OT: is gas cheap now or what! I paid $1.09/gal for Exxon super today!
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10-19-2001, 06:47 PM
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Yea, I was just moaning about the price of gas over breakfast with Laurel. She says...
that we folks on the West coast of the US suffer because the Federal Trade Comission let BP buy Arco about a year ago thus obliterating any true competition here. She ought to know, she's a retired petroleum geologist.
10-19-2001, 08:59 PM
#9
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Actually, more to do with MTBE and NIMBY -- although Fresno is less
Under the Clean Air Act, CA has to use "oxygenated" (MTBE in the past, now ethanol IIRC) gas in the summer -- different from what the neighboring states use.
And, since it cost a lot of money to upgrade to the reformulated gasoline, some of the refineries went out of business. Of course, no new ones have been built in a long time, so right now CA barely has the refinery capacity to meet its needs.
So, if a refinery goes up in smoke (as happened about two years ago IIRC -- we had problems at two refineries up at Richmond), gas prices spike through the roof. When I first moved to CA was when the reformulated gas was first required, and gas prices spiked from $1.20 or so up to $1.60 or more (87).
And, yes, letting ARCO get bought hasn't helped. Plus, everything is more here -- Fresno is about 30-40 cents/gal cheaper.
Tony
Especially annoyed because the reformulated gas doesn't help cut smog -- but MTBE does hurt the environment
And, since it cost a lot of money to upgrade to the reformulated gasoline, some of the refineries went out of business. Of course, no new ones have been built in a long time, so right now CA barely has the refinery capacity to meet its needs.
So, if a refinery goes up in smoke (as happened about two years ago IIRC -- we had problems at two refineries up at Richmond), gas prices spike through the roof. When I first moved to CA was when the reformulated gas was first required, and gas prices spiked from $1.20 or so up to $1.60 or more (87).
And, yes, letting ARCO get bought hasn't helped. Plus, everything is more here -- Fresno is about 30-40 cents/gal cheaper.
Tony
Especially annoyed because the reformulated gas doesn't help cut smog -- but MTBE does hurt the environment
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