Life in the People's Republic of Kalifornia
From
Bloomberg:
California Gas Stations Shut as Oil Refiners Ration Supplies
Gasoline station owners in the Los Angeles area including Costco Wholesale Corp. are beginning to shut pumps as the state�s oil refiners started rationing supplies and spot prices surged to a record.
Valero Energy Corp. stopped selling gasoline on the spot, or wholesale, market in Southern California and is allocating deliveries to customers. Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) is also rationing fuel to U.S. West Coast terminal customers. Costco�s outlet in Simi Valley, 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, ran out of regular gasoline yesterday and was selling premium fuel at the price of regular.
And the reasons?
�Product supply in California has tightened, especially in Southern California, due to refinery outages,� Bill Day, a Valero spokesman at the company�s headquarters in San Antonio, said by e-mail.
Exxon�s Torrance refinery is restoring operations after losing power Oct. 1. Phillips 66 is scheduled to perform work on gasoline-making units at its two California refineries this month, two people with knowledge of the schedules said. A Chevron Corp. pipeline that delivers crude to Northern California refineries was also shut last month due to elevated levels of chloride in the oil.
We certainly have upgraded refining facilities but we have not built a new refinery in about 30 years. This little chicken is coming home to roost. Every action (halting construction of refineries) has unintended consequences and California is seeing this right now. We will see it as CA's buying at higher prices will drive up Washington's gas prices. Diesel is about $4.20 these days.
Posted by DaveH at October 4, 2012 6:43 PM