The price difference is greater in California because its standards are stricter than the Federal standards that apply elsewhere.

Gas prices in California also tend to be more volatile than in other States because in-State refineries are hard pressed to meet demand and there are few refineries outside the State geared to provide California's unique blend of gas.

Demand surges or supply shortfalls therefore usually tighten supplies and drive up prices.

 

I've read that a few times and as good as the explanation is it still pulls cash out of my pocket others get to keep in theirs..

 

I hear you.

To make matters worse, we pay a premium for crappier gas

 

I remember "Blue Chip Stamps" & "S&H Green Stamps" during fill ups. Gas stations would have stamp wars and give 5x - 10x stamps. I also remember six packs of Coke or Pepsi with a fill up!

 

it was 97 cents a gallon when i first got my license, in 98. man i feel old

i wonder if it's inflation or opec trying to get rich...or both.

 

Believe it or not, but those two reasons amount for the smallest amount of the increase in gas prices in California. Especially since most of California's oil comes not from OPEC producers, but from Alaska.

There are several reasons for why gas is so insane in California. One of the biggest is Califonia's own laws. The smog laws in California require a "blend" of gasoline that burns cleaner than just plain old unleaded. It costs more to refine these blends then plain old unleaded, and that cost is passed on to you the consumer.

Then there's gas taxes, in California they're pretty high too.

Finally, there's the general oil supply which is very low worldwide. Which drives the price up in general. The pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico were severely damaged by the various hurricanes that blew through there, and the various oil producers have only been running at about 25% of capacity. The last estimate I heard was that the pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico might not be fully repaired for another 6 months! Apparently there were numerous undersea mudslides which ruptured pipes, and those ruptures are buried under tons of mud. They've been have trouble finding the breaks in order to repair them.

Believe it or not, but OPEC (or at least the Saudi's) are supposedly pumping oil at or near their daily capacity now. But worldwide demand especially from the US and China (the two largest consumers of foreign oil in the world) have only recently caught up to the worldwide production.

There's also some geopolitical causes as well. Every act of sabotage on the Iraqi oil infrastructure has a negative effect on oil prices as well. It's believed that there is as much if not more oil under Iraq than in Saudi Arabia, nobody's really sure how much is there. Even if there hadn't been an invasion, industry experts predict it could take as many as 10 years for Iraqi oil to have a significant impact on the oil market. That's becuase the embargoes (and Saddam Hussein himself) prevented the oil infrastructure from being modernized as technology improved.

IMPORTANT NOTE! The previous paragraph IS NOT intended to be a political commentary of any type. Please do not use it as the basis to expound on your own opinions on the political situation in Iraq, reasons for war, or the election. Per NAM site guidelines, such posts will be deleted without warning.

 

Going through old threads I found this from 2004........I was bitching about gas prices back then LOL..........this was latest fill up........wish it was 04 again