...Today’s rising gas prices is a great concern for me in the economy we are in at the moment. The United States has a national debt level over 14trillion dollars and talk from many politicians is to raise taxes to pay for that debt. With that lingering in the back of our minds we have gas prices at the front. For many of us gas is a necessity to get from point A to B for many reasons such as, work, go to school, go to the grocery store, and doctor visits. These are reasons we cannot afford to miss and therefore must buy gas. College students are the ones that are being hit the hardest with rising gas prices. The majority of college students are on a tight budget as it is. Gas is rising towards $5 and that is even before summer prices hit. College students having to pay that just to get to school on top of paying for school, is insane. Along with the great possibility of taxes rising it is even harder and harder to live comfortably. If college students did not have it hard enough with trying to handle school loans, trying to eat somewhat healthy, basic essentials and now the even bigger worry of gas. With all that is going on in the world and with our own economy the government should give at least college students with some sort of break. I recently read an article talking about how California college students have little public transportation therefore forced to buy gas. The 3million California College Student are trying to cut cost other ways. Some were not buying food and trying...
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...Context SCGC started back in 1867 when it first installed forty-three gas lamps in Los Angeles, California. At that time the company made the gas from asphaltum, a tar like substance and then later on from oil (History of SOCalGas, 2012). Throughout its 140 year history there have been a series of acquisitions and mergers. The gas lighting business was a promising venture, “until Thomas Edison introduced his new electric light in 1879” (History of SOCalGas, 2012). However, this did not stop SCGC from selling its product; they modified their target market by promoting gas stoves and heaters. In the beginning of the 20th century natural gas was gaining attention, since it was twice as efficient as manufactured gas. The decision was made to, “convert its system to natural gas and build pipelines throughout the state” (History of SOCalGas, 2012). Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, SCGC is the largest supplier of natural gas in the United States. It distributes natural gas to 5.8 million residential, commercial, and industrial meters (20.9 million customers) in more than 500 communities throughout the southern half of California. SoCalGas owns and operates about 97,000 miles of gas distribution mains and service lines, as well as about 4,000 miles of transmission and storage pipeline. The utility also owns gas transmission compressor stations and underground storage facilities (Southern California Gas Company, 2012). It maintains a positive corporate imagine with their...
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...of cheap oil is almost certainly at the end with the price of a barrel of oil going for 80.20 to 104.08 on the Stock Market. The price of oil continues to climb quickly and relentlessly. Global oil production will be soon hit a ceiling and drop, even as the demand continues to rise. The result will be an extremely large energy cost, political instability, and an uncertain energy future. The fact is many countries with the largest oil fields build in decade old and had in bad condition. Another fact is that fossil fuel use causes global warning. Scientists haves gathered an unassailable amount of evidence to conclude the warming of the planet had caused mainly by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuel. When many people use gas in a car the result is major amount pollution. When use hydrogen, the only product is water vapor. “Hydrogen can produce from diverse domestic resources, with the potential for near-zero greenhouse gas emissions.” (U.S Department of Energy, 2011) “Natural gas had been produced both worldwide and domestically at relatively low cost and is cleaner burning than gasoline or diesel fuel. Natural gas vehicles show an average reduction in ozone-forming emissions-80% compared to gasoline vehicles.” (California Energy Commission, 2002-2011) “Propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a clean-burning fossil fuel. LPG-fueled vehicles produce fewer toxic and smog-forming air pollutants.” (California Energy Commission, 2002-2011.) By that has been said,...
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...March 5, 2012 Exercise 1 This is a very interesting question to discuss. Gas prices are always fluctuating and at the moment we are experiencing all time high gas prices at the pump. I live in Southern California in Orange County which is a nice area. The city that I currently live in which is Irvine has many gas stations throughout. Near my house, I have four gas stations surrounding me. These gas stations are Arco, Shell, Mobil and Chevron. Arco seems to have the cheapest prices at all times in respect to the other gas stations. Some say that it is due to the cheaper quality of gas that they use. Chevron has the most expensive prices in respect to all the others. However, I have noticed that when gas prices increase, all four gas stations increase their prices and vice versa. Fluctuating prices at the pump usually occur because the price per barrel increases due to many factors. When the price per barrel of oil increases, the gas prices at the pump in turn increase. There is a demand and supply for gas. The demand is obviously always there and at a high rate since everyone needs gas to operate their vehicles. If we can understand the laws of supply and demand, we will have a clear understanding of why gas prices fluctuate at the pump. Supply represents the amounts of product that a producer is willing to produce at every series of pricing per a specific period. The law of supply states that as prices increase the quantity supplied increases and vice versa. Demand on the other...
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...140 – Research Paper December 2, 2013 Should the State of California Permit Fracking on a Large Scale Despite a recent decline attributed to a relatively nominal growth over the past couple of years, California continues to rank among the top 10 of the world’s largest economies. It is currently ranked as the world’s ninth largest economy, surpassing many developed nations with an annual GDP exceeding two trillion Dollars, according to a report by CNN last year.1 California’s crude oil and natural gas deposits are located in six geological basins in the Central Valley and along the coast. California has more than a dozen of the United States' largest oil fields, including the Midway-Sunset Oil Field, the second largest oil field in the contiguous United States. California is sitting on a massive amount of shale oil and could become the next oil boom state. But only if the industry can get the stuff out of the ground without upsetting the state's powerful environmental lobby. Running from Los Angeles to San Francisco, California's Monterey Shale is thought to contain more oil than North Dakota's Bakken and Texas's Eagle Ford, both scenes of an oil boom that's created thousands of jobs and boosted U.S. oil production to the highest rate in over a decade. In 2010, California produced 12% of the natural gas, 71% of the electricity, and 38.11% of the crude oil it consumes. The remaining electricity and natural gas was purchased from Canada, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountain...
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...containing water, salt, sand and substances known as proppants into an oil or a gas reservoir. When the mixture is inserted under a high pressure, it cracks the porous rock that contains oil or gas. The fluids are then removed while the proppants keep the fissures left by the fracturing open enabling the oil or natural gas to flow back freely (CDC, 2012). The various oil and gas zones differ and require the hydraulic designs customized for the specific states of the formation. The chemical substances used also differ in terms of mixture and amounts depending on the site specific depth, breadth and other features of a particular formation. Oil fracturing takes longer time of pressure being exerted on the organic substances. Gas in most cases is found underground normally in the related oil fields. In the U.S. hydraulic fracturing is currently underway in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Vermont and Kentucky. In Europe it is in progress in Central Europe. While in South Africa it is being practiced in the central parts of South Africa (PDEP, 2010). Hydraulic fracturing has had a positive effect on the economy. It is a technological improvement that is enabling manufacturers to safely extract natural gas and oil from the very deep shale formation. This technology has minimized the reliance on importation of foreign fuels by the countries that use the method. Hydraulic fracturing has increased oil and gas production, which in turn has had an impact on the number of people being employed...
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...on imported gas and oil increased by 18% to 58% 9/11 terrorist attack highlight concerns on dependence on imports from the Middle East 3) Price In 2006 the price of oil had risen from $20 to $60 per barrel . In 2008 the oil was $140 4) Reserves of fossil fuels are being to run out reserves should last for between 40-65 years 5) Global sources of energy are unevenly distributed most are concentrated in politically unstable parts of the world 6) Demand for energy is increasing the growth of economies in China and India has meant more competition for resources So why is California suffering an energy crisis? Due to the fact that the US energy market is privatised the market is driven by the desire to make most profit. Between June 2000 and May 2001 California experienced a series of blackouts due to various factors: a. The weather: 2000 was the 3rd years of drought so less surplus energy due to lack of hydro-electricity from surrounding states Summer was very hot so increased demand for air-conditioning Winter was unusually cold so increased need for heating b. Insufficient generating capacity strong anti-pollution laws in the 1970s meant energy companies were unwilling to build new power stations that were expensive c. Limited capacity of power lines to important more electricity d. Eron used supply and demand to ensure energy prices remained high enough when supply was good Therefore the two major power companies in California were forced...
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...Gasoline Price When looking at the history of gas prices they seem to constantly fluctuate over the years. I remember before I was legally able to drive how the gas prices were extremely low. I remember going to fill my mother’s car with her and saw the gas prices were $1.10 a gallon! When I look at gasoline prices now I wonder about what happened to those times now that I am driving. After a little research into the topic I found that there are many different factors that go into the price of gasoline that I never thought about. For example I didn’t realize that gasoline varied from state to state. This is why gas prices are way high in New York and California than they are here in Georgia. In this response I will go over some of these factors as to why gasoline prices vary over the years. Much like anything else that is bought or sold on the market, gasoline is controlled by supply and demand. “If demand grows or if a disruption in supply occurs, there will be upward pressure on prices. By the same token, if demand falls or there is an oversupply of product in the market, there will be downward pressure on prices.” (thepriceoffuel.com) This very much applies to local gas stations as well. For instance if a retailer sells their gas a lot higher than the competition in the area, they run the risk of losing customers to their lower priced competition. In order to gain some of those customers back the retailer would then be forced to lower their prices. This also...
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...Cars were built to operate on the same kind of fuel, but now advanced technology has allowed gas stations are offering alternative fuels including ethanol, an alcohol fuel distilled from corn and sugar plant materials (Sclar, Auto Repair For Dummies). If I were to open an ethanol refinery in California, I would open one in Stockton, California. I chose this city because it is located in California’s Central valley, which is large, flat, and has productive agriculture. Because Stockton is a rural city, the ethanol industry can jump-start it by adding many jobs. Stockton is along major freeways, such as Interstate 5 and State Route 99. It is also south of the state’s capital, Sacramento, and connected westward to San Francisco. Since corn is the primary source for Ethanol and is primarily grown in the states of Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, and Minnesota, I would definitely access raw materials through Nebraska because it is the closest primary corn producing state to California and their California is the largest market state for Nebraska corn (Nebraska Corn Board). Corn growers rely upon dependable and cost-effective transportation. Even though major freeways surround Stockton, the distance between Nebraska and California is about 1,430 miles away from each other, which has a negative cost advantage for transportation of corn with trucks because their functions are primarily based on shorter distances. Instead, railroads have better cost advantages because they operate...
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...California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) was co-founded in 1985 in Beverly Hills, California by Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax. Rosenfield and Flax both hold the title of Co-President, Co-CEO, and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors for California Pizza Kitchen. Susan Collyns, Chief Financial Officer, currently leads the financial team at California Pizza Kitchen which is faced with reducing the corporate income-tax liability while balancing the goal of the management team to grow the business. California Pizza Kitchen is in the food industry business. California Pizza Kitchen is a casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in innovative and non-traditional pizzas. California Pizza Kitchen also provides various soups, salads, pasta, sandwiches, and desserts at higher quality for lower prices. California Pizza Kitchen is in 213 locations in 28 states (41% located in California). California Pizza Kitchen’s core patrons tend to have an average household income of $75,000 (survey results from 2005); creating less of an impact on patron’s dining habits during times of inflated gas and food prices. California Pizza Kitchen’s inventive menu was not the only draw-in for patrons, their below average check (usually around $13.30) was much lower than their competitors such as, The Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden, P.F. Chang’s, Chili’s, Red Lobster, and Panera Bread to name a few. The California Pizza Kitchen chain was labeled by RBC Capital Markets as the “Price-Value-Experience” leader...
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...the energy sector. In 2001, the price of natural gas went from $ 2 to $ 6 to an abnormal price of $50. While some increase in price was understandable using the supply and demand curve economic theory. More gas demand due to the cold weather caused the demand curve to shift to the right resulting in a higher equilibrium price at the same supply. The demand for natural gas is inelastic since that is something we cannot cut back. Same is the case with medicine, tobacco and alcohol. The elasticity coefficient = % change in Quantity / % change in Price. If the elasticity coefficient is less than 1, it is called inelastic. Usually when that happens, it is short term or alternate energy is mobilized as a natural correction bringing the price down. However, as we know that there was a manipulation in the supply of energy and artificially created shortfall in supply. This caused a left ward shift in the supply curve just when the demand of electricity was high due to the hot weather in California. Energy giants like Enron, Dynergy and El Paso Energy colluded with alternate energy producers and created an artificial scarcity of electricity and energy in the market. They overloaded the grid and so power plants had to be shut down. Other power plant shut down for maintenance in the peak time of production causing shortfall in energy which in turn caused a leftward shift in the supply curve, forcing the gas prices to go up. This happened not just...
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...founded California Pizza Kitchen in 1985 in Beverly Hills, California. California Pizza Kitchen is a casual dining, full service restaurant concept that specializes in gourmet pizzas with unique topping combinations. At the end of the second quarter of 2007 they operated 213 locations in 28 states and in 6 foreign countries. The company derives its revenue from three sources: sales at company-owned restaurants, royalties from franchised restaurant, and royalties from a partnership with Kraft Foods to sell California Pizza Kitchen branded frozen pizzas in grocery stores. Although the restaurant industry was going through some difficulties California Pizza Kitchen was really successful, and the quarterly profit was over $6 million, quite a record for the firm. Management believed that its success was due to its dedication to guest satisfaction and menu innovation and sustainable culture of service. A creative menu with high-quality ingredients was a top priority at California Pizza Kitchen. In addition to creating its inventive menu, California Pizza Kitchen had an average check of $13.3, which was below the one of many of its upscale dining casual peers. Also California Pizza Kitchen spent 1% of its sales on advertising, far less than the 3% or 4% spent by the competitors (for instance Olive Garden or Chilli’s Red Lobster) management felt that its attention to the clients and the innovative menus resulted in free but more valuable word of mouth marketing. California Pizza...
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...Shell is an Anglo–Dutch multinational oil and gas company incorporated in the United Kingdom and headquartered in the Netherlands. Created by the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum and UK-based Shell Transport & Trading in 1907. By 2011, they became the second largest company in relation to revenue, growth and profitability in the oil and gas sector (Bruijn et al, 2002). The company operates in all areas of oil and gas industry, these areas include exploration of oil and gas, supplies and distribution, marketing, production, refinery, petrochemical development and power generation (McIntosh, 2001). The company is also concerned about environmental conservation, and it has invested heavily on the production, and distribution of renewable energy (Carroll, 1999). It supports initiatives of developing and distribution bio-fuel energy, wind and solar power, and hydrogen energy. The oil boom of the early 1920s, particularly at Shell’s Signal Hill, California site, provided the company with an opportunity to penetrate the Los Angeles area with sales of Shell gasoline and petroleum products manufactured in its new refineries nearby. In 1922, Shell Company of California and Roxana Petroleum merged with Union Oil Company of Delaware to form a holding company called Shell Union Oil Corporation. Approximately 65 percent of the holding company’s shares was held by Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Upon developing the ability to synthesize 100-octane gasoline, Shell began supplying this fuel to the U...
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...Oil and Gas Prices Darlene Dant COM 150 In August 2006 the American national average for a gallon of gas was $3.09. Gas prices hit an all time high in July 2008 with a national average of $4.12 per gallon. By December 2008 the national average for a gallon of gas was a mere $1.61 (GasBuddy, 2009). Due to the affect that supply and demand has in combination with state and federal taxes, America has seen significant fluctuations in gas prices. As people say, “What goes up must come down” and, in the oil and gas industry the opposite is also true, “What goes down must come up”. Fuel costs are affected by the world’s oil supply. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) consists of 12 members from various countries, who are the main suppliers of the world’s oil (OPEC, 2009). According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA [2009]), America gets the majority of its oil from five countries: Canada, Venezuela, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. There are different grades, or qualities, of crude oil. Two of the most popular grades are: light-sweet crude oil (better grade) and heavy-sour crude oil (lesser grade). Depending on where the oil is coming from, it may be of a better, or lesser, grade compared to that of another country. The most desirable crude oil is light-sweet crude oil. While easily obtained in the past, light-sweet crude oil is becoming less available, causing an increase in price (Wagner, 2008). While light-sweet crude oil may have...
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...Dear sir/madam, I am submitting for your consideration this thorough analysis to support your plan to use FRACKING technology in a number of oil and gas wells on a private land in Adams County, Colorado. Your approval is required so that we can move to the next step of the project’s lifecycle. PRELIMINARY ACTIONS Seismic investigation is the first step that should be taken prior to a formal analysis of business opportunities. It is vital to ensure that expected revenue will justify cost of operation and result in reasonable profits expected by our customers. Communications Plan is in the pipeline to assure stakeholders that the fracking activity will not connect to the aquifer, since the oil and gas deposits are separated from any useable aquifers by nearly 5,000’ of impermeable shale, and that the cement wall to be used is solidly sealed. There are two resources that will be produced once project reaches its operational phase - OIL and NATURAL GAS. OIL PRODUCTION To minimize transportation costs it would be appropriate to use refining capacity in other US states where production presently exists. The refineries are configured to deal with specific types of crude. Therefore, it is important to examine compatibility of the oil to be produced from this project with target refineries. For example, Commerce City Refinery located in Commerce City, Colorado is going to be our primary target due to low transportation costs of oil to the refinery, as Colorado State is a promising market...
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