Gasoline May Rise Above $5 a Gallon

[Stoaty]

Bad for the customers in the short term, but could be a golden opportunity for the Leaf and the Volt. Hope they take advantage of it with advertising and aggressive promotion.

 

[Zythryn]

Bad for the customers in the short term, but could be a golden opportunity for the Leaf and the Volt. Hope they take advantage of it with advertising and aggressive promotion.

I'm guessing this won't be the last opportunity like this. But they are both positioned to be able to offer an appropriate product at the appropriate time.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Nissan dealers have to walk a fine line for every leaf they sell they have to move a couple hundred gas vehicles ... So don't look for any advertising that scares gas buyers.

 

[DaveEV]

The CA market is an island due to the formulation requirements driven by smog issues. One or two disruptions happening while other refineries are switching from summer to winter production, and you get a squeeze.

I've been thinking some kind of strategic gasoline reserve might be warranted for the state for these situations. Though you can't store gasoline nearly as long as petroleum...

A much simpler solution would be to relax the formulation requirements when there are extraordinary situations like this one so other blends of gasoline can be shipped in easily.

They expect the price to keep going up for additional weeks.

Do you have a source? The article I scanned expected prices to spike this weekend and then ease next week, though I fully expect any decline to be gradual - gas prices always seem quick to rise and slow to fall...

The charts at Gas Buddy seem to confirm that - at best gas prices decline half as quickly as they rise.

This spike is fairly extraordinary - up 50 cents / gallon in 5 days.

 

[scottf200]

The CA market is an island due to the formulation requirements driven by smog issues. One or two disruptions happening while other refineries are switching from summer to winter production, and you get a squeeze.

I've been thinking some kind of strategic gasoline reserve might be warranted for the state for these situations. Though you can't store gasoline nearly as long as petroleum...

A much simpler solution would be to relax the formulation requirements when there are extraordinary situations like this one so other blends of gasoline can be shipped in easily.

Similar situation in Chicagoland (Chicago and surrounding suburbs)
chicagotribune prices-rocket-gas-prices-crude-oil-prices
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-06-19/business/ct-biz-0619-bf-gasoline-20110619_1_prices-rocket-gas-prices-crude-oil-prices/2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why-Gas-Is-So-Expensive-During-the-Summer-And-Especially-in-Chicago
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/The-312/March-2012/Why-Gas-Is-So-Expensive-During-the-Summer-And-Especially-in-Chicago/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In 2001, John Cook, then the head of the petroleum division of the Department of Energy, called Chicago/Milwaukee an "island," along with California; you may recall that, over the years, Chicago often competes with different California cities for some of the nation's highest gas prices:

The result of this targeted approach to air quality has been to create gasoline market islands. The primary examples are California and the Chicago/Milwaukee areas, in which the required gasolines are unique, and only a limited number of refineries make the products. The inventories of gasoline used in these regions can be drawn down rapidly in response to unusually high demand or a supply problem at one of the few refineries producing the specialized products, or in one of the pipelines delivering the products. Prices for gasoline in these regions then surge. If other gasoline markets are not tight, the prices surges may be limited to the specialized gasoline regions, as we have seen historically in the case of California.

Virtually all of the Chicagoland area is a reformulated gas area .

 

[Nubo]

They expect the price to keep going up for additional weeks.

Do you have a source? The article I scanned expected prices to spike this weekend and then ease next week, though I fully expect any decline to be gradual - gas prices always seem quick to rise and slow to fall...

That is what was being reported early this morning on our local news.

Here's what I could find just now on their web site:

...And unfortunately relief is not in sight for the immediate future. In the Bay Area, we've already seen some prices top $5 per gallon and some analysts predict it may top $6 before this current surge is over.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=8836701" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[JPVLeaf]

Here's what I could find just now on their web site:

...And unfortunately relief is not in sight for the immediate future. In the Bay Area, we've already seen some prices top $5 per gallon and some analysts predict it may top $6 before this current surge is over.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=8836701" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Perhaps it's the interpretation of "relief is not in sight for the immediate future." That, too, could mean no relief (over the weekend and through early next week) is in sight for the immediate future (the next week or so). The reports that I read, if they are to believed, said there should be an ease in prices by next week. Does that mean back to 'normal' prices before the spike, or simply the beginning of the drop to 'normal'? I don't know.

In either case, this morning on www.orangecountygasprices.com, the average regular (87) was $4.636 in Orange County. Apparently, this is a drop from yesterday's high of $4.651. Both broke the OC record set back in summer 2008. The avg for premium (91) right now is right around $4.78.

It's amusing to think that if I were still driving our gas car every day, I'd be 'happy' today simply that the prices were jumping by 5 ... 10 cents/gal every time I looked away. As it is, I'm thankful that last night when I got home from work, I pulled into the garage, set my timer, plugged in my car, and this morning I have enough charge for another 70+ miles of driving ... all for a couple of buck$.

 

[MrIanB]

What are gas prices??

Ian B

 

[Becky50]

$4.63 a gallon for regular this morning in San Jose, CA at the station around the corner.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I dont know if this feeling i have is because an event happened that directly affected me or what, but does anyone else feel that these Oil events have been happening on a much more frequent basis?

We also had a refinery fire which caused us to lead the nation when our gas prices hit $4.15 a gallon last April. I also remember bits and pieces of articles mentioning that maintenance on refineries were put on the back burner due to costs, unfavorable pricing, etc. no new refineries were being built and the overall condition of current refineries were in decline. add to that that most felt they could only make money if running at full capacity which means there is no room for error.

so besides being squeezed by oil companies, we are also at the mercy of cost cutting by oil refineries as well?

this gas thing? why is there so much loyalty?

 

[edatoakrun]

...this gas thing? why is there so much loyalty?

Addiction causes all sorts of self-destructive behavior.

 

[MrIanB]

Those oil companies are playing w all you ice drivers.

Love the Leaf even more now.

Ian B

 

[Nubo]

Well, now this story suggests prices could "peak within days"....

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Gas-prices-skyrocket-in-California-3924254.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

ahh, remember back in the day when gas was "only" $5 a gallon?

Why I Love my LEAF? San Diego Residents Dont Need to Ask!


http://www.facebook.com/fox5sandiego" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Often when you mention the idea of an electric car to avoid being subjected to the whims of oil/gasoline prices, people throw it back at you that it's all BS, the fault of the environmentalists, speculators, ethanol, greedy oil companies, OPEC, Bush's fault, Obama's fault, blah blah blah... to them I say I can't control any of those things... but I can control whether or not I choose to buy an electric car.

 

[EnergyNovice]

The decline in California gasoline prices has accelerated in recent days, fuel surveys show, but hardly amounts to the relief from record fuel costs that most motorists would like to see.

The state average reached $4.432 for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline, the Energy Department said Monday. That was a decline of 19.1 cents in one week, according to the agency's survey of service stations. The week before, the average slipped less than 4 cents a gallon after reaching a record $4.659.
A separate survey by AAA found a similar pattern, placing the state's average pump price at $4.427 a gallon, down 18.2 cents from a week earlier. The week before, the average declined about 6 cents. On its way up to a record average of $4.671 a gallon Oct. 9, the state's gasoline prices jumped 17.1 cents in just one night.

"Prices are down some, but they are still a lot higher than they were last year, and the 2011 prices were already a record for this time of year," said Marie Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

San Fernando resident Bart Reed said he just spent $75 to fill his car's gas tank, up from $60 before the price surge.

"That doesn't feel like relief," said Reed, who runs a nonprofit advocacy group called the Transit Coalition.

The California Energy Commission said that the price surge was due in part to a power outage that shut down Exxon Mobil's Torrance refinery at a time when the state was near five-year lows in refinery production and fuel supplies.

Barring another refinery problem, analysts are predicting steady price declines.

"My forecast calls for gasoline prices in Los Angeles/Long Beach to slowly decrease between now and Thanksgiving about $1 per gallon, to $3.60 per gallon," independent fuel price specialist Bob van der Valk said.

Meanwhile, there were rumors that another big player in the California refinery market might be looking to exit the state. The Wall Street Journal reported late Friday that Valero Energy Corp. was looking to sell at least two of the refineries it operates in California.

The San Antonio company has a 132,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Benicia, Calif., and a 78,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Wilmington. Both of those facilities produce gasoline and diesel for the California market.

Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co., said Valero might be looking for buyers because of a looming regulatory requirement in California that will mandate that refinery emissions match 1990 levels by 2020.

But a Valero spokesman said the company hasn't said anything about the possibility of selling since 2011, when company officials said they were considering their options on what to do with the refineries.

"Basically, it's just rumors, and it's our policy not to discuss unsubstantiated media accounts," spokesman Bill Day said. The 2020 regulations, Day added, "will be very costly to our business and to California consumers."

Valero also owns a small refinery in Wilmington that produces asphalt.

Valero shares closed Monday at $29.47, down 6 cents.

 

[AndyH]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/gas-shortage-sandy-relief-aid-efforts_n_2067000.html

"We have a lot of everything right now," said Diana Aguinaga, a dental hygienist who was volunteering at the donation hub, a joint effort of 350.org and Occupy Wall Street. "What we really need is a car with gas." Outside the church, there were about 15 parked drivers loading and unloading supplies, though not all of them had enough gas in their tank to go as far as was needed.

All over New York City, the story was the same. Thursday, a deadly cocktail of mass power outages, port closures and skyrocketing demand for fuel shut down gas stations across New York and New Jersey, spurring mile-long lines and fights at the few pumps that remained open.

Now, the shortage is crippling aid organizations spearheading relief in devastated areas. While some national organizations like the Red Cross have managed to secure fuel, many local charities are using vehicles running on empty. Without gas, basic necessities like flashlights, clothing, food and water can't make it to people whose entire lives were wiped out by the storm.

On Friday, President Barack Obama ordered the Department of Defense to send trucks carrying 12 million gallons of gas and 12 million gallons of diesel to help supply gas stations in the region.

 

[GRA]

FWIW, my corner gas station has dropped from the peak of $4.66 about 3 weeks ago to $3.96 as of yesterday, or $0.70/gal for regular, IIRR $0.13/gal. less than it was before the spike. I can't ever recall prices dropping that fast before after a spike, but suspect the difference was allowing the switch to winter fuel early.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

FWIW, my corner gas station has dropped from the peak of $4.66 about 3 weeks ago to $3.96 as of yesterday, or $0.70/gal for regular, IIRR $0.13/gal. less than it was before the spike. I can't ever recall prices dropping that fast before after a spike, but suspect the difference was allowing the switch to winter fuel early.

ya, now that our "concern" over CA gas shortages has waned, our prices have dropped too. I have been on empty with the Prius all week (lucky in that SO is off so LEAF was only thing driven except for two short errands in the Prius when the LEAF was out lollygagging around town) but i got gas at $3.399 after waiting out the $3.50ish prices from earlier in the week!

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2012/11/october-2012-stats.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Nekota]

FWIW, my corner gas station has dropped from the peak of $4.66 about 3 weeks ago to $3.96 as of yesterday, or $0.70/gal for regular, IIRR $0.13/gal. less than it was before the spike. I can't ever recall prices dropping that fast before after a spike, but suspect the difference was allowing the switch to winter fuel early.

October 2008 was a rapid sustained drop - see link

http://www.SanJoseGasPrices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=SanJose&city2=&city3=&crude=n&tme=60&units=us" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;