The following blog entry is soley the views of Mr. C.C. and should be taken as such. Any information in this blog entry other then the thoughts and views of Mr. C.C. will be credited. Any comments, questions, etc. are appreciated and as always, thanks for reading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buying gas is apart of owning a vehicle. It is also an expense in which most people in the devloped world will have to deal with on a regular basis throughout their lives. But why does the price of gas have to be so high??? The Burlinton Press has given us some reasons why the price is so high.
- Refineries are running at full capacity to keep up with high summer demand.
My Thoughts:
Well, that seems logical that refineries at running at full capcity in the summer. After all the summer is the busiest time of the year for travelling. But that doesn't excuse the companies who operate the refineries for not being better prepared. They need to realize that summer is a busy travel time and that they should have more refineries built to help reduce the stress on the other refineries that are working extra hard. The winter is a different story. But the companies who run the refineries are too stubborn to build because they are cheap and lazy. They just don't want to shell out a few extra bucks to build an extra refinary or two so they can be prepared for the summer season. Instead they want to put stress on exisiting refineries and drive up the price of gas so they can make that much more money.
- Limited refinery capacity often accounts for gas price spikes.
My Thoughts:
Having limited refinery capacity is not the greatest thing either. Excess gas can be seen as waste if the consumers are not buying gas fast enough. That is obviously logical. Then when they have a surplus of gas then it goes to waste because it has nowhere to go. If the refinery operaters were not so cheap and built more refineries then they would have to worry about being at limited capacity. Or even if they built refineries with bigger capacity limits would also help because then they would not be wasting gas with such limited refinary capacities. Bigger is better in this case. Spending money to them and the consumers in the long run is not such a bad thing.
- Oil companies have closed refineries over the past 15 years to cut excess capacity. Companies keep very little excess in storage. So prices increase anytime something goes wrong.
My Thoughts:
The oil companies are idiots for closing refineries. Of course they are at limited capacity and and in high demand in the summer because they don't have enough refineries to store the excess gas or the extra gas that is needed. No wonder people have to pay through the nose for gas. If the companies weren't such douche bags by closing the refineries then anything that went wrong wouldn't not effect the gas prices. But since the oil companies want to get richer then they will do things that will inturn make them more money. So of course it is in their best interest to close refineries. If I was a consumer driven oil company then I would think like a consumer and not so much like a multi-million dollar company.
The governments in some states/provinces/territories and countries take their share of taxes. That also doesn't help the consumer. It is bad enough that we have to pay enough taxes. Paying into gas taxes is just another way the government can dig deeper into our wallets.
Also the war that is going on in the world also doesn't help bring down the gas prices. If Canada or the USA used the gas from their own countries then we wold not not have to worry about getting our gas from war torn parts of the world.
It is bad enough that I a person who currently doesn't make that much at my present job has to pay $1.059 a liter Canadian for gas. Plus it doesn't help when I have to drive ten miles to and from town to work. If the oil companies realized that some people have to make a long commute then they would understand that not everyone can always afford gas. Plus they can realize that not everyone can afford to buy a hybrid vehicle or a vehicle that gets 80 miles to the gallon.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Credits:
Burlington Free Press
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI really like your blog. It's informative and has a point, unlike some blogs that just meander on and on.
Another reason that gas prices are high is because gas producers know they can jack the price and still make a lot of money. They really don't care who commutes to work at all. They just want to maximize profit. However, the companies really do collude or conspire together to raise their prices so that no one has an option to go to a cheaper place. That is illegal but no one has been able to find any evidence. But, once again, as the long weekend approaches and everyone is driving, up go the prices.
-Clinton