Gas prices, part 2

[javasaurus]

OK, my previous rant on gas prices wasn't completely warranted. Crude prices have gone up quite a bit recently, and mostly explain the increase in pump prices.

I found historical crude prices on the web, and compared them to my records for what I've paid at the pump. The comparison was really a bit of an eye-opener. Generally, crude prices really are reflected at the pump. Huh.



*for those wondering, I've been keeping track of my gas purchases for the last two years because my car's odometer stopped. I use gas purchases to estimate miles driven.

Comments

[wilhelmina-d.livejournal.com]

Neat graph. That's fascinating. I wonder why crude seems more expensive than the stuff we put in our cars.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

The two plots are in different scales -- the crude is currently about 60 dollars per barrel. Also, note that the crude prices are listed several times per week -- lots of data! while the pump prices are only for the days when I actually filled my car, about once per week. Also, I go with the cheapest I can find, so that skews the graph a bit. Mostly, I just wanted to show that the trends are fairly similar.

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

We get more than just gas from crude oil so the value is a bit higher. Also I suspect that the unit of measurement for the crude oil is larger than the gallon of gas.

http://www.lmoga.com/refoutput.htm

http://www.lmoga.com/refoutput.htm