Price of Diesel (CA)

[10-9jc]

Worth reading article in today's (8-8) Los Angeles Times -

Business Section.

Easiest to suggest you go to LATimes.com - click on the title

"Business" (for the various sections of the paper) and click

the article "State Feeling Pain of High Diesel Prices".



Exerpts:

"There was TOO MUCH diesel on the West Coast, a month or

so ago", said Carl Boyett, chief executive of Boyett Petroleum

in Modesto. Then three companies sent diesel cargos to other

markets, all around the same time. 21 MILLION gallons - to

Chile and Mexico. [This amount may have "only" been two of

the three companies, as the article says two of the three

contained ultra-low sulfur fuel that could have been used here]



Then there was a fire on July 20 at Chevron's El Segundo

facility, one of the West's largest refineries and a big producer

of diesel. [End]



Bend Over! While the Oil Companies stick it to us!

$3. (plus) per gallon is here!

JC

 

[gitchesum]

Just because diesel is sent to other countries does not mean that there was TOO MUCH diesel. That was sold to those countries months ago. That type of thing happens all the time. Other countries purchase fuel from us, we buy it from them. It goes back and forth.



It would not have been an issue had the refinery in El Segundo not had a fire that shut it's diesel production down.



Hindsight 20/20.

 

[AMink]

We're selling fuel to Mexico? They have one of the biggest reserves in the world right under their feet! I think we should get a barrel/day/illegal. That would be something like 12,000,000 barrels per day! They should let us drill holes all over down there if they continue to send 'em up here.

 

[catoiler]

I say we trade them California for Mexico!Much better sights and oceans down there. That way they can all go here and be legal!We get better fishing and all the oil to boot!

 

[10-9jc]

Gitchesum - the "TOO MUCH" diesel is just the quote from the

chief exec of Boyett Petroleum. Why the authors chose him as

"the authority", I don't know. But the article bears out that

reason(ing). [Shipped in June - fire in July].



To quote another part of the article, in ref to CALIF diesel:



"The state's diesel, like its gasoline, is a special blend that burns

cleaner but is hard to make and difficult to find outside of California.

In addition, even in the best of times, the state's 14 fuel-making

refineries rely on imports to help satisfy the region's growing thirst

for gasoline and diesel".

The paragraph about the fire at Chevron (on 7-20) follows the above.



And on importing & exporting:

"That production glitch wouldn't have hit the market so hard if oil traders,

faced with a surplus of diesel in June, hadn't sold large quantities of the fuel

to foreign buyers just weeks before the El Segundo fire".

[Have to wonder what constitutes "a surplus"?]



Exporters were - ConocoPhillips & Vitol: shipped the CA usable fuel to Chile.

The third exporter was BP: shipped to Mexico, but too high in sulfur to

qualify for use in CA or WA.

[But assume it could be used in the other 47?]



The VP at Vitol corp says - at current prices, he wishes

"those barrels were still on the West Coast".

I'll bet he does!

JC

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

I just returned from Las Vegas where diesel is $2. 799 to Albuquerque and paid $2. 349 here. Vegas gets its fuels piped in from LA.

 

[10-9jc]

Trade -

Catoiler - The "Mexico" Mexicans are already taking it back . . .

. . . . . WITHOUT a trade !

and - -

just going to toss that paper, took another look at that article.



The 21 million gallons were the two (of 3) shipments that

could have been used in CA.

So total exported was something like a third more.



Also (from the article):

"The 21 million gallons of diesel (is) equal to about

3 1/2 days of typical consumption in California".



Makes you wonder - why bother to ship a 3 1/2 day

supply out of the country - unless you want to drive

up prices?



It doesn't say how many days supply were on hand,

but if it really was "too much" - seems that would have

brought prices down! [And profits too!]



Chuckle about the CA high prices, but in short order

the oil companies across the US will point to the profits

in CA. . . . hey, we need to jack up prices in the other

states too!



Lastly - what really burned at the Chevron facility?

[Janitor supply room? Ladies restroom?]



The Oil Co folks could teach Ken Lay & Enron a lesson -

how to manipulate . . . and get away with it!

[Been doing that for years & years]

JC

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Too little crude - better raise prices!"



"Too MUCH crude - better raise prices!"



"I spotted a neat new yacht/mansion/private jet I'd sure like to buy - better raise prices!"



we've seen and heard them all!



Topped off tanks at local Leather's station here in John Day - $2. 75 a gallon...

 

[MBergman]

$2. 89 yesterday afternoon. Drove by the same station this morning and it was $2. 95 per gallon. Another station close to work was $3. 04. I should have filled up when it was $2. 69 last week, but the neighbor tore up the driveway last wednesday to fix a sewer pipe and I cant get the truck between the block wall and the canyon that was once my driveway. Stcck with the 8mpg gasser.



Marc

 

[catoiler]

Mobil station I saw today was 3. 29!4 miles away it was 2. 89.

 

[SpicyJam]

Good grief I thought 2. 27 was a lot, I really feel for you guys that are paying more. Although in WI it is 2. 57, I buy my fuel in MN. I can say it is the first time that unleaded gas is higher than diesel, in about a year... ...

 

[SMolteberg]

Why are you crying?

It's a bit odd that you all cry about fuelprices. Here in Norway it's fluctuates around $5-6 pr Gallon, for gas you can add 50 cents. Just read that gas made all time high today with $6,42! To top it Norway is one of the largest producers of oil. I think only Great Britain have higher fuel prices in the whole world. And I sold my old Mercedes 300TD Turbo that got around 30 mpg and got a truck that will do 20 mpg at the best.



US have been the biggest fuelconsumer for many years with a price way lower than the world market, you are just experiencing what the rest of the world have lived with for many, many years. The bad news it's going to last a looong time I fear, so if you have a hard time filling the tank today you should start looking for a smaller vehicle.



You can stop blaming the CEO's at the large companies also, the world market is way more complicated than a couple of shiploads that went on export. That didn't happened by mistake. The tanker market are more busy than ever and I'm pretty sure the charter are backed up for month's. You don't order a 250 000 tons tanker for loading tomorrow.



I remember my first trip to the states a few years ago where we rented a Lumina. the gas where $0. 98 in Dallas and we where looking forward to every fuel stop since we hadn't seen prices like that since the 70's in Norway.



I have a feeling I stirred up someting here, but it was just a report from outside your borders



Keep on rattling!

 

[TSpecht]

The problem with the prices at least in some European markets seems to be more a matter of excessive taxation rather than excessive market pricing, at least last I knew anyhow. Remember all the protests around the year 2000? Has anything honestly changed since then? I find it hard to believe politicians would be able to let go of that cash cow at least by much. It's unacceptable (IMO) to levy such an extreme tax on a product nearly everyone is forced to buy anyhow.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

It's a bit odd that you all cry about fuelprices. Here in Norway it's fluctuates around $5-6 pr Gallon, for gas you can add 50 cents. Just read that gas made all time high today with $6,42! To top it Norway is one of the largest producers of oil. I think only Great Britain have higher fuel prices in the whole world. And I sold my old Mercedes 300TD Turbo that got around 30 mpg and got a truck that will do 20 mpg at the best.



US have been the biggest fuelconsumer for many years with a price way lower than the world market, you are just experiencing what the rest of the world have lived with for many, many years. The bad news it's going to last a looong time I fear, so if you have a hard time filling the tank today you should start looking for a smaller vehicle.



You can stop blaming the CEO's at the large companies also, the world market is way more complicated than a couple of shiploads that went on export. That didn't happened by mistake. The tanker market are more busy than ever and I'm pretty sure the charter are backed up for month's. You don't order a 250 000 tons tanker for loading tomorrow.



I remember my first trip to the states a few years ago where we rented a Lumina. the gas where $0. 98 in Dallas and we where looking forward to every fuel stop since we hadn't seen prices like that since the 70's in Norway.



I have a feeling I stirred up someting here, but it was just a report from outside your borders



Keep on rattling!

Absolutely and totally Apples/Oranges!



You Europeans pay more for fuel for the SAME reason you pay more for cars, Levis and good whisky!



It has to do with arbitrary government regulations, taxation and infrastructure - and to even REMOTELY suggest that WE, here in the states should accept or embrace the same artificially inflated circumstances Europeans do, is pure



BS!

 

[catoiler]

Absolutely and totally Apples/Oranges!



You Europeans pay more for fuel for the SAME reason you pay more for cars, Levis and good whisky!



It has to do with arbitrary government regulations, taxation and infrastructure - and to even REMOTELY suggest that WE, here in the states should accept or embrace the same artificially inflated circumstances Europeans do, is pure



BS!

Atta boy Gary! :-laf

 

[Heavyweight]

I Second The "BS"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :{

 

[JoeyJ]

You guy's talking about Europe or CA?

When I moved here a few months back, I bent over and backed in for easier state access.

Shouldn't we get free suspension repairs here because of the state's inability to build roads you can drive on?

The 2 times we've had ground shakers here (earth quakes for my friends back in TN not my new girlfriend) I couldn't feel it cause I was driving on the 5 or the 405.

 

[KKohagen]

Answer to what burned in El Segundo, CA

Catoiler - The "Mexico" Mexicans are already taking it back . .



Lastly - what really burned at the Chevron facility?

[Janitor supply room? Ladies restroom?]



JC

The large 200,000 BPD Crude Unit. A resid (similar to asphalt) filter sprung a leak that was hard to isolate, eventually enough leaked out and, autoignition --- Fire. I was on vacation when it happened. It happened to be one of my regularly scheduled days and I would have had to respond to the fire had I not been there. Good sized fire. The unit is supposed to come back up this W/E. Then maybe we can get back to normal business of running the plants at full capacity. Cross your fingers that nothing else happens.

The same week as our fire there was another fire in Texas, at a BP refinery, the same one that 15 workers were killed at earlier this year. No word as of yet if anyone was hurt.

PS - I have a 30 second video of the fire if anyone would like to get it. It is about 4 MB. PM me and I will send it to you when I get a chance.

 

[SMolteberg]

As expected

Sorry for bringing the bad news guys, but don't shoot the messenger. I don't like the high fuelprices at all either, and I'm pretty sure your goverment don't dear to put more taxes on fuel. But your big oilcompanies lines their pockets instead. And don't tell me about our taxes on fuel over here, I know all about them Here in Norway 80% of the price is taxes But they actually dropped the taxes a few % some years ago. What I fear will keep the prices up for a long time is because of the booming economy in China. They have already drained the steelmarket where the steelprices are all time high. What will happened when the average Chinese park their bicycle and get a run down Toyota or most likely a Chinese copy of a Jeep? Then I guess the only solution to continue to drive a "gasguzzler" are to bomb them back to the stoneage? And the situation in the Middle-east is not helping much either.



I still like to drive my Ram though.

 

[evldsl]

I just paid $100. 00 for a 35 gallen fill up at chevron. That's 5 count them 5 $20. 00's. "OUCH".