30+. It's also funny how the price on the pump kept on jumping up and down ALL OF THE SAME TIME (any company) everyday, this is the only country that the price jump up and down like this. I've also watch an interview in Pulse24 asking one of the oil company representative about the price of the pump, the report asked "when demand is high, you guys raise the price; so what happened if the demand fell?" The oil company guys replied, "well if the demand fell, of course the price will go up." the report was kinda ticked "well you are saying the price will go up no matter the demand go up or down?!"....

I really want to see their annual report for 2007 and I bet they will have yet another record breaking profit.

 

When the oil refinery was down in mid Feb, they said everything will be back to normal in a week, they 10 days, then 2 weeks, then a month, now they said more time.... they also said it only affect 10% of the total production, yet almost every single gas station in Toronto went out of gas.... This is worst than some so called "third world countries".

 

Some people might say, use hybrid.... sure it will lower the cost of gas, but not every can afford a brand new car. Some might say, use public transit, sure we'll use it, but if the buses were always not on schedule, sometimes no service during weekends, who is going to explain this to our bosses if we were late?

 

All I know is the government is getting tons of $$$$ via gas tax especially when they mark the price so high, I don't think we can count on the government to do anything about it.

[aniceguy]

no one will dissagree its plain and simpley a rip and tear mentality on the companies part.

 

personally I wish I could eat chili every night and bottle my self produced methane and stick that in the tank probubly more flameable but Id feel sorry for the guy behind me in his prius

Edited March 14, 2007 by aniceguy

[steverowbotham]

no need getting frustrated, its not going to do anything. They could charge 3.00/L and we'd still pay it because we have to get around. It sucks, but moping wont help out at all, we've just gotta deal with it.

[TennesseeGuy]

How much of the total is tax?

 

I'm paying 39.5 cents per gallon for federal and state tax.

 

It's a great time to own the company you buy fuel from.

[Steelcat]

"The provincial government collects 14.7 cents in taxes for every liter of gas sold. This is in addition to the federal excise tax of 10 cents a litre and 6 per cent GST, which is applied to the retail price of fuel as well as the provincial and federal levies. Taxes account for 30.9 per cent of the total Ontario pump price." quoted from http://www.taxpayer.com/main/news.php?news_id=2359

[lookinforwalleye]

If your not upset by the price of gas you don`t have a pulse!

 

One of the Toronto radio station had a guy on a couple of weeks claiming there was no data to suggest that there is no correlation with price increases at the pump and holidays or long weekends of course the oil companies paid for this study.

 

On a global level the US and Canada pay the lowest price in the world for gas in Europe the price per gallon in Canadian dollars is about 8.50 versus our 4.50 or so. I know 4.50 is still expensive but just adding a little perspective and while i don`t like it you can`t blame the oil companies for taking advantage of their good fortune every other business would or does the same thing it all about supply and demand and as you know there is no shortage of demand from the public the car manufactures keep making cars and trucks with more gas guzzling high horsepower engines and people buy them,how many people do you see commuting to work driving SUV`s plenty i`ll bet,how many people do you see flying across the lake in a boat with a 250 HP egngine slapped on the back, lots of demand for gas.Eventually the high price of gas will catch up with us and our life styles will have to change I know for me my gas costs are high i have a boat and I drive to my trailer every weekend but i enjoy it so i pay the price.

[GbayGiant]

Maximum profit, like I said before they're just legal crack dealers and they know the phenes will be back for another hit of gas.

Edited March 14, 2007 by GbayGiant

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Come on Gary. Some one has to pay for all the corporate investments, err I mean aid to the Afghanistans government.

 

You dont expect them to use the taxes we already paid do you? Those were divided amongst the campaign donators right after the election win. It has to come out of the publics pocket. Millions of dollars in aid announced to Afghanistan and all of a sudden we have an explosion at Sarnia and prices sky rocket. Funny how convienient and what a coincidence.....

[Steelcat]

It's been like that for the past several years~ whenever there were a long weekend, the price went up (or stayed up). Even with the media asking questions about the price, there's always no clear answer.

[GbayGiant]

It's been like that for the past several years~ whenever there were a long weekend, the price went up (or stayed up). Even with the media asking questions about the price, there's always no clear answer.

 

They employ wordsmith wizards that can talk there way out of a death sentence. Oh, wait isn't that what all politicians do.

 

Kids at home make sure to study and learn all the words in the dictionary so you to can muster up a chain of large words to impress the illiterate and confuse the scholars.

[Nanook]

My guess is that WE are paying for the repairs to the refinerie, and while the Govt's are raking in more in taxes,we wont be getting any help from them any time soon.

Weeelllll, just have stretch my pension a bit more!!

[TennesseeGuy]

September 29, 2005 I invested the minimum amount in Vanguard Energy Fund and today I made enough from the fund to buy fuel for my 3000 mile round trip to Red Lake this May and June. And it wasn't a very good day. I expect to see 4 or 5 better days in the next week and a half. Avoided being a victim by picking a winner rather then one of the many losers in the market.

[Fishandchips]

The reasons for the shortage and price increase is simple Gary, no one bothered to check the level of oil we had.The Oil is in Alberta and the dipsticks are in Ottawa

[PatrickGG]

If you cant beat them join them i contribute so much a month to my RRSP natural resource investment on average i make a additional $150 to $200 bucks a month profit and over the next few years the more builds up the more i will get in return, this link is the actual fund profile i invested in "I aint a banker this is not spam" http://globefunddb.theglobeandmail.com/gis...me=BMO+Resource

[graftongal]

I am not a supporter of the NDP party, but I think they're on the right track with this one.

 

http://ontariondp.com/pump-shock-petition

 

With 2007 being an election year the politicians had better get their crap together. Ontario residents have had enough of these outrageous gas prices and if these issues aren't addressed in election campaigns it could be detrimental to their party.

Edited March 15, 2007 by graftongal

[topraider]

Be careful about those oil investments right now, there's a lot of political risk, and costs are starting to get out of line. The easy money was made 2003-2005.

 

Consider:

 

Alberta reconsidering royalty rates for oil sands projects (now at 1% until outlay is recovered)

Federal government is reconsidering write off rules for oil infrastructure costs

Wages, and costs of materials (eg steel) have skyrocketed

New enviromental rules - e.g. CO2 sequestering and emission caps. Nobody knows what the rules are anymore.

Newfoundland is scaring away large oil companies with demands of equity ownership and development timetables

Estimated costs of Mackenzie pipeline now at 16 billion. Sounds like it will never happen now.

Oil company bashing by Central Canadians is a popular pastime and there is no shortage of politicians willing to pander to this sentiment.

In the USA there is even talk about a "windfall profits tax" for the oil companies.

 

Alberta offers political stability, but it is one of the most expensive places to do business in the world. Multinational oil companies look at these increased costs and new rules, recalculate project hurdle rates, and take their business elsewhere.

 

Just last week Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. announced they were putting plans for a heavy oil upgrader on hold. It would cost 6-8 billion. Too much risk right now.

 

Nobody wants to spend the 2 billion plus it costs to build a refinery because of all the red tape, and the risk that the investment will never make a decent return. Ontario desperately needs more refining capacity right now. From the oil company's perspective, it is better to repair the old plants, and close the ones that can't be fixed. It doesn't help that demand for refined fuels is inelastic, meaning that a 10% reduction in supply will result in more than a 10% increase in price. Refiners can make more money by not building more capacity. Historically, refining has been a terrible business to be in, it is only recently that thay have made money.

[lookinforwalleye]

I am not a supporter of the NDP party, but I think they're on the right track with this one.

 

http://ontariondp.com/pump-shock-petition

 

With 2007 being an election year the politicians had better get their crap together. Ontario residents have had enough of these outrageous gas prices and if these issues aren't addressed in election campaigns it could be detrimental to their party.

 

Well thats good that your not an NDP supporter, I don`t think you will see an NDP government in Ontario for sometime at least until off us middle aged types die off you see we remember the Bob Rae reign and how he almost destroyed the province.

[Guest Trophymuskie]

I actually can't understand how they can get away with it. You listen to the news on the radio and they announce the price of crude going up. You can't pull in a gas station fast enough as the price is already going up. But when you hear of the price of crude going down well it takes days to see the price at the pumps go down.

 

Every long weekend or holiday the price goes up and magical comes down a few days later.

 

They have a problem in Louisiana which has no effect whatsoever on our system but the prices go up 50%.

 

A refinery that is 1 as a fire and production is down 10% and all of the sudden all companies run out of gas and jack their prices for what months?

 

I can just imagine if I ( or any other business other then oil ) have a piece of equipment break or my truck needs a new tranny and I raise my prices to pay for it ( LOL ) I'm sure to be out of business. Maybe I can call all 1000 painting companies in the area and tell them that I need a new tranny and we need to raise prices across the board by 20%.

 

Don't worry guys march break is almost over and gas will be back in the 80's early next week.

[holdfast]

Is that why our gas in Saskatchewan went up 11 cents this afternoon because of your March break. I wouldn't doubt it as I haven't heard any other reasonable explanation.

[GbayGiant]

Don't worry guys march break is almost over and gas will be back in the 80's early next week.

 

And back up to record highs for May long weekend, can't wait. lol..

 

 

You made a good point to, it goes up in minutes at the pump an takes a month to drop a little and the rotation continues, but at the end of the year the average gas prices are higher than the last.

[Guest Trophymuskie]

Forget about gas I just got some heating oil last night and the crooks are charging .75 a litre. I remember when we moved here it was costing .30 a litre. That's a 250% price increase in 13.5 years.