The price of gas....in Kiwiland

[Kiwi cop]

Called into a BP station on the way to the range this morning to grab a coffee. As I drove in my eye caught the price of gas on the road sign.

NZ$2.40.9c per litre.

At 4 litres/U.S. gallon and a .70c/U.S.$ exchange rate that is U.S. $6.75/gallon.

A few months ago it was under NZ$1.90/litre.

Our sole refinery has just decided to stop refining and become an importer of refined gas only (it'll still refine NZ crude which is too light to refine to gasoline). They were warned that prices will go up if they followed that route.

I'm not sure where this will stop here.

 

[Maddog 521]

That is high priced fuel. When will it end?

 

[mmb617]

We're heading in that direction in the US. I believe we'll be there sooner than most people think.

 

[Old_Cop]

We're heading in that direction in the US. I believe we'll be there sooner than most people think.

Wait until you get your electric bill!

 

[terry_tr6]

read up on Gr Britain fertilizer processing plants closing down because natural gas has gotten too high to make their product (fertilizer). as a result there is a CO2 shortage(by-product of fertilizer) that is impacting businesses that use it!

 

[pharmer]

Some parts of California have $5.25 gas already. I figure $5/gal is the goal this time as a previous attempt at $8 failed a little over half way. Joe

 

[Glashaus]

Some parts of California have $5.25 gas already. I figure $5/gal is the goal this time as a previous attempt at $8 failed a little over half way. Joe

California can only use specially formulated gasoline, the gasoline available in California is only refined in California, they cannot bring in gasoline from other parts of the country as no other refineries make the California blend. Two major refiners in California, Marathon and P66 are each getting ready to spend billions, yes billions of dollars to upgrade their Los Angeles and San Francisco refineries. The company that I work for makes equipment that supports the oil, gas and chemical industry.

Countries that have to import refined gasoline are really screwed, especially if they need specially formulated gasoline in meet emissions standards. Expect increased prices and sketchy availability.

 

[LVSteve]

California can only use specially formulated gasoline, the gasoline available in California is only refined in California, they cannot bring in gasoline from other parts of the country as no other refineries make the California blend. Two major refiners in California, Marathon and P66 are each getting ready to spend billions, yes billions of dollars to upgrade their Los Angeles and San Francisco refineries. The company that I work for makes equipment that supports the oil, gas and chemical industry.

They import that CA swill into Southern Nevada. 91 octane as premium? Pfffft!!

 

[Rudi]

Does NZ produce any petrol products or is everything imported?

 

[arjay]

Patiently waiting on a $30k Tesla….

 

[Farmer17]

I average driving 34,000 miles per year around OKC with my construction business so gas prices are important to me. My 2018 Ram Quadcab V6 with 305 horsepower averages around 20 miles per gallon in the city on Ethanol 85 gas. I would be eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches if I had to pay $6.75/gallon.

 

[johngalt]

On the plus side, no-ethanol gas is still easy to get here.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

Kiwi, how many private miles do you drive per year? Get yourself a hybrid
auto that averages about 50 miles/gal.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Speaking of gas money.

I saw on FNC that a couple of days ago a car was pulled over by New Zealand police. Inside were gang members, $70K in cash and this:



I'd love to know the back story.

 

[Sistema1927]

Haven't ya'll gotten the memo?

Fossil fuels are bad, very bad, very bad indeed. A European teenager told me so. Prices will increase until you quit using them.

And then we can all huddle in our caves in the cold and dark.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Speaking of gas money.

I saw on FNC that a couple of days ago a car was pulled over by New Zealand police. Inside were gang members, $70K in cash and this:



I'd love to know the back story.

Okay Rusty, here is the back story.

Auckland had been on a Level 4 (almost total) lockdown for just under 5 weeks, with only essential businesses open. Essential did not include fast food. The lockdown was eased slightly last Wednesday.

The gang members made a run, presumably drugs, south, out of the lockdown area. The money (NZ$100k/US$70k) was the proceeded of their illicit enterprise.

The KFC was bought for friends and family back in Auckland.

The money has ben seized as proceeds of crime. The KFC was destroyed.

Just as aside, three weeks before most of the country dropped from Level 4 to Level 3, essential businesses open, non essential allowed to open for online and click (or phone) and collect. Fast food outlets were allowed to open under click and collect.

One Auckland truck driver delivering out of the lockdown area (essential worker) posted on social media about buying NZ$150 KFC for the family and over NZ$700 worth of alcohol for friends and neighbours still stuck in Auckland and suffering withdrawal symptoms.

 

[glenwolde]

Go read the Annual Reports for Big Oil. They are all cutting their cap spending on exploration and falling all over themselves starting up investments in renewable energy sources to please their ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) Overlords. Banks don't want to lend for oil projects for their own ESG reasons plus the oil business has the propensity to lose a lot of money at times.

So there's two possible outcomes.

1. The world as a whole perfectly, across thousands of corporate participants, coordinates the switch to renewable energy sources.

2. They don't, and energy available from conventional carbon resources declines faster (due to lack of investment) than the renewables come online. This causes some severe shortages and extreme price increase.

I'm betting on #2.

 

[arjay]

I'm betting the world switches from carbon based fuels because we have to. It will be slow,painful,filled with political stunts and corruption,but we will pull it off

 

[Golphin]

I'm betting the world switches from carbon based fuels because we have to. It will be slow,painful,filled with political stunts and corruption,but we will pull it off

And I am betting there will be many blackouts and grid failures causing much death and suffering {see Texas} if we switch to so called renewable energy. Those wind mills and solar panels only provide some times. Hard to charge those batteries with no electricity.

 

[riverrat38]

If we really want to get carbon off the grid, we will have to make very substantial investments in hydro and nuclear power.
It won't be done with just wind mills and solar cells!
Also, we will need to mine for uranium and lithium, for power and energy storage. Batteries don't make energy, they store it. Same thing with hydrogen power, it takes electricity to isolate the hydrogen out of water.

73,
Rick