That’s what they call “ROI”

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

SELMA, Ind. -- An eastern Indiana man is capitalizing on high crude oil prices with a backyard oil well that produces three barrels of crude a day.
Greg Losh said the oil his well produces comes from the Trenton oil field that fueled the growth of east-central Indiana cities more than a century ago.
He said it costs about $100,000 to drill an oil well, but that at today's oil prices, it's worth it. [WLKY]

Oil is at an all time high right now -- $129 a barrel today.
So, Mr. Losh made $387 dollars today. At this rate, it'll only take him 775 days to pay off that well. I guess that's not really the worst investment, but... 3 barrels?

Meanwhile, I'm trying an experiment this week.
I usually use the cheap gas -- 87 octane. I've always been one of those people who believed that it didn't really make any difference if you used the cheap stuff, and for the most part it doesn't. Nevertheless, this week I filled up (well, half-filled -- the tank was only half empty) with premium, 91 octane.
Surprise, surprise: my Audi TT liked it better. Now, I didn't really see any difference in the car's performance, but I immediately noticed an increase in my mileage. On 87 octane, I averaged 24 miles per gallon; on 91? 28mpg. Last weekend when I bought the gas, it was $4.06 for regular and $4.29 for premium. (Remember the days when gas prices went up so rarely that you didn't have to say something like "last weekend the price was?" I mean, it has gone up twice since Saturday, significantly.)
My math tells me that on regular gas it costs me 17¢ per mile; but on premium it costs 15¢ per mile. Driving 350 miles, which is usually how far I go between fill-ups, I'd save $7 using premium, even after the higher price per gallon.
Interesting, eh?

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