gas price perdictions for 1/1/07

[kickflipjr]

The current US average for gas is $2.234 per gallon.

My perdiction is $2.35. A slight rise but nothig dramatic.

[zpiloto]

I agree. I think somewhere around $2.40 but who knows. We are a headline away from really high gas prices again. I read the other day that Chavez was talking about cutting the US off. I dought that he would be crazy enough to do that but that's 30% of our supply. I guess it boils down to how greedy the oil companies get and how much people are willing to take. Anybody remember when gas first hit $2.00 a gallon and people were screaming for congressional hearings. With the last round of high prices it seems people just accepted it and now the breaking point has moved a little higher.

[kickflipjr]

Gas is usually faily low priced during the fall and winter thats why I don't think the price will rise much.

Summer 2007 is anybodys guess.

[rh77]

I'm assuming local prices, and I voted 2.00-2.25. There seems to be a decent reserve and World events, at this moment, aren't highly publicized as having an effect. Profits will tend to be in the Natural Gas and Heating Oil segments as Winter hits.

RH77

[onegammyleg]

Now this would make a neat competition.

Make a yearly prediction and the closest one to the price at the end of the year gets a ??????

(also coud be 6 monthly)

[cfg83]

Hello -

I went with $2.61-$2.80 because the oil companies are who they are, traitorous scum stealing from you and me. This is probably their last chance to stick it to us because if they push it too hard after the Dems get in, they could risk a Congressional investigation. Establish a high expectation price and try to stick to it.

CarloSW2

[rh77]

Originally Posted by onegammyleg

Now this would make a neat competition.

Make a yearly prediction and the closest one to the price at the end of the year gets a ??????

(also coud be 6 monthly)

...1974 Plymouth Duster!

Actually, "crude oil futures" can make make an investor quite a bit of money if predicted correctly

I don't know much more about investing other than buy low, sell high.

RH77

[The Toecutter]

Motorists have proven they will pay $3 and not change their driving habits much if at all so with that in mind I fully expect to see $3+ again someday and it could be soon.

Motorists don't have much leeway when it comes to changing the amount of driving they do. They might be able to chop off 1-2k miles a year by cancelling vacations, but with a lack of mass transit in this country, they're options are pretty much limited to a car when going to work and to grocery stores. For some, biking is feasible and some live close to mass transit, but the economic reality for most is that moving near these things would outweigh the cost of gas many times over.

The oilies will mug us for all we're worth. They stifled alternatives specifically so peak oil would be that much more devastating and expensive. Oil wars, economic recession/depression, and the prospect of a dieoff don't bother these people in the least. They want profit, at all costs.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by The Toecutter

Motorists don't have much leeway when it comes to changing the amount of driving they do. They might be able to chop off 1-2k miles a year by cancelling vacations, but with a lack of mass transit in this country, they're options are pretty much limited to a car when going to work and to grocery stores.

True. I know I have to commute a fair distance to work, and alternative transportation just isn't available for that distance (and I did look to see if alternatives, such as a "van pool", were an option given where our home is)! And while I could (in theory) move closer to work, doing so would require us to sell our home and get (likely more expensive) housing somewhere else (which would be more costly to us, than the gas we would save as a result).

However, even if you have to drive the distance, you can still use techniques mentioned on this forum, to help you get better MPG for the driving you have to do anyway. But the problem there, is that such ideas are NOT well known to the average driver. In fact, the average driver is much more likely to get FALSE INFO from some company trying to make money MARKETING auto products to you, than they are to get useful info on real ways to get better MPG out of whatever car they have! Just look around (both online, and in the auto-stores) if you doubt me!

BTW: Yes, I know that there is a lot of good info on the gassavers web site. But lets face it, we are currently the small (just look at our overall user totals) exception that proves the general rule. I know, as I remember how hard it was to get good FE info, before I found gassavers.org. And I'm overall a more savvy consumer than most are. I would dare say, the average car owner is still believing old marketing BS such as to always change your oil at 3000miles (this is good advice only if you use cheap oil and/or filter, or your engine is extra dirty), which benefits the oil change stores much more than it benefits either your engine or FE...

[The Toecutter]

However, even if you have to drive the distance, you can still use techniques mentioned on this forum, to help you get better MPG for the driving you have to do anyway. But the problem there, is that such ideas are NOT well known to the average driver. In fact, the average driver is much more likely to get FALSE INFO from some company trying to make money MARKETING auto products to you, than they are to get useful info on real ways to get better MPG out of whatever car they have! Just look around (both online, and in the auto-stores) if you doubt me!

I don't doubt you for a minute.

That's what I love about this site. It validates which methods will save fuel, and which won't. If only more people knew of these techniques. Common sense really is not that common.

But a much greater impact on oil consumption would be made if the auto industry actually offered viable alternative fueled vehicles like BEVs, and if aerodynamics were sufficiently addressed so that 40+ mpg cars became the norm, without the consumer being called to sacrifice anything. We could also bring back the mass transit system we had up until the 1940s, where trolleys were so common and frequent that car use in urban areas was a luxury instead of a necessity. This would displace a LOT of car use without any mobility being sacrificed. However, it was the U.S. government, oil industry, and auto industry that destroyed what was once one of the best mass transit systems in the world, in order to boost car sales, fuel sales, and other consumer expenditures.

Getting industry and government to do its part is the real issue, as high oil consumption is what is making them money, and they don't want that to decrease.

I predict U.S. gas prices will be between $2.20-2.40 come 1/01/07. Byt with peak oil's effects starting to show, it will be over $3.00/gallon again by 6/01/07. I'd even go so far as to say the odds of $4/gallon sometime next year are 50/50. The democrats would do good by investigating oil industry profit mongering, but that alone isn't the whole issue or even the largest part of it. Peak oil is.