Excellent point. And every spring the summer blends kick in and prices go up. And every spring Big Media runs stories pointing fingers at greedy oil companies screwing the little guy.
And it’s not just that the summer blends are inherently more expensive. Different regions have different specifications. So if there’s a shortage in one region you can’t easily move stock across from another region. Government mandated inefficiency.
California requires their own unique blend so when in state refineries have a problem gas prices go through the roof because no one can come in and fill the gap.
Insanity. And we are all poorer for it.
And the reason we have all of these blends is because of the EPA, the curse of America.
That’s not exactly true. Most of the gasoline for nine western states is produce in WA, since such a large percentage of that gas goes to CA, WA passed a law requiring the same CA formulation, so everyone gets the CA formulation, whether they want it or not.