Letters to the Editor
Reader gives us some facts and figures on fuel costs
We have heard a lot about the increase in gas and diesel prices at the pump, and the mention of jet fuel increases, but I have seen nothing on the total cost to consumers and businesses. The arithmetic seems simple, so here goes.
I asked Yahoo AI to show average volumes of fuel consumed in the U.S., per day. It came up with the following: gasoline, 374 million gallons per day (MGD); diesel, 189 million MGD; and jet fuel, 63 million MGD.
I have multiplied each of these as follows - $1 for gas, $2 for diesel, and $2 for jet fuel, which gives an estimate of the additional cost to the consumer, maybe on the low side. You know what the current cost of gas and diesel are. I then totaled these to come up with $878 million PER DAY.
I have not included winter heating oil in these calculations because of the large seasonal variation in consumption, making average daily rates a bit meaningless. Annually, heating oil is about 18% of total consumption. So if averaged, would be about twice the jet fuel consumption. I also did a quick check on AI’s fuel volumes by taking the average daily crude oil use in the U.S., 20.6 million barrels, multiplying by 42 (gallons per barrel) and taking 75% of that for refined fuel. It comes to about 650 MGD, compared to AI’s 626. So, reasonable values.
Can we give a perspective to this? One way of looking at it is that consumers are paying for one of Trump’s ballrooms per day. Of course, most of the extra we are paying ends up in the oil companies’, wholesalers’ and retailers’ coffers. Check those second-quarter financial reports!
Another way and one which I think gives a better perspective, is to calculate the extra amount the average registered owner is paying. There are about 280 million registered vehicles in the U.S. Only about 100 million are passenger cars. Most of the remainder are SUVs, vans and pickup trucks. Dividing the gas and diesel increased cost, $752 million, by 280 million and we get $2.70 a day for each registered vehicle, or about $18 a week. These are averages, and individual cost increases will vary.
Now to the effect of this. For most people, I think, this is not a financial burden. However, for some and I believe these to be a significant fraction of the population, it is. Even to the extent that some people may have to decide between food and medicine. And we are beginning to see inflation in other items, e.g. air fares. There will be more.
George Tucker
