Are you getting cheated at the pumps?
Aug. 10th, 2007 by AlWith oil prices once again soaring to near record highs, consumers have been feeling the pinch when filling up…and with U.S. congressional hearings concurrently suggesting that the oil companies have been duping customers with less gas then they’re paying for, oil execs are becoming the newly reviled heads of industry.
The issue is called hot gas, and the problem is that as the temperature rises, the volume of gas increases, and the embodied energy in a liter, or gallon, of gas decreases. So if buying a liter of 60 degree gas, you’re getting a lot more fuel than you are when buying a liter of gas at 70 degrees.
Oil companies seem to be taking a dichotomous stance on their industrial policies, and it’s curious that they argue that although they need to buy and sell gas at the industry standard 60 degree energy calculation, they feel it’s not beneficial for gas to be temperature regulated for the consumer.
The average retail temperature for sold gas is 66 degrees, which doesn’t seem like a lot over the 60 degree industry standard, but testifying experts claimed that this slight temperature fluctuation meant more than $1.5 billion in extra oil profits last year in America alone, and a corresponding loss in governmental taxation revenues off of the untaxed gasoline.
Oil industry executives argue that the infrastructure and technology required to calculate the true volume of energy flowing out of the pump, and into your car, and adjusting pricing accordingly is too expensive; and will only serve to raise prices for the consumers. Industry watchdogs disagree, and the successful implantation of this technology in several countries, including Canada, leaves the oil execs position questionable at best, and many say just plain dishonest.
Nobody really seemed to care when oil remained below $40 a barrel, but with today’s prices approaching $80 a barrel, and oil companies announcing record profits, it’s good to see that government may take some positive action to regulate the cowboy mentality of oil companies seemingly determined to get away with whatever they can.
Oil prices have eased a bit this week, with OPEC announcing possibly pumping more oil in September in response to escalating prices, but no one sees a substantial drop on the horizon, and for the moment at least, consumers need to get what they’re paying for at the pumps.
Consumers are stuck footing the bill, and as always remain powerless to the moves of the oil cartels, and their seeming collusion against the consumer. Only governmental industry regulation can keep the oil companies honest, and save the consumer from paying too much for already expensive gas
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