So, tell me, since you seem to have more information than I, when the oil companies sell it to the filling stations, do the filling stations pay the $.18 fed gas tax and the average $.60 state tax? Even when we owned our own retail stores (back in the day) they were money losers. I realize it's volume of sales that makes it possible at all, but how can any of them make a profit (and invest in R&D)?
The Oil Companies make about $.10 a gallon. The person selling the gas probably makes nothing. The gas is merely the attaction to get the people to come into the store and pay the 50% or more mark up on the stuff in the store. They make their money on the stuff they sell inside, not on the gas.