CVX

I don't know what gas prices are like where you live, but here in Alameda, the cost of unleaded has shot up from 2.82 to 2.96 in the last two days. Is it the effect of Katrina? Is it our lack of refining capacity? Is it demand driven by massive manufacturing in China? Who knows.

I just can't keep watching prices go up and do nothing about it, so today I held my nose a picked up a few hundred shares of Chevron, that's CVX for you home gamers. For me, Chevron is always the gas station of last resort. Their prices are almost always higher than the station across the street or around the corner. But to hedge against paying higher prices, I'm going to get me a piece of that sick petroleum action, as much as it kills me. And if gas prices come down and CVs along with it, I won't have a problem with that, but I doubt it will happen. The big petroplayers like Chevron are always quicker the fleece they public by raising prices at the pump than they are to drop prices when the a barrel of crude drops. But with the price of a barrel hovering around 70, there's a lot of padding in the system. If commodity prices continue to rise, Chevron will just pass on the costs to consumers like you me. If oil drops, that's where Chevron and Shell and Texaco and Exxon cash in because they never, ever react to lower prices of unleaded with the same knee-jerk gauging reaction.

In the meantime I'm looking into buying a hybrid next year when the fat tax credit that might have been the only good part of the "conservative" Energy Bill comes into play.