$4 gas arrives in California as refinery exports rise 42% from last year

[Newsjock]

Source: Los Angeles Times

... "The earlier you see $4 out there, the more risk there is of $5-a-gallon gasoline," said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com. "It's not a question of whether some California service stations will reach $5. It's a question of how many will reach it."

Average prices already top $4 a gallon in some parts of California, including the Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Lompoc region ($4.031 a gallon); in the San Luis Obispo, Atascadero and Paso Robles region ($4.030 a gallon); and in San Francisco ($4.006 a gallon).

... Another factor driving gasoline prices higher: U.S. refineries continue to set new records for exports of refined fuels because they can make more money selling products like diesel overseas.

During the week of Feb. 10, refineries exported a record average of 3.1 million barrels of refined fuels a day. That's up 42.6% compared with the same week in 2011 and up 80.6% since 2010.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-gas-20120218,0,7899939.story

[CountAllVotes]

1. as of yesterday

The price was up to $4.19 already!

$4.00 is a welcome figure at this point.

[nanabugg]

2. So OWS should be all over this. And our sorry media should be too. nt

[RKP5637]

3. Yep, we have MSM, Mainstream Stupid Media. 'Sorry media' is too great a

compliment.

[JDPriestly]

4. Look, guys!

They are talking about taking oil from shale. The end is near. We should stop subsidizing oil and get serious about alternative energy.

Wean yourselves because the oil is not going to run your cars forever.

[Iggo]

5. I ain't uh-scared.

Sure, the buses will be more crowded, but that's a good thing.

[fujiyama]

6. Fuck

Not a good sign. I've got a long daily commute and this will hit my wallet. I gotta find a job closer to home. And I'm in the state with the lowest gas prices (SC), but I can see the prices creeping up.

[denbot]

7. I live in Manhattan Beach. Within my city is my favorite beach called El Porto.

Last edited Sat Feb 18, 2012, 03:44 AM - Edit history (2)

El Porto is an oil tanker off loading site to a giant refinery complex that sits along the border of Manhattan Beach.
Oil is drawn from Chevron oil and gas leases off the shores of California, by Chevron drilling rigs, and that oil is loaded on to Chevron tankers. That oil is off loaded from those tankers directly to the Chevron refinery and processed in to Chevron gasoline. It is transported about 2 miles by a Chevron tanker truck to the Chevron station about 50 yards from my house. Tonight I noticed the price of 87 octane was $4.15. We are getting jobbed. Even the most dumbass freeper would look at this situation and know that we are getting jobbed.

And that freeper would knowingly wring it's hands in joy hoping that the gas prices will benefit right wing politicians.

We are getting jobbed.

A picture I took in January of my favorite surf break El Porto, Manhattan Beach, California. Notice the tankers moored in the background.

[IMG][/IMG]

[rsmith6621]

8. $3.74 in Tacoma

....at Shell...... They say it is because of refinery maintenance, I say BULLSHIT.

[xchrom]

9. Du rec. Nt

[dmosh42]

10. By now, everyone can realize how 'big oil' has the whole thing rigged, like everything else...

First, we've been told that allowing more domestic drilling near our shores and the Arctic will help 'us'. Then it's the XL pipeline will do the trick. Meantime, oil is refined into gasoline at an all time high rate of production, but unforunately, much of it's being exported. ANd as far as why the price is so high, well that's the 'free market' in action! And by the way, don't forget to give the oil industry that 'stimulus' money to keep drilling on the public lands of the USA.

[progress2k12nbynd]

11. Move along people, this lis not something we should be discussing in an election year...

There's a reason the current mid-winter $4 gas isn't being discussed, and we need to keep it that way...

[bhikkhu]

12. In a global market, if that's the going rate...

unless you nationalize oil and ban exports, you just pay the going rate.

You can propose all sorts of ways to regulate the price to make it it cheaper for us to burn more fuel, but I don't see that as a good thing. High prices are the best way to encourage alternatives.

In any case, low prices increase demand, which puts pressure both on inventories and production, which increases price, and you wind up in a going nowhere.

[oldhippie]

13. Don't try to explain global markets and supply and demand here ...

You'll just be frustrated, and it annoys the natives.

[taught_me_patience]

14. Could it be because WTI is above $105

Input costs rise = output prices rise. The world demand for oil keeps rising and production has leveled off.