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  1. #1
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    NC-More than 2,500 report gas price gouging in N.C.

    More than 2,500 report gas price gouging in N.C.
    The Associated Press

    Published: September 15, 2008

    RALEIGH
    More than 2,500 gas consumers across North Carolina reported claims of price gouging over the weekend as gas prices skyrocketed in reaction to Hurricane Ike.

    Spokeswoman Noelle Talley said Attorney General Roy Cooper's office is expected to send out subpoenas to several North Carolina gas stations throughout the day Monday.

    On Friday, Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of "abnormal market disruption" and signed an order allowing Cooper to enforce the state's anti-gouging law.

    Cooper was expected to discuss his office's investigation into possible price-gouging Monday afternoon.

    AAA officials said the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in North Carolina is up to $4.085 a gallon, more than 50 cents higher that it was last week.

    http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2...ouging-nc/news
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    Senior Member Gogo's Avatar
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    I heard Sheppard Smith say when he was in TN this weekend he saw $8.00 a gallon.
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    Gas prices rise across US after hurricane strikes
    By JOHN PORRETTO and MARK WILLIAMS – 1 day ago

    HOUSTON (AP) — From Florida to Tennessee, and all the way up to Connecticut, people far from Hurricane Ike's destruction nonetheless felt one of its tell-tale aftershocks: gasoline prices that surged overnight — to nearly $5 a gallon in some places.

    Fears of supply shortages, and actual fuel-production disruptions, resulting from Ike's lashing of vital energy infrastructure led to pump price disparities of as much as $1 a gallon in some states, and even on some blocks.

    Late Saturday the U.S. Minerals Management Service said there were two confirmed reports of drilling rigs adrift in the central Gulf of Mexico.

    Compounding the jitters and higher costs for gasoline retailers was the fact that some big refineries along the Gulf Coast had been shut for nearly two weeks following Hurricane Gustav. Power outages caused by Ike threatened to keep millions of gallons of gasoline output idled for at least several days.

    The price of regular gasoline soared as high as $4.99 a gallon in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, up from $3.66 a day earlier.

    In Florida, the attorney general's office reported prices as high as $5.50 a gallon in Tallahassee and said it had received 186 gouging complaints.

    Gov. Charles Crist said on Friday that $5 a gallon "can only be described as unconscionable" and added: "Raising rates to exorbitant levels like this only causes unnecessary panic and fear. This type of behavior will not be tolerated."

    In Connecticut, AAA said average prices jumped 10 cents overnight and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said his office had received complaints of stations charging more than they advertised, raising prices more than twice in a single day and other problems.

    "A lot of it is simply incredible," Blumenthal said, "and a lot of the price increases make no sense economically in terms of supply and demand."

    Prices in California on Saturday ranged from $3.49 to $4.39 per gallon. In the eastern suburbs of Cleveland, gasoline jumped from $3.55 early in the week to $3.79. Regular gasoline at Chicago-area stations averaged $4.12 a gallon.

    The price jumps came after the wholesale price of gasoline soared to $4.85 a gallon Friday in anticipation of Ike's arrival.

    Many stations have contracts to buy gas from suppliers based on prices set by those markets, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with the Oil Price Information Service.

    "They aren't gouging; they are simply passing along the wholesale cost," he said. However, a small percentage of stations owned by major oil companies are somewhat insulated from these forces, enabling them to keep prices lower.

    In Knoxville, Tenn., account executive Sharon Cawood said "one of our local gasoline chains called a local TV station Thursday, sometime during the day and said, 'We're running out of gas. We're going up 80 cents a gallon... It caused a major scare.

    "By the time it hit 6 o'clock news and 11 o'clock news it was like snow was falling and milk and bread were flying off the shelves."

    Larry Daugherty, a talk radio host Knoxville's WQBB, said a steady stream of calls began Friday morning from people perplexed about price discrepancies.

    People reported gas was selling for as low as $3.49 a gallon in some spots, and $5 at another.

    "People are outraged," Daugherty said. "Everyone is having a hard time understanding all of this."

    Such market fundamentals could last for another few weeks, depending on how quickly Texas and Louisiana refineries shuttered by Ike can come back on line. "It's a mess," Kloza said.

    Ike shut down 14 Texas refineries with a total capacity of 3.8 million barrels of crude a day, or about 20 percent of the country's total output.

    The average cost for a gallon of gas nationwide could head back toward all-time highs of $4 per gallon, reached over the summer when oil prices climbed toward $150 a barrel.

    Gas prices nationwide rose an average of nearly 6 cents a gallon to $3.733, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Overnight changes in the national average for gas are usually measured by tenths of a cent.

    "For the prices to be the rate they are now, it's hard for the middle-class working person to survive it," said Glenda Lang, who spent close to $43 to receive the 10-gallon limit at an S-Mart in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday.

    Kloza said prices are more likely to be higher throughout the Southeast because they get fuel from Gulf refineries. He expects nationwide prices to begin falling later in the fall, perhaps as low as $3 a gallon by year's end, based on current oil prices of about $100 per barrel.

    Still, states promised to take action to prevent price gouging, and the Environmental Protection Agency temporarily waived a dozen states' fuel-blending requirements aimed at minimizing air pollution. The action makes it easier for them to use foreign imports.

    "The Department of Energy and state authorities will be monitoring a gasoline crisis so consumers are not being gouged," President Bush said.

    Ike's storm surge was less severe than predicted, potentially sparing refineries from additional flooding. However, the lack of electricity in and around Houston and western Louisiana — major hubs for oil refiners — poses a significant challenge for the energy industry.

    CenterPoint Energy, the main utility in Houston, reported 1.3 million outages Saturday.

    Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth of the nation's refining capacity. Exxon Mobil's refinery in Baytown, outside Houston, is the nation's largest. Valero's refineries at Houston, Texas City and Port Arthur remain shut down, and all three have lost power.

    The Sabine Pipe Line, a crucial natural gas conduit, has also been shut down. The CME Group, parent of the New York Mercantile Exchange, declared a force Majeure for all remaining delivery obligations for September natural gas contracts.

    With the storm still pounding southeast Texas well into Saturday afternoon, oil refiners had not yet made thorough inspections to get a clear idea of any damage they may have sustained.

    They said it was too early to say when the refineries would be restarted.

    Associated Press Writers Mark Williams in Bryan, Texas, Brian Skoloff in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Ellen Simon in New York, contributed to this report.
    http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...OVMwgD936J8B00
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    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    The decline takes weeks at best, but the rise needs just a rumor. It's criminal.

    I remember living in Florida and having motel rooms go from 50+ a nite to almost 200. A 79 cent bag of ice being sold for 7 bucks.......it was sick. That's when they started this gouging thing.....because it was horrible.

    We were at 4.99 yesterday, but today it went to 4.39......still a rip off since we never got below 3.89 with the big price drop to begin with.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member Gogo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crazybird
    The decline takes weeks at best, but the rise needs just a rumor. It's criminal.

    I remember living in Florida and having motel rooms go from 50+ a nite to almost 200. A 79 cent bag of ice being sold for 7 bucks.......it was sick. That's when they started this gouging thing.....because it was horrible.

    We were at 4.99 yesterday, but today it went to 4.39......still a rip off since we never got below 3.89 with the big price drop to begin with.
    So yours went down?
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  6. #6
    Senior Member oldguy's Avatar
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    I believe what is wrong with our entire economy pass 20 years has been the trend toward short term obscene profits making the top 10-20 wealthy and destroying the lives of those on the bottom, In my opinion it is the current reason for various problems in our society, housing market, oil,etc. Sum it up in one word, GREED.
    I'm old with many opinions few solutions.

  7. #7
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    Topped off my tank at 4.19 yesterday, which was only $15. And driving today through an intersection with three gas stations, the BP was at $4.19, the Petro-Express (Texaco) at $3.86 and the Circle K had no prices posted, as did every other Circle K station I passed during my tour around town. Interesting another Texaco up the road about 5 miles also had no price posted.
    Prices HAVE TO come down. During the IKE scare, on Friday, gasoline spot price was at 2.75, and today it closed at 2.57, with oil around $95-96 barrel.
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  8. #8
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    I believe what is wrong with our entire economy pass 20 years has been the trend toward short term obscene profits making the top 10-20 wealthy and destroying the lives of those on the bottom, In my opinion it is the current reason for various problems in our society, housing market, oil,etc. Sum it up in one word, GREED.
    YOU GOT IT!
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  9. #9
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    So yours went down?
    Surprise, surprise....for ONCE it did!

    But I have friends in NC who were paying 3.29 while I was still paying 4.09......
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  10. #10
    Senior Member jp_48504's Avatar
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    The owner's at a couple gas stations near me didnt have their prices up either and they didnt like it when I took photographs of their pumps with the 4.99 a gallon Friday. On Thursday the prices were at $3.59 You can bet I used the Toll Free number to lodge a complaint.

    Only one station near me did not go up above $3.99.

    BTW, crude oil is currently at 94.10 and going lower
    http://www.kitco.com/market/
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