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I have carefully followed the gradual price reduction of the oil barrel price in the last few months.
The OB price this morning was posted @ $57.81 per.
The gasoline price in the US being $2.61 per gal was seen as a welcomed relief from a reduction of $1.10 just lately.
On the other hand Costco posted a $.98.9/liter equating to a $4.45 per gallon price here..North of the border.
I am positive that most of us will be relieved to see our boating fuel costs becoming more affordable.
And also that these lower gas prices will consequently infuse a boost to the motor/Outboard manufacturing industry.
Ideally this trend will bring back a boating lifestyle that has seen too many boats sitting in storage and parkades due to high operating costs.
Will these fuel cost influence your choice of summer leisure time or is it already too late..as in the boat being gone due to high maintenance costs?

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I am fortunate to enjoy a very economical rig. The cost of fuel will not influence my boating. I boat on a lake in NH and also am fortunate to have my whaler in the ocean all summer on the maine coast. Its wonderful to see the cost of fuel where it is..i paid 2.57 yesterday, however, this is not the season i use alot of fuel..coincidence ? It will be interesting to see how long the price of fuel is lowered. Do you think it is because the economy is poor ? In my opinion, things surely havnt rebounded the way they have in the past economic cycles.
Thanks for your interesting post and happy holidays

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Bob,
I will guess that you own a Whaler fifteen Sport with a smaller outboard.
This model should be a lot of fun to quickly launch and sail wherever the need.
The demand for oil has slowed and the suppliers have a glut or surplus at this time leading to a reduction in price for the crude.
It will be seen as giving us a solid clue when we see that the price at the pump is still high.
Goes on to say that the tax that the government collect as a willing partner in crime "MUST" meet a certain quota...
And this due to certain loans and obligations that are not necessarily related to the subject discussed here.
Will we see this trend to be lasting?
I would like to see this simple equation to become a reality.
If the barrel of crude is at; let us say $60/BR
I would think it adequate to see the gallon at the pump to be @$.60.
A 50 gal drum would then show a groce profit of 600% collected from the buyers at the pump.
I think that the US economy could use a boost in reducing commodity prices in order to stimulate public interests.
The Bank of Canada lending rate is at 1% these days and real estate prices have fallen somewhat but still enjoy some movements in building and transfers.
A new outboard as in a 150 will still be offered for roughly $15 Ks and will be seen as a bit steep for some.
Wonder will be invested in the hope to see these prices also becoming more "user friendly" and this for a bottom line of larger profits.;)

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The price has dropped because OPEC and Saudi Arabia in particular, has decided not to cut back production to protect oil prices. In the past couple of years, the U.S. has quietly become the worlds largest oil producer and we no longer have to rely on Middle East oil, because of our huge shale production. However our costs to operate the wells from shale are very high, around $55 a barrel, while Saudi is profitable around $10 a barrel. Many of the U.S. producers can't operate very long at a loss. As a result those wells will be capped and lost. After Saudi takes out a big chunk of our production, and they re-establish their market share once again, only then will they turn the screws to cut production and drive prices up. Only next time look for prices to be even higher than the last cycle.

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Exactly what they did in the early 80s. Dropped barrel price below production price of oil shale in US and other places.

Should be handled with inport taxes and restrictions on saudi relations.
Hussan will not even think of any proper actions against his relatives. Neither is anyone in DC smart enough to properly handle this.

Seems like a perfect time and opportunity to get out of the middle east oil patch.
Let them eat it for awhile.

This is another overt action against the US. (Us).

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Your facts are correct guys...
And I am forever thinking of ways to bring back the "Golden Days" of recreational motoring et al.
With the mega resources of tar sands AND untapped as yet of mega deposits of natural gas in our west coasts and to ad of the Texan Oklahoma,Us oil capacities..Who needs to buy oil from..elsewhere?
There is light in the fact that to sell fuel at a reasonable price will promote a lot of associated businesses as in vehicles/boats/motors.
Does it make sense to sell more at a lesser index than to sell much less at a higher price? And this regarding the fact that technology has been slowly moving toward powers that consume much less in re to operating costs?
After all I still love my Mercury 150 "Smoker" Salt Water Edition..And will be doing more boating due to much more reasonable fuel prices.