Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

Bloomberg -- Crude oil is set for a drop to near $60 a barrel, extending a descent started in May, according to a technical analysis by independent analyst Jim Stellakis.

“Last month’s breakdown in crude oil is continuing the longer-term bearish pattern which was started by the May decline,” Stellakis said. The bear flag pattern is signaled after a break occurs below a rising trading range.

Crude oil for October delivery fell 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $73.64 a barrel at 10:07 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices for October dropped 9.4 percent in August, pushing futures below the support level. The contract lost $14.05, or 15 percent, in May.

The price target, expected over the next couple months, was derived by taking the length of the initial decline in May and projecting it lower f  (go to article)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) -- Allegedly used undocumented workers from Texas
Updated: Thursday, 02 Sep 2010, 1:55 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 02 Sep 2010, 2:03 PM EDT

By Anne Schieber
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A contractor for a subcontractor hired by Enbridge allegedly hired undocumented workers to help clean up Michigan's oil spill.

On Wednesday in Winnie, Texas, 42 undocumented workers were arrested along the Gulf of Mexico. A local television station reported the workers said they'd been hired to clean up the nearly 1 million gallons of crude that spilled when the Enbridge-owned pipeline broke.

They worked for Hallmark Industrial, believed to be based in Texas.

US Rep. Mark Schauer, who has been critical of Enbridge for not hiring more Michigan workers, wants an investigation by the Michigan Atto  (go to article)

CNN -- Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- While the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has sparked debate in America on the merits of deepwater drilling, 90 miles away Cuba's offshore plans are quietly taking shape.

The country aims to drill seven exploration wells in its share of the Gulf of Mexico by 2014, according to American oil experts who recently met with Cuba's state oil monopoly Cupet and regulatory officials.

"Cuba's a sovereign nation and they're going to drill on their shelf waters and in their economic zone," Lee Hunt, the president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, told CNN.

Spain's largest oil company, Repsol, has ordered a Chinese rig to start exploring in Cuban waters.

"They expect the arrival of the Scarabeo 9 rig sometime around the end of the first quarter next y  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- 2pm UPDATE: Louisiana Gov: A sheen has been reported, but Mariner energy reports all 7 wells are shut in permanently- something that hasn't been confirmed. They believe that storage of oil on board was burning. Mariner says the fire is nearly burned out and contained. STAY TUNED.

Breaking news this noon from the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana Coast. The best news- all workers are accounted for.

More from CNN:

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough tells CNN that 12 people from the rig are in the water immersion suits as they await rescue.

Colclough told CNN there are reports the rig is still on fire.

"We don't know what caused the rig to catch on fire," he told CNN, noting the...  (go to article)

wwltv.com -- The Coast Guard is responding to a reported rig incident south of Vermillion Bay.

A Coast Guard spokesman said that 13 people were on the rig and that 12 have been accounted for at this time.

Rescue choppers from New Orleans and Houston responded to the scene.
 (go to article)

The Globe and Mail -- Rome — The Associated Press
Published on Thursday, Sep. 02, 2010 7:45AM EDT

Last updated on Thursday, Sep. 02, 2010 9:44AM EDT
Ferrari says it is recalling 1,248 of its supercar, the 458 Italia, after reports of fires breaking out in five of the luxury vehicles in several countries.

The Italian car maker said Thursday it wants to replace an adhesive that in some circumstances can melt due to overheating and possibly ignite.

Fires in the car that sells for $253,000 (U.S.) have been reported in California, Switzerland, China and France.

Ferrari spokesman Stefano Lai says the company will be asking the owners of 1,248 cars produced before July, 2010, to bring them in to have the glue replaced with mechanical fasteners.

 (go to article)

The Windsor Star -- By Grace Macaluso September 2, 2010

Sales of Windsor-built minivans declined in August

WINDSOR, Ont. — Chrysler Canada joined Ford in announcing positive sales results Wednesday when the automaker reported demand for its vehicles rose by 12 per cent in August compared to the same period last year.Marking its ninth consecutive month of sales growth, Chrysler said it sold 16,144 units, which also surpassed the 2008 pre-economic downturn level, with growth of four per cent compared with August 2008. Sales at the retail level surged 20 per cent due to continued strong consumer demand, Chrysler said.“We are extremely pleased with our progress so far this year,” said Reid Bigland, president and CEO of Chrysler Canada. “Most of our 16 all-new or significantly refreshed ve  (go to article)

USA Today -- Ford Motor, unique among car companies, has been cautioning would-be plug-in car owners that such machines will be a major power drain when hooked up at home for recharging.

Ford remains a backer of plug-in hybrids and electrics, with plans to have five on the market in the U.S. and Europe by 2013, but doesn't want folks to forget that the electric vehicles will have a serious appetite for kilowatts when you hook up the charging cord.

Recharging a battery car or plug-in hybrid "is like running a small house," says Jim Buczkowski, Ford's global director of electrical and electronics. "It's fine if your neighbor isn't doing it, too. If you have a whole neighborhood (recharging), the transformer on the pole isn't going to take it," he says.  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- General Motors Corp. has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for permission to trademark the term “range anxiety,” a phrase company executives first started using after their experiences with the EV-1 electric car of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

It refers to a driver’s fear of using the electric car for longer trips because there is no quick way to recharge if the battery runs down.

The move, reported first by Jalopnik.com, is presumably meant to allow GM to use the term in marketing for the Chevrolet Volt, which is an electric car that has a gas-engine that can generate electricity and extend the range. GM may also use the trademark to keep other companies from using the term.  (go to article)

Daily Finance -- Just when many families have opted for "staycations" instead of traveling for the Labor Day weekend because of the lousy economy, they're finally catching a break on gasoline prices. Fuel is at its second-lowest level in five years, and some economists predict that it could drop much further in the months ahead.

The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday that the average price of gas in the country was $2.68 a gallon, the least of this summer driving season. Only last year's $2.59 a gallon was lower in the last five years, the department said.

 (go to article)

Automotive News -- Any way you look at it, August U.S. auto sales disappointed. Compared with “clunker August” a year ago, sales fell 21 percent. Compared with the month before, volume dropped 5 percent. Even seasonally-adjusted, it was the worst month since February.

U.S. sales totaled 997,574 sales in August, down from 1,050,110 in July. A year ago, driven by federal cash incentives of $3,500 to $4,500, August sales hit 1.26 million.

The seasonally adjusted annual selling rate calculated by the Automotive News Data Center was 10.8 million, the first month since January and February to fall below 11.1 million.  (go to article)

Fox News -- The first thing I noticed driving the Chevrolet Volt is that it’s a real car. GM did not kick out the kind of street-legal version of a golf cart like we have seen with previous attempts at making an electric car. The Volt is sturdy and it has horsepower. I had it up to 80 MPH on the test track and given how quiet gasoline powered cars are today, I was hard pressed to notice a difference between the Volt and my last airport rental.

Well one difference is that the Volt is decked out with the latest electronic everything. You can even download an I-phone app to remote start your car and cool it down before you climb in. But given the price, it had better come with groovy electronic doo-dads.  (go to article)

CNN Money -- Automakers are operating in terra incognita as they prepare for the biggest change in the way cars are powered in a century. As they begin to add battery-powered cars to their lineups, they will have to solve some fundamental problems about how the cars are built and sold.

For engineers, the questions include:

Should automakers be technology leaders or fast followers?
Should they develop their own batteries or leave that to specialists?
Should they focus on one technology or hedge their bets with several?  (go to article)

circleofblue.org -- Developers have presented the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees almost all of the Mojave, with 75 applications to build solar facilities in the desert

BLM is reviewing 33 other solar power plant applications in Arizona

Solar photovoltaic power, which generates energy directly from sunlight, uses virtually no water..

The U.S. wind energy industry, which generated 35,000 megawatts last year, and has been growing by more than 35 percent annually over the last five years, uses no water..

..energy generated from wave power that does not use fresh water..

..Cholla Power Plant in northeastern Arizona near Holbrook, withdraws and uses nearly 43 million gallons of water a day..

In 2009 and 2010, utilities added 25 new coal-fired plants that have a generating  (go to article)

REUTERS -- * Stocks rally globally on better-than-expected U.S. data

* Oil hits $74 a barrel as U.S. manufacturing data shines

* Government debt prices fall on signs of global growth

* China data also revives appetite for riskier assets (Updates with close of U.S. markets)

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Global stocks posted their biggest percentage gain this summer on Wednesday after U.S. and Chinese manufacturing data eased worries about the world's flagging economy and helped spur a rally in commodities.

The U.S. dollar and Japanese yen fell broadly after the release of the manufacturing data and on news that Australia's economy grew in the second quarter at its fastest pace in three years. For details see: [ID:nN01127275]

Oil rose more than 3 percent to above $74 a barrel and  (go to article)

circleofblue.org -- Farmers do without water while oil producers use what they want.

Curtis Creel is keen on saving water. He is the water resource manager for the Kern Water Agency, one of 29 agencies that hold water contracts with the California Department of Water Resources, the agency responsible for delivering water across California...

..In spite of the dwindling production from its aging oilfields, Kern County still accounts for 10 percent of the U.S.’s domestic oil production..

..producing a single barrel of Kern County crude oil (..getting it out of the ground) requires 320 gallons of water..

..refining a single barrel of oil – which yields over 40 gallons of various petroleum products – requires 1,850 gallons of water..

Tens-of-thousands of acres of farmland lie bone dry and fallow  (go to article)

Gas 2.0 -- I know we have a lot of readers from Southern California. Sure the weather is great, and the people are generally friendly, but for me it is just too crowded and congested to ever call home. Plus, for such a progressive place, there is a surprising lack of good public transportation. Then again, California has been making big strides towards electric and hybrid vehicles, whether en masse or one municipality at a time. Give credit where credit is due, I always say.

Much credit is due the Foothill Transit authority, which serves Pomona and San Gabriel. They have, at great expense, purchased two all-electric buses and charging stations from Proterra, an electric vehicle startup.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; electric vehicles make the most sense for cities. Most of these vehicle  (go to article)

CNN Monney -- By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.comSeptember 1, 2010:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The nation's top automakers reported disappointing sales Wednesday, resulting in the worst August for industrywide auto sales in 27 years.

According to sales tracker Autodata, U.S. new vehicle sales fell just short of 1 million vehicles, a drop of 21% from a year ago, which included Cash for Clunkers. That federal program created a sugar rush of sales by dangling an incentive of up to $4,500 in cash for buyers who traded in older gas guzzlers for more efficient models.

Industry sales also fell 5% from July levels. August sales typically outpace July, as deals become available on older models ahead of the fall introduction of new model year cars. August sales would equate to an annual sales pace of about 11  (go to article)

MarketWatch -- By Laura Mandaro and Nick Godt, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures posted their biggest one-day gain in nearly a month Wednesday, after U.S. and Chinese manufacturing surveys sweetened the outlook for global oil demand after petroleum's sharp tumble last month.

Crude oil for October delivery ended floor trading up $1.99, or 2.8%, to $73.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest one-day rise for the most actively traded contract since August 2, according to FactSet Research.

"Inventories were generally bearish. The fact that the market was able to rally behind it suggests there was some optimism from the economic data this morning," said Mike Fitzpatrick, a vice president in energy at MF Global.
 (go to article)

CNBC -- Published: Wednesday, 1 Sep 2010 | 12:31 PM ET - By: Stephen Schork - Editor, The Schork Report

According to the latest monthly update from the DOE, the build in commercial crude oil stocks in the U.S. was much stronger than we expected.

The numbers for June show inventories of crude oil at the highest level in over a generation. According to the preliminary weekly numbers we had expected supplies to top out over 355 MMbbls. Instead, supplies actually finished the month over 360 MMbbls, the first such occurrence since 1990. In fact, June’s figure of 362.7 MMbbls rank it the 04th highest June since 1980 and the 13th highest June since the government started tracking supply in 1920!
 (go to article)

USAToday.com -- BP spent over $93 million on advertising between April and July—more than three times the amount the company spent on advertising during the same period in 2009, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.  (go to article)

MSNBC -- ROACH DRY LAKE, Nev. — Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground.

Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle.

An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.  (go to article)

Toledo Blade --
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Auto sales in August probably were the slowest for the month in 28 years as model-year closeout deals failed to entice buyers.

Industrywide deliveries, to be released Wednesday, may have reached an annualized rate of 11.6 million vehicles last month, the average of eight analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would be the slowest since 1982, according to researcher Ward's AutoInfoBank.

The rate would be 18 percent below last year's annual rate of 14.2 million, when the government was offering "Cash for Clunkers."  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Toyota Motor Corp., General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., the world’s three largest automakers, reported bigger sales declines than analysts projected as the U.S. auto industry headed for its worst August in 28 years.

GM said deliveries fell 25 percent to 185,176 from 246,479 last August, when the U.S. government’s “cash for clunkers” incentive program boosted sales. The biggest U.S. automaker was expected to report a 19 percent decrease, including an adjustment for the number of selling days in August, the average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. On that basis, sales fell 22 percent, Detroit-based GM said in a statement.

U.S. auto sales last month probably were the slowest for August in 28 years as model-year closeout deals failed to entice consumers concerned about the  (go to article)

Yahoo! Finance -- DETROIT (AP) -- Auto sales, once a bright spot in the economic recovery, grew fainter last month.

The pain was widespread. Big car companies General Motors, Ford and Toyota all saw sales slip. Smaller automakers like Subaru suffered too, as did companies that appeal to the budget minded, such as Kia and Hyundai.

Buyers are nervous about the economy's health and stayed away from showrooms, a worrisome sign since August is typically a strong month. Total industry sales could fall below 1 million new vehicles once automakers finish reporting sales on Wednesday, making it the worst August in 27 years.

"There hasn't been enough horsepower behind the recovery to motivate consumers to regain their confidence and purchase vehicles at a higher rate," says Jeff Schuster, executive director of glo  (go to article)

CLICKONDETROIT -- SUV Was Parked In Private Lot On East Jefferson Avenue

DETROIT -- Someone swiped the tires off one of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's vehicles overnight Tuesday while it was parked outside his condo on the city's east side.

The GMC Yukon Denali was parked in a gated private lot at the Shoreline East Condominiums on East Jefferson Avenue.

The SUV was propped up on blocks until a tow truck removed it Wednesday morning.

A representative for the mayor called the SUV Bing's secondary vehicle, and that it is assigned to a district police chief but is also used by the Bing family when needed.

Detroit police are investigating.

No other vehicles had their tires stolen.  (go to article)

NY Times -- General Motors said Wednesday that its sales in the United States fell 25 percent last month from August 2009, when the government’s “cash for clunkers” program caused a surge in demand.
Other automakers are also expected to report decreases in sales on Wednesday, marking the worst August in recent memory. Analysts have projected that overall sales fell slightly from July, which renewed concerns about the strength of the recovery.
G.M.’s sales decline was exacerbated by its shutdown of Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer in the last year and its sale of Saab. Sales by G.M.’s remaining four brands fell 11 percent from a year ago, but Buick sales were up 66 percent and Cadillac sales rose 83 percent. Chevrolet was the only active brand for which sales decreased.
Compared to July, G.M.’s sales were  (go to article)

Science Codex -- The era of personalized energy systems — in which individual homes and small businesses produce their own energy for heating, cooling and powering cars — took another step toward reality today as scientists reported discovery of a powerful new catalyst, nickel borate, that would be a key element in such a system. They described the advance, which could help free homes and businesses from dependence on the electric company and the corner gasoline station, at a meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Our goal is to make each home its own power station," said study leader Daniel Nocera, Ph.D. "We're working toward development of 'personalized' energy units that can be manufactured, distributed and installed inexpensively.  (go to article)

Denver Post -- Was there ever any doubt the Governor's Energy Office would recommend that you and I pay for Xcel's SmartGridCity in Boulder, even after costs tripled from the original estimate to $44 million?

Was there any doubt, for that matter, that staff at the Public Utilities Commission would reach the same conclusion rather than suggest that maybe, just maybe, research and development should be assigned to investors, not ratepayers?

To answer these questions, you only need to know that the smart grid is a concept beloved by green energy visionaries — and that their agenda has the same effect on state officials as a ringing bell had on Pavlov's dogs. They drool on cue. They can't help themselves.  (go to article)

The Kids Science Zone -- Like most technologies, work on solar devices has proceeded in generational waves. First came bulk silicon-based solar cells built with techniques that borrowed heavily from those used to make computer chips. Next came work on thin films of materials specifically tailored to harvest the sun's energy, but still more or less borrowed from the realm of microelectronics manufacturing. Then came the third generation, described by one researcher and blogger as "the wild west," which among other objectives aims to build inexpensive next-generation solar cells by relying on decidedly low-tech wet chemistry.
 (go to article)

Yahoo -- With scientific data piling up showing that the world has reached its hottest-ever point in recorded history, global-warming skeptics are facing a high-profile defection from their ranks. Bjorn Lomborg, author of the influential tract "The Skeptical Environmentalist," has reversed course on the urgency of global warming, and is now calling for action on "a challenge humanity must confront."  (go to article)

Bankrate.com -- A huge fear for car owners is that their car will one day be stolen. But thieves don't always try to rip off entire cars. Instead, many simply prefer to steal the car parts, says Michael Calkins, manager of approved auto repair with the AAA in Heathrow, Fla.

That's because stealing a car part usually requires less skill, can be accomplished in minutes and can mean quick money from selling it, says Calkins.

"If it's easy to steal, they'll take it," he says.

Here's a look at the top car parts that thieves want, and how owners can protect their vehicles.....  (go to article)

The New York Times -- TEXAS CITY, Tex. — While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children come down with respiratory problems.

For 40 days after a piece of equipment critical to the refinery’s operation broke down, a total of 538,000 pounds of toxic chemicals, including the carcinogen benzene, poured out of the refinery.

Rather than taking the costly step of shutting down the refinery to make repairs, the engineers at the plant diverted gases to a smokestack and tried to burn them off, but hundreds of thousands of pounds still escaped into the air, according to state environmental officials.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- The Department of Energy released its weekly report on the condition of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

Crude oil inventories increased by 4.1 million barrels to a total of 361.7 million barrels. At 361.7 million barrels, inventories are 18.3 million barrels above last year (5.3%) and remain above average. Supply at NYMEX delivery point, Cushing, Oklahoma decreased some 600,000 barrels to 36.3 million barrels this week. Supplies at Cushing have decreased for the last four consecutive weeks but remain at good levels.

Gasoline inventories decreased 0.2 million barrels to 225.4 million barrels. At 225.4 million barrels, inventories are now 20.3 million barrels, or 9.9...  (go to article)

Sympatico -- Greenpeace says it has successfully halted the operations of a British-owned oil rig in a remote location about 200 kilometres off the coast of western Greenland.
-----
Four Greenpeace protesters snuck onto the Stena Don early Tuesday morning, despite the presence of a nearby Danish warship that had been following a Greenpeace ship as it made its way to the oil rig over the past 10 days.
-----
"We've got to keep the energy companies out of the Arctic and kick our addiction to oil, that's why we're going to stop this rig from drilling for as long as we can," McKenna said in a statement released by Greenpeace Tuesday.
 (go to article)

Bankrate.com -- ickups are the utility vehicles of choice at work and at home for those special projects that require hauling.

But what do you look for when buying one? What kind of performance can you expect? How far can you go on a tank of gas? And, most importantly, can you afford the sticker price on a pickup?

Bankrate breaks down the options in this class of car, based on these critical questions, and chooses the best three models in each criteria. It's up to you to select the pickup that's best for you...  (go to article)

AutoGuide.com --

In a bid to improve fuel economy without sacrificing performance Volvo will bdegin fitting two new gasoline turbocharged direct-injection (GTDi) engines in two of its cars later this year. Both a turbocharged 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder will be offered for the new S60 and V60 wagon.
The 1.6-liter GTDi T3 makes 148-hp with as much as 177 ft-lbs of torque. As for the T4 powerplant, it will produce 177-hp and 177 ft-lbs, with an overboost function that delivers up to 199 ft-lbs of torque. Both engines will be made entirely from aluminum to minimize weight.

Volvo expects the new engines to cut fuel consumption and emissions by as much as 20 percent.

The new engines will be fitted exclusively to the S60 and V60 models at first and there’s no word on if Volvo plans to offer either in No  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Toyota Motor Corp. led the biggest jump in Japan auto sales in 38 years and China’s purchases surged, signaling Asian consumers are emerging from the global recession in better shape than those in Europe and the U.S.

Japan’s sales of cars, trucks and buses rose 47 percent to 290,789 in August from a year earlier, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said. Retail deliveries of passenger cars, multipurpose and sport-utility vehicles in China jumped 59 percent to 977,300, the China Automotive Technology & Research Center said.

Japanese consumers rushed to take advantage of government subsidies expiring this month, while dealer discounts in China lured buyers in the world’s largest auto market. South Korean auto sales rose 21 percent, and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the biggest carma  (go to article)

The Detroit Free Press -- Lawmakers: Pressure on residents a big concern

BY TODD SPANGLER FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

The nation's top law enforcement official is being asked to look into whether Enbridge Energy Partners pressured Michigan residents to give up legal rights to sue in exchange for hotel rooms, air purifiers and other expenses in the wake of July's oil spill along a tributary of the Kalamazoo River.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the chairman of a key House committee also said it appears Enbridge urged residents seeking information about health effects to sign a form giving the company access to a person's complete medical record.

The company did not respond to the claims raised by U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee,  (go to article)

Houston Chronicle -- The offshore oil and gas industry is better equipped to deal with deep-water accidents because of lessons that BP learned battling its massive oil spill, the British oil giant says in a report due on federal regulators' desks today.

The company was expected Tuesday night to submit to the Interior Department a self-evaluation of BP's response to the disastrous Macondo oil spill, and to make recommendations for handling future spills in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico.

Though not made public Tuesday, the report hews closely to a presentation made in early August by BP executives at a federal forum on offshore drilling, a person familiar with the report said.

In that presentation, BP highlighted a number of "lessons learned" in battling the worst oil spill in U.S. history but  (go to article)

AP -- ROACH DRY LAKE, Nev. – Not a light bulb's worth of solar electricity has been produced on the millions of acres of public desert set aside for it. Not one project to build glimmering solar farms has even broken ground.

Instead, five years after federal land managers opened up stretches of the Southwest to developers, vast tracts still sit idle.

An Associated Press examination of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records and interviews with agency officials shows that the BLM operated a first-come, first-served leasing system that quickly overwhelmed its small staff and enabled companies, regardless of solar industry experience, to squat on land without any real plans to develop it.

At a time when the nation drills ever deeper for oil off its shores even as it tries to diversify its e  (go to article)

Palm Beach Post -- Gas prices are continuing to drop slightly, despite the upcoming Labor Day weekend, a holiday that's traditionally synonymous with an upward blip.

This year is different. So far, there is no Labor Day uptick. Give consumers much of the credit. People are cutting back their spending, as part of the new frugality, by choice or by necessity.

"When we had that $4-a-gallon fiasco, people changed their driving habits, and they have still maintained those changed driving habits," said Jim Smith, president and CEO of the Florida Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association in Tallahassee.

"It's just simple supply and demand. The consumer gets credit for it," Smith said.

Tuesday, Florida's average for regular gasoline stood at $2.62, six cents lower than a month ago,  (go to article)

USA Today -- Safety advocates are urging Congress and regulators to force carmakers to install warning systems that would prevent distracted parents from leaving children in cars, preventing heatstroke deaths.

At least 41 children have died already this year in hot cars, more than any previous year at this point. August was the deadliest month on record, according to the advocacy group Kids and Cars.

Although much of the U.S. had record temperatures from May to July, meteorologist Jan Null says the temperature in a closed car can rise 19 degrees in 10 minutes and 43 degrees in an hour, so even cooler days present risks.  (go to article)

The Boston Globe -- A new window sticker proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency that would assign new cars a letter grade based on their emissions has the support of some local car buyers, but some auto dealers are worried the labels might hurt sales.

The fuel economy stickers, which have been required to be displayed on all new cars since 1977 and were only redesigned once, in 2007, would show a large letter grade from A+ to D based on the car’s carbon dioxide emissions and combined fuel economy. It’s similar to the rating system in the United Kingdom, where cars are taxed on their carbon dioxide emissions.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- For the first time since December, ethanol prices are higher than gasoline as corn surges and refiners profit from tax breaks.

The alternative fuel jumped 21 percent since the U.S. driving season began in May, rising above gas, which has fallen 6.5 percent in the same period. Ethanol as a gasoline component rose 7.6 percent since early June to a record 810,000 barrels a day in the week ended Aug. 20, Energy Department data show.

“No one really felt the need to buy a lot and all of a sudden prices took off,” said Jim Damask, a manager at Biofuelsconnect, a Heathrow, Florida-based alternative energy broker. “People need to buy on the way up now.”  (go to article)

AP -- BEIJING – Auto sales in China, the world's biggest car market, rebounded in August as subsidies for energy-efficient vehicles and a stronger currency spurred demand.

Sales rose 55.7 percent over a year earlier to 1.21 million vehicles, up from 1 million vehicles the month before, the Cabinet's China Automotive Technology and Research Center said Wednesday.

The increase compared with 17 percent year-on-year growth in July and 19.4 percent in June.

Sales of energy saving vehicles rose 32 percent to 129,600, the center said in a report posted on its website.

Demand was also relatively strong for imported vehicles, as Japanese and European automakers increasingly focus on serving the market for smaller, affordable cars, said the center's chairman, Zhao Hang, without giving specific  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel Wednesday after a steep drop the previous day amid evidence that U.S. crude supplies remain high and demand weak.

By midday in Europe, benchmark crude for October delivery was up 66 cents to $72.58 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $2.78 to settle at $71.92 on Tuesday.

Crude inventories jumped 4.7 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had forecast an increase of 1.9 million barrels. Inventories of gasoline and distillates fell, the API said.

---

"The fundamentals are dreadful to the point of being historically among the worst supply and demand factors ever seen," Cameron Hanover said.  (go to article)

Forbes.com -- The carmaker is determined to find an aroma to implant in all its cars and trucks. Why?

Like every marketer Ford Motor spends a lot of time making sure its lineup of cars and trucks evokes the brand--in design, handling and advertising. Now the company is on a mission to identify that certain scent that will become part of Ford's brand around the world. The company wants every car it makes to look, feel and even smell like a Ford.

This is not a job for just anyone. Ford employs five engineers with exceptionally sensitive noses.  (go to article)

The Wall Street Journal -- NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures tumbled Tuesday, settling below $72 a barrel as investors turned their attention toward increasingly high U.S. oil supplies and the slowing economy.

Light, sweet crude oil for October delivery settled $2.78, or 3.7%, lower, at $71.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange traded down $1.99, or 2.6%, at $74.61 a barrel.

Traders are beginning to doubt that oil demand will stage a substantial recovery during the second half of the year, after first-half consumption came in lower than expected. The value of oil to be delivered during the remainder of 2010 is starting to fall faster than oil available farther in the future, indicating a growing belief that short-term demand will remain weak. November crude  (go to article)

The Register -- Swiss boffins have mounted an investigation into the largely unknown environmental burdens of electric cars using lithium-ion batteries, and say that the manufacturing and disposal of batteries presents no insurmountable barriers to electric motoring. However, their analysis reveals that modern diesel cars are actually better for the environment than battery ones.  (go to article)

NY Times -- The United Services Automobile Association, the financial services company that caters to the military, is arming customers with a new secret weapon when they shop for their next car.

That weapon is a car-buying service for USAA members that offers detailed price information and even shops around for the car. USAA says customers will average about a $4,500 in savings from the sticker price on new vehicles. The service, which is also available as an iPhone app, guarantees that the price will be the lowest and offers to pay the difference if a buyer finds the car at a lower price within three days of purchase.  (go to article)