Fizzboy7

It's different in CA. The price of gas does not reflect the price of crude. If someone sneezes, our price goes up. If there's a storm anywhere in the country, our price goes up. If there is any political unrest anywhere in the world, our price goes up. If there is an election, our price goes up. Get the picture? It is BS. People bash the oil companies because they take advantage of every little situation that arises- even the ones that have zero net effect on oil quantities. We see this over and over, week after week, year after year. We pay for speculation, which again puts extra money in their pockets because again, there is no actual drop in supply from most of the above things listed. And lets bash them some more for not dropping the price at the same rate they raise it. We'll see prices spike twenty cents in two weeks over the speculation of something, but it takes two months to lower it back down to the original price once that "speculation crisis" is over. More extra profits from a shortage that never materialized.
Those who use graphs and numbers to study the oil companies are not getting nor seeing the full picture, at least here in CA.

pman6

why is sacramento gas so much cheaper than socal gas?

mmarshall

I don't live in CA and know all of the details, but from what I understand, it's because the smog-filled L.A. basin has special requirements for gas sold in that area that make it more expensive for the oil companies to refine it at that scale.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

Well, you're blaming the wrong people. Blame the speculators. Blame the energy traders. Blame the investment banks. Blame your state government for making an onerous burden to bring energy to the market in CA. But your blame on oil companies is completely misplaced.

Fizzboy7

Who do we blame for it going up 5 cents overnight for the Fourth of July? Old Ben himself? Are we that busy of a nation to cause a gas shortage driving to Aunt Edna's for the holiday bbq? It's silly. It doesn't matter what the occasion or reason is.... oil companies are the final ones constantly raising the prices at the drop of a pin or due to the most lame excuses. A gas shortage due to the Fourth of July in Los Angeles, so lets raise prices again. LOL Seriously people, you are being had.

Fizzboy7

That's only a certain percentage of the total upcharge. If the price of gas here in CA was tallied up to include just the clean-air taxes and the cost of the special blends, we'd still only be a bit more than the national average. But that of course is certainly not the case at all- we are way way above the national average. As I mentioned in an early post, the CA oil companies have purposely kept production lower in order to jack up prices at the slightest ripple of nonsense that never materializes.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

try supply and demand. also, 5c on 20 gallons is one whole dollar. BIG DEAL.

i love to watch people complain about gas prices as they drink their complex $5 beverage from starbucks.

IS3_FTW

iTrader: (3)

Dont forget, the vapes and cigs in the other hand

Agree with the supply and demand. I already expect gas prices going up on holiday weekends. It happens all the time. Lets say, $0.05 it goes up, it drops $0.02. Then it stays that way, until the next holiday. Up another $0.05 and down $0.02.

I think ahead and fill up days before the holiday. Im not taxed as bad, but it still hurts

swfla

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone use ethanol free fuel? What octane? Does it give gains in mpg but reduced power/pep? In modern cars 10% ethanol won't cause any damage according to articles and interviews with mechanics and engineers.

Fizzboy7

That's exactly my point. They keep the reserves low on purpose so two days of extra traffic is suddenly something they cannot meet the demand for (?/!). Are reserves that fragile in CA that they cannot meet the demands of one medium-sized holiday weekend? Since when are two extra travel days enough to drain the plants? Well, apparently it is now. In the 80's and 90's, there were no price increases for travel holidays, no price increases for storms, no price increases for elections, and no price increases for plant shut-downs. It's all rubbish. This entire new formula equates to one thing: higher prices for all to pay (we still have to drive) and more profits for the oil companies. Why offer one low price for all to pay when they can offer one high price that everyone has to pay? Such an an easy catch when you have an audience with no other choice or say in the matter.

And it's not me I worry about. You and I can afford the increased one dollar fill up. It's the poor who cannot. Regardless of the dollar amounts, it's the principle of it. The overall pattern and behavior adds up to thousands of dollars we throw down the gas tank drain due to all the "market adjustments" year after year that never really come back down. This is not productive to any local, struggling economy.

doge

Paid $4.49 for premium the other day...

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Still under $3 a gallon for 93 at my favorite station

Fizzboy7

One CA. tax expired and was eliminated last week. It was for an additional six cents. Did prices drop six cents at the pump? Of course not. Yet they did go up six cents when the tax was implemented. Who gains once again? Yep.

Infra

iTrader: (1)

Honestly, you are factually incorrect. Oil companies do not set the price of oil. It is a commodity traded on the market, therefore the price represents the consensus of the entire world on what it is worth. As the US has risen, once again, as the largest produced of oil in the world, we're seen an overhang of supply and therefore a drop in price to half (or less) of recent years. We are seeing the oversupply diminish somewhat and so the price is slowly increasing to some threshold which will cover the cost of drilling and completing new wells here in the US.

Prices at service stations are not set by oil companies. They are set by the franchise owner of the station. Often, these owners may informally collude to set identical prices to not compete, as their margins on gas are very small (less than 5 cents / gal, mostly 1-2 cents / gal), and so there is no room for undercutting prices and keeping positive cash flow should a price war begin.

The profits of the major oil companies are DOWN as the price of oil has dropped. They are making more on the downstream refining than they were, but it by no means comes close to the lost revenue on the upstream sales of crude oil. Much of what they produce is not refined in the US but is done so within the national borders of the country of operation, so they are not making increased margins on refining for their entire portfolio.

Pretty much every independent, the companies actually producing oil and gas domestically (who drill something like 95% of wells in the US every year), is losing money drilling new wells at current prices, leading to the reduction in supply I mentioned above. These are companies you've probably never heard of, but the 8 largest have a combined market cap roughly double that of Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler combined. And there are hundreds of them, many small with less than 10 employees.

I understand the energy industry is large, and confusing to someone not acquainted with the different sectors within the industry. The "oil companies" you are blaming have little-to-nothing to do with the price you are paying at the pump, other than they might first drill the well from which the flow of oil begins. There are many middle men along the way that do much more to affect the price than the pure cost of production.

pman6

Ok, now we're in a "gas drought" in so cal. Add to that the water drought.

Supplies are very low, probably because people used it all over July 4, with all that cheap gas.

stupid huge price spikes the last few days.
It will take $15+ extra to fill a tank now. You know how many homeless people you can feed with that?

Good thing I got a full tank from the lexus recall.

But still, governor brown should issue a temporary relief on stringent refinery standards so that we can use "dirtier" gas for a short time.

Letting us use dirtier gas for a month won't burn a hole through the ozone layer