BOB VAN DER VALK
"The Gas Guy"
SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS
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| DATELINE: Feb. 2009 - "The Gas Guy" & 2 Assistants host 4Refuel booth at Western Petroleum Marketers Association Trade Show in Las Vegas. They stirred up lots of interest in the firm's West Coast expansion of its FUEL MANAGEMENT ONLINE services. |
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Bob is a consultant and Fuel-pricing Analyst with 4Refuel Inc. with offices in Lynnwood, Washington. 4Refuel started out in the U.S. with fuel delivery operations by serving the Greater Seattle area. The Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon area have been targeted for expansion of the 4Refuel Total Fuel Management Online (FMO) delivery and billing system on the West Coast.
4Refuel-Canada is Canada's largest fuel management organization specializing in onsite diesel fuel delivery, fuel logistics, automated fleet management and biodiesel solutions. They are also in the middle of expanding their Fuel Management Online program to Asia as well as Europe.
Bloomberg.com jumped the gun interviewing "The Gas Guy" on 01.29.09 to get his take on why California refinery gasoline output is trailing 2004 levels as prices climb. See this interview published worldwide at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQPgbA_PHLIo .
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Wilmington refinery fire drives up gas pricesLos Angeles Times - CA,USA
"The national average will be around $1.75, and even California gasoline will be under $2 a gallon," said Van der Valk, who tracks fuel prices for 4Refuel, ...
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Bob van der Valk...call or email me at:
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"The Gas Guy"
!!! VAN DER VALK PRICE ADVISORY ALERTS !!!
Sizzling New Feature Added 10.28.08
by
Bob van der Valk
The Gas Guy
For the latest Gas Guy PRICE ADVISORY, just click on the dated link below.
Bob van der Valk has been around fuels a long, long time. He's seen all kinds of them formulated, manufactured, transported, stored, priced, marketed, sold and consumed. Having accumulated a vast store of knowledge on this subject, he's gotten good at providing easy to understand explanations of things thought mysterious by the public at large and even predicting fuel-related trends and events relied upon by folks making their day to day living in the retail fueling business. So it's just sort of natural for a fellow like Bob (with a last name like his) to acquire a handle as "The Gas Guy" .
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The Gas Guy Comments on Oil Company Gas Station Boycott Schemes Designed to Reduce Retail Gas Prices
04.01.08
Bob van der Valk…The Gas Guy
Many of you have seen (or heard about) “Oil Company Gas Station Boycott Schemes” like the one set forth below. While certainly well intentioned in the pursuit of lower retail gas prices, to date those I have seen exhibit a serious shortage of oil industry knowledge and petro-related street savvy.
Typical Scheme
“THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' GAS FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET GAS BACK DOWN TO $1.30 PER GALLON.
This was sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. If you are tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise this summer, take time to read this please. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.
This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the 'don't buy gas on a certain day' campaign that was going around last April or May! It's worth your consideration. Join the resistance!!!!
I hear we are going to hit close to $ 4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down?
We need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy gas.
It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can Really work. Please read on and join with us!
By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $2.00 is super cheap. ; Me too! It is currently $2.98 for regular unleaded in my town.
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to thin k that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace...not sellers.
With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action.
The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves.
How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas.
But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.
Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL.
If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do!
Now, don't wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) .. and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers.
If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all!
How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the n ext 8 days!!!
I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you !
Acting together we can make a difference.
If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $2.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK.”
The Gas Guy’s comments continue…
I have recently received emails, including the one above, from some of my friends that basically asked the same questions about boycotting and what else we can do to lower gasoline prices. Below is my response to those emails:
Every oil company imports crude oil from the Middle East in some measure or form so we are thereby directly contributing to those nations who support terrorists. For instance Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter of crude oil to the U.S., had 15 of the 19 hijackers listed as their citizens carried out their 9/11 attacks on our soil. We currently only import 11% of our crude oil from the Middle East. The largest amount of our imported crude oil comes from Canada.
A boycott of a couple of brands of gasoline won't result in lower overall prices. Prices at the non-boycotted stations would subsequently rise, due to temporarily limited available supply from the refineries supplying them, with the increased demand. The boycotted brand could make a killing by selling their supply in the spot market to the brands with demand exceeding their production capacity. The only ones hurt by this whole process are the station owners and in turn the gasoline consumers.
The only practical way of reducing gasoline prices is through the straightforward means of buying less gasoline. However, the inconvenience of driving less is a hardship we are not yet ready to endure.
To summarize the above, the only way to lower gas prices is to conserve, conserve, conserve!
The temperature correction argument has some validity to it and is currently being addressed by several federal and state regulatory agencies. The outcome is still unsure but it looks like California will be the first state to enact a law requiring stations to convert their dispensers to temperature correct fuel to 60 degrees.
That works great in California since their ambient temperature is typically over 60 degrees and the volume charged will
therefore be less and in turn will reduce the amount shown on the meter. However, in areas of the country like Washington, the opposite will occur and the amount on the pump meter will be more then you will receive in your fuel tank. Gasoline and diesel will eventually expand and make up for that loss. But why are we bothering with something so infinitesimal that will only manage to make the pump manufacturers more money?
The road to energy independence in the U.S.A.will be one with lots of hard choices to be made especially on the political scene. We will need to make decisions to use every available resource to obtain additional reserves of crude oil in order to make that happen.
Fossil fuels will continue to be the major source of energy for the foreseeable future as all the alternate products being talked about will only amount to about 2% of our total needs by the year 2020. Crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico looks to be the most promising with flow of product to refineries scheduled to be on line within 5 years. The coal to synthetic crude oil liquefaction currently undergoing testing will replace about 50% of the U.S. Air Force jet fuel requirements. This will also assist in reducing supply pressures on the distillate producing end of our refineries. The carbon dioxide problem connected to this process will be resolved by the scientists involved in developing this alternative product.
A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge (ANWAR) to oil drilling. This has been a political hot potato dividing Alaska natives and stoking opposition from environmentalists seeking to protect the bears, moose and birds that live there. This has become the typical "Not in my back yard" approach to solving the problem. We need to overcome those objections and meet somewhere in the middle as we did back in the early 70's when we opened up the North Slope of Alaska to oil drilling.
Bob van der Valk
tridemoil@aol.com
Web Address: http://www.4vqp.com/ourconsultants/thegasguy.html
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Bob van der Valk with Candice Lively of Tennessee, who is one of the featured singers and dancers in the play being dedicated to Teddy Roosevelt.
The play is presented nightly throughout the summer at the Burning Hills Amphitheater in Medora, North Dakota.
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| Candice Lively & "The Gas Man" |
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| Bob took time to console the USC Cheerleaders after their bitter loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl on December 2nd. The good news is that they will see him again at the Rose Bowl game on January 1st! |
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| Bob with the UCLA cheerleaders savoring their upset victory over USC at the football game played in the Rose Bowl on December 2, 2006. |
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| The 2007 Rose Parade. George Lucas is relishing his grand marshal status on the day before the Rose Parade. He gets to ride in a rare 1911 Pope-Hartford Model Y car and flip the coin before the Rose Bowl match up between Michigan and the University of Southern California, his alma mater. Next to the car is Bob van der Valk, who will be his security escort in the Rose Parade. He is giving George Lucas last minute instructions about waving to the crowds and riding in the beautifully flower decorated automobile donated for use in the parade by the Nethercutt collection of vintage automobiles. |
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| BOB AS SECURITY SUPERVISOR OF THE RED CARPET AT THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS SHOW HELD AT THE SCHRINE AUDITORIUM ON JANUARY 28, 2007 |
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"The Gas Guy" appears in segments of live and pre-recorded interviews aired by radio and TV stations; is quoted again and again by media, government employees, academics and industry participants in articles written, research studies published and so forth. For a sampling of articles published in which these quotes appear, go to our NEW STUFF page where an entire section is devoted to this subject since the price at the pump is a very newsworthy "hot topic" nearly all the time these days.
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| "The Gas Guy" w/ Ray Gonzales |
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| Recent "Gas Guy" Radio & TV Appearances:
Sunday, 11.28.04 ~ KTLA Channel 5 ~ Pacesetters Show w/ Ray Gonzales.
For details, click here on TV Appearance .
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| "The Gas Guy" as "Mr. Security" for |
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| Recent "Gas Guy" LIVE Appearances:
Saturday, 01.01.05 ~ Rose Parade Grand Marshal Security Service ~ "The Gas Guy was the security escort for Mickey Mouse, who was the Grand Marshal in the Rose Parade on New Year's day. Luckily for them the rains let up just in time to keep spectators and participants dry, smiling and amazed as ever at the over 100 floral floats, marching bands and equestrian units comprising this year's granddaddy of all parades."
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| "Mickey Mouse" |
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~~~~~~~~~~~ More about Bob van der Valk ~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Gas Guy"
Contact Bob not only for his gasoline price predictions but also for his trend analyses, fuels industry knowledge, DTW / zone pricing issues, commercial fueling network, wholesale and retail branded & unbranded matters, refined products margin questions, plus retail fuels issues. To find out more about him , click here on Bob's biosketch .
"The Gas Guy" is a 50 year veteran of the wholesale & retail gasoline and lubricants industry within the Los Angeles Basin...which is generally acknowledged to be the largest and most competitive gasoline marketplace in the world.
To reach Bob van der Valk, call or email him at:
Bob's Family Remembrance of WW II - Part 1
Bob's Family Remembrance of WW II - Part 2
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