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High Gas Prices

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High Gas Prices
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flag brad-maxwell
Posted: Jun 20, 2008 at 17:40 Quote
draco wrote:
oh ps laurie.. dont get the 3.2... get the 2.0T and do a chip and some turbo back exhaust. waaaay better fuel mileage, and lots more fun to drive, trust me. If an A3 was in your list, next year its quattro + 2.0T + 6spd and if that doesnt float your boat... well... shoot.

BUt I feel ya on the G35... moreso on a G37 but hey. Wink

great post
but just so you know
laurie does not give to shits about gas milegae.
must be nice to have a rich daddy
flag ezekiel
Posted: Jun 20, 2008 at 17:43 Quote
draco wrote:
I have French friends who came over and didnt look at a map- He says "So I think I would like to see both coasts, as well as florida, I hear its warm there. I've rented a car for a week!"
-I was like, um dude, in many other countries you can drive side to side in a day, but here, its gonna take you a week to hit the other coast. really.

When my grandparents had friends visit from England, they wanted to take a day trip to B.C. and be back in time for dinner. They were heart broken when they explained that wasn't about to happen.
flag devonvig
O+
Posted: Jun 21, 2008 at 21:24 Quote
makripper wrote:
devonvig wrote:
marty660 wrote:
I agree that I don't need to worry about gas prices right now too much, but also it's my generations definate problem because we're the ones who are going to grow up with it.
Public transport is the key, and alternate energy. For now it's a bitch.

What makes me angry is we, Canadians, export gas to the USA, which is refined, then sold to like China or someone, and then we import gas from the Middle East. I'm probably off by some countries but the current gas flow system is something like that, which makes no sense.

It's because the US already possesses extensive refining capacity whereas Canada does not. Large refineries are a substantial investment and the boom and bust cycle of energy production in Canada has not been conducive to such investments in the past. There are some straddle plants for oil and gas along the Alberta and Sask border but they obviously don't produce gasoline. We export mostly bitumen (or slightly refined derived products), heavy oil and natural gas (methane, butane etc.) which is then refined on the Gulf Coast and Midwest into useful products like gasoline. There are some petrochemical plants on the border as well, a relic of the 80s I believe. Personally, I don't think that building more refineries in Canada would be worth the investment as they would barely come on line by the time the price of oil starts to collapse, which it will eventually.
It is worth the investment because of increasd demand. it just hurts the small guy. not so much the big busnisses (write offs) and the oilsand belt starts in bc and carries on all the way down to ontario. sask is next in line to get the crap beaten out of it by the americans hungry for the oilsand. next is manitoba. (good place to buy property)

The price of gasoline and other refined products are still low in relation to the cost of the materials used to make them. Refining is a low-margin business that tends to lose a lot of money a lot of the time. In fact, they lose the most money when the price of oil is high as it severely cuts into their margins. I know that no one in Canada EVER wants to admit this (for some stupid, unknown reason), but Americans are just better and more efficient at a lot of things. One of these is refining crude products.

Like I said, building refineries in Alberta/BC/Sask etc. would make virtually no difference in gas prices here (as it's set by the world markets) and would be an enormous waste of capital. It's not always a bad thing when parts of the production process are shipped elsewhere. There's also the major labor shortage in the west to consider. If major refineries were built here, they would take FOREVER to come on line (well past the time the price of oil has collapsed), would have huge cost over-runs and would almost surely lose money every quarter for decades.
flag devonvig
O+
Posted: Jun 21, 2008 at 21:33 Quote
draco wrote:
Here's a spin on things:

Oiy. Anyone keeping up on transformers two footage updates? I want to know why chevy has these sick little tiny compacts that they have in movies... but not in real life! wtf!


oh ps laurie.. dont get the 3.2... get the 2.0T and do a chip and some turbo back exhaust. waaaay better fuel mileage, and lots more fun to drive, trust me. If an A3 was in your list, next year its quattro + 2.0T + 6spd and if that doesnt float your boat... well... shoot.

BUt I feel ya on the G35... moreso on a G37 but hey. Wink

Great post. Judging by recent stats in vehicle use, the US is finally starting to see the light. Some of the older members on this site might remember this, but a very similar situation has happened before (1970s anyone?). It hurt at the time but the world adapted, demand plummeted and the price of oil collapsed to low, low levels for two decades. It may not seem like it now (it never does when prices are rising) but the same thing will happen again. Personally, I think that it will happen even faster this time as we now have the technology and added motivation of environmental preservation to pursue alternatives. It sucks now (despite my judgements, I too dislike paying more for anything. It's human nature), but I guarantee that this will be positive in the long run.

I sincerely think that this price explosion will be the death of OPEC. It seems like a paradox to think that this will hurt them, but just take a look at what the Saudis are doing. As the ONLY reasonable member of OPEC, they know that these prices will permanently cripple demand across the world and have consequently "turned the taps wide open" to help drive the price down. It may take a year, maybe 5, possibly even 10, but the price will collapse (and probably won't come back this time).
flag ronnieoceanfront
O+
Posted: Jun 22, 2008 at 19:10 Quote
i could fill my civic up 5 months ago for 40 bucks from empty.

now it is 58 bucks from empty.

bullshit. ive had enough.
flag int3nse
Posted: Jun 22, 2008 at 20:28 Quote
Im pretty sure prices aren't high because the gas is running out. There is still plenty of oil in the world but the cheapest way of getting it is still preferred so the ones who sell it, want more money and they get it. (Cheapest way meaning the middle east sticking a stick in the ground and getting oil)
flag devonvig
O+
Posted: Jun 22, 2008 at 21:11 Quote
^^ right now, they are getting higher prices but that's not all that's driving prices up. OPEC only accounts for 1/3 of world production if I remember correctly. If you need to blame the low cost producers though, the three guilty culprits are Venezuela, Russia and most of all, Iran. If Iran weren't so crazy, unreasonable and incompetent at producing, the price of a barrel would likely be anywhere from $10-40 cheaper and that only accounts for the "fear premium" placed on the price to account for constant Iranian threats and pointless militancy. They use oil production as an arm of foreign policy, not like a business. It's screwed them over before (1979) and it will surely happen again. Hopefully it's permanent this time and the populace finally gets rid of the zealots in power.

I can't wait until the price collapses, exposing Hugo Chavez for the fraud he is. The only reason for the "development" in Venezuela has been the rising price of oil and they've even managed to squander most of that on pointless, high cost projects that DID NOT help the poor whatsoever. I don't get why the world thinks Chavez is such a humanitarian. He's just another incompetent South American quasi-dictator that's slightly less terrible than past presidents.
flag draco
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 7:36 Quote
canadabrad wrote:
i could fill my civic up 5 months ago for 40 bucks from empty.

now it is 58 bucks from empty.

bullshit. ive had enough.


1. quit driving

2. quit complaining

choose 1.
flag draco
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 7:41 Quote
brad-maxwell wrote:
draco wrote:
oh ps laurie.. dont get the 3.2... get the 2.0T and do a chip and some turbo back exhaust. waaaay better fuel mileage, and lots more fun to drive, trust me. If an A3 was in your list, next year its quattro + 2.0T + 6spd and if that doesnt float your boat... well... shoot.

BUt I feel ya on the G35... moreso on a G37 but hey. Wink

great post
but just so you know
laurie does not give to shits about gas milegae.
must be nice to have a rich daddy

now now boys. I find it hypocritical when anyone on a website with a high-operating-cost-sport theme calls anyone out on how they operate financially. There are people in the world that think we are fools for riding multi-thousand dollar bikes. How people do their thing is their own deal. And she claims to be working a set up that handles it for her. I know people in the same situation making bank, so hey. play nice.
flag devonvig
O+
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 7:55 Quote
draco wrote:
brad-maxwell wrote:
draco wrote:
oh ps laurie.. dont get the 3.2... get the 2.0T and do a chip and some turbo back exhaust. waaaay better fuel mileage, and lots more fun to drive, trust me. If an A3 was in your list, next year its quattro + 2.0T + 6spd and if that doesnt float your boat... well... shoot.

BUt I feel ya on the G35... moreso on a G37 but hey. Wink

great post
but just so you know
laurie does not give to shits about gas milegae.
must be nice to have a rich daddy

now now boys. I find it hypocritical when anyone on a website with a high-operating-cost-sport theme calls anyone out on how they operate financially. There are people in the world that think we are fools for riding multi-thousand dollar bikes. How people do their thing is their own deal. And she claims to be working a set up that handles it for her. I know people in the same situation making bank, so hey. play nice.

Yeah, recognizing your own hypocrisy and contribution to the problem is the first step in solving it. Unless you live somewhere like Bend, Oregon, where the good riding is right outside your door and doesn't require driving or lifts, mountain biking is an inherently wasteful activity, more so than almost any other sport out there I would say. The costs of the equipment are high and the costs of participating (driving, lift operations etc.) are even higher. Personally, I don't see why mountain biking has such a "green" image. Besides motor sports (dirt biking and such), it's probably one of the least "green" activities out there. Ironically, those who heavily participate in outdoor sports likely consume more (and waste more) than your average urban dweller.

As per rich people spending more, that's just what they do. It's human nature. If you have more money, you're more likely to piss it away on luxeries that others consider pointless or wasteful...until they too are rich and can piss their money away on those same luxeries. That's what we call "development." Are they bad people for consuming more because they can? Maybe, as they obviosuly contribute more to the problem than your average person and often don't care about the effects and externalities they produce (especially in places like Calgary, Texas etc.) Does that make those who aren't rich better people? Probably not. Everyone is North America consumes pretty close to their personal threshold and income level...and here we arrive at the fundamental reason why I consider high fuel prices to be a neccessity if we're to cut emissions and break the addiction to oil.
flag calgaryrider
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 18:43 Quote
Uggh, diesel went up again, spotted it at 1.389, I'm looking forward to my next fill up. Smile Madder
flag frozenfire
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 18:44 Quote
calgaryrider wrote:
Uggh, diesel went up again, spotted it at 1.389, I'm looking forward to my next fill up. Smile Madder

Don't complain, its around 1.50 here, and way more elsewhere
flag ezekiel
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 18:46 Quote
calgaryrider wrote:
Uggh, diesel went up again, spotted it at 1.389, I'm looking forward to my next fill up. Smile Madder

It could be worse. The other day I saw it near $1.50 when gas was selling at $1.27.
flag laurie1
Mod
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 18:46 Quote
calgaryrider wrote:
Uggh, diesel went up again, spotted it at 1.389, I'm looking forward to my next fill up. Smile Madder

Better get an Edge chip and tune it to economy. Hahaha Razz
flag calgaryrider
Posted: Jun 23, 2008 at 18:58 Quote
Haha, I've got the Edge EZ 65hp chip on at the moment, but that'll be switched for an Adrenaline from Quadzilla for a little more fun, and it comes with a monitor so I can make sure I'm not cookin anything, when I get some prices back from some local shops. Unfortunately not all my plans for the truck are fuel efficient, so i'll just have to stay off the skinny pedal. lol

 


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