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Old 02-26-2011, 10:30 AM   #25 (permalink)
endurance
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Foothills near Denver
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RSX2fast4mpg - '02 Acura RSX Type S
90 day: 38.22 mpg (US)

bubbatrucker - '98 Chevrolet K1500
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There's so many factors in play right now it's difficult to predict just how high prices will go at the moment. The fear and uncertainty has a lot more impact than the actual disruption in production and delivery at this point. MarketWatch had a piece yesterday on one problem I hadn't considered; while the Saudi's have promised to make up for production shortfalls because of the Libyan oil production, Saudi oil is sour (high sulfur) and the European refineries are set up to handle sweet crude (low sulfur). Since Libya was a supplier of 1.9mbpd of sweet crude, the Saudi's contribution of up to 1.9mbpd of sour crude doesn't really solve anything. In fact, the European refineries are looking across the Atlantic to Texas light sweet crude rather than using the Saudi oil.

It's disconnects like that which will control and dominate this market for the foreseeable future... unless/until we get a black swan, like a revolution in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, etc.... which seems more likely than ever.

My hypermiling evolved out of a concern for times like these and the increasing pressures of peak oil. I just try to keep it in perspective. If I can keep my round trip commute to under one gallon and keep the number of days I need to commute to three most weeks, I'm on target to weather $10/gallon. Anything beyond this is just icing on the cake.
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