Article: America’s hunger for gasoline falls and is unlikely to return

[rmay635703]

Hmm, you said that none of this is true, yet the first thing I said was DESPITE REDUCTIONS IN DEMAND. Now you agree that there are reductions in demand.

Originally Posted by tjts1

The fact remains that we consume less gas at a lower price than we did 2 years ago. That amount with continue to drop. That's a fact you can't argue with and the subject of this thread.

I agree fully with your statement above and...
I never thought I disagreed with the above, I do disagree that the amount of the drop in price is normal. Also your scope should be longer than 2yrs.

And there is no conspiracy that there is more in storage now than in recent history, just because it isn't sitting right in the US doesn't mean it isn't in storage. Heck even reuters agrees with that.

Based on the drop in demand the cost in fuel prices should technically be in the mid 1's but that hasn't happened and despite continued drops in demand prices have been increasing.

Oil was always thought of as perfectly inelastic, small changes in demand cause massive price flucuations which hasn't really happened on the downward slope.

Something is holding up the mess and high fuel prices are not what our country needs at the moment.

It may bring change but in the short term, not positive ones. And those negative changes will slow the ability of our country to move in the right direction.

[shovel]

Wait, do we want low fuel prices so it's less expensive for us to do business in general or high prices so we're motivated to improve efficiency?

I can never remember which one we want

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by rmay635703

Based on the drop in demand the cost in fuel prices should technically be in the mid 1's but that hasn't happened and despite continued drops in demand prices have been increasing.

OPEC was able to cut production proportionally to the drop in consumption, which they weren't able to do effectively in the past. There was enough lag between the two for oil to drop into the $30/bbl range, but overall the cuts were enough to bring oil back to ~$70+/bbl.

[tasdrouille]

Energy usage is entirely dependent on the economy, and oil is the major energy source in the US, and it's not going to change tomorrow. Future gasoline usage is only going to continue to go down if the switch to alternative energy sources happen faster than the economy recovers.