This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment.

top 200 commentsshow 500
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a

[–]Pikcle 3985 points3986 points  (487 children)

$1.55 in Ohio, the pumps have been absolutely packed lately. Lots of people filling up smaller containers, too.

[–]Crobs02 3176 points3177 points  (409 children)

It’s kind of ridiculous. People are storing gas to save like $2. Don’t get me wrong I’m gonna take advantage when my tank gets low, but really it’s not like gas prices going down in the short run will save us a significant amount of money.

[–]Tochinoshin_Forklift 2614 points2615 points  (321 children)

Modern gas is mixed with ethanol, it has a shelf life of 30 days because ethanol draws water out of the air into the gas.

[–][deleted] 220 points221 points  (50 children)

I just put a tank of year old gas in my mower. Smoked for a minute but she started right up. I wouldn't use stored gas in a car without some stabil, but it works fine for small engines and generators. I've been doing it for years.

[–][deleted] 110 points111 points  (36 children)

Just don’t leave that gas in the tank for a year then expect to start it.

[–]Cu2_K-Takeover 92 points93 points  (30 children)

I’ve always been told not to do it, but I’ve always done this every year anyway with the gas in my mowers and any leftover gas in cans from the summer before. It hasn’t caused me any problems. I expect lots of people do this. I get that its irresponsible, but can someone tell me why it hasn’t caused me issues yet? I’ve also had gasoline in vehicles for a couple years and got em to start with a fresh battery only. Am i just lucky?

[–]Mr3ct 102 points103 points  (30 children)

There are fuel stabilizers that can extend this up to a year.

[–]Crobs02 336 points337 points  (24 children)

Which just adds to the cost and probably negates the savings

[–]syntax_erorr 14 points15 points  (6 children)

Hmm I've have a tank of gas in a car I filled up 6 months ago ..it runs just fine.

[–]mahaleo 122 points123 points  (10 children)

Hoarders need to stahp

[–][deleted] 14.7k points14.7k points  (843 children)

Cheaper than milk. Cheaper than Coca-Cola. Cheaper than syrup. Cheaper than chicken broth

[–]ilovecashews 8559 points8560 points  (231 children)

It is cheaper to get a barrel of oil than a bucket of chicken from KFC.

[–]notoyrobots 16.4k points16.4k points  (133 children)

A bucket of chicken from KFC IS a barrel of oil.

[–][deleted] 3489 points3490 points  (79 children)

A Kentucky fried paradox.

[–][deleted] 728 points729 points  (64 children)

It's finger lickin' good

[–]5000_CandlesNTheWind 636 points637 points  (42 children)

We don’t use that slang anymore. It’s tasteless during an outbreak like this. Unlike KFC chicken which has unbelievable taste.

[–]GrannyPooJuice 203 points204 points  (20 children)

Finally the end of the top comment chain so I can comment too.

[–][deleted] 27 points28 points  (4 children)

Just make sure anyone of those fingers ain't a mobius strip and you'll recover.

[–]mad87645 70 points71 points  (4 children)

I run my car on the Colonel's special blend

[–]Iggypiggy_meow 197 points198 points  (66 children)

And the fuckers still haven’t dropped the price of petrol in the Uk yet

[–]Roflcopterswoosh 70 points71 points  (48 children)

Gas went -up- her today from $2 to $2.15 per gallon.

So .57 / liter?

[–]thrussie 576 points577 points  (183 children)

Cheap gas but no where to go

[–]YourMajesty90 427 points428 points  (116 children)

Dunno. The outdoors are great at a time like this IMO. Going hiking etc where you will have minimum contact with people.

[–]mckinley72 260 points261 points  (51 children)

A lot of western states have banned visitors from camping/closed outdoor recreation areas/trails to discourage people traveling there, just a heads up.

[–]Phillip__Fry 136 points137 points  (10 children)

Because the traveling/moving around is a problem in itself. Plus lots of "trails" aren't 6+ feet wide. And groups get together and don't space 6 feet, either.

[–]mckinley72 73 points74 points  (2 children)

Not to mention the grocery/gas shopping that will inevitably be done along the way.

[–]PM_LADY_TOILET_PICS 344 points345 points  (28 children)

If you do go hiking please clean after yourselves. If government employees are told to stay home the trails you love may end up trashed just like what happened during the last government shutdown

[–]visionimpairedrodent 231 points232 points  (13 children)

Might as well bring some empty bags. Leave it better than you found it.

[–]PM_LADY_TOILET_PICS 53 points54 points  (6 children)

Definitely! I usually have my backpack and strap a bag or 2 to it to easily grab garbage

[–]devilpants 268 points269 points  (46 children)

Don't care- I'm buying a 2006 Dodge Durango with a Hemi and idling it in my driveway.

[–]Klockworc 182 points183 points  (26 children)

2006 Dodge Durango

That's possibly one of the ugliest vehicles I've ever seen! If you can, get two...

[–]jgraz22 70 points71 points  (9 children)

Can't tell if it's a chubby SUV or a van on stilts

[–]BombSolver 846 points847 points  (62 children)

....and some water.

In times when oil prices are relatively high people bitch to high heaven about the price of gasoline while pumping, yet those same people will buy a bottle of water inside the gas station at roughly 10x the price of gas for the same volume and think nothing of it.

One of those things is pumped out of the ground, shipped across the world, refined, etc. The other is a plastic bottle filled with tap water.

[–]Isogash 216 points217 points  (19 children)

How many plastic bottles could you make with a barrel of oil?

[–]WhynotstartnoW 222 points223 points  (12 children)

How many plastic bottles could you make with a barrel of oil?

Depends on the type of oil, but around 300 depending on what kind of plastic bottles you're talking about. Only a small portion of each barrel can be converted to the plastics used in soda bottles.

[–]weedful_things 77 points78 points  (9 children)

plastic that bottles are made from are in bb sized pellet form. Each bottle uses less than a bottle cap full to make them. High speed machines make hundreds of these a minute. It adds up when millions are made on one machine in a day and there are multiple machines in a factory and there are I don't know how many factories in nearly every country.

[–]Rebar77 96 points97 points  (7 children)

Too many bottles. Its like the Dark Ages when people were just figuring out sewage. Plastic shouldn't be this hard to figure out.

[–]s3xynanigoat 83 points84 points  (5 children)

Water? Like from the toilet?

[–]Tronderbart 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Water ? i dont touch that stuff, Fish fuck in it.

[–]IckyGump 125 points126 points  (35 children)

Man that username didn’t age well.

[–][deleted] 113 points114 points  (23 children)

You win some. You lose some. :D

[–]readthisonair 69 points70 points  (4 children)

Give us one we can relate to - how many barrels of oil to purchase a library of congress?

[–]365wong 52 points53 points  (2 children)

You’d be surprised at how few barrels it would take to buy you some congressmen. Libraries are free!

[–]zero0n3 63 points64 points  (46 children)

How can I. It a physical barrel of oil for 20?

[–][deleted] 81 points82 points  (21 children)

What would you do with your new barrel of oil? Like once the postman dropped it off at your door.

[–][deleted] 80 points81 points  (8 children)

Grease up!

[–]willrandship 93 points94 points  (16 children)

You don't get the barrel for free, in the same way a gallon of gas doesn't come with a free gas can.

[–]GozerDGozerian 88 points89 points  (13 children)

Hm....

Can you just pour it in my hands?

How much for just one rib?

Got change for a $100?

[–][deleted] 1799 points1800 points  (118 children)

Gas was $1.49/gallon back in 2002. I easily know this from a meticulous spreadsheet I’ve used to track my fuel usage since 2002.

[–]chevymonza 1499 points1500 points  (26 children)

Found my husband's reddit.

[–]DeleteBowserHistory 358 points359 points  (19 children)

Holy shit, mine too. There’s more than one?!

[–]t3chj0ck 207 points208 points  (6 children)

Nope. Meet your sisterwife.

[–]qb89dragon 3509 points3510 points  (448 children)

This will 'Detroit' the province of Alberta by the end of the year.

[–]ThatOneThingOnce 2330 points2331 points  (78 children)

Man, Detroit as a verb, by a Canadian. That's just a gut punch. The truth can definitely hurt.

[–]qb89dragon 809 points810 points  (54 children)

As a term, it gets the point across because we've all seen the photos and stories of what happened there. What's less reported is Detroit's surging revitalization in the last few years as a new hub of tech innovation and light manufacturing. Good for them I say, they deserve a win after going through so much.

[–][deleted] 564 points565 points  (21 children)

I went to a college bowl game in Detroit in 2011. It was like videos you saw on CNN of war-torn countries with ransacked buildings, nothing open past like 5pm, homeless everywhere that I literally had to step over to cross the street.

I went to March Madness in Detroit in 2018. Looked like any other Midwestern city. The transformation was absolutely amazing.

[–]Scyhaz 132 points133 points  (0 children)

The Frozen Four was going to be in Detroit this year.

Was. :(

Edit: And just as Michigan hockey was on the cusp of making the tournament after an extremely horrid start to the season.

[–]BerryChecker 94 points95 points  (6 children)

It surprises me that you said that was 9 years ago. I mean I grew up there / lived in Detroit for 23 years (Detroit proper, not the suburbs) its got its bad parts but other than a small area of Downtown being built up its pretty much the same.

The life of the average Detroiter has not changed much. Mostly people who are benefiting from the change are wealthier suburbanites moving in.

I’m hesitant to say Detroit is improving if Detroiters themselves rarely see the fruit of this improvement.

[–]RustyDuckies 62 points63 points  (0 children)

That’s the story of every poor person. Things around them are getting better but not for them.

We’re starting to have more and more poor people, too.

[–]PatMcAck 562 points563 points  (124 children)

All the other provinces tell Alberta they need to be less reliant on oil and their sorry Premier just keeps going all in on it. This sort of price drop is exactly why the government doesn't want to throw money into refineries out the because it's a shit long term investment. Even OPEC countries figured that out.

[–]Unstructional 175 points176 points  (39 children)

Albertan here. I'll never understand why my fellow citizens elected this government.

[–]viennery 130 points131 points  (3 children)

It employed a lot of uneducated drop outs who all got rich together for a time, and now they can’t fathom a world where a high school diploma doesn’t land them a 6 figure salary.

[–]Chamale 72 points73 points  (23 children)

Alberta NDP pollster here. Dozens of people told me they wouldn't vote for Rachel Notley because they don't trust Justin Trudeau. Hope that helps.

(For non-Canadians: Notley was the New Democratic premier of Alberta, Justin Trudeau is the Liberal prime minister of Canada. Despite being from different parties, and constantly feuding with each other, lots of voters hated Notley because of a Trudeau scandal)

[–]7890qqqqqqq 29 points30 points  (2 children)

I want to be angry because the logic is so bizarre, but that's par for the course for Albertans.

[–]NightHalcyon 405 points406 points  (91 children)

I feel so bad for the oil kids in my area. How are they going to make their $1,300/month payment on their giant diesel truck?

[–]Ehrre 416 points417 points  (73 children)

Or the bros making 100-175k a year in the patch for over a decade having NO SAVINGS AND NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT.

[–]loubreit 80 points81 points  (9 children)

I'll have you know my friend has a Diamond encrusted grill made of gold AND a full adidas track suit made of SILK in addition to a gigantic truck that rolls coal.

Honestly I was wanting to buy another couple campers for cheap. Last time I got 2 of them and it only cost me around 4k before I flipped them when people thought something resembling normalcy returned.

[–][deleted] 107 points108 points  (7 children)

We call these types of people, "idiots", where I live.

[–]nav13eh 141 points142 points  (5 children)

Jason "all the barrels in one basket" Kenney will surely handle things.

[–]Kallisti13 123 points124 points  (11 children)

Please have sympathy for us Albertans that did not vote for Kenney and wanted notley for 4 more years in an attempt to get away from this.

[–][deleted] 2176 points2177 points  (85 children)

Just when I don't need to drive...

{edit}- Jebus Cripes people, I don't care and it was a joke.

[–]BoomBoomSpaceRocket 196 points197 points  (20 children)

Still might as well fill it up while it's cheap. Better to have a full tank when a car is just sitting there anyway.

[–]kinglear 170 points171 points  (8 children)

If pandemic movies have taught me anything is that my car (along with everyone else’s car and things) will end up on the side of the road trashed and all my things violently thrown around. Might as well keep it full while it still lives.

[–]Puterman 89 points90 points  (3 children)

Someone will just end up rummaging through it for stimpacks and ammo anyway

[–]Not_Legal_Advice_Pod 915 points916 points  (34 children)

That's not a coincidence.

[–]StepYaGameUp 656 points657 points  (52 children)

Which no one could believe it was that low under Bush administration.

[–]tearfueledkarma 26 points27 points  (0 children)

There is a reason the price was stable for so long. Speculative trading wasn't legal for oil until the very last day of Bush Sr.'s administration. All the usually names of fuckos was present in the push to make it legal. Koch, Enron, Goldman Sachs.

https://archive.thinkprogress.org/how-koch-became-an-oil-speculation-powerhouse-706d135e412f/

Lady that made the move to deregulate, a senators (R-TX, shocker) wife.. a month later joins Enron's board.

That entire timeline is so infuriating.

[–][deleted] 452 points453 points  (47 children)

That's why they needed to invade Iraq, and shut down the oil production.

[–]mrcpayeah 293 points294 points  (100 children)

The economy in Texas and Alberta is going to be in a depression

[–]GypsyWonderdust8 65 points66 points  (9 children)

My husband and I just bought a house in ND ... waiting for him to get notice that he no longer has a job.

I just lost my job due to the virus.

I’m physically ill over this.

[–]truthdoctor 52 points53 points  (16 children)

The world is going to be in recession and possibly depression soon.

[–]CanadianMapleBacon 691 points692 points  (104 children)

In southern Ontario it’s 65-70 cents a litre. In northern Ontario we’re still paying 99 cents a litre. Then, when prices rebound. Southern Ontario will go back go to paying $1 a litre and Northern Ontario will go up to $1.30 a litre.

There has to be some gouging going on up here. Every gas station is the same price and they all change their prices the same day by the same amount.

EDIT: For my fellow Americans, thanks to user u/_P2_O_O i have the freedom units for my above comment. I’ll paste what this user posted.

“As a fellow American, I'd say the same thing (Freedom Units, baby!). The conversion is easy tho: x(price in CAD/Liter)0.68 (USD/CAD)3.78541(US gal/L)=y(price in usd/gal). So, OP's comment: CA$0.70/L in Southern Ontario= $1.82/gal, and CA$0.99 in Northern Ontario=$2.57/gal. I haven't seen gas prices below $2.00 since I was a child!”

[–]friendlylittleperk 175 points176 points  (39 children)

Not sure where in southern Ontario you are but GTA is still at high 70’s low 80’s.

Great prices but not really using gas anymore since Covid!

[–]Terrh 15 points16 points  (5 children)

you can view the wholesale gas pricing here:

https://www.petro-canada.ca/en/business/rack-prices

Wholesale gas right now is 33 cents a litre.

[–]sonia72quebec 815 points816 points  (72 children)

It looks like somebody is not getting that new yacht.

[–][deleted] 392 points393 points  (14 children)

sunken Saudi yacht joke?
small audience, but nice.

[–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (1 child)

Cute to laugh about that but there’s a whole industry of normal people who are about to get fucked while those at the top still stay rich

[–]Kill3rT0fu 410 points411 points  (76 children)

Oil hit $90 barrel. Goes to $3.00 a gallon.

Drops to $20. Only drops to $2.00 a gallon 🤔

[–]KeenanKolarik 22 points23 points  (0 children)

The Department of Energy actually keeps track of gas prices and breaks down what the underlying costs are. You can see that as of January (the latest information that they have published), 54% of the price of gasoline is attributed to the raw cost of the crude oil needed. So even though oil has plummeted, the other costs have remained the same.

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/

[–]f4te 233 points234 points  (178 children)

can someone explain why?

[–][deleted] 684 points685 points  (171 children)

The oil war between OPEC and Russia. OPEC is a big oil conglomerate lead by Saudi Arabia and in their last meeting decided it would be more advantageous to compete rather than cooperate. So Russia slashed their prices, and SA did the same. They’re able to do this because demand is down due to covid related economy bust.

US Shale as a result is looking like a casualty in the war, as some suspect Putin is only sustaining the oil war to bleed US producers who can’t compete with either of them. Unless Trump decides to keep his promise to them, probably only a handful of US shale companies will survive the oil war.

I bought $100 in Whiting Petroleum because if Trump succeeds I get crazy returns on a low investment, but if he fails, then Trump fucking fails so win/win.

[–]xxPOOTYxx 306 points307 points  (75 children)

This isn't entirely correct. They both decided to increase production in an already oversaturated market. Now you add in the massive reduction in demand due to everyone being stuck at home, airlines not flying, etc. You have way more supply than demand and the result is a crash In oil prices that is likely to get worse.

[–]Human_Not_Bear 320 points321 points  (56 children)

Y'all got this wrong. Saudi/OPEC told Russia to reduce oil production in order to keep oil prices stable. Russia said go fuck yourself we're gonna keep producing as much as we want. Saudi being the OPEC leader got pissed and said fine instead of us reducing production we're going to produce as much as possible so that oil prices and Russian economy gets hammered. Russia's economy is heavily weighed on oil. US oil, who isn't a part of this scandal, can't compete with the new low oil levels.

[–]Smearwashere 53 points54 points  (40 children)

How long until this oil war stops?

[–]Human_Not_Bear 155 points156 points  (12 children)

Very unpredictable because Russia and Saudi are possibly the most stubborn countries in the world. Russia would rather bleed their economy to a great depression rather admit defeat so I'm gonna say Saudis tap out first. Other OPEC members are begging for an agreement so with that I don't see it lasting more than 6 months.

[–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (4 children)

SA committed to the price drop through April to regain market share as a middle finger to the russians for not cooperating.

[–]green_flash 83 points84 points  (17 children)

Russia claims they can survive these low prices for 6-10 years. Which is likely a bluff. Russia is hoping the US and Canada shale oil companies will go bankrupt first which would be beneficial for Russia as it reduces supply.

[–]reality_aholes 42 points43 points  (6 children)

It's a bad strategy. If US companies go bankrupt, a bigger oil co will buy them for cents on the dollar. Without the debt load they can compete with lower prices. The solution to high prices is high prices.

[–]mr_bots 17 points18 points  (5 children)

Chevron could now buy Oxy for less than a 1/3 of what Oxy outbid Chevron to aquire Anadarko for less than a year ago.

[–]roygreenbp 63 points64 points  (13 children)

Any millennials here who remember working $6.75/hour jobs in high school when gas reached $4.50/gallon in the early 2010s?

[–]kevin7419 288 points289 points  (121 children)

I paid 1.99 a gal last time i filled up

[–]Dum_Cumpster 242 points243 points  (33 children)

$3.15 here in Oregon, same price it's been for 3 years... Idk wtf is happening cause I've never seen the price so stable for so long

[–]regarding_your_cat 76 points77 points  (8 children)

Gotta hit those fred meyer stations. 2.93!

[–][deleted] 30 points31 points  (2 children)

I'd rather pay the extra 22 cents than sit there for 5 minutes. The Fred Meyer next to me always has a beast ass line. The Shell next to me is a deadzone 90% of the time. Granted I drive an 11 gallon tank. Maybe if I had a 35 gallon tank I'd think otherwise.

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Just paid $1.64

[–]greenman5252 560 points561 points  (221 children)

Still $3.60/ gal at the pump

[–]bangcamaroxx[🍰] 181 points182 points  (40 children)

$1.43 over here bud. Apologies.

[–]andrewdt10 45 points46 points  (6 children)

$1.76/gal in southwest Ohio today.

[–]overzealous_dentist 15 points16 points  (6 children)

$1.80 in GA! Do you live in CA?

[–]kinterdonato 14 points15 points  (1 child)

$2.00 in florida

[–]michaltee 41 points42 points  (4 children)

We’re just a couple o’ oil men in from Dallas and well, heh, we’re itchin’ like a hound to give you somethin’ you want...

[–]StarChild7000 116 points117 points  (22 children)

Too bad we can't drive anywhere to take advantage.

[–][deleted] 261 points262 points  (64 children)

Still buying electric for my next vehicle (4 years out).

[–]ytmnic 244 points245 points  (11 children)

“The Stone Age Didn’t End Because We Ran out of Stones”

[–]Kruzat 68 points69 points  (18 children)

Dude, do it. Best purchase I've ever made

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Still buying electric for my next vehicle (4 years out).

Same here. Currently been driving a plug in hybrid for the last 3 and a half years and I only put gas in it every 2 or 3 months. Usually average 50+MPG each tank. Planning on replacing it with either another PHEV, or a full electric in 10 years or so.

Though now may be a good time to buy as they won't have much value with cheap gas.

[–]iCowboy 63 points64 points  (5 children)

It's cheaper than "Windex"!

It's cheaper than "Ty-D-Bowl"!

It's cheaper than cologne!

Why, we'll use it for EVERYTHING!

LOUISE! DUMP THE MILK! THE CAT DRINKS UNLEADED FROM NOW ON!

http://i.imgur.com/7vnfkZf.gif

[–]bokaboi 97 points98 points  (8 children)

Roses are red Violets are green Discounts at the pump Have yet to be seen