Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

All the wining going on about the cost of gasoline has prompted me to attempt to research the actual cost. I thought that other folks would also like to know this info. It seems as most people you run into on a daily basis are clueless on the costs and just repeat what they hear in the media. For simplicity I will use Department of Energy statistics and per gallon costing. I will use $3.00 a gallon pricing as that is the average in my area this week.

Crude oil cost (47%) = 1.41
Distribution cost (12%) = 0.36
Refining and Profit (18%) = 0.54
Taxes U.S. Average (23%) = 0.69

Taxes in my state are only $0.42 cents per gallon, but current crude oil pricing should make the per gallon cost $1.71 versus $1.41 so the average per gallon cost is actually $0.03 lower using the percentages above.

I do not know how efficient the refining and distribution operations are, but lets just assume they are efficient and are making 50% profit from those operations (12% + 18% = 30% - 15% = 15% profit). I would say that many companies would not consider 15% profit all that great.

Please chime in you have more accurate data so we all can learn about this stuff.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

While I have no idea how much it costs to refine a gallon of crude, I do know it can't be as much as we think judging by the record multi-billion dollar profits they're posting. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

They are a corporation, it is their job to make money and maximize value for the share holder by selling you something you want and need.

Instead of complaining about the oil company's 9 cents a gallon they are making call you senator and ask why there are 50 cents plus in taxes on each gallon. Or go buy some XOM shares. They are up about $6.25 since 1/1/06. $10,000 invested on the new year would be worth $11,112.69 today.

I'm guessing anyone on this forum could care less about a couple extra dollars at the pump. Are you really changing your lifestyle at all b/c of the extra cost of gas?

Seriously, the oil companies are in business to make money and make the people who own the oil company's money. A share is $60 and there isn't a soul on this site that can't afford at least one. Instead of blindly being pissed at the oil companies b/c of their "record setting" profits look at how much of your money the govt. takes.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

This one is even better ... lets say you're single and making $70,351 - $146,750. You want to buy a gallon of gas ...

Your income tax rate is 28%, the social security rate is 6.2% and the medicare rate is 1.45%. Federal gas tax is 18.4 cents a gallon and state gas tax (FL) is 14.5 cents a gallon. This won't include the local taxes added to each gallon of gas.

You go to your job and make your $3.00 to buy one gallon of gas. Here is the govt. take:

INCOME TAX: $0.84
SOCIAL SEC: $0.19
MEDICARE : $0.05

FED TAX: $0.184
STA TAX: $0.145

TOTAL: $$$ 2.26 !!!!


Once you make your 3 dollars to buy gas and pay your 3 dollars to buy gas you've paid $2.26 in TAX!!! So you really have to make about $ 5.18 to buy a true $ 3.00 in gas.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

lets see xom is posting record profits at everyones expence, my rates are the same as they where in 2001 and people still complain (mostly cruiser customers because I wont work on blow boats ) gas prices have tripled since then so should I raise my rates ?????(performance boaters dont complain there main concern is it being done right the first time so no complaints there) the dealer I used to work for is charging 20.00 more per hour then I do and same tech same work

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Honestly, who are the hurting? Their profit margin is about 7%, that isn't crazy. The huge profits are because of our huge demand for oil. If we all started driving diesels or hybrids that got 50 miles to to gallon instead of cars that got 25 then XOM sales would be cut in half and their profit would be hurt too. Instead we are using more and more gas with no end in sight.

Not that I want to pay more for gas, but they could be charging even MORE. a 7% profit isn't crazy ... a lot of company's are at 20% +

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

A real good way to present this. If this doesn't pizz people off. nothing will.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Stop drinking the Kool Aid........ demand has not increased, they have reduced production to 85% capacity not due to Katrina but because they can act with impunity. What the hell do you think Dick Cheney locked himself in that room with the oil company execs for and emerged with an "energy policy" that has allowed this to happen (The meeting he still refuses to disclose the substance of). China and India are not the causes either because they are a fraction of the daily usage as us and they are buying from countries we willl not buy from due to political reasons such as Chad and the Sudan.

It is simple business math.... if a widget costs 1 dollar and it costs 75 cents for the materials and labor to make it happen then your profits should be uniform. An increase in material costs would result in an increase of purchase price but the profit would remain constant. What we have here is a slight increase in the production costs with a exponential increase in the purchase costs. Dont give me the "speculator driving the prices up" crap..... if that were the case the oil companies would not be reaping the profits that they are. I cant wait to see this first quarter reports!! Get ready to be shocked.

I hope fuel goes to 10 a gallon so that all of those Chevettes I see with GW stickers can really reap the benefits of supporting the Oil Man.........

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I am spending a solid 1600-2000 month in fuel for 4 trucks and my wife's car. The boat can be another 250-500 depending on usage. Nothing I can do about it, I just charge more for my work and it all works out. I hope that fuel hits $5 gallon and there is less traffic (waterway and highway), less competition, and less pollution. That maybe fantasy but I can't change energy policy, walk to work or get a solar powered boat so I compensate by charging more! We still have far cheaper fuel than other places I have visited in Europe so it is still good to be an American.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

In Jan 04 crude was $30 a barrel. Today it is in the 70s a barrel. (http://commodities.thefinancials.com/) In Jan 04 the average natl. gas price was $1.49 today gas is $3.00 (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petro...s_history.html) imagine that ... crude has more than doubled, gas prices have just about doubled.

I don't agree with any of Pres. Bush's or Cheney's politics, but to blame the price of gas on them (or the oil companies) is just naive.

i don't want to pay $3.00 a gallon more than anyone else; however, instead of putting the spotlight and pressure on the oil companies we need to look to our own govt. and ask them why we are being taxed so heavily (see above post).

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I really don't care what other countries pay....... :rolleyes:

I bet they have not seen a 30-50% jump in a few weeks as we have here. :mad:

Most of them pay so much do to THEIR taxes and THEIR corruption.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Maybe we should put the blame for high costs with the greedy government that collects huge taxes on that fuel.

Article from the Tax Foundation:

Gas Taxes Exceed Oil Companies' Profits
With BP, Exxon-Mobil, and Shell reporting record profits, the Tax Foundation reminds us in its latest Fiscal Fact that the biggest beneficiaries of gasoline sales are federal and state governments, not the oil industry:

High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50%. Meanwhile, many commentators have voiced support for the idea of increasing gas taxes to keep the price of gasoline at post-Katrina highs, thereby reducing gas consumption. However, often ignored in this debate is the fact that oil industry profits are highly cyclical, making them just as prone to “busts” as to “booms.” Additionally, tax collections on the production and import of gasoline by state and federal governments are already near historic highs. In fact, in recent decades governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits....

[F]ederal and state taxes on gasoline production and imports have been climbing steadily since the late 1970s and now total roughly $58.4 billion. Due in part to substantial hikes in the federal gasoline excise tax in 1983, 1990, and 1993, annual tax revenues have continued to grow. Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—more than twice the amount of domestic profits earned by major U.S. oil companies during the same period:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Which political party has prevented the building of NEW oil refineries in the United States? We are using 30 yr old technology.

Which political party has prevented the exploration for NEW oil reserves within the United States?

Which political party has prevented offshore drilling? (and now, In the same place, Cuba now plans on drilling there)

Which political party has prevented the drilling for KNOWN oil reserves in the Artic wastelands of Alaska ( because they might upset the sex life of caribou)?

Which political party has prevented the use of NuClear power facilities?

Which political party is FIRST in line to blame the oil companies ?

Guess who supported and voted in all the taxes and laws to make sure the oil companies can't make any progress?

If the oil companies earn ONLY .8 cents a gallon and the Federal Governmnent earns an average of .50 a gallon, WHY BLAME BIG OIL?

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Does it start with a D????

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

in all reality what did george do before, hint oil what did cheney do before, oil ........ what are oil prices doing......

what stocks do these guys own......

your guess is as good as mine

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Thank you KSWEST and PLAYN for providing the valuable information. This is the kind of information all of us should know. Far to many of us in America believe that the so-called mainstream media reports factual information and do not even bother to fact check them. I encourage any and everyone to visit my neck of the woods (MD, VA and D.C.) and see for themselves how much the Federal government and all the business supporting it has grown in the last 20 years. Members of both parties are spending our money like drunkin sailors, yet we vote for these clowns year after year.

Last year all of us worked until July 5th just to pay for the cost of Government (all levels) http://www.atr.org/content/pdf/2005/...t-cogd2005.pdf and I hear very few people *****in about that. Certainly you will not hear this on your local news.

Citizens Against Government Waste produces a "Pig Book" every year http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?...ts_pigbook2006 that all Americans should read.

If anyone on this board is in the oil or gasoline business please share your knowledge with the rest of us.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I don't like Bush or Cheney either, but blaming them for the cost of gas isn't correct. Gas prices are up because crude prices are up and there isn't a single (or group of) politicians that can effect or change that.

Exxon, BP, Shell, etc. are all public companies that anyone with $100 can buy a share or two of. Exxon doesn't make $8 billion the first qtr of 06, the thousands of shareholders make $8 billion the first quarter of 06.

I am not in the financial league of the Bushes or Cheneys but I own some XOM (Exxon) stock and the price appreciation of the stock has far exceeded my gas bill. Want someone to blame? Blame me ... I am profiting everytime you fill up.

{Of course when I sell the stock I'll have to pay capital gains tax and the govt. will get even more of my money. Oh well, I guess someone has to help pay for hurricane katrina debit card tatoos and lap dances)

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Viper ... I grew up in Bethesda and everytime I go back I can't believe how the city has changed. It used to be a pretty cool place, now more like a non-stop cut-throat rat race.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Here's a tidbit of history that causes meltdowns in the minds of my musician friends: It was Jimmy Carter (their hero) who originally proposed the drilling in ANWAR and the Congress at the time was all for it, however when Ronnie arrived, they "changed their minds".

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Aside from all this computing the cost of gasoline, I would "sum it up" by saying that it's pathetic that these oil/gas companies lie and say that the cost has gone up significantly and charge us a rediculous price increase when they are producing record profits. One CEO has been in charge since 1993 and has been paid over 1 billion dollars to date...........that's just insane. :mad:

Why don't they just have an add on tv that says, "that's right, we can charge you whatever we want and you still can't do sh*t about it. :eek:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Click this link: http://www.thefinancials.com/Samples/i001578v.PDF

Look at how much crude oil has gone up over the past 3 years. It has more than doubled (almost tripled) since the beginning of 04. We're lucky gas prices have only doubled in the same time range.

If Exxon decided today to cut its profit to 0 the price of gas would drop less than 10 cents.

If politicans repealed all the gas taxes the price of gas would drop about 50 cents.

Who's really to blame?

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

No doubt about that. You need a six figure income to qualify for a mortgage on a garage in that town.

There are many now living in that area that consider themselves "Progressives" which is really the new name for "Communist". Many people do not know or refuse to believe this, but when the WWW became popular, the American Communist Party made the mistake of placing their membership list on their newly implemented website. This was a major blunder as their membership list included members of Congress, a new name was required.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

My parents bought in the early 80s for about $100k. Selling now and the apriasial was 1.2 M :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

That is incredible. The property taxes must suck. I hope they can sell for apraisal and retire comfortably if that is their intension. The sad part is that their property value grew that high because of the growth of government.

Here is an acrobat file I found about refineries and their locations. Notice there are no refineries in the northeast and that is a high population area. I guess they all depend on PA or NJ.

http://biowa.us/BIOWA%20oil%20refineries%20final.pdf

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I've never asked about the taxes but I am sure they are much more than they were in the 80s, but of course they are making a lot more money now anyway. They just bought a place down on a golf course near the beach in NC.

Anyway ...

You're right, the people in the northeast get screwed with higher cost b/c of transportation and typically higher tax gas taxes. http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp (32 cents a gallon in NY).



:eek:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I own 3 gas staions and I make pennies on the dollar for a gallon of gas. I think it is funny that all these people come in *****ing about the cost of gas, when some of them IMO are overpayed for what they do.

Everyone complaining should post what they do for a living and how much they make a year so we can make some judgements on if they are overpaid. :rolleyes:

The government is the one that is making the real $$$ on gas. :mad:

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

In my business you are doing average if you show a profit of 6.1% before taxes. I only had a 2.5% profit and I would be happy to repeat it again this year. I could only imagine a 15% profit, wow!

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

But you are talking about less than 10 cents on a gallon of gas. If you are building million dollar homes for a living and showing a 6% profit you are doing pretty well. It's all about what kind of $$$ we are talking about.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

I agree. The government is making the $$$. I just collect it for them!

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Back when I leased a marina gas station with a friend they would buy the gas for about .80 a gallon, charge the customer $1.25, I made $.03 on Regular and $.04 on Super, the marina kept the rest. This was in 1998-1999.

We got our fuel from a local supplier.

Re: Help me compute the cost of Gasoline
 

Thanks Havasu Cig. Here is some additional info I found to support what you have said. Look at the taxes these companies pay. In reality they collect the taxes from the shareholders and consumers for the IRS.

http://www.taxfoundation.org/publica...show/1321.html

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/...ewID=news_view