Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    A Rapid Hike in Gas Prices Is Coming to a Pump Near You

    Patrick DeHaan is a senior analyst at gasbuddy.com.

    The largest refinery in Washington state caught fire late last week, a stark reminder of the possibilities that can play out as maintenance season approaches, and the shockwaves that such events can have on gasoline prices.

    The fire broke out after trading had largely concluded for the day--meaning the immediate response was not initially felt at the pump, although prices around the West Coast had already risen significantly in the course of the last week.

    When markets opened Tuesday, the response to the newly idled refinery were swift--spot prices climbed 10 cents in just a few moments time. By the time the day was over, spot prices on the West Coast had tacked on nearly 30 cents per gallon in most areas. The massive premium that came as a result of the fire is something motorists should prepare for--especially on the East Coast--as a significant chunk of refining capacity in the area is up for sale, and some of it already idled.

    [See a collection of political cartoons on gas prices.]

    Motorists are sure to notice the huge spike on the West Coast rather quickly--many already know prices rise much quicker than they fall. Gasoline prices across California could add 3-6 cents a day for the next several days. Prices in Washington state could also spike a similar amount.

    With spring well on its way and the shift towards summer gasoline already in motion in some areas of California, motorists shouldn't be surprised in how quickly gasoline prices will rise. Many will call on refineries to increase production--or even to build new facilities, something oil companies find next to impossible. One thing is for sure--however quickly prices rise this spring, politicians will surely make gasoline prices a political hot topic, and Americans may listen, even though refinery accidents and summer gasoline can't be stopped by such people in office.

    Be ready, motorists--a rapid rise in gasoline prices is coming soon to a pump near you.

    --Gregg Laskoski: East Coast Refineries Key to Managing Rising Gas Prices

    --See a collection of political cartoons on energy policy.

    --Follow the U.S. News On Energy blog on Twitter.

     

    20 comments

    • Mullitover  •  3 mths ago
      Let's all be civil. Quit buying Iranian gas. We have to do it ourselves. Take the bull by the horns!
      BUY AMERICAN GASOLINE. See list below.

      The Mid East is boycotting American products. In addition, they are gouging us on oil prices.
      Shouldn't we return the favor? We can take control of our own destiny and let these giant oil importers know who REALLY generates their profits, their livings! We have the power to bring them to reality. Let's leave American Dollars in America for awhile and reduce the import/export deficit.
      An appealing remedy might be to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up your car you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia, Iran ,Syria... Just purchase gas from companies that don't import their oil from the Mid East.
      Nothing is more frustrating to me than the feeling that every time I fill up my tank, I'm sending my money to people who I get the impression want me, my family and my friends dead. The following gas companies import Middle Eastern oil:

      Shell.................................... 205,742,000 barrels
      Texaco..................... 144,332,000 barrels
      Exxon /Mobil........................ 130,082,000 barrels
      Marathon/Speedway............. 117,740,000 barrels
      Amoco................................... 62,231,000 barrels
      And CITGO oil is imported from Venezuela by Dictator Hugo Chavez who hates America and openly avows our economic destruction! (We pay Chavez's regime nearly $10 Billion per year in oil revenues but I'd still rather buy gas from Chavez than support Mid-Easterners).

      The U.S. currently imports 5,517,000 barrels of crude oil per day from OPEC. If you do the math at $100 per barrel, that's over $550 million PER DAY ($200 BILLION per year!) handed over to OPEC, many of whose members are our confirmed enemies!!!!! It won't stop here - oil prices could go to $150 a barrel or higher if we keep buying their product.

      Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
      Sunoco..........................0 barrels
      Conoco.........................0 barrels
      0ASinclair......................0 barrels
      BP / Phillips................. 0 barrels
      Hess...............................0 barrels
      ARC0..............................0 barrels
      Maverick........................0 barrels
      Flying J.........................0 barrels
      Valero..........................0 barrels
      Murphy Oil USA *.........0 barrels
      *Sold at Wal-Mart , gas is from South Arkansas and fully USA owned and produced.
      *Not only that but they give scholarships to children in their town who finish high school and are legal US citizens..

      All of this information is available from the U.S. Department of Energy and each company is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.
      • The Big Show 3 mths ago
        the u.s. doesn't buy iranian oil
      • Dale 3 mths ago
        Ditto. A relative teaspoon of Iranian oil might go into a U.S. property. Indirectly.
      • L0L 3 mths ago
        We don't buy Iranian oil. That's the point of the sanctions. lol.
    • frank  •  3 mths ago
      Ban the oil speculators
      Arrest Soros
    • Carrie White  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  3 mths ago
      Mexican bananas give me gas.
    • OL SCRUFFY TOLD YA SO  •  3 mths ago
      But 0bama is preparing us for this by keeping the Bush tax cuts.
    • Wayne Gary  •  Bentonville, Arkansas  •  3 mths ago
      FACT CHECK: Within 24 hours from the time Obama and the Democrats rejected the Keystone pipeline jobs Bill; gas prices jumped 30 cents per gallon, and since that time they have jumped another 40 cents. Mr. Obama, you can't run from this one, you own the dramatic rise in food and gas prices! Now, go spend another 5 trillion of our tax revenue for the benefit of your wealthy left wing cronies and public Unions, and you will make a bigger mess than you already have! If you vote for a Democrat, you are a traitor to the constitution, your fellow countryman and you sure the HELL aren't a Christian!
    • frank  •  3 mths ago
      Hate oil policies are working
    • Neophyte  •  3 mths ago
      If we didn't export all our national oil, we would have more than enough for US citizens, and gas would be below $2/gallon. Why isn't THAT a solution? Oh, right...because the ones in charge of our country aren't forced to change their eating habits to compensate for gas prices. They aren't the ones who are going to fight in an Iran war.
      • Jumper 3 mths ago
        Neo, be sure you're talking about the right kind of oil. Just because we have oil, doesn't mean we can use it in cars. I mean this in all sincerity, and am not trying to be trollish or insulting, but some oil cannot be refined into what will be gasoline, rather into other petroleum products.
      • Anthony 3 mths ago
        Jumper, the oil that is refined is refined into gasoline. A much higher grade gasoline than the stuff we import. Its just that the oil company's can make more money off of it in other markets than ours. Corporations have no national loyalty, only money.
    • Josie Buchanan  •  3 mths ago
      Can you say GAS STRIKE ? There is NO reason for gasoline to be the price it is at the pumps today. Consumers are given "reasons" most of them false for the high price of gasoline when it really comes down to profit margins. Refineries should be inspected more often and the price of gasoline regulated. Even better is to explore alternative forms of energy for our cars and trucks. We have in the past but most of them were shelved because of Big Oil respresenatives in washington. The only reason gas prices are this high is because we swallow every "story" we are fed and believe it to be gospel truth. Wake up folks and smell the petrol.
    • Wayne Gary  •  Bentonville, Arkansas  •  3 mths ago
      MR. OBAMA, GASOLINE PER GALLON HAS DOUBLED SINCE YOU GRABBED THE WHEEL AND WENT ON YOUR JIHAD DESTRUCTION JOYRIDE! All bipartisan economists and analysts agree; the Keystone pipeline project will result directly and indirectly in over a hundred thousand new jobs, and much lower gas prices. Many Union jobs at that! So why does Obama and the Democrats oppose another true jobs Bill, and lower gas prices? Harry Reid has over twenty job Bill's on his desk that he has refused to act on. Obama has said more than once he will focus like a laser on creating jobs. Haha, maybe he should stop staring stupid, and commit to real action! In reality, for campaign donations and power, Obama is appealing to a group of select, super wealthy, left wing, flat earther, environmentalist nut cases who can easily afford 100.00 dollars for a gallon of gasoline, and who one day want to assign a carbon foot print to every person on the planet, for their own power, political and financial gain. While they travel around the earth in mass fuel consuming jets, eating caviar, tofu, garbanzo beans, brussel sprouts, and belching and emitting enough gas from their bodily orifices to leave a carbon foot print bigger than Obama's ego and Al Gore's mouth. This while they expect the peasants to re-enter the dark ages; and do their laundry on a rock by a lake, ride bicycles made of hemp, and live underground like moles etc. Unless you want to see unemployment and under-employment continue to rise, wages stagnate and/or drop, gas at least 10.00 dollars per gallon in less than 4 years, and food prices continue upward; YOU WILL VOTE OUT OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS IN 2012.
    • Michael  •  Madison, Indiana  •  3 mths ago
      what would happen if the head of the government actually did something like this: declare a temporary fuel emergency and immediately suspend ALL futures trading on vehicle and heating fuels....then we would pay actual cost plus reasonable mark-up....WOW supply and demand complimented by real competition!!! WOW...everybody wins except for the traders...and i think they have made enough off of us for a while!!
      how bout it OB? lets see if ya got the guts to really do something good for the country....
      • frank 3 mths ago
        Obama should arrest Soros, yes
    • Jeff Brine  •  3 mths ago
      Time to put a wood burner in the basement at least I will save on heating my home!
    • Kascha_Kwan  •  Atlantic City, New Jersey  •  3 mths ago
      If you can't beat 'em join 'em . I bought shares in Exxon-Mobil after the market crash in 2008 . Now I'm laughing all the way to the pump !
    • ozymandias  •  3 mths ago
      Iran is making more money than ever. Thank Obama.
    • Wayne  •  Dallas, Texas  •  3 mths ago
      They want to spend $500 billion on a pipeline, but won't build a refinery. So the pipeline will only be for exporting oil. Nothing new here. Big oil wins, we loose.......
      • ozymandias 3 mths ago
        Refiners have been regulated out of practicality. Give an exemption to the regulations and you're in.
      • Josie Buchanan 3 mths ago
        regulations are necessary to ensure safe working conditions and that the refineries are kept in good condition for the enviroment. There are some regulations that should be abolished but safety issues should stay.
      • Wayne 3 mths ago
        Sorry, I disagree. Regulations and safety have not stopped big oil from building new refinerys. They make more money exporting our oil than they do selling it in the USA. Crude oil is backed up in Oklahoma because the refinerys cannot process it fast enough. There is so much oil coming out of the Dakota's there is no place to store it until our 40 year old refineries get around to it. Instead of a pipeline to the gulf coast so we can export it, why don't they build a refinery in the midwest and keep it here? GREED is the answer to that.....
    • Anthony  •  3 mths ago
      What a bunch of crap. The oil that is refined in the U.S. is exported. These oil company's will use any excuse to jack up prices. Welcome to peek oil, can't wait till its gone.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  3 mths ago
      I told my friends right after Christmas to start a gas fund, put some money aside just in case. They laughed, said I was a bit obsessed. They're not laughing now.

      Oh and stocking the pantry ? Yeah, they thought that was funny too. NOT !
    • Louis  •  Los Angeles, California  •  3 mths ago
      advantage here in Southern California is less drunk/hit/run MEXICAN drivers scooting back to Tijuana after a wreck.
    • Knuckle_draggin_goon  •  3 mths ago
      Its coming REAL SOON. Where I live gas went up 50 cents over the course of today.
      Looks like obammy is gettin what he wanted.
      Hopefully he is gone after the election.
      • Rick 3 mths ago
        Obama is bending us all over and giving it to us without lube again!
    • Notyergrannyspancakes  •  3 mths ago
      Remember when people #$%$ bricks back in the mid 70's when gas went from 25 cents to 40 cents a gallon? Not to worry---the Repoobs will fix everything for us. They always do.
    • Drew  •  Grand Rapids, Michigan  •  3 mths ago
      So thats why gas went up 80 cents! Such #$%$ gas is not that expensive. But the world just keeps increasing prices. It's a money maker for sure.
    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]
    Loading...