Posted on 12/18/2015 4:52:49 AM PST by thackney
Clifornia's stubbornly high gasoline prices in 2015 resulted from state regulations, trouble with imports and an outage at a major refinery, the oil refining industry told regulators Wednesday.
Speaking to the state Petroleum Market Advisory Committee for the first time since expensive California gasoline brought huge profits to oil refineries this year, the Western States Petroleum Assn. said the unusually large gap between the state's average price for a gallon of regular gas and the national average involved matters out of the oil refinery industry's control.
"Clearly, there is a regulatory component for the situation that occurred this year," said Tupper Hull, vice president of the petroleum group. "As this committee looks at the continuing differential in prices, that's an area we would recommend you look at."
In addition, Skip York of research firm Wood Mackenzie, speaking on behalf of the oil refining industry, said that as gas prices in California peaked in July, foreign and domestic sources had trouble delivering product to the state.
No tankers were available in the Gulf Coast to bring fuel to California. Better deals were available to suppliers such as India, as global demand for gasoline this year has soared.
"It's not going to be economic," York said suppliers ultimately determined. "It was now more attractive for me to sell into a closer market than California."
The average gas prices in California typically runs higher than the average for the rest of the nation because of the unique blend of environmentally friendly gas as well as state taxes and fees.
But this year, the gap was unusually wide, with the state average as much as 75 cents a gallon more than the national average. In the Los Angeles area, the gap was even greater -- as much as $1.50 higher.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
my wife filled her tank yesterday for $1.49 per gallon
Wednesday is cheap gas day at the Food City pumps
It just looks like simple gouging in LA.
Explain to me how you define “gouging”. Please.
So we’re the profits bigger than usual or is the media just giving its usual communist spin?
Yeah, ignore the reason it is different in California, the added regulations, the special recipes that prevent importing from other state supplies and the major refinery still down from the explosion.
Yeah, must be gouging.
Those refining/gasoline companies just hate California and love the other states.
It could not possible be the differences listed above.
Commie spin...
No tankers were available in the Gulf Coast to bring fuel to California.
- - - -
But ignore the special gasoline recipes California require not allowing Gulf Coast gasoline to be sold in California. Also ignore the Jones Act strangulation that prevents mosts ships from sailing state to state, but allowing the same forbidden foreign ship to import gasoline from Asia or other countries.
150 miles east of the AZ/Cal border, I paid 1.54 per gal in in Wednesday.
My guess is the cost of doing business in California is once again dictating the price.
But, don’t liberals love over regulation?
They just don’t consider the consequences of it. Ever.
All I can say to the majority of California voters—not the conservatives but rather those who elected such charming and brilliant minds as Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, Jerry Brown, Henry Waxman, et al...
1. Elections have consequences.
2. You get the government you deserve.
3. Voting on pure emotion without thinking critically got you here.
4. Enjoy your expensive government-induced cost lifestyle!
Thanks for posting the charts. Are there comparable ones for prices in Texas?
We were down to $1.61 a few weeks ago and even as oil prices remained at low levels, gas jumped to $1.71 overnight a week ago. It has now dropped a few cents again but there was no conceivable reason for the sudden spike.
According to someone I know in Exxon-Mobil, Exxon sold the damaged refinery because the state’s regulations wouldn’t allow them to fix it, and wouldn’t allow them to run it. They got fed up and sold it.
Here’s a related article:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-exxon-refinery-20150930-story.html
$1.68/9 in mid-Missouri.
I’ve heard it in the past that we have a number of types of fuel that are made in the US and California regulations are responsible for requiring the majority of them. I cannot remember the exact numbers, but it was something like the US makes 28 grades of fuel and over 20 go straight to CA. So the theory went that if we simply cut out all these different types of fuel and minimized it down to say 6-8, it would result in a dip in fuel prices and cut out the majority of refinery delays.
California, you voted for this, you pay the price for stupidity.
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