Topic: Gas Prices to Track Crude Prices DOWN?

[AVToller]

Paul Martin says crude oil prices will drop, gasoline prices must follow

TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin put petroleum companies on notice Saturday, saying he will make sure the price of gasoline keeps pace as the cost of crude oil drops in the weeks ahead.
"The first thing we have to do is to make sure that in fact as oil prices come down, which I believe they are going to do, that it is immediately reflected in prices at the pump," Martin said at a meeting of young Quebec Liberals.

Martin did not say how he will make sure retailers drop gasoline prices as quickly as they rose but the federal cabinet is crafting a plan, according to Jacques Saada, the regional economic development minister for Quebec.

"The impact of the fluctuation of gas prices is considerable on our economy," Saada said. "It's our duty as a federal government to see what we can do."

 
http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=canada_home&articleID=2026551

I guess we'll just have to hope! 

[woohoo]

cross fingers...

[articsteve]

Thats electioneering for you.  Watch them suspend the Federal Excise Tax just before annoucing the election call.

[chris]

Oh boy... this confirms my opinion of PM

1) from what I understand not too many people burn crude oil in their cars/furnaces/powerplants
2) there is an extreme shortage of refining capacity as a bunch of refineries are still not operating in the US South thus...
3) there is currently an over supply (actually more like less of undersupply) of crude as all North American refineries are running full tilt and can't process any more crude

So, for the price of gas in Canada to go down, we must be able to buy all feedstocks at a decreased price (which is occurring for crude at least) AND demand to be stable or decreasing.  Now, unless I'm mistaken, at least some of our processed fuels (gas, diesel) are heading South of the border in larger quantities than before the hurricane disaster thus maintaining high demand. 
If our prices (rack which equals wholesale, not the pump price) were ever to be "that much" below the US rack then we'd have a convoy of gas trucks heading South thus increasing demand.  The only thing that will bring prices down significantly is an increase in the gas and diesel supply. 

Hmmm, isn't europe sending a few tankers with finished product this way?  That may help too.

In any case, the gas price should ease due to a decrease in the "fear premium" and as refineries get up and running soon.  Will they get back to what was previously considered normal... doubt it.  We're already "used to" well over $1/L so I'll bet the marketers will ease the price to what we're more comfortable with... but not what we had before!

[ovr50]

PM is just playing to the hordes of whining Canadians who are screaming that gasoline is too expensive. He has to appear to be doing something - there is little he nor the Tories led by Carper can do about this in the short run.

Demand has to go down and refining capacity has to go up; preferably both. If not, prices will remain high and go higher as demand increases.

A nice new refinery just back of the West Block on Parliament Hill would do wonders for the politicians who pander to the snivellers.

 

[si]

I feel my leg being pulled.

[traingirl]

Couldn't resist this one:

A lot of folks can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage here
in Canada.  Well, there's a very simple answer.... Nobody bothered to
check the oil!  We just didn't know we were getting low . The reason for
that is purely geographical. Our oil is located in Alberta,
Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and B.C.

Our DIPSTICKS are located in Ottawa, ONTARIO

[bmorton]

Filled up for 99.5 earlier today. First time I'd seen a price <$1.00 in a while. The price drop at this Esso station obviously caught the competition by surprise as the Petro-Canada across the street was at 103.7.

[AVToller]

We are still sitting at $1.155-1.159. 

[Snowman]

Nothing has changed in Sudbury for two weeks, $1.17.9 for the cheap stuff.

[ovr50]

Same price here - $1.179.

Like the avatar......

[articsteve]

In southern Ontario, wholesale gasoline prices are set on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

http://www.nymex.com/index.aspx

Unfortunate effect of NAFTA.  Gas prices fall back more slowly in Canada because Canadians are sheep always prepped for slaughter and we adopted gasoline measurements in metric which made Canadian gouging possible because most Canadians are too stunned to do the conversion to gallons for comparison purposes.

Not uncommon to have gasoline in Barrie 5 cents litre higher than Toronto which is about 15 cents USD for a US gallon.  In individual States it is very uncommon to see a spread of more than 5 cents USD throughout the entire State.  Even these small spreads get people there furious.  Here we just suck it up.

The Feds are completely out of touch I agree.  Ralph Goodall is an idiot when he says removing the GST from gas or the Federal Excise Tax won't make a difference.   That the oil companies will just jack up the price to cover the decrease in tax he says.  Somebody tell Ralphie that we have prisons in Canada and that crooked people live there and he should let the oil people know it.

[articsteve]

Nothing has changed in Sudbury for two weeks, $1.17.9 for the cheap stuff.

Owen Sound is 103.5 pretty much all over.

That is approx. 56 cents CDN for a US gallon more or less.