Biden demands gas stations slash prices at the pump
By: Ariel Zilber (New York Post)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Biden lashed out at gas stations on Tuesday for allegedly being tardy in lowering the price of fuel in line with dropping oil prices.
During a meeting Monday with economic aides, Biden lamented that while crude prices fell sharply last month, it has taken a "long time" for the drop in price to trickle down to the consumer.
"We haven't seen the lower prices reflected at the pump though. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies are still making record profits — billions of dollars in profit," the president said Monday.
"My message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: Bring down the prices you're charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product."
Biden's comments, which were posted by the White House, were reported by Insider.
The president exhorted gas stations to pass along savings to customers more quickly.
"Do it now," Biden said. "Do it now. Not a month from now — do it now."
"And it's going to save people a lot of money."
Bob Bilbruck, CEO of business strategy firm Captjur, told The Post that Biden was "way off base."
"I grew up in the convenience store gas station business," Bilbruck said.
"Margins are razor-thin in these operations and depending on their relationship in the buying ecosystem, they may be buying from a bulk fueler or directly from the producer [so] we are talking very little difference in prices," he said.
Since gas station owners work on small margins, they are under "constant competitive pressures from the station next door to keep their prices competitive."
"This is simple supply and demand," Bilbruck told The Post.
"You have less drilling going on and less oil and gas being refined — prices go up."
He added: "It's basic economics — if Biden wanted to make a true impact and get costs down for the consumer, there are many things he could do."
Free-market advocates also did not take too kindly to the president's comments.
"Having the president of the country pressuring private companies into cutting profit is not a good look at best," geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, who heads Scarab Rising, told The Post.
"These comments indicate that Biden is avoiding responsibility for his own contribution to the price crisis — the policies that have driven up the gas prices to begin with, failure to allow for leases on federal land, the shutdown of pipeline projects, the gas tax hike, among others."
The average price of a gallon of fuel ticked up to $3.75 nationwide on Tuesday — which is 17% higher compared to a year ago, when the cost was $3.19 per gallon.
Biden administration officials touted the drop in gas prices from mid-June, when they reached a record high of $5.02.
Last week, gas prices rose for the first time, snapping a 99-day streak of falling prices.
Gasoline prices mostly reflect trends in global oil prices, and crude — both the US benchmark and the international Brent — have been slumping since mid-June on growing fears of a global recession that would reduce demand for energy.
US crude rose $0.73 on Tuesday, closing at $77.44 a barrel. Brent crude jumped 1.32% to $85.17 a barrel.
Tags
Who is online
37 visitors
Trolling, taunting, spamming, and off topic comments may be removed at the discretion of group mods. NT members that vote up their own comments, repeat comments, or continue to disrupt the conversation risk having all of their comments deleted. Please remember to quote the person(s) to whom you are replying to preserve continuity of this seed.
Keep it civil. Keep it on topic.
I guess we can add this to the ever growing list of things Biden knows absolutely nothing about.
I wonder how long before this gets walked back.
Do it now....BEFORE THE MIDTERMS!
Bingo
Nothing says I am completely clueless than this kind of nonsense.
When's the next press conference? hehe
Walking back Biden statements seems to be a full-time position for at least 2 or 3 WH staffers.
Obviously he doesn't understand. Stations and distributors are still selling what they paid higher prices for. When the price of oil/gas goes up, the stations have to raise prices on what they have as what they are going to have to replace present stock with, will have a higher price. Therefore, the rise at the pump. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way inversely. They still have the more expensive gas in the ground and can't just drop the price due to that fact even though they will be replacing it at lower pricing.
I wonder if he understands it completely but knows 2/3 of American voters won't, so he just says it for political points.
The prices at the pump are usually set by the distributor, not by the gas station. So your headline and corresponding article are misleading at best.
API stated that gasoline prices are determined by the market and that its member companies are focused on shoring up supplies amid the massive storm barreling into Florida. Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon as a Category 4 storm, causing more than a million residents to lose power and prompting stark safety warnings from Florida officials.
"In an unfolding weather event, our industry is focused on keeping the energy market well-supplied and delivering fuels where they are needed most while ensuring the safety of our workforce," an API spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"Gasoline prices are determined by market forces — not individual companies — and claims that the price at the pump is anything but a function of supply and demand are false, " the spokesperson added.
So when you claimed it was Biden's fault for high gas prices you were lying?
Is it possible that governmental policies may actually have some effect on businesses?
Post 4
READ IT
You don't think that stopping leasing wouldn't have an effect on gas prices?
If those governmental policies don't change, but the price of gas does it puts a lie to that line of bs logic.
No, I didn't see them open leasing before the price of gas dropped. It would logically follow that leasing has little to no effect on gas pricing. I have, though, noticed a steep correlation in the use of travel, storms, pandemics and other similar issues any one Administration can't really do anything about though.
One could logically say Biden and NATO have effected some of the price of oil (and thus gas) with support of the continued war in Ukraine, but even those market forces are much less effective than the huge demand caused by post pandemic travel. It's more of an effect on European/UK natural gas prices.
Once again an easily refuted lie.
Biden Administration Awards Offshore Oil-and-Gas Leases for 1.7 Million Acres in Gulf of Mexico
Now can you explain why you feel a lease on a part of land not currently being utilized, and probably won't be for decades is effecting today's gas prices?
There is a very significant difference between some influence and determiner.
Now try doing what Vic told you. Read 4 below.
Read 4 below.
Thanks, Captain Obvious!
The WSJ shilling for Republicans during an election? I read it and reject it as partisan propaganda.
That's on you. Doesn't make it wrong.
Meaningless. Even if those lands had been leased, they would not be in use for decades. How would that effect today's gas prices?
I don't know. Leasing halted and gas prices went up.
Doesn't make it correct either and...
Is that the entire reasoning behind your belief?
Bullshit. They trot out the suggestion that they have no control when, in actuality, the producers and the futures buyers are the exact place to control the price of gasoline. The only reason that futures prices increase is because the futures trader thinks that they can sell the product for more. There is no pull, no "demand" from the end consumer. You don't see the end consumer in there bidding up the price. It is the futures traders and the producers who set the prices, but it is not because of some natural law, it is mostly a function of "how much do I think I can get someone to pay for this commodity."
Now, that price may be related to "market factors " but by no means is at the beck and call of some mysterious law of supply and demand.
But, it’s so convenient!
When was consensus reached among economists on the impacts of futures trading on the price of gasoline?
I don't know. Probably never. I was just stating my considered opinion. After the oil embargoes of the 1970s, a decision was made to add oil to the futures markets to help lessen the impact of OPEC on the market.
Not for the 1st time, and I'd be willing to bet not for the last.
"Margins are razor-thin in these operations and depending on their relationship in the buying ecosystem, they may be buying from a bulk fueler or directly from the producer [so] we are talking very little difference in prices," he said.
Since gas station owners work on small margins, they are under "constant competitive pressures from the station next door to keep their prices competitive."
A majority of gas stations are owned by families and individuals, not the oil companies
There's more:
"WASHINGTON—The Biden administration has leased fewer acres for oil-and-gas drilling offshore and on federal land than any other administration in its early stages dating back to the end of World War II, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
President Biden’s Interior Department leased 126,228 acres for drilling through Aug. 20, his first 19 months in office, the analysis found. No other president since Richard Nixon in 1969-70 leased out fewer than 4.4 million acres at this stage in his first term.
Harry Truman was the last president to lease out fewer acres—65,658—in 1945-46, when offshore drilling was just beginning and the federal government didn’t yet control the deep-water leases that have made up the largest part of the federal oil-and-gas program in modern times."
The main reason for high gas prices has been Joe Biden.
US oil refineries choose to not increase their production (the supply). They have the capacity but are (naturally) reluctant to invest in ramping up production only to see the prices fall in a future that is decidedly moving away from refined products.
Further, the price of oil is determined by a complex combination of market forces. Crude producers, futures speculators, etc. all contribute to the price of a barrel of crude. The uncertainty and supply shortages resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a significant contributor to this (both materially and psychologically).
The pandemic severely reduced demand and thus revenues for refineries. It took time to reduce their production and they are are unwilling to hire people and make use of their existing capacity (a long term investment) against an uncertain future. They cannot simply turn on a dime and they apparently are not convinced that ramping up production will make good business sense in the long run.
You pretend that nothing Brandon has done is influencing the price of oil and gas.
Oil and gas companies need places to drill.
Brandon controls that.
I am sure the next president will appreciate Brandon's stinginess on leasing.
Again inventing crap out of thin air. I made no such indication. A PotUS will indirectly influence many things. I was responding to Biden being the 'main reason'. Pay attention.
Oil companies have no problem drilling; they have decided to not increase their production. Biden's actions have no effect on today ... at best they would have an impact well after Biden has left office.
Childish, witless illustration of purely partisan thinking.
I think ultimately conservative Republicans believe that if you don't bow down and worship the oil and gas industry and give them billions in subsidies and let them drill wherever they want then the Gods of oil and gas will stop blessing America with cheap gas. They believe Biden and the Democrats have stopped bowing to the Oil & Gas Gods and thus America is being cursed by rising gas prices. Democrats treasonous talk of bowing to other Gods like the God of renewables and attempting to appease the God of climate change has angered the Gods of oil and gas! In their minds Biden doesn't have to actually do anything substantive to the oil and gas industry for the curse to afflict us, but its apparently his fault for daring to even suggest shifting our reliance on oil and gas to renewable energy.
Still ignoring everything Brandon has done.
Read that and let me know what Brandon is doing to increase domestic production. Oil and gas companies are not going to increase production with this asshole in charge.
After the last seven plus years of all the childish partisan shit Trump and anyone who backed him was called; fuck off. Brandon is PC by comparison. Human Fuck Up Machine is more accurate.
Again you simply make shit up.
A PotUS does not have control over domestic production; the PotUS is subject to the decisions of the marketplace (executives of energy companies in concert with the demand patterns of consumers and the expected costs of securing/processing raw materials such as the right type of crude oil). It is unlikely that fossil fuel based energy producers and refiners will invest in production unless they see a future market that will justify the expense or if government subsidizes their operations.
In that regard you are correct, Biden will not subsidize these energy producers, will not relax regulations, and will continue to encourage renewable energy. You are incorrect, however, to presume that any PotUS can simply 'fix' high prices at the pump or perform other magical remedies for our complex economy.
'Brandon' is a childish, witless platitude. It is not funny; it is not clever. It is as valuable as a child calling another 'poopie head'. It signals to readers that the comment is replete with bias and is not to be taken seriously.
Brandon is ensuring the next president will be in the lurch when it comes to fuel prices and the ability of US oil and gas companies to produce. It might take the new president's entire first term before gas prices even start to come down.
If a Democrat follows Brandon all bets are off. The US will never see energy independence again.
So... Given that they have 9,000 oil leases that they aren't using, if Biden had released 9,000 more on inauguration day, how much oil would they be pumping from it today?
How many of those leases have recoverable oil and or the ability to deliver the crude once it's out of the ground?
You do realize that if they don't produce oil from the lease, it goes back to the government......Right?
Only a moron would lease land if they didn't think there was oil there. Are they morons?
It would probably be easier for you if you didn’t comment on things you know nothing about.
How long does it take to get enough contentious land leased to consolidate enough acreage to start drilling?
Are the folks that own the land the same ones with the mineral rights that have to be negotiated?
Then do you have to build roads to get the equipment on site?
It’s a slow process. Cohorn said subcontractors are so busy, they can only make it to wells like this every so often. As a result, Henry Resources has been standing by with an unproductive well for two months. Labor is in such short supply in the region that stories like this are common, Cohorn said.
Are the men and material needed readily available?
"My message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: Bring down the prices you're charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product."
...is the salient point, and the mark of a simpleton.
How long does it take crude purchased in Aug to get to the refinery, refined to gasoline and get to the station?
Biden can make all the gas pricing demands he wants. He's even invented a new scapegoat for his rising prices excuses: Hurricane Ian.
However, his unicorn and lollipop world doesn't jibe with facts in the real world: