OT. $1.59/gallon

[Dean Hoffman]

The lowest gasoline price I spotted while traveling I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City 1/3/16.

[DerbyDad03]

Spotted or bought? Doesn't it suck when you drive by a low gas price and don't need any? ;-)

I believe this map to be current as of 1/3/16.

[Terry Coombs]

I paid $1.62 on US 65 a few miles south of Branson Mo. on New Years Day . Saw it as cheap as $1.59 down the highway , but what''s 3 cents ? It was $1.83 last I looked here but then it's always higher here .

[philo]

The last time I bought gas it was around $1.85 or so...relatively speaking it's cheaper now that it was in the good old days

[Dean Hoffman]

I found a chart showing the state to state prices. California is $1.16 higher than Missouri on average.

[sms]

And going down. The supply is way too high, and there really is no way to create more demand. With climate change (thank you Republicans), the demand for heating oil is decreasing, with more fuel efficient vehicles (thank you Democrats) the demand for motor fuels is decreasing.

The retail distribution of gasoline is also changing to the benefit of the consumer, much to the dismay of smaller retailers, with Costco, along with large supermarket chains, getting into the retail distribution business and being willing and able to accept much lower margins. I.e., in my area I can buy gasoline from the nearby Shell refinery at Costco gas stations, at Arco gas stations, and at the shrinking number of Shell stations. They are probably also supplying a bunch of the other independent stations. The big money, even with lower oil prices, is in extracting and refining, not in retailing.

[Frank]

As it goes down, the tax per gallon stays the same so in places like California it will never be as cheap. I see $1.85 here in Delaware.

Watch out, that's when the greedy government bastards will push for a tax increase.

Retired, don't drive that much, but figure I will save hundreds of $ on heating oil this season.

[Terry Coombs]

There must be LSD-25 in that Koolaid you've been drinking , because you're hallucinating . When are you people going to learn that BOTH PARTIES are complicit in the way things are ? They're all bought by the same people , and any difference is purely an illusion to keep the sheeple in line . And as far as global warming , that's been shown to be pure undiluted horseshit . When "scientists" have to go back and change the data to fit their conclusions ... all I can say is "follow the money" and see who's benefitting from it . You'll fond it's the same people that are pushing it so hard .

[Frank]

I worked in R&D most of my life.

People refuse to believe that scientists would fudge to give the answers that people that pay them want.

Most of these scientists work for the government and we know what the current government wants.

[Roger Blake]

"Climate change" is a natural phenomenon. There are some idiots, such as Democrats, who believe they are going to control the earth's environment and want to essentially put the rest of us in chains to do so. Kind of like putting the old Soviet ideal on steroids - the one that the State would become so powerful it would control the weather itself.

So tell us, if there had been no Republican opposition to climate hysteria just how much colder do you believe it would be today? (BTW, I have a bridge in Brookly to sell you.)

[Stormin Mormon]

NYS runs a bit higher.

[My 2 Cents]

On 1/4/2016 2:52 PM I live in an oil patch area and my dog and I were just out walking. A motel is few blocks away and walked past it, what a difference a year or two makes, a couple of years ago the parking lot was full of oil/gas company trucks of all kinds, today there wasn't a single one. When the oil patch is good it's very good, when it's bad... boom and bust, boom and bust over and over. I doubt we've seen the low for crude yet and no telling how long till we have a shortage again but it will happen.

[Paintedcow]

I remember when gas was 29.9 cents per gallon, and during a "gas war" it got down to 27.9 cents, and sometimes went up to 34.9 cents, during which time everyone would panic. I'm waiting for it to get back to those prices.....

But I wont hold my breath! $1.50 per gallon is possible though, and considering inflation from the

1960's until now, I'll take a wild guess that $1.50 would be comparable today.

Then again, in a week, we could be paying $6.50 a gallon due to some political issues....

[sms]

The federal gas tax has not been raised for 23 years. As a result, the interstate highway system is crumbling under a backlog of needed repairs.

If it could be guaranteed that an increase in the gas tax would be used for road construction then it would be a good time to raise it.

Also note that the retail price of gasoline is based on supply and demand. When taxes go up, the retail price does not necessarily go up by the amount of the tax increase. Often someone in the supply chain has to end up taking less, whether it's the oil supplier, the refiner, or the retailer.

California's gas tax is 19¢ higher than Delaware's but the difference in the price of gasoline is much greater than that. There are many other factors besides taxes that contribute to the price difference, some with a real basis, some with a fabricated basis.

In California, the tax per gallon is periodically adjusted. It just came down by 6¢ per gallon in 2015. Part of the gas tax is based on what the sales tax would be on fuel if sales tax were applied to fuel.

In California, natural gas is used for heating.

[sms]

It's not even all that low in historical terms, it was just so high for a while that now it seems very low.

The Saudis are very smart and they are keeping prices low to drive the high-cost producers (fracking and tar sands) out of business. They are also concerned about Iran selling oil again.

It's not easy to increase demand for oil. Everyone is not going to suddenly start to drive big SUVs again, and vehicles are getting better and better mileage thanks to government requirements for increased fuel efficiency. At the same time you have climate change greatly reducing the need for heating oil. You also have increased solar production in places like California. I live near "Tesla Alley" and these Tesla owners are installing solar and/or second meters for low-rate off-peak charging. And all the plug-in hybrids are also using very little gasoline (even though gasoline is now cheaper than electricity in terms of cost per mile in many areas). What is driving the sales of these vehicles is not fuel savings, since the extra purchase cost will never be recovered in fuel savings, it's access to the HOV lanes as a single driver, which is a very very big deal.

[Andy]

Not going to happen. :-)

My daughter works for a company that sells chemicals to fracking companies.

They are doing pretty good.

Saudis are keeping prices low because they do not want to lose market share.

They are up to their a** in debt.

Greed has a price and they are paying for it.

Andy

[Micky]

I remember when it was 20 cents a gallon. I should have stocked up.

[Micky]

The EPA has nothing to do with it. It was 50 years ago. That's why it was cheaper.

If you want our air to be like Pekings is and Mexico City's was, get rid of the EPA.

[trader_4]

Baloney. With a functioning free market, with many players, competition, economics 101 says that the tax cost will be passed entirely to the consumer. Companies are not going to give up their profit, they just pass it along. Is this the new lib trick of the day? Pretend that a gasoline tax, or any other business tax for that matter, gets paid by someone other than the consumer?

[Stormin Mormon]

When I was in college, I had a $20 bill that would buy about 30 gal of gaoline. Now days that same bill buys about 8 gal of gasoline. I've been robbed, I tell you!