Gas price v. Oil Price

[lawwolf]

I have been following the price of oil vs. the price of wholesale gas (thus eliminating the station owner variation). As the price of crude has fallen most of this week, the wholesale price of gas has continued to increase. Is this because most of the oil is being used for heating oil, or is there some other factor in wholesale prices for gas that I'm missing that would cause it to go up even if the price of crude continues to fall?

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Is there a lag between crude & refined prices?

Maybe the refined prices reflect the fact that the stuff now going through the refinery was bought at higher prices.

My bet, though, is that they have just decided to gouge us some more.

[lawwolf]

2. If you were going to gouge

then the wholesale price of gas is the place to do it. All you every hear about is the price of oil and the price at the pump. Nobody is paying attention to the step middle step.

[notadmblnd]

3. lat I heard they were using Israel/Gaza and their excuse.

However, oil keeps dropping because demand is dropping. If we lose another million jobs this month, demand will drop even more.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. Well, you know the loss of all those Israeli and Gazan refineries

would have a severe impact on the wholesale cost of gas -





if they existed.

[kristopher]

5. Factors affecting refining capacity need to be included.

As the other posters point out, the refining and distribution steps have their own dynamics. This cold snap is probably pushing production of heating oil and propane.

[excess_3]

6. define:wholesale price of gas, please

rack price, tankwagon, futures, something else.

please post a link to rack price

[lawwolf]

7. I just go to CNBC

I go to www.cnbc.com. On their home page on the left side they have a bunch of tabs, one of which says oil. If you click on it then it gives you oil, gas, and something else I can't think of at the moment. And of course yesterday after I posted this gas went down as well.