So everyone is harping about the gas prices and all the goofballs in the media keep telling us we’re better off than other countries in the world where gas is over $6 a gallon. Well those guys are retards. How are these oil companies making money selling their gas to other countries where the gas goes for as low as .12 cents a gallon? Gasoline is so expensive because we buy it from the Saudis and the Saudis jack up their previously bargain prices just for us. They DON’T jack them up as much as the media says, though. When oil barrels go up in price, that price includes tariffs and built in costs for the processing companies that import it. That price is not what the Saudis are asking for straight out of the ground – it is what the oil processors say it costs to turn a barrel of black crude into gasoline, including their salaries, their president’s salary, all of their worker’s salaries, and the cost of their companies over there that work to acquire it and all of those folks’ salaries… in the future (speculation; I’ll get into that in a moment). It is all very misleading if you just listen to the radio or watch the news.
Earlier I mentioned some countries are getting the bargain price of .12 cents a gallon (like in Venezuela). That is in large part because the government subsidizes it. The actual lowest current price I could find from a government that doesn’t subsidize their gasoline costs was $1.29 (about 5,942 Manat). That was in Baku, Azerbaijana – a country that recently stopped subsidizing their gasoline because of theft from neighboring countries.
Our local oil lords tell us how much it is going to cost us to fill up our tanks, then they tell us their hands are tied and to look to Europe when comparing our prices, instead of looking at the rest of the world (because Europe stuck their neck in that same Saudi noose we did, for most of the same reasons). The Saudis sell their crude oil much cheaper to some countries and the other countries just buy their crude from somewhere else. There are a lot of lower prices for crude oil than what the Saudis are asking for, but Shell and Chevron have so much invested in the previously cheapest crude in the Middle East that they will still offer it and still make a huge profit off of it, even if it doubles, triples, quadruples, or quintuples gas prices for their customers.
Unless Chevron, Shell, and all the other big guys decide to close up shop over there, we are going to continue to be at the mercy of the Saudis despite the availability of petrol from other less expensive providers in other locations.
Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention gas speculation. Why is the exact same gas that costs $4.55 down the street from my house only cost $2.41 in a neighboring country just as expensive to ship to? Because our US gasoline purveyors speculate on the future cost so they can have enough money to pay for it… in the future… if they are right… but they are never right… and they are always wrong on the side that puts way more money in their pockets. It may not be fair, but it is legal. Supply and demand gives them all of the power they need and their #1 interest is keeping their shareholders happy. That is why the petrol industry is still going strong despite the increases in price and repeated upsets with their suppliers.