Gas Prices

[Rosethorn2]

just seen the 76 station here in beautiful Folsom CA raise the price for regular 15 cents......in an hour!!! They has already raised it 7 cents yesterday....because of a fire at the CHEVRON refinery in Richmond, CA?? WTF does a CHEVRON refinery have to with every other gas company????? Can you say BEND OVER CALI?????? !!!

[Mtholly1]

45 cents in 2 days here, and we have refinerys

[PrivateSmiles]

According to an article in my newspaper:

the fire knocked out a key section of one of the nation's largest refineries (Chevron Richland)

The Richmond refinery produces 16 percent of the region's daily gasoline supply

the fire that knocked out a unit that makes a specialized blend of cleaner-burning gasoline that satisfies air quality laws in California, Oregon and Washington

Experts say inventories of the cleaner-burning gas were already low

California has the cleanest-burning gas in the nation

Experts say gas prices in Washington and Oregon will spike as refineries here make up the cleaner-burning gasoline blend needed in California (we always have the highest gas prices in the nation anyway)

[MaryS]

Looks like the fire resulted from a vapor leak, to which there was a woefully inadequate reaction.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sectio ... id=8764418

Chevron says they first noticed the leak at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a small leak, about 20 drips a minute, leaking in the number four unit line. They say workers immediately began to look at their options. "We're evaluating that actual leak. We're looking to see what's causing it, where it is, how we could isolate it," Ayers said. But the leak began to grow. The workers were told to back away. "As they backed away, it started to put up cooling water and that's when it opened up and initially, found an ignition source and lit up," Ayers said. "Once we saw that this leak grew and had ignited, we notified the city, we notified the county, and we activated the community warning system."

[PrivateSmiles]

The good news is that it wasn't a nuclear power plant.

[Spiketoo]

The good news is that it wasn't a nuclear power plant.

They shutdown The Breasts of San Onofre (hey, that's what you see on the way to DM from LA) and the price of nuclear energy hasn't risen to my knowledge. Go fig.

Energy plants would routinely close during the summer months for 'maintenance' during the heyday of Cali deregulation to artificially spike the prices (with FERC's blessing BTW). Enron notwithstanding, market manipulation is as old as the market itself. And we just take it.

[MaryS]

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/ ... 797116.php

Gas prices in California remain significantly higher than they were prior to the Aug. 6 fire at Chevron's Richmond oil refinery - despite the fact that the blaze didn't impact gasoline production in the state as initially feared.

In fact, the state's refineries churned out more gasoline last week than they did the week before the fire, not less.

Production of California-grade gasoline jumped 12.4 percent, nearing 6.8 million barrels for the week, according to an update from the California Energy Commission. The rise came in spite of - and probably in response to - the fire that seriously damaged California's third-largest refinery, which typically makes about 15 percent of the state's gasoline.

"Other refiners around the state picked up the slack," said commission spokesman Rob Schlichting.

The situation infuriates oil industry critics. Gas prices shot up in the days after the fire, jumping 24 cents per gallon in the first week. But the extra cost wasn't the result of an actual shortage. Instead, analysts say, the increase started with traders bidding up the wholesale price in expectation of a shortage in the first few days after the fire.

"They're looking for any real or perceived impact to supply and demand," said Cynthia Harris, spokeswoman for AAA of Northern California. "It's a perceived lack of supply here."...

[Igeteven]

We are real suckers here in this State, the Oil Industry know they can do what they want to do when ever they want.

This is a product that should be regulated by the Government.

We need nuclear cars , so we have all the power we want.

By the end of the century and I know 4 member that will still be alive, they will see.

[MaryS]

We need nuclear cars , so we have all the power we want...

What could possibly go wrong?

[Andyc]

We are real suckers here in this State, the Oil Industry know they can do what they want to do when ever they want.

This is a product that should be regulated by the Government.

We need nuclear cars , so we have all the power we want.

By the end of the century and I know 4 member that will still be alive, they will see.

Do you think we are mixing a different blend of gas in each county of California because gas is unregulated?