Posted on 01/16/2009 6:22:39 PM PST by dbz77
They gotta start now. If they don’t they’ll never get the average price over $5 this summer with gas at $6.50 in Kalifornicia
ah...so the cost of fuel itself has not changed, but that fuel taxes are being jacked
Sarah refused Exxon a permit to build a ice road at Point Thompson so they could DRILL. Meanwhile price of gas here in Alaska jumped to $2.45 today. I would love to have kalifornia gas up here.
I guess that’s one way to get the price back up to four bucks.
Supposedly, refiners have been losing money all year long like the poor gas station owners who sell gas as a public service. It’s amazing that anyone still sells gasoline if it’s as unprofitable as some argue.
Don’t worry it’s just the Bush cronies trying to make millions again....NOT
“O”pec Hoping the “O” man will reverse all of Bushes drilling plans after 1/20/09
The burros in LA have taken some of the demand off of the gasoline market.
"...Motorists probably won't see last week's retail prices again at least until July, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey.
Kloza blamed refinery problems, refinery maintenance, and the fact that California refiners had upped their production of cheaper grade gasoline for sale to other states while producing less California-grade fuel.
Bob van der Valk, a fuel-pricing analyst with 4Refuel Inc. in Lynnwood, Wash., said California's rising gas prices are essentially the result of in-state refinery problems.
"There's a big Arco refinery in Carson that's in a full-blown turnaround to summer-grade fuel," van der Valk said Thursday. "They had a glitch back in November and were down for six weeks."
And when a refinery goes down, that eats into the supply of gas that's available to California motorists.
Another ConocoPhillips refinery in Rodeo, Calif. has also had difficulties, van der Valk said, but the biggest headache is coming out of Bakersfield.
The Big West Refinery, purchased from Shell by Flying J just four years ago, is on the ropes, he said. "It supplied about 2 percent of the gasoline and 6 percent of the diesel consumed in the Golden State," van der Valk said. "The parent company, Flying J of Ogden, Utah, declared bankruptcy just before Christmas last year and their house of cards seems to be falling in on them as suppliers cut off their life's blood crude oil supplies for non-payment of past due bills."
Van der Valk said California gas prices will likely hit $2.50 a gallon by summer.
"They make 10 percent less gas in the summer than in the winter because the summer gas has to meet a re-vapor pressure standard," he said. "That ensures that a car won't knock."
Van der Valk also noted that other independent and major oil company refineries have cut back production to meet current lower gasoline demand levels.
Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp., said the days of sky-high crude prices are gone - at least for now.
"The bull oil era is officially over," he said Thursday.
Barak’s fault. I am going to enjoy this.
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