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Mazer · 26-04-07, 10:43 PM

This is a bit off topic but I thought it might be of interest to some people. The DOE Energy Information Administration has a web page here containing historical data of the national gas price average going back to 2000. The information is broken down by month and lists the four factors that determine the price of a gallon of gas (explanation here). After cooking the numbers a little I came up with these graphs showing how these four factors have changed over time. Obviously the price of crude oil is the largest factor in the price of gas, but it may come as some surprise that it isn't the most volatile factor.

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Considering the factoid in pisser's story, that right now the refineries are only operating at 87.8% capacity, it appears that the major driver of gas prices in the short term isn't crude oil prices but the rate at which gasoline is distilled from it. Since gasoline can't be stored for long periods, we should be building more refineries to stabilize the price of gas and keep prices low while demand is high. That and we need all our refineries to run at capacity as much as possible.

26-04-07, 10:43 PM	#7
Mazer Earthbound misfit Join Date: May 2001 Location: Moses Lake, Washington Posts: 2,563	This is a bit off topic but I thought it might be of interest to some people. The DOE Energy Information Administration has a web page here containing historical data of the national gas price average going back to 2000. The information is broken down by month and lists the four factors that determine the price of a gallon of gas (explanation here). After cooking the numbers a little I came up with these graphs showing how these four factors have changed over time. Obviously the price of crude oil is the largest factor in the price of gas, but it may come as some surprise that it isn't the most volatile factor. Considering the factoid in pisser's story, that right now the refineries are only operating at 87.8% capacity, it appears that the major driver of gas prices in the short term isn't crude oil prices but the rate at which gasoline is distilled from it. Since gasoline can't be stored for long periods, we should be building more refineries to stabilize the price of gas and keep prices low while demand is high. That and we need all our refineries to run at capacity as much as possible.