Whether you are traveling, commuting for work, or just own a car in general, you are effected by gas prices. In the past four years gas has fluctuated tremendously, starting at $4.00 per gallon in 2014, and then declining to $1.88 per gallon in 2015. Now the gas price on average is $2.70 per gallon, but the highest gas prices in Oregon can get to be over $3.00 per gallon. How do gas prices effect the environment, your wallet, and people who work for the oil companies? I did some research to answer those exact questions.
My father, Matthew Monroe, works for an oil company, which gives me some perspective on how low gas prices can impact the workers negatively. In 2013, I thought my dad had the best job, he made great money, had a fantastic schedule and was up for promotions. When the gasoline prices started veering towards $2.00 per gallon, my dad got laid off, for months. He had to pick up odd jobs just to get by. Finally the gas prices started to go up again and he was able to get back to work. This is case for many employees in similar fields. “Oil has dropped from $107 a barrel to $50”, says Matt Egan with CNN Money.
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I have recently moved to Reedsport, which is approximately thirty minutes away from my school, job and family. Even though it does not sound like a very far commute, the price of gasoline affects my life greatly. I have a fuel efficient car, which gets twenty miles to the gallon on average. My roommate Brandon is not so lucky, with a gas-guzzling truck he gets about eleven miles to the gallon. I spend roughly twenty dollars every week on gas, while Brandon spends about fifty or sixty dollars. This price would almost double if the price of gas went back up to four
To conclude this analysis, it can be noted that any increases in the prices of fuel will increase Australia’s economy as a whole, in other words the higher the costs of logistics will increase the price of products (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission 2014). The consumers will have to handle the burden of having higher costs of products, which would create an inflation. With the increasing price of fuel, consumers might want to alter their lifestyles, such as using public transportation or even carpooling. Vacations and travelling will also have to be cut down. Australia requires further government intervention to control the price of fuel by subsidizing so that inflation may be curbed.
Brent crude, the main international benchmark, was trading around $48 a barrel. The American benchmark was at around $45 a barrel (Clifford Krauss). Regular gas nationally now averages around $2.65 a gallon, compared to $3.45 a year ago. Now the law of demand states consumers will buy more of the product if the price falls; of course when gas was at it's lowest peak everyone was driving around with there a/c on. They would use gasoline more often since it was not hurting their pockets as much. Now there is some instances where other goods and services can drop from gasoline prices. This can include a lawn mowing services and automotive business.
To understand the increase in gas prices, one must first identify the distribution of dollars paid per gallon at the pump. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia) in 2010, the annual average paid at the pump consisted of 68% crude oil, 7% refining, 10% distribution and marketing, and 15% taxes (see Fig.1). This shows an increase of crude oil over the 2000-2009 average of 51%. (e. I. Administration)
...oline is affected by many different factors. The biggest factor is crude oil, but the supply and demand of crude oil will ultimately determine the price of gasoline. The supply and demand of crude oil and gasoline are also affected by several factors. The price is continually increasing and the supply is becoming harder to produce and deliver. So it seems we, the United States, need to find a way to slow down our fuel consumption and decrease our demand. This may be the only way to bring down the price of gasoline. I know I would not mind, because then I could use the extra $40 to buy a couple more DVDs for the kids to watch while we are running around town in the Expedition.
Oklahoma's oil and natural gas industry is giving us unstoppable progress for energy solutions, but the other parts of the nation are still searching for theirs. While providing jobs for the thousands of people who live in Oklahoma, the oil and natural gas industry not only donates to America's petroleum production, but it also produces millions of dollars for our state’s economy, schools, and roads. Making new headways in our industry every day, artificial technology, scientific breakthroughs, adequate new exploration, and drilling methods took place. Without these upgrades, we would not be able to extract oil and natural gas from challenging fields more efficiently than we can now. As capability rises, environmental impact will continue to go down. In 1897, a tower of surging oil divided the Bartlesville sky. Oklahoma's preliminary drilling swaged badly, brought forth by the federal controls on wellhead prices of natural gas applied to interstate commerce in the 1950s. By 1982, oil prices hit an all time high of $37.60 per barrel. Furthermore, the number of progressive drilling rigs in Oklahoma also hit a record of 882. The total quantity produced from the soul and natural gas industry in Oklahoma reached about 40 billion dollars in 2007. Also, through the gross production tax, oil and natural gas producers and royalty owners gave more than 2 billion dollars to Oklahoma used for teacher retirement, public schools, wildlife management, bridges, roads, and state colleges. Petroleum remains an indispensable Sooner State industry. Natural gas continued to grow in the early 1990s despite of the entire staggering bust that was caused by the plummeting world crude oil p...
The gas prices started dropping so low that people are available to fill up their cars with gas. There is a good side of these gas prices going down but there is also a bad side. We can say that the good side is people are actually excited because they spend less money on gas and have extra money to spend it on other things. The bad side of the gas price is people are losing their jobs and they sometimes they can't afford for their bills or as simple as not being able to eat.
Pollution is a major problem for all of us. People need to recognize this situation so we can start making a difference to this problem. In order to start making a difference, the federal government should increase gasoline tax by one dollar a gallon. Fifty percent of this dollar will go towards public transportation, since passenger cars and trucks are a major contribution towards air pollution, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, E.P.A (10/4, http://www.epa.gov/autoemissions/emsns.html). Due to the expected increase after this is put forth, the remaining fifty percent of the dollar will go towards safety on these transits. When public transportation increases, air pollution will decrease, which will lessen the harmful health risks towards the environment.
For the Canadian citizens, it is a good thing because low cost of oil equals low price for gas, therefore the people of this country will have extra money in their pockets: “typical consumers will be saving an average of $25 a week, or $300 in three months” says Elna Cain in her article titled Why Are Gas Prices Low And What Does It Mean For Canadians. That being said, other businesses can benefit from the extra amount of cash. In other words, the beneficiaries of this decline in oil prices are not only the citizens, but other business owners as well. The reason why oil prices fluctuate is because of the law of supply and demand, which states that if the supply is low then the price will be high and if the demand is low then the price will be significantly low, which is the case for gas today.
The substantial increase in the demand for EV’s came just in time as we are slowly but surely running out of oil. Some estimate that by the year 2040, 35 percent of all vehicles will be electric (Sullins, 2017). An article from the U.S. Department of Energy stated that “Electric vehicles hold a lot of potential for helping the U.S. create a more sustainable future. If the U.S. transitioned all the light-duty vehicles to hybrids or plug-in electric vehicles, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 30-60 percent, while lowering the carbon pollution from the transportation sector by as much as 20 percent (energy.gov, 2014). It’s obvious that gas-powered vehicles have harmed our planet with their emissions. Although EV’s cannot reverse that damage that has been done, they can eliminate, or at least slow down, the inevitable demise that our planet is headed towards. Along with the beneficial environmental factors that correspond with electric cars, there are also beneficial financial factors. The average American spends about $2,000 on gas annually. In the future, charging stations will charge roughly $12.00 for a full charge, which is about 300 miles. This means that the average American will save about $1,400 per year on these specific car
Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. (2011). The U.S. dependency on foreign oil presents many negative impacts on the nation’s economy. The cost of crude oil represents about 36% of the U.S. balance of payments deficit. Wright, R. T., & Boorse, D. F. (2011). This does not directly affect the price of gas being paid by consumers, but the money paid circulates in the country’s economy and affects areas such as the job market and production facilities.
With a gasoline-fueled vehicle, buying gas to operate your car is a never-ending process. With the high price change of gasoline and oil, operating a gasoline-fueled vehicle tends to be very costly. While there are some types of small gasoline vehicles that get much better gas mileage than larger vehicles, even the most powerful gasoline cars will normally desire a contribution every month. According to some experts the only way a mainstream market for green vehicles wills materlize is with a pronounced and prolonged rise in fuel prices. (Buss, 4)
Today's Rising Gas Prices At some point in everyone’s lives, we are affected by the rising gas prices in today’s economy. Natural gas is not a renewable resource, since there is a fixed amount of it trapped in the Earth. However, many people carry the misconception that there is a very limited amount of natural gas, and that we may use all of it. This isn’t true, though. The gas shortages of the 1970s were prompted by the government’s lack of faith in the industry’s ability to discover and develop new reserves, not by a lack of gas supply.
There are certainly pros and cons to the falling gas prices. I can only sound very selfish when speaking about this topic since my family is constantly on a budget to make ends meet. My father suffered an unexpectedly heart conditioned in 2010 called Neuro-Cardio Genic Syncope, that forced the cardiologist to discontinue him from working and abruptly end his working career. This was very devastating to not only my dad, since he was always the breadwinner, but to us as a family.
The article by Mike Moffatt shows the price elasticity of demand for gasoline. According to Molly Espey the average price elasticity of demand for gasoline in the short- run is-0.26 and -0.58 In the long-run, which is a 10% raise in the price of gasoline lowers quantity demanded by 2.6% in the short- run and 5.8% in the long- run.Also, there are a studies were conducted by Phil Goodwin, Joyce Dargay and Mark Hanly at review of income and price elastics in the demand for road traffic and each of them has different study. Furthermore, the realized elasticities depend on factors such as the timeframe and locations that the study covers. If the gas taxes will rise, will cause consumption to decrease.
Finally, many car companies make more efficient cars and hybrid cars. Companies trying to boost their sales through efficient cars and lower gas cost for the consumer. Because of the higher prices of gas consumers are looking for more efficient cars. Gas prices left big companies like Ford, Toyota, and Dodge slow which it had a direct effect in the economy and the workforce. Many people lost their jobs over the passed six months because of the effect of the slow economy.