What is going on ? Gas dropped 31 cents per gal here yesterday!!! To me it looks like they are trying to take some of the pressure off him. Don't say crude dropped. It never mattered this fast in the past . Crude drop 3 weeks later gas go down 3 cents.

Cheaper crude due to lower worldwide demand because the virus is shutting down supply chains again.

Oil companies and presidents don't control the price of oil.

Drop in gas prices is the last thing the democrats want to see. I'm sure its temporary.

Gas went up 10 cents yesterday in NY

Are you sure lol.

WHAT? oil companies don't control gas prices ? THey are the ones that set the price . People are going to buy it no matter the cost. PLUS you got it reversed . No supply chains mean HIGHER prices. Or that's what they said about lumber. under Trump gas was 1.75 BIDEN WHO is the other part of your reasoning closed pipelines in US (opened one in Russia) and gas goes up 1.00. So yes presidents can and do effect prices.

Yes prices would rise due to supply chain problems IF there was demand. Demand is decreasing and the price of oil is dropping accordingly.

Oil companies do not set the price of gasoline. The cost of a gallon of gas breaks down like this.

47% = price of crude oil
11% = refining costs and profits
22% distribution and marketing
20% federal & state tax.


A lot of the variations are due to geography, different state taxes, and speculators.

95% of gas stations are privately owned. Not owned by oil companies. Private operators may buy the rights to display a major oil brand name but they are not owned by the oil company

Ok white answer this what category does the sudden rise of 40-50 cents come under. PLUS EVERY station goes up at the same time. You know they didn't recieve a load at the same time.
But you are wrong about one thing, I know. Yes the gas stations may be owned by individuals. BUT the supplier or fuel companies call and tell them what they HAVE TO charge. Friend of mine opened a shell station here with a convient store inside. Dropped gas down to 105 when it was 2.26 every other station. SHELL oil distributor called him and said if he didn't go back up to match others they wouldn't bring him any more loads. So he had to raise.

X2 White 17. COVID-19 is effecting demand. No demand to much supply. Gas gets cheaper. You all may get your wish if IDA gets to Cat 4. Careful what you wish for. I will take cheaper gas any day

First of all you have no idea whether "every station" goes up at the same time. Second, by your logic, a supplier could sell a load of fuel to a station at 3.00 per gallon and demand that they sell it for 2.50

The distributor sets the price the gas station will pay but only the individual station knows what they have to charge to survive.

What category does the 40-50 cent increase fall into ? The most likely is a response to the price of crude since that is the largest percentage input cost of production.


The shell distributor in your example was obviously trying to protect himself because you friend was selling gas at less than the distributor was paying for it. Surely your friend didn't plan to stay in business long selling gas at that price. There may also have been some fair trade agreement in effect at that place & time. We don't know

I grew up in the distribution part of this business. Most times gas stations would make a purchase from a local distributor. The price would depend on the distributor's cost, the cost to transport it to the gas station (distance was a factor), the distributor's profit, the type of truck needed to access the specific property, and the payment history of the gas station operator.

Once in a while the distributor couldn't or wouldn't sell to a particular station. In that case the station operator had to deal directly with the refinery. This would result in, obviously, a different price per gallon than if delivered by the distributor.

There are far too many variables in an individual equation to say what the exact cause of a price fluctuation may be.

What we can say for almost certain is that the president didn't tell Chevron or Exxon what price to charge. Nor did Exxon or Chevron tell the gas station owner what to charge. The president's POLICIES may affect oil production....and in Biden's case that is certainly the case. The oil companies' response to those policies will alter the amount of global production and therefore the worldwide price..........not just the price in any one locale

I'll tell you how I know. 99;9% of the stations in my town are up and down the strip going to the lake. Hwy 27.The 9 Shell stations go up first and within 5-10 minutes Walmart, koger fuel, super america and Valero will follow. I can stand in one spot and see 7 gas stations at once. Kroger and Walmart will be 1-2 cents cheaper than shell and the others. In a 5 mile stretch going to the lake there is 17 gas stations I pass. EVERYONE will be the same with the 1-2 cent difference in the afore mentioned stations.

Yes he was killing it The people were coming in to pay for the gas and 95% were buying something else. Now he is just another convient store on the strip . One of many.
BUT wait did you just say the OIL COMPANY distributor dictated what they could charge ? !! OH NO so you saying my comment about the OIL co dictating the price ?? !!! > HMMMM

PLUS why did the distributor care what he sold it for? He got his asking price to my friend.

Oil is bought and sold as futures. The price they charge has nothing to do with what they may have paid at the time the supply was secured. Market drives the price. They won't let a good crisis go to waste.

The more I spend , the better I feel

White, forget it, it's useless.

Oil companies set the price of oil?

Next thing someone will try tell us farmers set the price of corn or trappers set the price of fur.

It's futile to even try fellas

People have been programed to hate "Big Oil". You can't tell them anything different.

I think there is a conspiracy in your town on that strip

Most towns are like that, with prices on all stations pegged to the penny.

Yes when I was growing up years ago there were mom and pop refineries around here. Gas stations would hardly ever have the same prices. ONLY the stations with the same name were alike. All chevron, Sunoco,Gulf, Bp would have the same as the other name sake stations. Some may be 15 cents difference. That was when gas hadn't reached a dollar a gallon. Several independent operators. Oh yes why did those stations become extinct. Think it may have been because "BIG OIL" put them out of business. Regulations and political payments forced them out because the little guys couldn't pay off the politicians.
Why do so many small town people "hate" big oil walleye. You must forget the shady dealings and back door agreements of the late 70's early 80"s How the big oil co thugged they're way to the top. There is a movie made about this can't remember the title. But the basis was heating oil . The story involved standard oil co. After they were successful doing that with the gas shortages it was only a matter of time before the small guy was doing something else.