Not that I want it to but it is interesting that the price of gasoline has not doubled also. Would someone please explain why this hasn't happened. L.

-- Lucy (windsng@123k.com), February 14, 2000

Answers

There is about 5 cents worth of corn in a box of cornflakes. Doubling the price of corn would add 5 cents to the price of the box.

-- Imso (lame@prepped.com), February 14, 2000.

Imso,

Point well taken, but the percentage of raw product in gasoline is much greater than the $$ of wheat in corn flakes.

A "barrel" of crude has how many gallons??? 50 (or is it 55)?

Let's say 55 gallons.

Former price: $15.00 / 55 gal = $ .2727 per gallon New price: $30.00 / 55 gal = $ .545 per gallon

Increase: $ .27+ per gallon

So, if gasoline WAS around $1.00 per gallon, it should now be around $1.27 per gallon...assuming they don't add additional profits :)

Hmmm....

-- No Polly (nopolly@hotmail.com), February 14, 2000.

The only reason gasoline hasn't doubled alongside the price of crude and heating oils is seasonality. Greater demand for gasoline will arise, in the months to come, as the weather becomes more favorable for the summer driving season. The price of diesel has, however, risen well above the pace of the rise in gas prices. Commercial consumption of diesel is less seasonal than for regular unleaded, for instance, but that market has been every bit as active as the crude and heating oil markets.

-- (cashtradr@aol.com), February 14, 2000.

Because a HUGE part of the price of a gallon of gas is taxes- federal and state. I've heard that in my state the state tax alone on a gallon is $.40. Don't know what the fed is. Maybe they can cut their taxes?

-- jl (Landsowne@emerett.com), February 14, 2000.

The price of gas has more than doubled. The price of the nearest NYMEX contract was below 34 cents in December, 1998, when the uptrend began. It is well over 83 cents today.

The difference between the price of the contract and the price you pay at the pump is affected by state taxes (a constant per gallon) and profits and markups along the way (also usually fixed). If you allow 40 cents for state tax and a total of 20 cents for profit by the distributors and dealer, that 83 cents translates to a price of $1.43 at the pump -- that happens to be exactly what gas is selling for in our area.

In addition, I've seen some distributors/dealers not passing the full price increases on to the public.

-- rocky (rknolls@no.spam), February 14, 2000.

Much of the value in gasoline is not the crude oil, but rather the processing (refining), additives, marketing (advertising), shipping, and retail markup. Not to mention taxes, which are a major component, and are mostly assessed by the gallon, not as a percentage of the price.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 14, 2000.

Oil is sold in forty gallon barrels...

-- old depletion programmer (not@giving.it), February 14, 2000.

I don't usually subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I've actually seen a slight price DROP at my local stations since rollover. The only possible reason that I can think of is that someone somewhere down the chain (government or industry) has said "Oops, we've screwed up big time. Cover it up and we'll deal with the sackings later."

Gas prices are one of the few things that people actually NOTICE, so all the "little Cuban boy" happy face news obfuscation can't hide them.

-- _ (_@_._), February 15, 2000.

Oil is sold in forty gallon barrels...

Actually, it's 42 gallons to the Barrel, if anyone cares.

-- Dog Gone (dawgawn@yahoo.com), February 15, 2000.