“Secondly, the price per bbl that the oil companies are paying for the oil out of their own fields is between 75 and 80 a bbl, they aren’t paying the 120ish futures price, but are pricing their product as though they were paying those prices.”
More than 65% of the crude processed by US refineries is imported. So to your point, should the pump price be less when considering that approx 35% of the refined product costs considerably less than current world crude barrel prices? Perhaps...on this item I see your point.
Its not a matter of simply being domestically produced, its a matter of oil fields they own or operate around the world. BP/SUNOCO/TEXACO/SHELL etc are not paying 120 BBL for the crude they refine, they buying it from their own fields at about $75-$80 a bbl, regardless of where those fields are located. They aren’t buying it via futures contracts from other producers generally speaking.