DrNecessitor said:
Y'know, there's probably an easy answer for this, but I don't know it:
Why hasn't a quart of motor oil doubled in price over the last year?
Short answer: it's gone up too.
My price for a quart of store-brand motor oil has gone from 89 cents to 1.29 in less than a year - ( I buy about 900 quarts of motor oil a year). That's almost a 50% rise.
Longer answer:
First, motor oil and other derivatives are refined from heavier stocks that cannot be made into gasoline and represent a much smaller fraction of use and demand.
Second, motor oil has longer lead and refining time and is not a daily-traded commodity on the world market - so motor oil pricing does not suffer the wild pricing swings of gasoline as speculators drive up the spot and futures markets. It is still subject to swings in market prices for crude oil, and has gotten more expensive as the price of crude has gone up.
I'll bet that all oil-derived products have gone up signifigantly, from paving asphalt to motor oil to plastic resin and packaging.
Rhys
SUICIDEGIRL
Florida, USA
SEP 10, 2005 11:48 AM