Big Oil must really be running scared

Baxil [bakh-HEEL'], n.

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November 4th, 2008

10:45 am

[Link]

Big Oil must really be running scared

Gas prices at the corner station for regular unleaded:

11/2        $2.79
11/3        $2.69
11/4        $2.56

Fill your tank today. When the "Drill, baby, drill" candidate loses, this shameless political stunt will evaporate like morning dew.

Edited to add: Oooh, historical data! This drop is clearly unprecedented in recent history, and clearly far beyond the change we usually see during seasonal switches. On the other hand, the price of crude oil and the international prices are falling similarly.

Update, day after: $2.52.
Update, week after: $2.46. Funny how that works. (By which I mean: Yes, it's still lower, but it took a week to match the one-day drop before the election, and it's largely leveled off since ...)

Current Location: ~spiral
Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: Therion, "Eternal Return"
Tags: politics

(8 comments | Leave a comment)

Comments

From:	baphnedia
Date:	November 4th, 2008 08:15 pm (UTC)

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It's just more proof that a few people in the world control the price of oil, not the speculators. I don't know who is in that group, but Bush does. One phone call to Bush (this was awhile ago), threatening to tell all about the little group resulted in a $0.40 drop at the gas pumps.. the next day. However, I wasn't the one who made that call, sadly. I don't have that kind of clout. I just know a few folks who do. :)

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From:	zuki_san
Date:	November 4th, 2008 09:55 pm (UTC)

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I wonder what motivated that particular threatening phone call.

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From:	heron61
Date:	November 4th, 2008 09:51 pm (UTC)

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The Oil & Gas industry is notable for being pretty much the only major industry to donate more money to the Republicans this election. They know exactly what will happen if (likely, now when) Obama wins, since they are (quite deservedly) an exceptionally easy and popular target.

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From:	zuki_san
Date:	November 4th, 2008 09:54 pm (UTC)

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I'm　somewhat　miffed　to　learn　have　it　confirmed　that　this　is　very　likely　a　political　stunt,　I　was　hoping it was some kind of "no, the economy is really that bad, the prices really have dropped that low　because noone is spending money, demand's dropping, etc, etc." Still, I'm at 3/4 of a tank, and gas is 10-20 cents cheaper here than what you listed. I'll probably fill up, yeah.

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From:	zon14
Date:	November 4th, 2008 10:47 pm (UTC)

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We'll see. If it is a political stunt, it's an old and tired one that's not fooling anybody. "Gee, gas prices just dropped 30 cents per gallon. I'll go vote Republican!"

And yes, I did know a barrel of oil is only fetching maybe...half of what it was not too long ago? Since it's not the average Joe who buys and sells this kind of stuff, it would be a hard sell to say that this market is being manipulated as well. Perhaps some manipulation is going on, but to this extent? Give supply and demand at least some credit.

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From:	baxil
Date:	November 5th, 2008 06:44 pm (UTC)

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Prices have been dropping steadily for a month or two, and the morning of 11/5 they went down another four cents; clearly supply and demand is involved here. But the magnitude of the changes the days before the election was shocking.

You'd be surprised at the number of voters who don't bother to even turn on their political brain until they head to the polls. And with the economy such a huge factor and gas prices such a visible symbol* of economic conditions ... yes, people really might have been influenced. At least it wouldn't be as stupid as "the candidate I want to have a beer with."

--
* The correlation with economic conditions isn't great. But symbolically it's huge.

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From:	silussa
Date:	November 4th, 2008 11:42 pm (UTC)

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A lot of hedge funds are having to unwind holdings in crude oil futures. In other words, the speculators are now having to sell...at quite the loss.

I figure it's supply and demand finally controlling the price again; the run-up made no sense given the falloff in demand.

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From:	baxil
Date:	November 5th, 2008 06:45 pm (UTC)

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That's definitely a factor. See directly above.

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