USA... High gas is here to stay!!!
 

Sorry for the previous thread, hopefully it is appropriate here...


This is a pretty logical assumption, but I had an interesting conversation with friend who works as a regional manager for BP. I asked when he thought gas prices would be going back down. He laughed at me and said "The US has been selling and producing oil and gas cheaper than any other country for the past 15 years. As much as I hate to say it, we're still way under-price, and have a lot farther to climb." I asked, "so we'll (as in the city of Houston) see 4 bucks a gallon this summer for sure?", and he said, "yeah, within 2 months, and we probably won't level off until the US avg. is around $6/gallon."

He went on to explain that the only reason our gas has been so cheap is b/c we use so much more per capita than anyone else. But now, China and India have a much larger middle class (i.e. starting to consume more of EVERYTHING), so we have to make supply room for them, and at a more realistic price.:( :( :(

My friend is a higher up guy with the company, and spends like half his time in London and half in Houston.

With the US already draining its own blood by sending blank checks to Iraq, we're stretched as far as we can get at current gas prices.

What are your thoughts?

4 bucks a gallon??? where have you been? it's been over 4 bucks for a while now. it's 4.35 a gallon for regular at the bp down the street. and i was driving around two days ago and it was 4.50!!

^I've been in Houston. It's still $3.62-3.72 here.

I did see that on the news this morning... Chicago and New York have already surpassed the $4 mark. I guess it's time for the EL ;)

i heard on the news that the average price in the city was $4.25

Isn't it actually Long Island?

Unfortunately, SoCal isn't lagging that far behind, and i've heard some say that it could reach an average of $4.50 in a matter of weeks, due to the poor supply and growing appetite from Developing countries. But one reason why we are doing better than Chicago and Greater New York City is because we are possibly in the process of starting another mini-oil boom in the hilly parts of of the Southland.

Still, MTA expects record Mass Transit use in L.A. not seen in decades!!:yes:

Yeah, our METRO system has been raking it in here too... record ridership for three months in a row. PLUS they are starting expansion of the MetroRail next month. One really good thing about gas prices is that the NIMBYS that have been opposing the rail lines are having to shut up :tup:

^
Great!!!:banana:

The way I see it, instead of investing only on Alternative energy powered vehicles, providing massive funding for Mass Transit (especially in regions like Los Angeles and Houston) is vital to keeping Nation-Wide Downtown Revitalization efforts booming.

Besides, these :dunce:s who come up with the old "someone will get hurt trying to cross" excuse drive me nuts!!! :brickwall:

The Seattle Streetcar was expected to rake in 960 riders a day, now they're up to 1350 and climbing.

The Sounder is even hitting records every week. It's great.

Definitely. I tried to find a comparison for gas prices in Great Britian, and they are at an avg of about $8.30/gallon. And they of course have been paying these types of prices for a long time. Same thing with other industrialized nations. For some reason, North America has been able to wheel and deal the world into giving us a break. I think that time is now over. I agree... the only smart thing for us to do is invest in real mass transit. That's the only way to really help the country, especially those of us who waste money on cars that they can't afford.

How long will that last? We just broke the 4 dollar mark a couple weeks ago in the DC area. $3.99 for regular but as much as $4.31 for premium.

update!!!! gas at the gas station down the street from is $4.62 for regular!!!
and at the bp on lasalle and clark it is $4.73!!!!! supreme was $5.03!!!!
according to the news, a marathon in skokie has the cheapest gas in the greater chicagoland area of $4.05 for reg!!


totally insane! glad i don't drive. :cheers:

High prices are here to stay? Wow, they said the same thing about Miami real estate in 2005, dot-com stocks in 1999 and the Yen in 1989. Was your friend saying the same thing about oil in 1980? Just wondering.

I know that some of the fundamentals are different, like China and India, but much of the rise in oil prices has more to do with market investors than supply - in other words, the bubble will pop, it's just a matter of when and how much.

That's good to hear, Houston is way behind Dallas in urban rail development. I rode the line there in Houston once, it's too short and pretty useless now, they need to add about 150 miles more with park and rides in the suburbs.

:whip: Houston, catch up to dallas and pass them up!

Here in lubbock, gas prices are passing $3.90 and climbing

$4.14 in Cypress (NW Houston). Here in College Station, we are hovering between $3.79 and $3.99. As a meteorologist, I can tell you that one blasted storm in the Gulf and you'll be paying $5-$6 dollars a gallon. One strike of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane on Houston and you can change that to $8-$10 a gallon. One quarter of our nation's refining capacity is located here. A reasonable comparison would be NYC and banking.

The season looks to be very busy too. Unfortunately, even the threat of a storm now-a-days will send prices soaring. It's nothing but fear mongering amongst the giants who will do everything they can to hoodwink us. We've had hurricanes for decades and they've never sent prices soaring because of a storm until recently. Though it's sad when people die and people's homes are destroyed, I'm tempted to say the real tragedy is what happens to everybody else with prices. It's not just gas that goes up, that just initiates it.

so much for "High gas is here to stay" :cheers:

Exactly, the "friend," is a real dummy...LOL. It's $1.49 down the street from me right now.

Not that I normally quote myself, but...:yes:

Don't worry it will be back up

^ And faster than people think. The only real reason why gas is down is because of the Global Economic slowdown. When it comes back up, don't be surprised to see a $10 - $15 a barrel jump in one trading day.