Michael Giberson Following up on the earlier post, a recent FTC document details the agency’s activities addressing the oil and gas industry during the first six months of 2009. Of the investigation into gasoline prices in Western New York, the FTC said: The Commission’s work involving oil and natural gas also includes the examination of …
More on the FTC and Western New York Gasoline Prices Read More »
Michael Giberson In October of last year, Congressman Brian Higgins sent a letter to then FTC chairman William Kovacic requesting an investigation of gasoline prices in his home area of western New York. Historically, prices in Buffalo and surrounding areas have been below the average price in the state, but beginning around the time of …
Never Did See That Ftc Report on Western New York Gasoline Prices Read More »
Lynne Kiesling Tim Haab did it, so Mike and I don’t have to! Yep, gas prices are creeping up again (Click graph to the right). Why? Here’s one possible explanation from Bloomberg: Apparently, non-OPEC suppliers are likely to see their supplies decline over the next year, and OPEC suppliers don’t have the capacity to make …
Michael Giberson So low, and yet so high. It seems to be the way consumers feel about gasoline prices these days. Yes, prices are down compared to a year ago, but everyone knows that crude oil prices have been going down lately while gasoline prices are up from their December 2008 lows. From The Mercury …
Why Are Gasoline Prices So High? (February 2009 Version). Read More »
Michael Giberson New York is about to find out whether zone pricing in gasoline markets is as bad for consumers as some people believe. Zone pricing is “a gasoline industry practice of selling the same brands and grades of fuel to retail sellers at different prices depending on the ‘price zone’ in which the retail …
Michael Giberson The headline of this Q & A exchange in the Orlando Sentinel gets it right: “It’s only price gouging if you do it occasionally.” Under Florida’s price gouging law, “it is unlawful to sell essential commodities, which include food, ice, lumber and gasoline, for an amount that ‘grossly exceeds’ the average price for …
Price Gouging: One Way to Avoid the Law’s Reach is to Always Charge High Prices Read More »
Michael Giberson Writing with a calmness and patience not typically seen when economists write about price gouging, here is Geoff Styles, at Energy Outlook, Gas Lines and Bank Runs: …[W]ith a significant shortfall in deliveries along these pipelines, and US gasoline inventories that were already extremely low going into the storms, local prices should have …
Michael Giberson Robert Rapier at R-Squared Energy Blog noticed the EIA showing gasoline inventories at their lowest levels since 1967, and because consumption rates are higher now than in 1967, he pointed out that “days of supply” in inventory is probably at its lowest level ever. Rapier comments: Someone asked during a panel discussion at …
Supply Problem + Price Gouging Law = Rationing Gas by Running out Read More »
Michael Giberson According to a year-long study of gasoline prices in the state of Washington, variations in prices across the state “are due to the cost of obtaining and transporting fuel to stations and local competition – not illegal price manipulation.” The state’s Attorney General commissioned the study, which was conducted by University of Washington …
No Gouging or Other Manipulation Found in Study of Washington State Gasoline Prices Read More »
Michael Giberson Price gouging has been all over the news lately. In Kentucky the state Attorney General has sued Marathon Oil for allegedly gouging customers in the months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Marathon is counter-suing the state, claiming the state’s law is unconstitutional on a number of grounds.) In Missouri the state has recently …
Copyright © 2022 Knowledge Problem Archive