CAMARILLO, Calif. — Retail gas prices across the country jumped an average of nearly a quarter per gallon in the past two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.
Self-serve regular averaged $2.91 a gallon, up from $2.67 two weeks ago, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the nationwide Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations.
Also Sunday, OPEC President Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru predicted that oil prices would fall from their current high of just over $75 a barrel to stabilize in the "upper fifties to lower sixties."
Crude-oil prices hit a new record Friday, fueled by concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions and tight U.S. gasoline supplies.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries president said the solution to high prices lies in a calmer international environment and boosting refining capacity — not increasing output which would only clog the market.
"If we do the right things by lowering international tensions, oil prices will definitely stabilize," said OPEC President Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru said in Doha, Qatar.
In the Lundberg Survey, mid-grade hit $3 a gallon, up from $2.76, while premium climbed to an average of $3.10, from $2.86 two weeks ago.
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The survey covered the period from April 7 through April 21.
Among the stations surveyed, the lowest average price in the country for regular unleaded was in Boise, Idaho, at $2.54 a gallon.
Drivers in San Diego were paying the most for gas, at an average of $3.12 a gallon for regular.
Now here is the truth of the matter......
Iran has to export it's crude oil to other countries to be refined , and then import it back, to storage tank farms and distribute it to gas stations to sell it . Gas in Iran is sold at way below cents a gallon !!! ( US cents) .
Now do you think that the Bush administration or this band of bastards running this country give a rats bellybutton ? .... Have a look at this , then see how you feel about our so called free enterprise system and deregulation of gas in the US.....
Cheap gas? Iraq or bust
"Iraqis Paying 5 Cents a Gallon for Gas" You heard it folks... straight from the AP. The current average price for a gallon of gas in Iraq is right around 5 cents. That means you could fill up your brand new Hummer H2 for about $2.20.
Now, I'm going to take sort of a long shot here and guess that you are standing on top of your chair screaming "WTF" well maybe not "WTF" probably more like "WHAT THE ****!". Well I can understand your frustration. Now let me take that frustration and build on that a bit.
You are probably a bit confused as to how Iraqis are able to get gas that cheap well heres how that works:
Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations. A three-month supply costs American taxpayers more than $500 million, not including the cost of military escorts to fend off attacks by Iraqi insurgents. The arrangement keeps a fleet of 4,200 tank trucks constantly on the move, ferrying fuel to Iraq.
OK, so we are basically paying an obscene amount of money so that Iraqis can have cheap gas. Now heres something else that might just make the pot boil over:
The U.S. government paid even more last year for Iraqis' gasoline — between $1.59 and $1.70 per gallon — when the imports were contracted to Halliburton, the Texas oil services giant formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney
Haha, no way. I can't believe that someone would actually sit there and try to tell me that Halliburton is trying to cheat us out of millions of dollars. I just don't see how they expect us to believe that such a thing could happen, especially when we have Dick Cheney in charge/not in charge/formerly in charge of Halliburton. It just couldn't happen... ?
Well, at any rate, no matter how much cheap gas we provide for Iraq its not going to last forever and I think this quote pretty much sums it up:
"The U.S. taxpayer has a right to be indignant, and Iraqis have to be warned about the long-run damages of this," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The minute the aid goes out, the party is over. And there's going to be a hell of a hangover."
