Gasoline prices ready to hit new high in S.F.

So much for Detroit and the Little Three chances for this year if this keeps
up through the Summer

Gasoline prices ready to hit new high in S.F.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/30/MNG50OUPG71.DTL

San Francisco's surging gasoline prices stand poised to smash their old
record of $3.36 for a gallon of regular, perhaps as early as today.

Some stations in the city already have passed that record, set last May.

Although San Francisco's average gasoline price reached $3.34 Thursday,
individual stations were charging as much as $3.98.

And yes, that's $3.98 for regular. Want premium? At least one San Francisco
station was charging $4.18 per gallon.

The national average for a gallon of regular stands at $2.62, up 48 cents
since the end of January. California's average is $3.22, up 70 cents in the
same period. No other state average tops $3 per gallon, although Hawaii
might pass that mark this weekend.

Blame huge refinery profit margins, falling gasoline production, tensions
with Iran and American drivers themselves, who are -- believe it or not --
buying more gas now than they did last year.

Just two weeks ago, it looked like San Francisco and the rest of the country
would finally get a break at the pump. Prices for crude oil, gasoline's raw
material, were falling. Refineries were almost done with their annual spring
maintenance, which temporarily had cut the amount of gas they could produce.
Market analysts predicted that the stunning late-winter run-up in prices
would soon end. San Francisco's average even dropped for a few days.

Then escalating tensions with Iran forced crude oil prices sharply higher,
almost 17 percent in 10 days. Mechanical problems kept hitting refineries
throughout the country and in the Bay Area, shrinking the amount of gasoline
on the market.

Throughout, refinery profit margins on the West Coast remained almost twice
as high as they were last fall, adding to the price drivers pay at the pump.
The difference between what West Coast refiners pay for crude and the price
they charge for refined products has risen to $37 per barrel from about $20
last fall.

And all the while, drivers kept buying. The country now burns about 1.4
percent more gasoline than it did at the same time last year.

In other words, there's less gasoline available, but drivers are consuming
more than before. The companies that sell it enjoy hefty profit margins, and
they don't have any incentive to cut prices.

"If you can sell, relatively speaking, the same amount of your product at a
higher price than at a lower price, you're probably going to sell at a
higher price," said Sean Comey, spokesman for the AAA of Northern California
Auto Club.

Consumer advocates charge that refiners are purposely restricting gas
supplies as a way to drive up the price. They doubt that all the recent
mechanical problems are real or require as much downtime as the companies
say. And they note that no government agency polices refining companies to
make sure their executives are telling the truth.

"They could well be making more money by not producing gas than they do when
they produce gas, which is the scenario we saw in the electricity crisis,"
said Michael Shames, executive director of the watchdog Utility Consumers'
Action Network in San Diego. "When you have a market that's so
dysfunctional, you need to have more oversight."

Still, no one has been able to prove manipulation. And many experts say the
huge margins for refiners simply represent the dynamics of the market, where
supply is squeezed and demand keeps rising.

For all the times California officials have investigated gasoline prices,
they have never been able to demonstrate that refiners are gaming the
market. The state attorney general's office has one such investigation under
way right now but has not reached any conclusions.

"A lot of people have invested a lot of time on this, and a lot of those
people have subpoena power," said Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Western
States Petroleum Association. "And they haven't found anything wrong."

Yet, even some oil executives acknowledge that California's gasoline market
is broken, or at least seriously warped.

The state uses its own unique, pollution-fighting blend of gasoline, made by
a limited number of refineries. That limited supply makes the state prone to
wild swings in price and is one of the main reasons Californians typically
pay more at the pump than other Americans.

San Ramon's Chevron Corp. now controls about one-quarter of the state's
refining capacity. CEO David O'Reilly said the country needs to cut the
number of specialized gasoline blends in use, which would allow gasoline to
flow across state borders much more easily. That, in turn, would minimize
price spikes and give California access to more fuel. He has made that
argument for years.

"I think it's unfair for people to assert that we're trying to take
advantage of something when we've been pointing out, for years, that this is
the wrong way to go," O'Reilly said.

But Chevron, like other local refiners, benefits from California's
perpetually tight market. And when they talk with Wall Street, the company's
executives sometimes boast about how profitable their West Coast operations
have become, even though the vast majority of the company's profits come
from selling crude oil.

"The Chevron brand continues to garner both increased market share and
pricing power in the marketplace," Executive Vice President Mike Wirth told
stock analysts at a conference earlier this month.

Chevron plans upgrades to its California refineries that could increase
their gasoline production by 840,000 gallons per day. And O'Reilly continues
to argue that the government can fix the problem by standardizing gas
blends.

"We've advocated for change at a state level," he said. "But advocating and
getting the regulations changed are two different things."

How long will the gasoline price increase last? Analysts say that will
depend on refinery output and the international politics influencing the
price of crude oil.

Refineries elsewhere in the nation are starting to increase the amount of
gas they produce, according to the latest federal government figures, but
California still lags. As for oil, any further saber-rattling between Iran
and the West could easily shove up the price further.

 

Another example of California doing things that are damaging to
themselves and then wanting to blame others. Re-read what you posted
(the part that I snipped off), and you will have answered your own
question. (Here’s a hint that you yourself pointed out: California
required their own special blend; California’s prices at the pump are
higher than anywhere else in the country. See if you can put those two
facts together and come up with the answer - it may be hard for you to
do.) It never ceases to amaze me how California repeatedly does stuff
like this to itself and then wants to blame someone else for the
inevitable consequences of their decision – as if they couldn’t have
anticipated the results.

People are blind to logic and common sense. For example – the OP has
the two critical facts staring at him in his own post and can’t put the
two together.

My analogy in the past has been the cute young thing that walks naked
down the street and then blames everyone else when she gets raped. (For
those without any reasoning abilities, I always have to point out that
that doesn’t mean I have any admiration whatsoever for the rapist, but –
geese – take some responsibility for your own stupid and self-damaging
decisions.) If you feel what you are doing (i.e., requiring your own
special blend), is necessary, then have the honesty and sense to realize
*ALL* of the consequences – at least the obvious ones - of what you are
about to do, and live with them without whining about it or blaming
others for what you decided to do and the inevitable, predictable
consequences.

“Really – I don’t know why they raped me – those bastards – all I did
was walk down the street naked. I want everyone to feel sorry for me.”

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

So much for Detroit and the Little Three chances for this year if this

Mate, you really do need to come on holiday to the UK. You'll understand
why you're well off at home once you've filled your UK hire car with
petrol - currently around $7.00 per UK gallon.

You can stop complaining now.

A

 

Fortunately for you, most places you want to go in your car are a lot
closer to home than in the USA.

I drive a 150 mile delivery route 5 days a week in my 1999 Voyager and
never leave Kansas City. Isn't it about 150 miles from one side of
England to the other? I read somewhere that the Kansas City metro area
has more per capita highway miles than any other place in the world.
This situation definitely has its pros and cons. I don't know why
people like to set things up so we have to drive so much.

 

Aren't you forgetting _why_ UK prices are so much higher? Like
subsidizing government-sponsored health care for one...

 

SAN FRANCISCO ---- California refinery profits have more than doubled
since last fall, one factor fueling both rising gasoline prices and
record oil company profits.

Refinery profit margins now stand at $39 per barrel on the West Coast,
more than double their average of $17 for the last five years,
according to one rough measurement cited Friday by the San Francisco
Chronicle.

Refineries don't release precise profit figures. The newspaper
measured the difference between the cost of the crude oil that
refineries use and the price they charge for their finished products.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/10/business/news/21_29_353_9_07.txt

 

LOL! As pointed out earlier, California's complaints are also
self-inflicted.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Their percent profit is what %? The article didn't mention that, did
they. Funny how they *ALWAYS* leave that out.

The article states "Refinery profit margins now stand at $39 per barrel
on the West Coast." I suspect that to be a lie because that would mean
more than 50% profit - and the oil company profits simply aren't that
high. I believe that they are simply taking the cost of a barrel of
crude and subtracting the 42 gallons times the pump price and calling
that "profit". That is blatantly dishonest on the part of the
newspaper. Besides ignoring overhead costs and costs of processing, I
seriously doubt you get 1 gallon yiled from 1 gallon of crude.

And are dishonestly calling that "profit".

And the reader knows nothing more after reading it than they did before
reading it because they don't know the meaning of costs of refining and
overhead. So it's a meaningless article.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

OK, I'm currently contracting for a major US company. Because I enjoy
working for them I won't disclose their identity, but they're great to work
for. (And you'll have heard of them)

All the guys over from the US on this particular job have expressed their
surprise on how much we don't earn, how much our taxes cost and how
expensive everything is. (And that we drive so fast on the wrong side of the
road)

They are surprised how we pay for our small, overpriced homes. They are
oblivious to the fact that some have to wait 6 months to a year for an
surgical operation. You'd be shocked if you had to wait 4 hours to see a
doctor in accident & emergency (The ER) like my wife did, 3 months ago.

We pay National Insurance (The tax that is additional to normal earnings
tax) as a percentage of our earnngs. It more than covers the money spent on
health treatment. Oh, the 'road fund licence' we pay here (In addition to
all the taxes on our petrol) is supposed to cover the development/upkeep of
our roads. It does that, by over 300%. Funnily enough, we don't see what
the rest does. Over 70% of our petrol price is tax.

No, I can't emigrate to the US as my missus wont go! (Or I would have done
so 5 years ago)

A

 

I have a theory. The longer any particular government exists, the more
life (and money) it sucks out of its people, until they just can't take
it any more and there is a revolt. The USA isn't inherently better or
worse than any other place, nor is our government. Our government is
going bad just like every other government, it just hasn't had as much
time to do it.

 

You're just jealous that they have a good health care system.

 

The USA would rather spend money they don't have to kill people, not to
give their citizens good health.

 

Mate, you really do need to come on holiday to the UK. You'll understand
why you're well off at home once you've filled your UK hire car with
petrol - currently around $7.00 per UK gallon.

You can stop complaining now.

A[/QUOTE]
They want to continue driving their huge excessively large vehicles.
It's the spend now, to hell with the future society.

 

Who cares what gas costs in whackyland?

 

As long as we're talking politics, which probably isn't a good idea, how
about if the government gets out of both of those areas? No government
ever gave any person good health, and more people have been killed by
their own government than by any other organization.

 

Actually, you're right. Healthcare in the U.S. is the absolute pits.

 

Nash Bridges? ;-)

 

Arnold the "Gore lover" to fuel his Hummers.

 

Until you compare it to the systems in other countries, hwich obviously
you haven't done or experienced. We have our problems, but nothing like
what Canada and Eurpopean countries have.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

You are obviously ignorant of reality. Pick up and read a copy of
"America Alone" by Mark Steyn or "The Politically Incorrect Guide to
Islam" by Robert Spencer to educate yourself.

No one can "give" someone else good health.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')