Gas Prices Could Rise to $5 Per Gallon

[X5Sport]

In the UK we're now paying around £1-34 for Petrol and £1-39 for Diesl per litre which makes our fuel very expensive. Somewhere around 80% of that cost is in direct taxation in the form of Fuel Duty and VAT (Sales Tax).

Given the almost complete pay freeze in certain industries for the last 4 years it's starting to hurt. I'm in te IT industry and like most of my team and colleagues have seen no increase in the last 4 years. Comes of working for a US Company unfortunatly. In terms of fuel prices and options, unfortunately there really is no alternative as our Public Transport is inefficient, poorly run, very expensive, crowded, old, dirty and often runs at inconvenient times unless you are in a big city or close to a major commuter route.

Electric cars don't really work in rural areas, hydrogen is non-existent, LPG is rare now and hybrid cars too damned expensive and their emissions levels are not told honestly by the manufacturers so seem no more than a toy for he image conscious. I do drive less than I used to, and work from home most days now. Yes I know I have an X6, but at least it is the more efficient Diesel version - petrol ones are way too expensive to run in the UK these days unless you have money to burn


For now, we're stuck in the Age of Oil, and it's high time we got out of it by spending vast sums of money developing new technology to replace petrol/diesel engines instead of sinking more oil wells into more and more risky places. You can safely say that most Brits were horrified at BP's mega screw up in the Gulf last year, even more so if it was down to penny pinching managers!!

[Krimson X]

Originally Posted by X5rolls

Krimson

I don't understand your point. How much we produce has nothing to do with the amount we import at this current time.

My point is that we cannot drill ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil if we are already the world's 3 biggest producer.

[X5rolls]

Originally Posted by Krimson X

My point is that we cannot drill ourselves out of our dependence on foreign oil if we are already the world's 3 biggest producer.

Yep, I agree with you on eliminating the dependence. We should try to lower it by increased domestic drilling would be my view.

[Quicksilver]

And the beat goes on. High pump prices rattle drivers and businesses | Comcast.net

[X5rolls]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

And the beat goes on. High pump prices rattle drivers and businesses | Comcast.net

It is a real crush, the additional costs are a big difference to many.

In the piece above (while I really do have empathy for folks who are struggling on a month to month basis) this quote jumped out as a bit off.

For drivers such as Robert Wagner, 51, a high school teacher from Thornton, Colo., the higher fuel costs mean cutting back on movies and dinners out for him, his wife and their two children. "We're very, very frugal right now," he said as he trickled enough $3.09-per-gallon gasoline into his Chevrolet Suburban to get him to his next pay day.

It's not like people didn't know Surburbans got horrible has mileage 2 years ago. I mean, come on now. Frugal would mean getting rid of the Surburban, not going to movies and eating at home. He needs to cut his expenses big time.

Give me 20 minutes going over his finances/expenses and I bet I could get him on a plan to reduce his costs significantly. There is nothing wrong with living within ones means.

On a final note, he should be reading the tea leaves about cuts in teacher union based benefits - think he may pay more soon and get less later. Think ahead and you might not be surprised while you trickle gas into your gas hog of a machine on your way to the movies and a resturant. Bet he doesn't teach economics.

[motordavid]

X5Rolls,
Right On, and

.

Mr&Mrs 'AvgAmeican' have lil'clue where their monthly dough goes, besides their mort, car payment(s), widescreen tv note, et al.

And, many families' 'budget' and 'financial planning' is akin to the Fed gov't's style, imo.
GL, mD

[X5rolls]

Originally Posted by motordavid

X5Rolls,
Right On, and

.

Mr&Mrs 'AvgAmeican' have lil'clue where their monthly dough goes, besides their mort, car payment(s), widescreen tv note, et al.

And, many families' 'budget' and 'financial planning' is akin to the Fed gov't's style, imo.
GL, mD

Sad but true.

You know, wouldn't it be great if in school they actually tought kids how to be responsible with money, to budget and even...... save? Seems like parents don't do enough of that, maybe they are too worried about being a kids friend.

[Quicksilver]

Actually parents don't do enough of that. Maxing out credit cards, second and third mortgages you name it, thats the example they set. Now add to that young people who think they deserve everything now and budget and even save don't enter into the conversation.

Originally Posted by X5rolls

Sad but true.

You know, wouldn't it be great if in school they actually tought kids how to be responsible with money, to budget and even...... save? Seems like parents don't do enough of that, maybe they are too worried about being a kids friend.

[X5rolls]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Actually parents don't do enough of that. Maxing out credit cards, second and third mortgages you name it, thats the example they set. Now add to that young people who think they deserve everything now and budget and even save don't enter into the conversation.

I couldn't agree more. Not all folks of course but a ton of them.

[JCL]

Back on the theme of increasing domestic production, and focusing on the supply side of the equation....

I came across this today, and thought of this thread. The USGS reduced their previous (2002) estimate of undiscovered conventional oil in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve and associated waters by 90%. This isn't all of Alaska, but it is a sizeable area. This new estimate is based on more recent exploration, and counts the technically recoverable oil and gas. Gas reserves were also reduced. So, it isn't just in Saudi that reserves have been overstated. This entire estimated reserve would supply all oil needs in the US for about 45 days by one calculation. Sort of puts a cramp in the 'drill baby drill' promoters in Alaska.


USGS Release: USGS Oil and Gas Resource Estimates Updated for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) (10/26/2010 12:43:17 PM)

Edit:

I wondered how comparable the NPRA is compared to the ANWR, since there is a lot of discussion about drilling in the ANWR. The NPRA is 23 million acres, the ANWR is 19 million acres. Comparable, at first glance. They are both on the North Slope, where the oil is. We don't know with any confidence what reserves the ANWR contains, since the estimates are older than the old NPRA estimates. However, in 1998 the USGS put the reserves in the ANWR at between 5.7 and 16 billion barrels, with a mean estimate of 10.4 billion barrels. That is comparable to the 10.6 billion barrels that the USGS estimated were in the NPRA in 2002, and which has been downgraded by 90%, above.