What gives is that we have to buy fuel regardless of the cost. What is their incentive to lower prices? I think this is one of the few things we need government control over.

The government does have significant control of this as they are a large benefactor of high prices. There is certainly no benefit for the government to lower gas prices as the revenue they would lose would massive.

Yep.... the joys of living in Prince george!

It was over a dollar in Vancouver earlier this week ... a few cents over a dollar ....

the joys of living in Vancouver ..... where one typically drives further, at a slower speed, in 4 and 6 lane idle free zones ...

Other than on Granville, where the speed limit is still whatever suits your fancy and your ability to drive ..... . :-)

Oh I expect the price of crude will rise about 25cents a barrel and we shall see about a 5 cent increase at the pumps...
And the government isn't going to complain as they get their share and the higher the price the more they make...
And what can we do about it? Not buy gas? yea right...
I have already cut back oon the amount I drive by at least 50 % as I walk more... and a bicycle is pretty much out of the question....

It is almost as if the oil companies are now the regulators of the economy doing what the banks used to do with interest rates. Regulating our ability to pay for gas through pricing, ensuring any excess capital in the economy is directed their way. When one looks at their profit margin you can not argue that it is simply supply and demand, but rather what the market can bear without collapse.

IMO we have a problem.

My challange and request to others on this board is to post lists of links to any relevant articles that you feel deal with this gas pricing issue from any angle (except the mid-east Iran angle for now). I will take those into consideration and do a comprehensive study of my own to try and find out what the facts are, and then report back my findings in a couple of months. I was thinking of doing this as a school project so any tips or facts based propoganda theory would be appreciated.

Anyone seen this here article yesterday by CBC:

"U.S. urges 'fivefold expansion' in Alberta oilsands production"

[urlhttp://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/01/17/oil-sands.html[/url]

The day before Harper was talking about using nuclear power to extract the oil for the Alberta oil sands.

It wouldn't matter if the barrel dropped to $40.00, Oil companies will charge what ever they want, what are we going to do about it? Diddley squat. They had us paying over a dollar p/l so they think they are giving us a deal taking a penny off now and then. Prices are dropping all over eastern Canada as well as the States, they are nailing us in the west Provinces and States. They are all crooks and I don't care what the station owners say, they're are in on it too. When the barrel was this low over 20 months ago, we were paying 70 some cents a liter. Raise gas by 5 cents everytime there is a bit of a spike, goes up overnight but when the barrel drops forget it, drop 1 cent a liter after two weeks. Greed!!!!! end of story.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a site that compares historic oil prices to what they charge at the pumps? I'm pretty sure the last time oil was at $50 per barrel we were not paying 95 cent's per liter. It would be nice if the government would help develop some alternative fuels. Bio-diesel, and alcohol fuel are all viable alternatives that need to be investigated further.

Fuel is cheap compared to water.

fedup my water is free.

I went from V8 to V6, from V6 to Inline 4 cylinder; a few years from now I will own a small Hybrid or a Smart Car with a 3 cylinder diesel using one gallon per 100 km.

For the real long trips one can look at flying, the bus or the train.

The oil companies will never stop ripping us off so one has to keep adjusting to the latest conditions.

It's not impossible.

Vancouver City residents pay a 5 cent a litre surcharge as a transit tax. Thats why the price is higher in Vancouver, no doubt if you checked Surrey, or White Rock the price would be much lower.

There is actually a glut of oil on the market these days, and OPEC is looking to reduce production to keep prices up. Part of the problem is that we now live in a Global Market and the Oil Companies can sell their oil anywhere in the world, basically for whatever price they wish. If we dont buy it here, then they will just sell it in China, or Europe, the United Kingdom or some other place, and make the same or more money.

Oil producing Countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia,Iraq,Venezuala, Kuwait, etc; etc; all have lower prices for oil in their Country. When Saddam Hussien was in power in Irag the local people were paying 12 to 14 cents a litre for gasoline, and 8 cents per litre for heating oil. Now with the Americans in there, and the havoc that is taking place they are paying anywhere from 15 to 18 cents a litre for Gasoline, and up to 80 Cents a litre if you buy on the black market. The Americans through Halliburton, and Kellogg Brown, actually buy gasoline in Kuwait, and ship it by truck into Iraq. They pay in excess of $1.25 per litre for the gas and sell it for 18 cents a litre to the Iraq's, because Iraq's infrastructure has been fractured. Reason being if they raised the price of gas in addition to all the other problems in Irag, all hell would break loose. So in essence at this point in time every gallon of gas consumed in Irag costs the American about $1.00 per litre. All prices could be in gallons, who knows, the American dont use litres, they never went **Metric**

Canada could be self sufficient for our gas and oil products, however we pay the open market rate. Much like we do with lumber. We pay the New York Commodity rate for lumber in Prince George minus the shipping costs. Such is the way of the world. We are surrounded with Gas and Lumber, but we dont get a deal.

If you dont keep your eye on BC Hydro the day will come when you will be paying the same high prices for electricity even though we could be self sufficient in that area also.

According to 2004 figures Canada produces 2.4 million barrels of oil per day and consumes 2.3 million.

In the case of natural gas, for the same year, we produce almost twice as much as we consume.

http://www.imperialoil.ca/Canada-English/News/Energy/N_E_EnergyOutlook.asp

"Canada is a net exporter of all forms of energy, including crude oil, natural gas and refined petroleum products" .... and you can add electricity to that as well.

It is called "greed". The oil companies have gotten used to big profits. Now they find themselves unable to deal with less. The governments also collect more taxes when gas prices are high so there is absolutely no incentive for reduced prices. We, the general public and consumer must come up with a plan which will force a reduction in prices. Any ideas any one?

If one wants to drive pay the price, when it becomes too expensive, stop driving, adjust driving habits or make more money. Profit by these companies is not a bad thing, much better than a company that loses money that gets government subsidies for survival. These companies only charge what the market will pay,if they charge too little more prople will drive gas pig vehicles which will lead to more pollution. I guess they are saving the environment by charging more.

'Ideas anyone' Ragtop,
I have one, it is not original, and not really effective; rotating boycotts. If there was any way to get all of the drivers in CANADA to participate, it might send a message to the striped suits in the boardroom. Even then, how long would we-could we keep it up? We would only be hurting the little guys-ourselves, the service station operators, their employees, the fuel delivery people. The fat cats probably would not even notice. There is no hope. As long as oil is traded at world prices, we are subject to this rape. Well, I guess there is hope, if we all switch to an alternative fuel that we have some control over i.e. make it yourself, from natural materials. There are several different approaches to this, and they work. Unlikely on a large scale, but something to dream about. If we all stopped buying their product they would have to do something about bringing back fair prices. The reality is not everybody lives and works in the city, but for those who do, make an effort to walk, ride the bus, or bicycle in good weather. You will use less fuel, but believe me, the oil companies will not even notice.
metalman.

At the end of the day, any alternative fuels will be bought up and controlled by the Oil Companies, it is a natural business expansion for them.

We can try to boycott one specific Company, and in the end it probably wouldnt make any difference. With a limited supply of oil and gasoline, and an unlimited amount of consumers, in a world market the oil companies have all the power.

60% of the gasoline used in North America is for recreational driving, so you can see that we are not overly concerned about cost. It appears that we will continue to burn this fuel until it is gone, and then we will deal with the alternative, whatever that might be. If you want to save money drive less, however rest assured that the gas you saved will be sold and burned by someone else.

Zoom, right on! Why do we not have electric trolley buses in Prince George? I wonder how many
hundreds of thousands of litres of fuel the present fleet uses every year, no matter how expensive it is.

And what about the pollution they contribute to the bowl area? It must be formidable and easily calculated.

Does anyone from the PACHA (the clean air committee) visit this website?

I mean, there are a great number of obvious issues where more than one bird can be killed with the same stone.