Question, How can gas prices vary so much? Chicago price 3.99- 4.10, Tulsa OK: price 2.99 ???

[Stuart G]

http://gasbuddy.com/

Hit that link, and see all the gas prices around the U.S.A. including Chicago and Tulsa OK. So, Chicago is 33 per cent higher than some stations in Tulsa...how can that be??? I don't know..thanks for input...

[unblock]

1. state taxes are a big reason, but local supply and demand is another.

prices in the city vs. suburbs vs. rural vs. interstate can vary easily $.30-$0.40 per gallon.

distance from refineries and/or ports also matters. new jersey prices are rather low because a huge portion of northeast gasoline comes in at port elizabeth, so the on-land costs to move the gasoline are pretty small.


what makes gas buddy great is that another factor is location. a gas station on a main street can charge quite a bit more than a gas station that's literally one block away, just less visible to the bulk of traffic. gas buddy helps you find these stations and easily save a buck or few each fill-up.

[bluedigger]

2. Laws of Supply and Demand.

People still want to flee Chicago, while Tulsans have abandoned all hope and have nowhere to go.

[Fuddnik]

4. You have a supply of cash, and the oil companies demand it!

[1-Old-Man]

7. If there were a "Response of the Year" award I would nominate this one.

[bluedigger]

8. It was kind of mean.

But I'm not taking it back.

[russspeakeasy]

14. Damn, I needed a laugh. Thanks....

[Riftaxe]

3. The differences are mainly taxes, distribution Costs

and varying state requirements for different blends of gasoline.

[unblock]

6. outside of california, how different are the state requirements?

i had always heard that was really just a california thing, and i would not be surprised that they are the strictest; i guess i had assumed the other 49 where essentially standard. maybe there is (lesser) variation in the rest of the country?

[1-Old-Man]

15. I believe a lot of the requirements are Federal and are Winter use based

Its been a few years since it was explained to me but I think the requirements follow an east-west line with states to the north of it having fuel requirements that vary by season in order to keep emissions from vehicles down. I also believe there are a few specialized refineries up around the Great Lakes somewhere that supply most of those requirements and that when one of them has to reduce its thruput the prices just skyrocket.

[Riftaxe]

17. This is an interesting article

Quick: How many kinds of gasoline do we use in America?
...
The actual number is somewhere above 45, though hard to pin down exactly, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). It might even be closer to 70. Thirty-four states use specially blended gasoline, usually during the summer, which is one reason gasoline prices always rise during the “driving season.

Bureaucratic Gas

[jbond56]

5. lots of factors

Biggest being how far from refinery or pipeline. In Texas next to a refinery being cheapest.

Second biggest factor is the gas station. Price in general is set by how much it will cost to refill gas tanks not what they paid for gas. So say gas station paid 1 dollar per gallon and oil price goes up. The price will be higher to replace so the price at the pump is raised. This happens very quickly. Prices at the pump do not drop with the same speed. So there is a delay after oil prices drop and can take days to weeks to reflect.

So its a mixture of distance and what future prices might be.

[unblock]

9. right, economists call gas prices "upward sticky"

because they shoot up on even rumors of price increases; but in order to come down, gas station owners keep an eye on competitors prices and tend to lower prices only in response to others -- effectively there is a temporary, implicit trust, enabling the local gas stations to share monopolistic rents, until one of the gas stations breaks the trust and cuts prices in order to try to steal market share.

funny how when the prices go up, gas station owners rarely want to try to steal market share by keeping their prices low, or at least their price hikes lower than their competitors. THAT game either doesn't happen, or ends in a matter or hours. going down, as you said, usually takes weeks.

[onehandle]

10. Gas prices are based on what the 1% think they deserve that week.

If they've kicked a kitten or spit on a homeless person, the prices go up.

If they've been relatively decent people that week, the prices go down.


We're pawns in their game of madness.

[cthulu2016]

11. Chicago has a vey high gas tax

And cigarettes are $8-10 there.

[kestrel91316]

12. I have always assumed that part of the problem is oil companies have found some way to

stick it to the blue states. We always pay more, and taxes alone can't explain the difference.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. simple

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/web_gas_taxes.php

Taxes are higher. Illinois, 62.8 cents per gallon; Oklahoma, 35.4 cents per gallon. The major distribution hub for West Texas Intermediate crude oil is at Cushing, Oklahoma, and there is a refinery in Tulsa with 125K bbl/day capacity.

[Stuart G]

20. all right...say gas in OK is 2.99 per gallon..fair.

lets add 30 cents for higher taxes as you have pointed out above. That brings it to 3.30...then lets add 6cents Cook County Taxes..(the county around Chicago)...so now we have 3.36...say 3cents for our Metra system of commuter trains...lets add three more cents for the suburbs that charge a tax too............so now we have 3.35 plus 3 plus 3. or a total of $3.41................so lets stick on another 50 cents a gallon....cause Obama is from Chicago ...then you have the cost of it in Chicago......

[oldhippie]

16. Gas price can vary $.15 per gallon just in my little town ....

... from one side of town to the other. That's here in Texas. Depends on the individual gas station. One would think no one would go to the more expensive station, but they do, mostly transients.

[savalez]

18. Why do the lesser known gas stations have cheaper gas?

That's what I want to know.

[unblock]

21. people will pay more for exxon than for getty. it's that simple.

advertising works, even for a commodity like gasoline.

heck, people will even put premium gas into an engine that doesn't really benefit from it.

[savalez]

22. That's nuts.

I'm going to hit that station again today. I don't even know the name of it! I'm saving $ and I don't care one bit about a name brand. I doubt my car gives a crap either.

[Hubert Flottz]

19. Because Big Oil's political contributions have compromised Washington.

It started to happen even before John D Rockefeller I started to buy up politicians with political contributions and perks. That kind of bribery is even more prevalent today.

[KharmaTrain]

23. "Summer Blend"...

...they change up how the gas is made to make it cleaner burning...or so they say:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-consumption/summer-fuel1.htm

Taxes also play a big role...especially Cook County. I'll see prices vary almost a dollar from the rip off stations in downtown to the ones near the county lines (where no county taxes are paid).