Last week, I filled my tank at $3.99/gallon (I use premium). Over the weekend, I saw the price was up to $4.05, and today I went and filled up at $4.11. I went in and asked when they last got a gas delivery, and they said on Saturday they got more premium. So, the gas I purchased today at $4.11 was delivered Saturday when the cost was $4.05. And, I'm assuming the refining process takes at least a few weeks to go from oil to gas. So, the gas being delivered had to of been made of oil purchased at prices from at least 3-4 weeks ago.

So, I'm not exactly sure a) why the gas I'm paying for doesn't reflect the price of oil it was made from, and b) how the price of gas in the ground went up. I simply don't get it. Honestly, for all I know, the oil used to make the gas I filled up with today cost $80/barrel. But, the price is up because of the market instead of the actual material.

I'm happy that some politicians want to stop putting oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (which I heard was about 98% full as it is). This would allow about 70,000 barrel barrels of oil a day be put on the market, instead of the gov't buying it and storing it. Some people oppose this, saying the pennies we'd get off a gallon of gas don't matter much. You also have Obama, who doesn't like the tax holiday idea, for the same reason. And, here in NY they want to do a tax holiday for state taxes, and of course some people oppose that.

The way I see it, is if not putting oil in the SPR saved $.05/gallon (a figure I heard on the news, not sure what it would really be), the Federal tax holiday saved $.30 and the state one saved $.18 then that's $.53 per gallon. That's a lot. If you had to fill up, say 10 gallons a week that'd save you $5.30 a week. And, that's a conservative 10 gallons a week. Being summer, people would drive more anyways, so the savings would be greater. If you're a family of two drivers we're up to $10.60 a week. If you also have a kid who drives, then it's $15.90/week. Plus, the psychological effect of saving any money is probably greater than the actual money. In any case, any saving is good savings.

I'm just simply baffled.

UPDATE: I happened to drive by the gas station just a few moments ago, the price is now $4.13. So, even yet another $.02 for gas put in the ground 5 days ago.