Dear Alan,
It frustrates me that people do not understand the simple math behind the price of gas, and just wish to hold the oil companies accountable. We need to hold the correct people accountable for their actions, which are the producers of oil. The government also makes money on the sale of gas, are we trying to hold them accountable? I called and talked to your screener today, but didn’t have time to hold. I am not a stock holder or anything with the oil companies. Let’s start with the facts. Oil is now around $130 dollars a barrel. A Barrel of oil consists of 42 gallons. The simple math of the situation is the Oil companies when purchasing a barrel of oil from foreign sources are paying $3.09 a gallon at $130 a barrel. Now remember that only about half of that gallon of oil goes to the production of gas. The rest is turned into other products. There obviously is costs in refining the oil. But let’s stick with the numbers. $3.09 for a gallon of oil cost for the Oil Company. Add on Federal Tax of 18 cents, that puts it up to $3.27. Add North Carolina Tax of 30 cents, puts it up to $3.57. Now I know several service station owners, and they admit to about a 5 cents average, so that puts it up to $3.62. So what’s left? At $3.99 it puts the gas left overs at $0.37 . Now you must not forget there is another middleman in this operation. The service stations get their gas from gas depots. Now, I do not know what their take is, but I’m sure that it’s more than 5 cents, but let’s just be forgiving and say it is 5 cents a gallon. That would reduce the profit of gas to about $0.32 a gallon. So, in about a day we average about 20 million gallons of gas for the US based on US Energy Information Administration. We produce 8 million barrels a day, and import 12 million barrels. So, Uncle Sam makes 3.6 Million in 1 day. North Carolina Makes 6 Million in 1 day. And the Oil Companies make 6.4 Million a day. Now all this information gets skewed when you realize that the oil companies are not necessarily selling gas they bought at $130 dollars a barrel, Exxon the American company made the biggest money, most likely because they didn’t have to pay the import price and use mostly domestic oil that is cheaper than imported oil. They could be selling gas that they bought at 60-70 dollars a barrel, if not cheaper. This would make their profits hit record highs. Do not forget that gas for cars only makes up a portion of an Oil Companies sale. Oil makes many products, which most all are sellable. Let’s go back to the sellers of the Oil. At 130 dollars a barrel, Saudi Arabia is making 1.1 Billion dollars a day, based on their export of 8.5 Million Barrels a day, who are the top exporters of oil. Russia is second making 845 million dollars a day based on their export of 6.5 million barrels a day. There is an obvious disparity in what is being made on a daily basis between the producers of oil, and the sellers of oil. With these obvious facts can people not determine who is at fault for our high gas prices? I really think that this is just a lack of knowledge of the general public, and when the general public is angry, SOMETHING must be done. Trying to lynch the corporations with the “Windfall Profits Tax” is definitely a bad idea. We should not be using the government to redistribute wealth. I got my information from the Wiki on Petroleum. What do we do about this gas problem? Spend more money on different forms of energy, so we can get those electric cars down to an affordable level. The Tesla Roadster is an awesome vehicle, but it costs over $100,000 to buy! I would really like to point out that your one caller today who wanted to try and separate the bills today is a true patriot. Alan, have you ever just sat and watched CSPAN? I did yesterday, and they passed 5 bills in 30 minutes, and it looked like the place was empty! They were constantly “suspending the rules”. One of the bills was Secret Service Protection for the Vice President for the rest of his days. This measure passed, with the suspension of the rules! I am so glad our forefathers had the brains to create a system of checks and balances. I am really disappoint that most American’s don’t have the time or brains to pay attention to what government is doing. Please don’t become one of those hosts who say whatever just to get ratings. I really enjoy listening to you because you are passionate about your work and I get a sense of realism when you speak. You also allow people to speak their point without imposing your own views. There is a reason you made the list of great radio hosts, and Brad and Brit didn’t. Keep up the good work!
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