Too high for most people's wallet, maybe... well I live 20 minutes walk from a train station that can take me downtown in 30 minutes, so I can't complain! But there sure are a lot of people complaining about getting gouged at the gas station, especially here in Montréal where unleaded prices are hovering around 1.50$/liter (6$/gallon).
The taxes and refining conditions are of course different in the US, but I saw this chart today that tells you an obvious answer:
The price of oil has sky-rocketed recently, and the price of gas at the pump has barely budged - in perspective. Of course, a good part of the price being taxes and distribution do not move so much, but another factor is that the gouging refiners have had their margins disappear totally.
Currently, margins are negative for refiners. Which means you can buy a barrel of unleaded gasoline on the commodities market for less than the cost of a barrel of oil.
Two things can happen, either oil comes back down, or gas prices will continue climbing. Most refiners won't be able to lose money for long.
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