Is Gasoline prices in your area is dirty cheap?

Due to the ongoing Covid -19 crisis around the world, gasoline isn't in high demand when people can't go anywhere except for work. Anyhow, the lowest gas station price in my area is $1.50. I haven't seen such a price since the 90's & early 2000.

Yep, it's the lowest I've seen it in my area in a long time (~1.69 is the lowest I've seen). Crude oil is at the lowest price it's been since the late 90's. Producers haven't been wanting to lower their supply, so you have high supply and low demand which both put downward pressure on the price.

I guess that's one good thing about this whole ordeal. I imagine prices will stay low for quite a while.

It's great for consumers, but low oil prices is also quite a dangerous scenario.

When oil prices are very low like they are now, the producers make losses, this creates sizeable job losses and US shale oil producers are particularly hard hit because some have higher costs of production.

Because oil companies are so big and employ so many people, it affects other industries too that support them such as oil services, pipelines, engineering, hospitality and etc.

If an oil company goes bust and some might fall apart, then they might have to sell all their assets or the government might have to take over, the new owners will also have to eventually pay to decommission it all and that's mega expensive. The new contract might allow the new owners to shift the decommissioning cost to the local taxpayers.

Whats is the most dangerous is the effect on governments, not only is there an immediate drop in tax revenue since the industry is heavily taxed, low oil prices cause deflationary pressures.

Deflation again is great for consumers, but governments, companies and individuals in debt will see the real value of their debts rise as a result. It is particularly dangerous for governments with high levels of debt.

You may have heard China accusing the US of, "inflating away its debt," well this is the opposite. The US T-Bills will see a rise in real value so the buyer benefits while the seller endures larger losses.

@kadin_kai: There is actually a big push for President Trump to put a massive Tariff on foreign oil right now in order to raise oil back to where it was at the beginning of the year. This would keep the U.S oil industry afloat, and also give the middle finger to Russia/Saudi/OPEC, the U.S would use all it's oil production first before importing, seems like a win win situation.

59.9c/L here.

Super cheap in Ontario, I drive a lifted truck so I am enjoying the low prices while they last. I have never seen them this low in my time driving.

@davillain-: At a time when the world needs to work together, the US considers tariffs!

Tariffs won’t be the solution because there are different types of crude oil.

The US mainly produces shale crude, it’s very light-sweet good for producing condensate, naphtha and gasoline. But refineries will need a mixture of crude including middle distillates and heavy crudes.

No refinery in the world is designed to run just shale oil!

Therefore the US will continue to have excess oil and if tariffs are raised, other nations will simply take aim at US exports. 50% on Apple products perhaps?

Additionally US like all countries has numerous contracts with other oil companies to buy x amount per year at x price which is either previously set or linked to benchmarks assessed by price reporting companies such as Platts, Argus and ICIS.

So tariffs won’t be a solution, if anything it will simply create more uncertainty for more US industries.

There is no real solution to the massive economic recession that is only just beginning. It will be especially bad for those who have government debt to GDP ratios and already zero or close to zero interest rates.

the lowest i've seen them in a very long time. around 90cents/liter (its gone as high as $1.70 a liter in the past year here)

I thought there was some kind of production war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia that is driving the price down in addition to the pandemic?

so its like a perfect storm of cheap fuel.

Might be time to start investing in renewables. Like with coal, there comes a time when it just doesn't make financial sense to pull it out of the ground without massive government bailouts.

@foxhound_fox: You're right. I really hope the whole world will make a stronger push for renewables, especially the US. I'm always happier when I get into an electronic taxi.

I got gas for a $1.06/ the other day in Henderson, Ky. I had half a tank already, but it was so cheap I made a trip over to fill up.

2.19 here, but we also have some of the highest gas taxes in the united states, along with some of the worst roads which all that tax money is supposed to fix.

@Serraph105 said:

I got gas for a $1.06/ the other day in Henderson, Ky. I had half a tank already, but it was so cheap I made a trip over to fill up.

Those prices are insane low! Although, I would imagine everyone should be taking these gas prices advantages now and fill up gasoline tanks for usage like Generators assuming power plants might be an issue should it shutdown due to Covid-19.

@davillain- said:

@Serraph105 said:

I got gas for a $1.06/ the other day in Henderson, Ky. I had half a tank already, but it was so cheap I made a trip over to fill up.

Those prices are insane low! Although, I would imagine everyone should be taking these gas prices advantages now and fill up gasoline tanks for usage like Generators assuming power plants might be an issue should it shutdown due to Covid-19.

Henderson specifically has lower prices than everyone else because of how close they are located to a refinery. At least that is my understanding.

Nope... taxes.

You can thank the Russia/Saudi beef.

I don't pay attention to gas prices.

Super dirty here. I have heard it is right around <$0.99 in many parts of the country. In the $1.xx here.

Due to COVID I haven't had to fill up my tank for like three weeks or something. All I do is drive five minutes to work, maybe stop at the store on the way back.

I will need to check the prices, though, tank is almost dry. Will be interesting to see what they are, California has very expensive gas prices for the most part.

surprisingly no. it's still fairly expensive.

i think stations are holding off on lowering their prices as long as they can to eek out as much profit while their costs are low.

Cheapest i've seen in my area is 1.37$/gallon. But I've not needed to fill up in weeks. So even cheaper for me :)