Is anyone scared about how low gas prices are?

eheath

Active member
Staff member
Now I'm not economist or an econ major, but how low gas prices are right now can not be a good thing. Fuck a barrel of oil is 56 dollars, it was what, $120 3 months ago? I might just be missing some big shit going on but it seems like this dramatic drop in gas is spelled r-e-s-e-s-s-i-o-n? I could just be an idiot and have no idea what I am talking about.
 
Yeah it is kinda scary. It might also mess up the research for new sources of energy too, cause it will go up again sometime.

On the other hand, gas doesnt cost $4.00 a gallon now.
 
It's no secret that gas has been getting tighter the last 15 years or so, but we never saw an increase in the prices. Gas is sold on a world auction, so when everyone freaked out when it hit $2, it just kept going up. Apparently the recent decline in prices was due to demand not being quite as high as people anticipated, and when you purchase oil 6 months...even a year in advance...it can take a while to see the effects.
 
I mean prices only started rising in the last few years**

Remember, gas was only like $1.20 just a few years ago, and the demand wasn't that much different.
 
no the gas price does not mean recession. energy prices are on a bit of their own playing field. please do remember that gas prices were this low not so long ago. THere are many conspiracy theorists (not me) that htink that they made them that high so now you think this is low, and when they go high again prob even higher, you wont be as surprised. anyways, it is goofy that they are pretty low, but not linked to our possible recession.
ps sorry for rambling on
 
Oh well, you get the idea.

And I've been trying to get a good link for futures markets but I can't seem to find anything except the wall street journal. Gas always goes down in the winter due to loss of demand but never 2 dollars, usually like 50 cents.
 
I remember looking at a graph of the demand for oil and it was down like 2% after prices hit $75 a barrel. I think something else is going on and for a while I thought it was all because of the election and purely political but I dunno. I do wish gas would go down everywhere god damn it.
 
Our economy collapses along with the rest of the world and people start losing jobs. Oil companies realize, dammit! people will need to start saving money, and they will buy less gas. So they lowered prices to keep people driving even though they're out of a job. That's all it is, economy is fixed, oil prices go back up. Also, now we're getting really close to alternative resources they want to ensure that doesn't happen by bringing the prices down so no one gives a shit about how much gas they consume, no one sees the need to be fuel efficient.
 
i say enjoy it while it lasts cause i doubt it will last long (prices)..... and im pretty sure that we are on track for another depression..... if we get there or not is any ones guess..... hope not.....
 
i have to admit it is a relief, and i hope it stays low during ski season. but i agree it does make me weary... it is kind of ironic that everything else is going up and the thing that has been raping us for months is going down
 
Im loving it, once it took 70 to fill up my car now it takes only 48, but at the same time i am kinda weirded out about it
 
In a nutshell. Its probably caused because of OPEC. OPEC is basically a cartel of oil exporting countries that sets price floors. Eventually a country will get greedy and set their own prices lower than OPECs. Other countries will follow and the price of oil will continually fall until it reaches an unknown bottom. It will go back up eventually. Probably higher than ever because the supply is decreasing and the demand is increasing. Couple that with some balls to the wall price gouging and we will have high oil prices again.

I am sure there are other causes to this such as the worldwide recession but this is definitely one cause.
 
Oil is traded as a commodity, thus it's price varies with demand.

Essentially, with the global economy in turmoil, demand has plummeted.

Look back a few months ago, before the financial markets collapsed in America, sending shockwaves throughout the world, and global demand was high, thus prices were high.

Now we are in a situation where global demand is greatly reduced yet supplies are ample, which leads to reduced pricing.

"Demand in the United States, the world's biggest consumer of oil, was expected to fall by more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time since 1980 this year, the EIA said."

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnSYD352870.html
 
"Falling prices could lead oil producers to shelve plans to pump more crude, energy leaders warned.

"If these prices continue ... many projects will be postponed" and there will be an "energy crisis in two years," Libya's Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem told AFP in a phone interview.

Libya is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that supplies 40 percent of the world's crude. Some cartel members have called for further production cuts to shore up falling prices."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjQRosWBQV8t_qkwwmWTKPlUzubQ

So yes, in the long run, this may cause a huge problem once the economy rebounds and energy demands increase again.
 
correct.
Prices are falling for one reason- WE ARE DRIVING LESS
This is because opec should have increased production before they let the price get astronomically high
it's simple supply and demand
 
who cares, gas is cheap.

people are scared when the price is high and now aparently when the price is low.
 
gas prices were over inflated to a point that simply couldnt be sustained, thats one of the reasons of lower gas prices
 
recess_schools_out.jpg

 
im not scared about them.. ive herd the prices are low becasue besides our (america's) bad economy the whole world market has been doing not so good so thus there is less foreign trade going on thus leading to less oil being used by big ships/planes etc..

now im not 100% or even 80% sure what ive herd is correct but it makes sence to me.
 
if you kids just opened your eyes and saw what is going on in front of your eyes you would know the answer to this. we are living through one of the most important times we will ever see in our lifetime.

the world is in an absolute economic standstill. nobody is buying anything, nobody is investing. its only natural for people to hold onto there money until things get better. for a simple answer its due to supply and demand as well as OPEC.

gas has to go lower because people will not buy it right now at a price of $4 a gallon. 4 dollars was our breaking point. to give you an insight, if gas went back to $4 a gallon almost overnight we would see hundreds of of thousands of jobs lost in a matter of weeks, probably millions with our current world economic disaster. if you think thats an overstatement wait and see.

btw this was sort of a rant haha
 
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