What has made the price of gas go up so much this year?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 08 Dec 2005 14:37 PST

Supply and demand, my friend.  Supply and demand.

Even before the spate of hurricanes that the US experienced this year,
gasoline prices were on the rise.

The US Department of Energy does a reasonable job of explaining the
various factors involved in the rising cost of gasoline for (most of)
2005:


http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/analysis_publications/primer_on_gasoline_prices/html/petbro.html


Please have a look at their write-up.

If it answers your question to your satisfaction....great!  Let me
know and I'll post it as a formal answer.

However, I suspect you might want some additional information after
reading their explanations.  If that's the case, just tell me what
else you'd like to know about gasoline prices, and I'll see what I can
do for you.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by porchswinger-ga on 10 Dec 2005 13:14 PST

Your response would be fine as an answer, please go ahead and post it!

porchswinger-ga,


Thanks for getting back to me, and I'm glad to hear that the link I
provided was on target for what you needed.

If, on further reflection, you find you'd like any additional
information on this topic, don't hesitate to get back to me.  Just
post a Request for Clarification to let me know what you need, and I'm
at your service.

Cheers,


pafalafa-ga



search strategy -- Google search on [ increase "gas prices" katrina site:gov ]

Thank you for your quick reply!

Many factors propel the ups and downs in gasoline prices, with the
cost of crude oil being the major influence.
Some of the other factors influencing prices today include:
Strong Demand,Lack of Spare Production Capacity,Hurricane-related
Supply Interruptions,Geopolitical Uncertainties & Fuel Specifications
For further details refer to
http://www.conocophillips.com/newsroom/other_resources/energyanswers/gasoline.htm
or 
http://www.howstuffworks.com/gas-price.htm

and in case you were referring to residential gas prices this makes good reading
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/natbro/gasprices.htm

I do not think gas prices are as high as made out to be. In countries
like USA, the gasoline price is extremely low. See the stats below:

Burundi has a per capita Gross National Income of USD 90. The price of
Gasoline there at the end of 2004 was USD 1.04 per Litre. If a man
earns money equivalent of GNI, he would be able to purchase 90/1.04 =
87 Litres of Gasoline.

Now let us talk of USA.

USA has a per capita income of USD 41,400. The price of Gasoline there
at the end of 2004 was USD 0.54 per Litre. If a man earns USD 41,400
per year, he would be able to purchase 41,400/0.54 = 76,667 Litres of
Gasoline.

Now do you see the point? The price of Gasoline in USA is far less
than that in many countries even now.