I know we've had at least a couple of different threads here on gas prices, but I want to add that it appears that we may have finally begun to turn the corner. Though, of course, it varies station by station and neighborhood by neighborhood, gas prices, for the first time in literally months, seem to have inched downward this week at least in this area. The absolute highest I've seen 93 octane around here is $2.40.
Saudi Arabia has announced a bump in production to help ease the supply / demand situation.

 

I noticed a seven cent drop at a local Conoco yesterday. I read that non-opec oil-producing nations are going to increase production. The effect of the increase in output by OPEC was (supposedly) not to be seen until July. Gas prices are so fickel and vary not based on supply alone, but speculation on political unrest as well as other non-supply based attributes.

 

Yes......it is a complex issue. Taxes, labor costs at the station, crude oil prices, local demand, EPA, CARB, and government-mandated fuel blends, the costs of delivering the gas in tanker trucks, local competition, price wars, independent vs. company-owned stations, sales quotas....all of this and much more plays a part in setting the local pump price. Whole books have been written on the subject.

 

U.S. Oil Surges After Attack on Saudi Oil

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures rose 1.7 percent on Tuesday following a suspected al Qaeda attack at the weekend in the Saudi oil hub of Khobar, which left 22 people dead but did not disrupt oil flows from the world's biggest exporter.

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U.S. light crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 67 cents at $40.55 a barrel in opening electronic ACCESS dealings. The market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.


Saudi Arabia's leaders have assured the world they are in full control, although Britain has warned that more attacks were probable in the kingdom.


Militants killed 19 foreigners in a shooting and hostage-taking rampage at the weekend in the eastern city of Khobar, which has no production, export or refining facilities, but western oil firms have offices and housing in the city, 400 kilometers (240 miles) northeast of Riyadh.


The kingdom's heavily guarded energy infrastructure has yet to be struck by sabotage, but some dealers fear emboldened fighters may shift from soft targets to production and export facilities.


Islamic militants killed five foreign workers at a Saudi petrochemical plant in the Red Sea town of Yanbu at the beginning of May, and saboteurs have twice targeted oil infrastructure around Iraq (news - web sites)'s key crude export terminal at Basra.