Citydude
Super Member
The lifting cost of crude oil is higher than the oil is worth in some parts of Wyoming. Those wells are shut off until the value of crude goes back up.
Same here. Waiting until they finally price in the current price of oil. Off road ought to be well under 2 bucks/gal and is not here yet. Funny how if crude goes up 10 bucks/gal, you'd see pump prices rise almost immediately, but let it drop 50%, and it will take months to match it at the pump. I just don't understand it......![]()
I'd agree.....except it will likely overshoot much higher down the road.
The purpose of the current Russia-Saudi price war is to drive American shale producers over a cliff. The reduced use of fuels by many industries (imagine how much the use of jet fuel has dropped) combined with the price war combined with the fact many of the shale producers have only stayed in business due to debt financing is going to leave a big hole in production from the US side of the equation.
IF the virus or financial contagion spills over into the refinery aspect, the future price of fuel could well go way up.
AND there is the almost predictable reaction of govt to reduced use.....raise tax on it to keep revenue nearly the same.....God forbid they should have to get by on less.
AND from the prepper point of view (which is how I look at a lot of the world), if you hold it, you own it (or at least have a better change at owning it)
So when it hits 1.50/gal or there about, yeah, I have an extra 500 gal tank I'm gonna call the Co-op and have them fill it. I'll throw some biocide and a gallon of PRI-D in the tank and let it sit. Money in the bank, so to speak.
Seems like the northeast has the slowest reductions in fuel prices. D2 is still @$2.89
They'll tell you that the price is based on the fuel that was in the pipe line when they refined it.
In other words the pump price was last months barrel purchase.
Funny thing is next months price won't reflect today's low barrel price.
I do not see it as price gouging, I see it as a negative side of the free market system.
What is happening is, a service station bought a truckload of fuel 2 months ago for $2 per gallon...9000 gallons, and then Black Swan hit. That stopped people from doing much, including buying fuel. So the same fuel they bought is just sitting there in their tanks.
Now the price starts dropping for crude, but that does not change anything, the fuel they have, they bought for $2 per gallon.
IF they sell it for $1.50 a gallon, they lose a lot of money! But here is the thing. The Pandemic is something that is predictable. Unlike most fuel price fluctuations where you do not know what is going to happen or for how long, here they do. As long as the pandemic is on, no fuel will be bought, so they just have to wait it out. When the pandemic lifts, so will crude prices, and they can sell the same fuel they bought for $2 per gallon 2 months ago, for $3.00 again.
If the lower their prices, they just lose money on every gallon. If they keep them high, they do not sell as much fuel during this time period, but they are not going to lose any money either.
Let's do some calculations.
First, we have to estimate the bottom price? Let's be stupid optimistic and say $2 p/gallon savings.
Second, how much fuel do we want to hoard? Let's be stupid and say 500 gallons. So we are assuming we are going to save $1000. It might take us two years to recoup the investment? That's assuming 250 gallons per year??
Third, how much will it cost us to purchase the necessary equipment to do this venture? Probably going to pay $500 for a storage tank. Another $100 to rig it up with a hand pump? So we invested $600.
Fourth, our potential profit is $400. It will take us 24 months to realize this profit. So for the next 24 months we will potentially save $17 p/month.
Fifth, would we borrow the money to do this venture? Probably not because the payback is so low. So why would we do it?
I was quoted $1.06 for delivered off-road fuel yesterday with it to be delivered tomorrow.
A few days ago there was a photo of a fleet of tankers anchored off California as storage waiting for prices to improve.
Google for 'photo tankers offshore'. This brought up 3 dozen parked off Galveston, too many to count off Singapore.They're everywhere.
It's going to be a while before shale oil turns profitable.
I don't know anything about the oil industry but one thing I see is this is really hurting the less-prosperous producing countries. Especially for Venezuela this is compounding their disaster now, with no oil revenue to buy imported food and medicine. I suspect there is similar impact in Nigeria, a big oil producer, but I haven't read anything about that. Russia and Saudi Arabia are crushing the competition. Combined with covid - strange times.Are they waiting for prices to improve, or are they waiting to find empty storage tanks to discharge their virtually worthless cargo to? The story I am aware of is that the on shore storage facilities are mostly full. Theres no place to put the oil, and no market, so it sits in tankers offshore.