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Why does the price of Synthetic oil go up when crude oil goes up?

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  #1  
Old 08-05-2006, 01:55 PM
TonyK's Avatar
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Default Why does the price of Synthetic oil go up when crude oil goes up?

Makes me wonder why....
 
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Old 08-05-2006, 02:28 PM
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Default Re: Why does the price of Synthetic oil go up when crude oil goes up?

Personally, I have not seen synthetic oil prices fluctuate based on the cost of oil, but maybe it does. What have you seen?
 
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Old 08-05-2006, 02:38 PM
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Default Re: Why does the price of Synthetic oil go up when crude oil goes up?

A good synthetic oil is made from a base, usually polyalphaolefin. The base is produced chemically from ethylene which is the olefiant or oil-producing gas. It is in turn produced by cracking crude oil. So crude goes up ... synthetic oil goes up. No mystery.

JeffD
 
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Old 08-05-2006, 03:25 PM
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Default Mobil 1 5 qts $17.99 to $22.99

Sure it has gone up.You could buy the 5 qt jugs of Mobil 1 for about $17.99 at Walmart before Katrina(gasoline was about $2/gal).Now 5 qts is about $23.
Single qts were $3.99 before, now they are about $5.
Jdenenberg is right of course-the base stock is a petro based product.Of course, there isn't any reason you couldn't start with plant based carbon chains(oils,sugars, ethanol whatever), but then it would be even more expensive.This probably will happen in the future as we distance ourselves from M E energy sources(and non renewable sources).Thanks.Charlie
 
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