Exercise 1: Everyone’s Gasoline Problem.

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Business Economics GM545 November 2012 Exercise 1: Everyone’s Gasoline Problem. Gas prices are set by many factors, including supply and demand of crude oil, taxes, and demand of the finished product of gasoline. The Oil Producing Exporting Countries (OPEC) is where the price is first determined. The objective of OPEC is to make sure the price of crude oil remains stable so that all oil-producing companies can be profitable while maintaining a steady supply to other countries ("OPEC.com"). Since OPEC sets the price for crude oil, there is already a base price set for the end product of gasoline that is assigned the day the oil barrel was purchased. OPEC takes into consideration of production technology and resource costs and prices the barrels accordingly. The oil producing countries also must take into account future expectations of crude oil so they may adjust the supply. Once converted in gasoline, the other factors that determine price come into effect. The federal government adds 18.4 cents per gallon of gas in taxes, and then each state adds their individual taxes ("GasPriceWatch.com"). I live in Kansas City, Missouri, which has a fuel tax of 17.3 cents per gallon. Since Kansas City, Missouri is a border city, I may have to fill up while on the Kansas side. The state fuel tax is higher in Kansas, approximately 25 cents per gallon. Missouri and Kansas also requires special blends of gasoline during the summer and winter months. The summer blend is usually higher than the winter blend because it “is costlier to produce because it contains less butane ("Consumer Energy Report")”. According to the chart above, the price of gas in Kansas City, Missouri peaked about the middle of September, about the time the switch from summer to winter would have begun ("KSHB"). If the price of gasoline gets too high, consumers that have very little
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