Donald Trump stated today that a very close smart friend of his told him that when oil reaches $50.00 there is depression.........forget the recession.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Well, the products that we buy should be coming down in price now.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Fueling change Heating oil prices have more homeowners considering natural gas
By CHARLES ERICKSON, Special to the Times Union First published: Sunday, October 12, 2008
As colder weather arrives and furnaces begin to kick on with some regularity, many people will start a mental tally of the cost of heating their homes. This running total will continue through spring, and can resemble a meter in a taxicab during a slow journey down a busy avenue.
Home energy costs are expected to be higher this winter, and consumers may wonder which combustible will make their mental cost meters climb faster: natural gas or home heating oil.
For this year's heating season, which runs from October through March, the U.S. Department of Energy projects fuel oil prices will average $4.13 a gallon, or 25 percent higher than the same period last year. As a result, heating oil customers are expected to pay nearly $600 more than they did last season.
Natural gas prices are projected to be $14.93 per thousand cubic feet of gas, according to the Energy Department, or 17 percent higher than last season. Natural gas customers are expected to pay $162 more to heat their homes this season.
As a result, some Capital Region contractors have seen a marked increase in the number of homeowners interested in converting their houses from using fuel oil to natural gas.
John Huber, president of the National Oilheat Research Alliance, an industry group based in Alexandria, Va., believes many people have views of fuel oil that date from the 1930s and '40s, when the industry replaced coal as a primary source of heat in many homes.
"One misperception is that it's old and dirty because the equipment essentially lasts forever," he said.
It is not uncommon to find 50- and 60-year-old oil burners still in service in many households, Huber said. By comparison, contemporary equipment is sophisticated and features computerized controls.
Citing data from the 2000 census, Huber said about 8 million U.S. households still use home heating oil. As older housing units in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia — three huge markets for home heating oil — and other homes convert from oil to natural gas, Huber said the industry is experiencing a "very slow decline."
Eager to differentiate themselves, fuel-oil distributors tout their service departments, which are generally available 24 hours a day. Huber said there tends to be more price flexibility in fuel-oil pricing because there are more distributors in the market competing for customers. Oil-heat consumers can choose to participate in capped-price programs, equipment-maintenance plans, regular-purchase options and as-needed purchases.
"They have the ability to manage their business relationship with the company," Huber said.
His group projects adequate supplies of heating oil in the United States this heating season.
Huber said housing developments are typically built with natural gas furnaces. "If you're putting up 500 houses, it's fairly cheap to install a gas line to each house," he said.
However, many larger, custom homes built in relatively secluded spots are still using heating oil. "We've got an advantage in the cost of the install," Huber said.
When contractors are done converting a home to burn natural gas instead of heating oil, they must remove the leftover oil. McCormick, the contractor, removes the oil and takes it to Delmar, and uses it to heat his house. His customers are glad to see it siphoned from the tanks.
Fuel-oil companies will charge to take it out, he said, "because it's now considered hazardous waste, even if you just bought it."
Charles Erickson is a freelance writer in Rensselaer.
Got gas?
Natural gas is a huge source of U.S. energy needs:
About 23 percent of the energy used in the country is provided by natural gas.
Some 84 percent of the natural gas consumed nationwide is produced domestically. About 13 percent is imported from Canada, and 3 percent is imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Most natural gas comes from the lower 48 states, but large quantities of it are in Alaska. However, these supplies will remain there until an Alaskan natural gas pipeline is built.
Consumption of natural gas is expected to increase 20 percent by 2030.
Most of the growth in natural gas demand comes from electricity generators, which have turned to natural gas because it is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel and highly efficient.
Gas utilities serve more than 63 million residential customers and more than 5 million commercial enterprises.
Sources: American Gas Association, U.S. Department of Energy
Oil vs. gas
What it costs to convert from oil to gas: From $3,800 to $4,500, says Tom McCormick of McCormick Home Mechanical in Delmar. "I think fuel oil heats better because it's hotter," he says. "But fuel oil equipment tends to be a little heavier, bulky."
Number of National Grid residential natural gas customers: 528,000. The utility has experienced a significant increase in gas-service requests this year, says company spokesman Patrick Stella. National Grid's electric service territory is larger than its natural gas territory, he says, and the company has no immediate plans to extend the latter. But it will look to add gas customers who are near existing gas lines. Gas mains are the large pipes running through National Grid's service area. Service lines connect gas mains in a street to a residence. Stella said customers who wish to convert from oil to gas are eligible to have 100 feet of gas main and 100 feet of service line run to their homes at no charge.
The number nationally: Natural gas utilities provide service to 63 million residential customers, according to statistics from the American Gas Association.
Per-barrel cost of oil in July: $150. Mike O'Brien, of Mike O'Brien Heating Cooling & Plumbing in Albany, attributes interest in oil-to-gas switchovers this year to this and diesel fuel prices. In addition to buying a new furnace, customers switching from oil to gas typically purchase accessories such as expansion tanks and fill valves. In Albany, O'Brien said, building codes require him to also install backflow preventer and low-water cutoff devices. He said the work usually runs from $3,000 to $4,000.
Gas furnaces have certain advantages over oil units. How often do you have to service oil furnaces? Annually, due to carbon buildup, O'Brien says. For gas? Every five years.
By SHARON HONG, Staff writer Last updated: 2:39 p.m., Monday, October 13, 2008
ROTTERDAM -- For the first time since March, some Capital Region stations are selling gas for less than $3 a gallon.
The whoosh of gasoline traveling into vehicles resounded at the Shan Gas, 2976 Hamburg St., as motorists lined up for $2.99 gas.
"This is the cheapest I've seen gas in a while," said Jon Gardiner, a Schenectady resident who stopped to fill up his red pick-up truck Monday morning.
Gardiner, who spends between $70 and $80 a week on gas, said it was a relief to find gas that is even a few cents cheaper than usual.
According to data gathered at timesunion.com, five Capital Region gas stations are offering regular unleaded for less than $3 a gallon.
The cheapest price is $2.95, but many Capital Region residents will burn a lot of fuel getting to it. That gas is being sold at the Stewart's Shop on Route 30 in Mayfield. The other sub $3 per gallon stations are located in Northville and Amsterdam.
A steady stream of customers has been arriving at Shan Gas since owner Syed Sardar first posted the low price on his sign Friday. On Saturday, gas at Sardar's was 20 cents lower than other stations in the area, and now the gap has closed to about 10 cents.
"It's been crowded like this all day," Sardar said. "Some people are asking why our prices are so low and some people are just thanking us."
Gas prices nationwide fell by 35 cents per gallon in the past two weeks, according to the Lundberg Survey, which surveys 7,000 filling stations in the U.S., putting the average price of regular gasoline to $3.31 per gallon down from $3.66.
This is the lowest national average price since March 21 of this year, Reuters reported. Gas reached a record national average price of $4.11 a gallon on July 11.
CAPITAL REGION Crude’s plunge starts gas price war Drivers lining up for cheap fuel in region BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Manny Singh couldn’t recall the last time he advertised his gasoline for less than $3 per gallon. The owner of the Valley Mini Mart in Amsterdam wanted to drum up more business, so he shaved 14 cents off the price of gas. The decrease, which dropped his pump price to $2.99, must have touched a nerve with cost-conscious motorists, because Singh is now selling nearly three times the volume he was before offering the deal. “It’s nuts,” he said Monday, as a steady procession of vehicles pulled up to his pumps off Route 5S. “People are waiting in line 10 minutes and longer to pump gas.” Singh’s station was among about a halfdozen in the Capital Region that dropped gasoline to prices that few have seen since the cost of crude oil began a steep ascent and then shot past $100 per barrel. Last week, the cost of crude plunged to about $78 per barrel, the lowest price since September 2007. The lower cost has sent the average pergallon price of gasoline tumbling throughout the Capital Region. AAA reported the average retail cost of gas in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area dropped to $3.27 per gallon, which was nearly 94 cents less than the highest price recorded in July and 43 cents less than last month. The abrupt dip has prompted some area gas station operators to offer prices that many drivers haven’t seen in almost a year. Stations below the $3-per-gallon mark have reported good sales, which have in turn spurred competition among nearby owners. Singh said the Stewart’s Shops about a quarter-mile from his station dropped their price just 10 minutes after he did. A similar situation appears to be playing out in Mayfield, where Stewart’s was offering gas at a region-low of $2.95 per gallon at its store off Route 30, while the nearby Adirondack Mobil had a posted price of $2.98 per gallon. Shan Petroleum on Hamburg Street in Rotterdam was drawing motorists from as far away as Saratoga Springs and Albany with $2.99-per-gallon gas. Owner Syed Shah said he dropped the price Friday after catching a break from his wholesaler. “I tried to give a gift to people for the Columbus Day weekend,” he said. “If I get it cheaper I’ll sell it cheaper.” The price caught the eye of Lou Bavaro, who held off filling up his Honda Accord when he noticed the cost of gasoline starting to drop. The Cohoes resident was just about on empty when he notice the hand-written “gas sale” sign Shah posted by his pumps. By waiting a few days to fi ll up, Bavaro estimated he saved about $7. He speculated the spike last summer prompted many to become more costconscious, thereby lowering the demand. “It think it’s going to go down even more,” he said. But James Nelson of Guilderland wasn’t as smitten with the sudden appearance of $2.99-per-gallon gas. He said the rise in prices had altered the public perception so that many people think they’re buying cheap gas when they’re not. “People are brainwashed into thinking it’s a good deal,” he said. “This still isn’t a good deal.” BARRY SLOAN/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER Bill Krzys fills his car with regular gasoline for $2.99 a gallon at the Stewart’s shop on Route 5S in Amsterdam on Monday.
The economic MELTDOWN Gas cheaper, but consumers still wary Lower fuel prices provide little relief BY JOHN PORRETTO The Associated Press
HOUSTON — It’s almost like a surprise stimulus check: Gas prices have fallen so fast that the nation has found itself with an extra $125 billion to spend. But don’t expect the freed-up cash to pump much life into the economy. Filling up for less than $2.50 a gallon in some places hasn’t done much to boost confidence — not when disappearing jobs, sagging home prices and the financial meltdown are everyday worries. “Let’s try six months. Let’s try a year. Then we can talk about how much it’s saving me,” said Jacob Curtis of Columbus, Ohio, who paid $2.48 a gallon this week. “Right now, I’m just trying to make ends meet.” One in three Americans fears losing a job, half are worried about keeping up with mortgage and credit card payments and seven in 10 are anxious about shrinking stock and retirement portfolios, according to a recent Associated Press-Yahoo News poll of likely voters. With worries like that, saving $20 or $30 on a tank of gas doesn’t amount to much of a silver lining. Make no mistake, the drop in gas prices has been dramatic. A gallon of gas is 30 percent cheaper today than it was when prices peaked this summer. On July 11, a gallon of regular averaged $4.11. On Wednesday, it was $2.86. That’s almost as cheap as the $2.82 reading of a year ago. As lawmakers debate whether to send a second round of stimulus checks to Americans to lift the economy, the decline in gasoline prices could amount to as much as a $125 billion stimulus all by itself, according to calculations by Lawrence Goldstein, the director of the Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc., which studies energy economics. That figure takes into account the amount of fuel used not only by drivers and households but also by businesses. “We already have the equivalent of an invisible stimulus package going if [oil] prices bottom out in the $75 to $80 range,” Goldstein said. Oil prices tumbled to near $66 a barrel Wednesday as fear of an extended global economic slowdown outweighed a likely OPEC crude production cut later this week. The difference is that the couple of hundred bucks that in previous years might have turned into a holiday splurge will probably be tucked away for safekeeping this time. “Because of the economic circumstances, a lot more people are going to be cautious with that kind of money,” said Joel Naroff, an economist and president of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pa. “Consumers are worried. They don’t know what’s going to happen to their jobs.” Jean Stewart knows the feeling. The 68-year-old, semiretired housekeeper, who filled her Saturn sedan in suburban Denver on Tuesday for $2.57 a gallon, said she struggled when prices neared $4 a gallon. “I’ve been very, very careful,” Stewart said. She’s using the extra cash these days to pay bills. Prices could tumble as low as $2 a gallon if oil falls to $50 a barrel, as some analysts suspect it will. One question is whether some of the changes Americans made to cope with the gas spike this summer, such as carpooling or taking mass transit, not to mention driving smaller cars, will hold as gas gets cheaper again. Ben Brockwell, director of data, pricing and information services for the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J., said he spoke in recent days to a major gasoline retailer in the southeast U.S. who reported that sales on weekdays — when people typically drive to and from work — were picking up. But weekend sales are down 10 percent from a year ago, suggesting people are driving only when they have to.
With the ever declining of gas prices, it is a wonder where the 'supply and demand' is now. For months and months n ow, this country, in fact the world, has been told that there is 'just not enough' oil resources. That OPEC had to lower supply. They crucified and punished the industrial nations for 'over use'.
Then to add insult to injury, our own government went on this 'green thinking thing'. Almost to the point of making the average Joe feel guilty for using any form of energy. Hence....in come the environmentalists! Every major advertising outlet spewed tv commercials about how the corporations they advertise for were 'going green' to save us from the ever rising costs of energy. Even our very own local government sought funding to build 'green' homes.
So tell me....now that the price of gas is so low....is there still a shortage?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
CAPITAL REGION Pre-pay oil customers left burned BY JASON SUBIK Gazette Reporter
Marta Ward, who lives in Greenwich, Washington County, said for the past few years she has prepaid for about 6,000 gallons of heating oil each summer preceding the winter season. Every year she saved money buying ahead, until now. “I don’t think there were many people suggest- ing [the price of oil] would go down,” Ward said. “I feel that I was being cautious. In prior years I’ve ended up doing the right thing and saving quite a bit of money. This year I ended up burned.” Prices for heating oil have fallen by 25 percent or more amid a massive economic slowdown that has depressed energy prices from their historic highs over the summer. Ward owns a 12,000-squarefoot building in Greenwich with five commercial spaces and fi ve Victorian-style apartments that require about 5,000 gallons of heating oil for the winter season. She also heats another two houses with oil and has a house with tenants that is heated with propane. She said she provides the heat for her tenants and has been forced to swallow some of the extraordinary costs of buying oil over the summer when prices were at all-time highs. But she says she doesn’t regret her decision. “If the price of heating oil had gone up to $7 a gallon I would have been out of business,” she said. “If you have very good tenants, people assume you can raise the rent to cover the cost of heat but you cannot. You’ll lose your good tenants if you make the rents too high.” As it turns out, there are many people like Ward, and entire communities as well, that agreed to heating contracts as prices peaked at historic highs. Now she, and mostly Northeastern towns such as Springfield, Vt., are stuck. State attorneys general are advising consumers to honor their contracts. They’re legally binding documents, said Melissa Karpinsky, press secretary to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley. “Consumers should absolutely read all contracts closely before committing,” Karpinsky said, and compare those offered by various dealers. She noted some dealers allow consumers to break an agreement for a fee. Ward said her main supplier of heating oil, G.A. Bove in Mechanicville, would allow her to break her contract, which cost her about $4.55 per gallon, but she probably won’t. “You can bail out of their contract and you lose $400. The big problem I have with that is they gave me a good buy at the time that they did and I feel it would be very unethical now to jump out. And besides, I don’t know what is going to happen [to the price of oil],” Ward said. Oil prices hit an all-time high of more than $147 per barrel on July 11 and industry analysts were predicting crude could hit $200. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday crude inventories jumped by 3.2 million barrels last week, above the 2.9 million-barrel increase expected by analysts surveyed by energy information provider Platts. Gasoline inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels last week, and inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, rose by 2.2 million barrels. Over the last four weeks, the EIA said, motor gasoline demand was down 4.3 percent from the same period last year. Distillate fuel demand was down 5.8 percent and jet fuel demand was down 9.2 percent. Mechanicville Mayor Anthony Sylvester said he heats his home with fuel oil and he’s glad he decided to buy oil at the market price this year instead of paying more for a locked-in rate. “I considered pre-buying but I’m glad I didn’t now. The price looks like it will be in the $3 range. It was over $4 over the summer,” he said. Heating oil dealers typically send notices to their customers in May and June, opening a period when customers can try to hedge against price increases the following winter. Dealers typically offer two methods: A “pre-buy,” allowing customers effectively to buy oil futures, agreeing to take a certain number of gallons at a set price during the next heating season. A “price cap” or budget plan, in which the customer pays in monthly installments but is guaranteed a maximum price. Those plans often include an offer of “downside insurance,” meaning if the price on the spot market drops, the consumer can ride the decline. But that protection typically costs a premium of 20 cents to 50 cents per gallon. Debbie Shimkus, the office manager for Hoffman & Miller Oil Co. based in Schenectady, said few of her company’s customers were willing to pay the high price to lock in an oil cost over the summer and she doubts many buyers in the Capital Region did. “It’s a gamble. We did have one customer who bought in at a very high price who called us and asked if we could do anything for him and we’ve agreed to soften the price,” she said.
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