RandallA said:
"The $/brl for oil on the spot market is only a small percentage of what cause gas to go up today or next week."
I agree with you charper1. In theory that makes sense but the industry uses the price of crude oil to raise the prices of gas for us, the consumers.
One perfect example of that is: the price of crude oil is the same for everyone but why the price of gas is higher in California? We've had prices over $3.00 a gallon for months now. You can say higher taxes and other factors are the cause but I think it has to do more with "SuperGOUGEAmerica" like Iceberg said.
Some states, CA and my AZ included not only have higher per gallon tax rates but also use a "boutique" gas formulation that is different that the rest of the USA; therefore it is almost always in short supply vs demands. It has been said 1000s of time that these fuels are cleaner although not cheaper, but the entire country should use it, many states resist.
Same deal - As in most places there is still the damned seasonal blends still going on, as opposed to just using the "cleaner blend" all year. Two times per year refineries must stop producing one fuel and ramp up to make the other. DELAYS!
While I know everyone loves to jump on the oil prices and such; considering the distance it travels, and the processes and hours needed to refine it, it is still ridiculously cheaper per ounce than many other things we also take for granted. $3.88 /gal for local milk? WTF?
I would rather pay the resulting prices based on the world market for oil as opposed to the national average of 42 cents TAX ADDED per gallon. That to me is the bigger outrage.
I also know that my levied taxes, supply and demand and multi-formulation gripes fall on deaf ears because it is so easy to blame the big boys.
IMHO