August long weekend gas price increase

Miss POI or Juggernaut - please change the title of this thread. It is inappropriate.

And BTW, there are other definitions to 'rape' aside from any sexual connotation.

Try using it as an adverb. Just a thought.

Yes there is, and it was the "pillage and plunder" meaning I assumed from the context of your title and post.

I'm appreciative of your understanding of common diction.

This rip-off is made all the more obvious if you live near the border and venture south of it . . . .

I guess in Montreal they believe we're more tolerant of the pain - $1.419 per liter (US$5.63/Gallon at today's exchange rate) in Quebec compared with $0.93 cents (US$3.75/Gallon) south of the border.

And it isn't even a long weekend up here in Quebec!!!

The Americans are selling gas that is refined in Canada, trucked to the US and sold to consumers.

Further, those Northern US prices are slightly above the US median price - go further South and it drops to 83 cents (US$3.30/gallon) and below.

And beyond us suckers buying regular, the differential for 'super' is even more disgusting.

The Federal and Provincial governments don't care because they are complicit to the ripoff - they take in taxes as both fixed amounts per liter AND as a percentage of the price - and, given their penchant for stealing our tax revenues and lining their pockets and those of their friends' with our tax money, they need *more* and *more* and the tax paying public gets less and less in the way of services and the quality of those services.

And we just bend over and say 'deeper please'.

Don't get me started on that fiction that is E10 and E15 gasoline - THAT impacts on Canadians and Americans alike.

Of course the oil companies made 41% and greater profit gains LAST quarter (and OUR inflated prices barely figure into their numbers at all, so they're REALLY cleaning up up here) - one wonders what they will report in the next quarter.

Buy shares in one of the majors to earn back some of your money.

Most if not all of our leaders world wide get kick backs off of these higher prices. Wether directly through stock or other channels. Plus with most of these companies being "privately" owned there is nothing the government can do. Yeah they can pull them up onto the "red" carpet and berate them in a public forum for our benefit but that has not changed anything and it won't.

The cost of alternative energies is prohibitive to most individuals so they are not worried about Hybrids or electrics. Even the power companies are in on the scam. costs more to transport coal to run the furnace so they raise our rates almost as much as the gas companies raise theirs.

The price of gas was going down (A miricle) just before the July 4th holidaay. next thing it was going up by 4 to 5 cents a day, right after the holiday weekend it started to go back down (not as fast)
Strange how that always happens.

Supply and demand will account for at least some of that fluctuation. I suspect that gasoline retailers attach a very high stock-out cost to gasoline, both in terms of lost ancillary (convenience store) sales and also lost future sales ("Whaddaya mean 'No gas'?? I'm never coming *here* again!!")

What baffles me is the degree of volatility - like when you're driving somewhere and think "I should get gas on the way home" and then ~1 hour later you see that the price has jumped 10% or more.

Gas prices are determined by a number of factors. Some of which are:

1- The price of BRENT crude oil per barrel. It fluctuates on a daily basis because of the a) value of the dollar because oil is priced in dollars b) speculators in the futures market.

2- Fear and risk factor as priced in by speculators concerning political situations that COULD affect the supply.

3- The amount of refining capacity available to make gasoline.

4- The time of year affects the blend needed to comply with government regulation (in the USA) different blends cost different amounts to make

5- Supply and demand for the product

6- Taxes

7-The amount of rent and other overhead the retailer pays

8- The profit margin the retailer charges per gallon in NYC that comes to between 7 to 15 cents per gallon.

So you won't reply but I can still comment:

1. Not quite sure why Brent crude has anything to do with the realities of life, considering that the oil we're refining in Montreal mainly comes from Venezuela, but can be hugely offset by Alberta exports . . . in other words, there is no real need for Canadians to be paying 'world prices' for oil - we pay the most of ALL of the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries.

2. There is no fear or weather disaster driving today's prices.

3. We have excess supply and refining capacity in Montreal - so much so that we export 40,000 barrels of oil a day in excess production - this AFTER closing a major refinery.

4. Not applicable to the thread, which was about Canadian pricing.

5. There is presently an oversupply in this part of the world and we have no way to get it to where supply is tight.

6. Indeed, but they haven't raised them this week - so not an excuse for the hike.

7. Hasn't changed.

9. Retailers claim to make no money (after operating expenses, of course), yet my cousin owns a station/car wash and drives a brand new mid-range Mercedes and lives in a very nice home (it's all he does, by the way) - I suppose that these accouterments somehow factor into "expenses"? - but it is the oil companies, speculators (who really should be taken out and shot for what they've been doing - you can stack their cold, lifeless bodies next to those of the bureaucrats who have been ripping us off for our taxes) and the governments that take the lion's share of the cash.

Look at it this way, oil companies make more money than any other companies (as a group) in the world does. Period. By extrapolation, we're being ripped off by oil companies, governments and speculators.

The price of gas in Venezuela is about 12 cents a gallon - and notwithstanding no one actually likes Chavez, they are not subsidising the product. Though the government there is fighting to raise prices so that they can take in additional revenue (there are some actually calling it a subsidy, but the fact is that the money they'd like to raise is actually 'foregone revenue').

In fact, as a misguided economy measure the Venezuelans no longer sell 'regular', something that was pointed out to me when I was last in Caracas.

If you chart gas prices in Montreal the graph is a simple sawtooth pattern and is absolutely predictable - and virtually every station in a huge area all have exactly the same pricing (a co-incidence, they claim, by the way - no price fixing involved. They pinkie swear and 'hope to die).

Up here prices spike on Tuesday, which is when the government sets the MINIMUM price for gas (so much for a free market economy). It drops until Thursday morning, when it spikes again (because lots of people can't actually afford to charge their gas purchases and Thursday is the traditional payday up here, and so it is the 'peak demand day'. It then slips until Monday night - the best days to buy gas up here are Monday and Wednesday.

I particularly liked, and support this part:

Prices certainly have shot up here in Chicago.

Fuel efficiency: US and car makers agree to new standard
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14350121

However... since when does anyone need to drive a vehicle that is over 200 HP? Certainly not in a passenger vehicle. Aside from commercial trucks, it's not required. Torque, not HP is what most vehicles require.

Want a high powered unit? Add a huge tax to it! If you can afford the fuel, you can afford the tax!

I have my flame-proof suit on, so flame away!

9- Figuring out how much they can increase profits without putting us back into another deep depression like they did last time.

Ummmm . . . . the high priced fuel IS the tax.