Wish I could say the same, but bouncing between $4.50 and $7.00 here over the last three years is a long way from the around $3.00 we were paying prior to 2021 or even 2018ish. Only thing I noticed from covid was the price got even lower in mid 2020. Then started increasing substantially beginning of 2021 when we were still in lockdown mode.

It's the natural gas and electric bills I've also noticed a big increase in since around the beginning of 2021 and those aren't coming down at all.

I've also heard that our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is now at its all time lowest level since the 1980s.

I just paid $6.00 a gallon before leaving hotel California last week.

And yet it is December and I slept with my window open last night and today is just another sunny perfect day in paradise. What to do now...

My Uber Nimblepin in his efficient vehicle will be over in a couple hours to take us to Knott's where we can really burn some carbon.

Honestly though, do you ever wonder what kind of carbon footprint a place like Disneyland has? Perhaps they should turn it back into orange groves to help clean up the planet and it wouldn't bother me one bit.

70° here in the Southwest Las Vegas valley. At the Durango Casino grand opening zoo.

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We just got back and it's 83° and toasty now. It's hot especially in the sun, but Knott's is doing that Christmasy thing anyway.

Yeah, when COVID hit nobody needed to drive as much, and so prices dived. And then around 2021 we came out of lockdown, and demand increased. Makes sense, but nothing that could have been done. The reserve - I have no idea where it is, but I do know the export numbers aren't from it. FWIW. Hopefully you get some relief - here in CO it's been much better at the pump, consistently.

Lowest its been in ~40 years.

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcsstus1&f=m

Regular is still $3.2x/gal here.

Paid 3.35/gal here in pa today.

Thanks. Yeah we could really use some rain so I can take my Jeep out and get it all muddy and burn some overpriced petrol.

I guess the 180 million barrels removed from the SPR over the last couple years was only a drop in the bucket as it didn't have much of an affect on prices, so it shouldn't be too hard to replace it asap since we are producing so much now. I remember thinking in 2020 when oil was real cheap, that would have been a great time to top it off but that would have taken an act of congress.

Wait, didn't someone do that?

Congress axed the needed funding to complete it. Hope they can get a better deal now.

https://rollcall.com/2020/03/25/oil-purchase-to-fill-strategic-reserve-dropped-from-stimulus/

What's even more amazing is how we went from 640 million barrels then to the 352 million we have now.

Nope. Someone claimed they did that, but it was fiction. Our reserve went from 695 in 2017 to 638 in 2020. Good news, I guess, is that it's on track to replace what we used for emergency relief by 2027, from 352 back up to 640. I was curious, so I went reading. Apparently even now ours is the largest reserve in the world. Have no clue how that helps at the pump though - if anything you'd think taking more oil out of the market would have increased the price, and yet it hasn't.

Fiction or just a great plan set in motion that got blocked, it takes congressional approval and then a stroke of a pen to refill it. Unlike releasing almost 200 million barrels with only a stroke of a pen for not really what it was intended for if indeed we are now producing more oil than ever.

https://www.energy.gov/articles/department-energy-executes-direction-president-trump-announces-solicitation-purchase-crude

But we could go back and forth on reality or fake reality depending on which reality anybody choses, so I'll leave it in your hands now.

Depleting anything titled strategic seems like a mistake to me, but what do I know. How's it work anyway, the government just sells a bunch of oil, flooding the market to lower prices?

They sometimes use it as sorta a bank. But is there for real emergencies like when we at war and running short or some real disaster that might limit our production. Some say one or the other of those really happened.

The idea is to buy when prices are low and sell when high. Some just aren't that great at math though.

I did my own math and came to my own conclusion.

I guess I wasn't clear. It was claimed that it had been done, which is still a lie. Why it wasn't done doesn't really matter, because that opens up a discussion and references to facts and reality that is not suitable for a friendly, pinball lovers forum. https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/politics/fact-check-trump-petroleum-reserve-oil/index.html

I did think selling from the reserve was never going to affect prices much at all, since the market is the entire world, and we're not separate from those forces.

Yeah, I don't think we need to beat this into the ground much further.

But I will point out that sometimes people say they did something meaning they did all they could to get that thing done.
Or kinda like "I have not yet begun to fight". But the fighting has already started. Would that not also be considered a lie?

If you want some blatant lies not even remotely based on fact , I've got a list a mile long from the last few years, but best to just let sleeping dogs lie.

I'll be getting gas in a few days and I will check back.

Price Drop in Las Vegas:

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Costco Fullerton this AM. Close, but haven't been under $4 in almost three years.

Expect it to go back up as I always buy the dip.

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Bullhead City, Arizona FTW!

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2.60 in CO today.

3.97 at Costco,1st time under 4.00 in awhile

Man, I feel so spoiled.

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2.42 in CO today. amazing.

Plan for less efficiency. Keep a little more than you need.
Discover Sta-Bil, a good product that does what it says.

You guys are doing a lot better. Got to love Winter gas vs. Summer gas.

I didn't think CO does that shift? I thought here it was all one type?

And away we go! Crude is back up almost $3 today along with everything else after fed announces they might cut rates in 2024.

Where have I seen this movie before?

Lots of supposition in that statement. But to cheer you up, look at your 401K today. Stock market just broke another record.

Not sure what those indicators mean. But I'm glad we're having a "soft landing" instead of the doomsayers last year shouting for recession.

Don't know, but here winter gas seems to always be cheaper.

A truly great man.

Cool. Found this one from this year, cause I was curious what it looked like. Thank you!

gdp3q23_2nd_chart-hp (resized).png

But bad administration.

He loved his pecans.

He never bothered me much as the late seventies were a great time to be alive and he was a mellow dude who was part of the show. Looking back now, I do find interesting some of the supposed facts he was trying to lay on us in that speech though.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/19/business/us-production-oil-reserves-crude/index.html

2.44 in CO. We will have to see what the Red Sea issue does. Not that we can do much about it unless we can fire on Yemen territory.

Shouldn't make any difference at all.

That's why we keep our strategic petroleum reserve as full as possible to offset anything like that.