General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsgasoline prices went UP this week in northern California....
Haven't I been hearing that petroleum prices are going down, and there's a gas glut in the U.S.? Or am I mistaken?
Anyway, gasoline prices ROSE again last week in my northern California community: regular unleaded is $4.599 at most local stations. Up from $4.499 where it had been pegged for the last month or so. Groan....
FarLeftFist
(6,161 posts)TBF
(32,121 posts)I paid $2.88/gallon here in Houston this Sunday. The price was $3.48 for the lowest grade at Kroger and I had rewards for .60 off per gallon.
Warpy
(111,417 posts)Prices here in NM have been going down a few cents a week, not nearly reflecting the drop in spot market crude prices.
Either they're diddling the refined products spot market or those refinery fires were serious.
mike_c
(36,281 posts)None that I've heard of, but I've been pretty buried lately, so I just don't know. Didn't find anything with a quick Google search other than a Sunoco fire in Philadelphia, but that's obviously not it.
Andy823
(11,495 posts)That was earlier this spring, supposed to have been back up last week but didn't make it, then I read that 4 refineries in California all shut down for maintenance so they "HAD" to raise the price of gas out west. I know it affects California, Oregon and Washington, not sure if any other states are affected.
I live in Washington and where I live, central Washington, the prices only went down one time, then back up last week. Seems like even when oil prices go down, they have found other ways to keep prices at the pump high so they can rake in record profits, again, before the election.
Warpy
(111,417 posts)but I knew several refineries had also been closed down for maintenance.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)3.75, 3.65, 3.50 - all over the place! But they're definitely lower than they were a month or so ago.
hack89
(39,171 posts)it spikes in California every spring.
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)$3.41 a gallon. Used the Kroger card points and got it for $3.31 a gallon.
Oneshooter
Greywing
(1,124 posts)and vacations? When it's summer vacation time, prices will go up in areas that people want to visit. I expect prices to go up in Denver and the entire state of Colorado shortly. It happens every year and gas companies get away with it ....... grrrrrr
LiberalFighter
(51,266 posts)Expect it to go lower with Memorial Day weekend.
Cleita
(75,480 posts)There is cheaper gas in Lompoc ($4.11) a gallon, but I wonder if I would save driving the forty-three miles and back to fill my tank.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Our gas has gone up from about $4.19 a couple of weeks ago to $4.39 now.
How ironic that the oil is HERE. They've sent several full tankers back to Valdez within the past month.
econoclast
(543 posts)Despite the fact that we talk about global oil prices, it's not really a global market. In the US things are divided into 5 PADDs
PADD = petroleum administration for defense district
This organization is a holdover fromWW2
California Oregon Washington Alaska (Nevada?). Are in PADD 5. You can google pipeline maps for petroleum pipelines and quickly see that there aren't many going from the Gulf Coast where most of the refineries are to PADD 5
Canadian oil supplies - which have driven down the "global" price is hard to refine. Most of the refineries that can do it are in the Gulf states. There is good distribution from there to the Midwest ... But not so much to PADD 5. So gas prices in the Midwest are relatively low. But since there isn't easy distribution from there to the West Coast, that increase in supply/ decline in price doesn't easily translate to the West Coast.
Couple that with the fact that CA law requires special blends, the supply opportunities are limited. That and CA has a hefty gas tax.
Like I said ... All about location!