Gas prices up 10.5 cents in a week by sashwa Wednesday 06-Apr-2005 Bay Area pump hikes exceed national rise By Nat Friedland Staff Writer Published: Tuesday, April 5, 2005 10:03 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Welcome to the Bay Area, the High-Priced Gas Capital of America, where the Chevron station at the corner of Bay and Buchanan raised the price of its regular from $2.89 to $2.95 per gallon Tuesday morning. If you think the numbers on the gasoline price signs are going up almost before your eyes, you're not wrong. Bay Area gas prices have climbed 10.5 cents per gallon in only the past week, while the average national price rose 6.4 cents and crude oil went up 35 cents per gallon, said Rayola Dougher, energy market issues manager for the American Petroleum Institute, the Washington trade association for oil companies. Continues @ SF Examiner
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  XzibitWtf Mate?Premium
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Santa Clara, CA | Wow... Hmm, that's one sharp spike in price... | |
|  | | | Re: Wow... I didn't want to be right, but I knew if we didn't $3.00/gal last year that it would definitely be this year. (sigh) Currently, I'm taking the bus to work, and my trips to Sacramento is now at a bare minimum. | |
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 lilhurricaneCrunchin' For CuresPremium,Mod
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kudos:51 | :-( Don't see it going any lower either...not for quite a while | |
|  sashwaPixie Cat Crunchin' n Foldin'Premium,Mod
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| :-/ Sad to say but I don't see it changing anytime soon. Plus the Bay Area has always had the highest prices other than Hawaii. I've never understood why when we have so many refineries in the area but have some of the highest prices in the country.
I heard on KGO on my way home tonight that they are saying the prices will peak in May.
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| | | | California Oil Refining Sash, our high prices have a lot to do with the gas that's sold in California. Its formulation is like no other in the country, hence it's more expensive. California is very particular about the specs for the gasoline that we buy and use; and while California gas can be sold in the other 49 states, their gas can't be sold here. Thus, we're more at the mercy of supply and demand than other states. Although the Bay Area refineries produce much of the Cal gasoline, they also make non-California gas. The Chevron refinery in Richmond, for instance, produces about 10 to 15% of the California gas supply with a throughput of about 240,000 barrels of crude per day. So imagine what happens to the state gas supply if that refinery is at reduced rates due to planned or unplanned shutdowns.
You might say that we need more refineries, then, but it's not gonna happen. Oil refining is just too heavily regulated to make it economically feasible; besides, who wants refineries in their back yard? Oil companies make big $$$ getting crude out of the ground, not by refining it. Typical return on capital invested for an oil refinery is less than 10%. Try telling shareholders that you want money for new construction.
I think we'll see $3 regular this summer and nothing but increases for the future. Might be even more costly as a barrel of crude approaches $100.
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| | | | | | | | | Re: California Oil Refining There just doesn't seem to be a good answer to your question, Sash. Both NorCal and SoCal have refineries supplying gasoline and plenty of drivers demanding the stuff. But gas has always been cheaper in SoCal even though the formulation is the same throughout California.
Some differences between the Northern and Southern markets:
1) The number and location of retail gasoline stations
2) The costs of building, maintaining, and operating those stations
3) Consumers' incomes
4) Competition at the refinery level
I agree with you that it doesn't seem fair. But when did fairness ever enter into the pricing of a critical comsumer commodity? It usually becomes a matter of whatever the market will bear, unfortunately.
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- Hunter S. Thompson (1937 - 2005) | |
| | | | | sashwaPixie Cat Crunchin' n Foldin'Premium,Mod
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| Re: California Oil Refining Thanks again FC. I've heard those reasons before but don't like them but there's nothing I can do about that so I guess I will just have to live with it.
Let me go back to my corner and behave.  | |
| | | | | | | | Re: California Oil Refining said by sashwa:...there's nothing I can do about that so I guess I will just have to live with it... 1) Drive an economical car
2) Drive less
Maybe you think that's easy for me to say, but I drive a Honda Civic (30 mpg) and I drive about 6K miles per year.
(I like to walk!  )
Here's a quick factoid:
California is the third-largest consumer of gasoline in the world, behind the entire US and Japan!
Our thirst is unquenchable, and our supplies are finite. Just where are we headed? (Besides the corner seven-eleven in our SUVs)
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| | | | | | | sashwaPixie Cat Crunchin' n Foldin'Premium,Mod
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kudos:14 | Re: California Oil Refining I do drive less. I put less than 5K miles per year. I have a 2002 Toyota Camry with less than 10K still. It had 73 miles on it when I bought it in 2002.
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: California Oil Refining sashwa  , one of the main reasons why gas is so high than anywhere else is what Fat City said and also California used to have about 30 refineries during the 1980s. That is why, at that time, gas was very cheap. I remember gas at $.79/gal. Now, the state only has nine refineries, including the one that is still open in Bakersfield. Refineries were being shutdown during the 1990s and so we are left with just nine. Fat City is right, if one refinery has to be shut down for maintenance or something, we are definitely F***KED. Last I heard, all the refineries are running full tilt. | |
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