Posted on 08/13/2012 4:20:13 PM PDT by Hojczyk
Gasoline and oil futures surged Tuesday to the highest prices since May, as traders predicted the damage from a fire at California's third largest refinery could take months to repair.
The lowest retail gasoline prices of the year may already be behind us, some traders say, especially in light of this incident as well as refinery issues around the U.S. and across the Atlantic in the North Sea.
September RBOB gasoline futures briefly topped $3 a gallon Tuesday, and settled just shy of that mark, near a 3-month high. The more than 2 percent gain in gasoline futures sparked big gains in the oil market, where London-based Brent crude prices jumped over $2 to more than $112 a barrel and WTI oil futures topped $94 a barrel in New York, then settled up more than $1 at $93.67 a barrel.
The fire at the 240,000 barrel per day Chevron refinery in the San Francisco Bay area started around 6:15 pm local time Monday and blazed through the night before being extinguished early Tuesday. Chevron's Richmond refinery produces about 15 percent of the gasoline used by California drivers, says energy analyst Andy Lipow.
Operations at the refinery are expected to be hampered for some time. Analysts say it could take months before the crude distillation unit where the fire broke out is back to normal operations.
The local gasoline market in California saw a swift, steep price surge-far greater than at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Spot gasoline prices soared in San Francisco, spiking over 35 cents to $3.32 a gallon, skyrocketing 12 percent. Prices could climb at least 40 cents in the wake of this incident, says OPIS analyst Tom Kloza.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Southwest Florida...3.56
How is gas .32 more a gallon here in NC than it is in CA? I paid $3.64 at the cheapest place in town today.
Paul Ryan’s fault. He’s wants “the elderly” to run out of gas on the way to the emergency room.
Bush’s fault.
Isn't gasoline free in California?
South of Nashville - $3.59 per gallon.
It’s gone up .40 cents in three weeks.
Well, then, I guess its time for the MSM to stop talking about gas prices, isn’t it?
Blaming a refinery fire for rising crude oil prices is like suggesting that the price of beef would go up if McDonald's stopped serving hamburgers.
It’s only free in California if you don’t speak english or you get some of that Obama stash if you are like me I am paying $4.19 . I think I will revive an old bumper sticker
Ass, Gas or Grass no one rides for free”
Dang, am gonna have to move to Florida. No offense intended.
This is not good for Barry...
Gas prices can be expected to rise until we get Obama out of the White House, and his people out of all the agencies that hinder energy production. Relief is coming, if the American people are smart enough to vote for it.
That $3.32/gal. is the wholesale price. Here in the Sacramento area, retail prices are from $3.75 to over $4.00/gal. And it was below $3.40/gal just a couple of weeks ago.
As I search and search and search for three reasons to vote FOR Romney/Ryan and not vote FOR the lesser of two evils, I can honestly say I hope you are correct about the relief is coming, in the form of jobs, lower taxes, and lower prices.
I suspect we would have gasoline subsidies on EBT except liberals really want everybody (including the poor) to ride public transit.
I suspect we would have gasoline subsidies on EBT except liberals really want everybody (including the poor) to ride public transit.
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