MontanaWithKids.com

By: Bob van der Valk

With all the talk about curbing oil demand oil producers should be thinking twice about investing in new capacity. Consumers should rejoice and environmentalists will lament because the immediate alternative will still be some product made from fossil fuel. (more…)

Tithing

Dateline: Terry, Montana
By: Bob van der Valk
November 18, 2009

Headline on page A1 in this morning’s New York Times reads “$500 Million and Apology From Goldman”. In the article, by Graham Bowley, he outlines the response to criticism over their planned year-end bonuses. Goldman Sachs said it was working with the billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett in a $500 million project to help 10,000 small businesses.

This charitable move by Goldman Sachs came a little more than a week after Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, was quoted as saying that they were “doing God’s work”. The $500 million represents only 3 percent of the $16.7 billion in bonuses set aside to pay its employees this year. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
October 26, 2009 10:30 AM MDT
By: Bob van der Valk

The two teams for the upcoming World Series of crude oil have been decided. The first team is made up of speculators and hedge fund advisors with the other team made up of the major and independent oil companies. The final outcome of this game between the Wall Street Titans and the Texas Oil Barons will decide the winner or loser, in this case the gasoline customer. Please read the remainder of this article on the player statistics after some local news about Montana fuel prices. (more…)

Goldman Sachs is lining its pockets buying political power

Dateline: Terry, Montana
October 22, 2009 4:00 AM MDT
By: Bob van der Valk

On October 21, 2009, in his remarks at the OTC Derivatives Regulation, Futures Industry Association Expo in Chicago, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler proposed that hedge funds, financial firms or other investment funds not be exempted from clearing requirements and all standardized OTC products should be moved onto regulated exchanges or trade execution facilities.

The CFTC also recommended changes to its oversight authority, including implementation of the “Eddie Murphy” rule, taken from the 1983 comedy movie “Trading Places”. The CFTC will extend insider trader prohibitions to include parties who receive misappropriated information from any government agency. This will be known and is referred to as the “Eddie Murphy” rule. (more…)

The Gas Guy dressed up for Halloween 2009

Dateline: Terry, Montana
October 19, 2009 2:00 PM MDT
By: Bob van der Valk

Don’t be scared when you look at the prices you are paying at the pump right now for gasoline and diesel. This winter fuel prices both gasoline and diesel will reach the same low price levels as last year.

In Montana and in the rest of the U.S., we are now already paying about 45 cents per gallon less for fuel than we did last year. Gasoline in Montana is currently averaging $2.59 with the price last year at $3.04 per gallon. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
September 20, 2009 5:30 PM MDT

You will soon be paying under $2 per gallon again for gasoline and diesel fuel In Montana and elsewhere. The crude oil price will go back down into the 40’s. So make plans for that trip to see the grandparents for the holidays as well as give the economy a much needed boost. (more…)

The van der Valk Gas Price Advisory for September 7, 2009

Dateline: Terry, Montana

We have had some dog days here in Terry, Montana this summer and the price of gasoline has been scorching upward right along with the heat. The spot market for gasoline and diesel prices dropped like a rock Monday, but Tuesday morning brought new hope and both of them are both back up. Gasoline is heading the pack but the price of crude oil is back down some more to $68.86 up 89 cents a barrel on this holiday. (more…)

The lull before the storm for gasoline prices

Dateline: Issaquah, Washington
By: Bob van der Valk
August 28, 2009 9:00 AM PDT

Right now there is a tropical depression named Terry (after my hometown in Montana) but it is slowly becoming a storm and will then turn into a full fledged hurricane. Of course, I am referring to what is happening with gasoline pump prices. The average price of gasoline over the last seven days has not changed precipitously but that is quickly changing on the oil market weather map. The AAA Fuel Gauge report shows the national average price of self-serve regular gas is $2.613 per gallon on Friday, down just over a penny from a week ago. The national average price of diesel fuel is $2.697 a gallon, up just over a penny. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
August 24, 2009
By: Bob van der Valk

The October West Texas Intermediate crude oil price went up to $74.37 a barrel at the settlement today. We have not seen the price of crude oil hit that mark since last October. This current up tick is the result of the bearish Energy Information Administration – Department of Energy (DOE) and American Petroleum Institute (API) inventory reports published earlier in the week. Both reports reflected huge unanticipated draws for all products including crude oil for the week ending August 14, 2009. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
August 10, 2009 12.30 PM MDT
By: Bob van der Valk

Gas prices are up 14 cents per gallon in the last 10 days across the country but crude oil has remained steady around $70 a barrel since the beginning of July. The American Petroleum Institute’s spokesman John Felmy would like you to reason that when the price of crude oil fluctuates up or down, it will have the same affect on the pump price for gasoline. However, that has not been the case so far in 2009. (more…)

The following email was sent to Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T, and Tim Cook, Acting CEO of Apple:

I moved to Montana from Washington in May 2009 and AT&T notified me on July 2, 2009 that they will be cancelling my service as I am in violation of my contract with them. I use my iPhone for business and travel to other parts of the country but apparently Montana is one of the states AT & T which they cannot service iPhone data economically. It was explained to me by your representatives that the cost for access to other carriers exceeds what I pay on the AT & T flat rate data program. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana
By: Bob van der Valk

The taxpayers of the US are the losers with Goldman Sachs (GS) employees the winners in this game called “Last Man Standing”. With most of their competitors being either bought out under duress or allowed to go bankrupt they have been left holding the bag. Even a leprechaun could not have been as lucky as to finding a bag so full of gold. (more…)

The price of crude oil has been hovering around $70 a barrel for the last week meanwhile gasoline pump prices in the U.S. and Canada are down by about a nickel a gallon or 1 cent per litre during that same time. The average price for a gallon of gasoline is $2.63 today per the AAA fuelguage report. Montana’s gasoline prices are averaging $2.71 barely nudging down from a week ago price. (more…)

April showers may bring May flowers but this year it also brought forth a spring time renewal for oil refiner’s profits. This was in the form of increased demand for gasoline after dismal first quarter results in 2009. But now the June swoon has come too soon and the oil companies are looking forward to those summer breezes peeking just around the corner. (more…)

After emigrating to the U.S. from Holland, at the young age of 15, I learned to speak English by watching Saturday morning cartoons and listening to Elvis Presley songs on the radio. (more…)

While the market sorted itself out yesterday, I was busy trying to keep from running out of water at the Bob’s Big Boy Ranch in Terry, Montana. At one point we not only had our artesian well down but our hard water well had shut down as well. Unexpectedly, we had to make a quick trip and run out to the Terry Super Valu grocery store to stock up on bottled water. We may well be having a similar problem happening right now in the refining and petroleum business. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana 05-26-2009 10:00 AM MST – The July WTI crude oil price is a basic no change down 21 cents to $61.46 a barrel. The spot market gasoline price is up 1 cent per gallon and diesel no change so far this morning. The average price for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.421 per gallon in the U.S. with the West Coast at $2.667 per gallon. (more…)

Terry, Montana – My wife and I recently struck up a conversation with a very nice elderly couple while shopping and waiting in line to have some fabric cut at the Jo-Ann store in Bellevue, Washington. The wait was almost 45 minutes so we had plenty of time to discuss various subjects. Our conversation quickly turned to the state or our economy after comparing how many years each of us have been married to our spouses. (more…)

It is Cinco de Mayo in the US to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride. We also commemorate this day in Holland as Bevrijdingsdag or Liberation Day. It is celebrated each year on May 5th in the Netherlands (the official name for Holland) to mark the end of the Nazi occupation during World War II. (more…)

Petroleum traders have been keeping a weary eye on the news about the swine flu spreading to other parts of the world. But by now they are used to having the least amount of bad news effect crude oil and in turn fuel prices. (more…)

This week’s DOE inventory statistics came in way over expectations for crude oil stocks rising almost 4 million barrels, twice the number predicted by industry analysts. For the time being, we’ve got plenty of crude oil on hand but will it continue to be enough for the future? (more…)

The May WTI crude oil price is up 35 cents to $50.33 a barrel at the close today. On the US West Coast the wholesale spot market price for gasoline and diesel went up 2 cents per gallon in concert with crude oil.

It’s another day – same old story in the petroleum markets. (more…)

Samuel Johnson said: “Hell is paved with good intentions.” It seems that saying applies to some unhappy independent service station owners in California today. They had made it a through a down turn in the economy and are barely surviving a recession that is still taking its toll. This dilemma may not mean much to the average Montanan but what starts in California may soon spread to the rest of the country. (more…)

Quoting George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

The amount of money being poured into commodities investments was $1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009; almost triple that of the end of 2008. That amount of money was being invested significantly when oil dipped below $50. Investors in commodities have a great influence on crude oil prices as the lessons from the past years have taught us. (more…)

The van der Valk Gas and Diesel Price Advisory for 4-6-09 — The average prices on the West Coast went over $2.30 per gallon for gasoline and $2.45 per gallon for diesel. These prices reflect the latest increases in the wholesale spot market prices for both of those products since the first of the year. This morning the spot market pipeline prices actually did come down 2 cents per gallon for gasoline and diesel but that may not last given the current geo-political conditions in the world. (more…)

On April 3, 2009 the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price dropped to $52.51 a barrel, down 13cts from the day before but almost the same price as the week before. Investors were driven to the commodities market this week by the weakening of the US dollar. (more…)

THE VAN DER VALK GAS PRICE ADVISORY FOR 3-27-09 – West Texas Intermediate crude oil price settled at $54.37 a barrel yesterday, up from below $32 just after New Year’s Day this year. Wholesale and retail diesel prices have increased 2.5 cents per gallon almost in lockstep for each one dollar increase in the price for a barrel of oil. There are 42 gallons in a barrel of crude oil. (more…)

THE VAN DER VALK GAS PRICE ADVISORY FOR 3-25-09 – The quote by William Shakespeare is one of the Bard’s best and something will come of something in the petroleum industry with all that is happening in the petroleum market today. Crude oil prices were lower earlier this morning but are expected to go back up after the release of a bullish “durable goods” report. A 14-month high for February 2009 was reported by the US Department of Commerce that durable goods orders increased 3.4% to $165.6 billion in the latest month. (more…)

THE VAN DER VALK GAS PRICE ADVISORY FOR 3-23-09 – Aretha Franklin’s signature song is being revived by the banking industry and US Government to convince the skeptical American taxpayers to throw more of their good money after bad investments made by the Wall Street banks. Other bad news will follow as crude oil will follow suit and increase in response to this program, which is the government’s latest attempt to keep the financial industry afloat. Crude oil for May delivery raised towards the $53 a barrel mark this morning, the highest in almost four months. (more…)

Dateline: Terry, Montana – If Elvis was alive today he would have been on his knees looking forlorn at his adoring audience while singing one of his signature songs making you feel even bluer after all that is been happening in the world today.
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