Post by Logan on Feb 9, 2016 1:02:32 GMT -6
Oil firms kept state’s gas supply tight to hike price, group says
A consumer group on Monday accused America’s two largest oil companies — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. — of deliberately starving California’s gasoline market of supplies last year in a bid to push up prices.
And according to Consumer Watchdog, the effort worked.
Several times last year, gasoline in California cost $1 more per gallon than it did in the rest of the United States. Although California typically has some of America’s priciest gas, the difference is usually closer to 30 or 35 cents.
Both companies denied the group’s accusations.
An explosion last February crippled a large Exxon refinery in Los Angeles County, prompting a sudden jump in prices. But Exxon largely refrained from importing shipments of gasoline to make up for the Torrance refinery’s lost production, even as prices rose. Instead, the amount of gas Exxon imported into California for the rest of 2015 equaled just three days of the damaged refinery’s normal output, according to a report Consumer Watchdog issued Monday.
Read more: www.sfgate.com/business/article/Oil-firms-kept-state-s-gas-supply-tight-to-hike-6816376.php
A consumer group on Monday accused America’s two largest oil companies — Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. — of deliberately starving California’s gasoline market of supplies last year in a bid to push up prices.
And according to Consumer Watchdog, the effort worked.
Several times last year, gasoline in California cost $1 more per gallon than it did in the rest of the United States. Although California typically has some of America’s priciest gas, the difference is usually closer to 30 or 35 cents.
Both companies denied the group’s accusations.
An explosion last February crippled a large Exxon refinery in Los Angeles County, prompting a sudden jump in prices. But Exxon largely refrained from importing shipments of gasoline to make up for the Torrance refinery’s lost production, even as prices rose. Instead, the amount of gas Exxon imported into California for the rest of 2015 equaled just three days of the damaged refinery’s normal output, according to a report Consumer Watchdog issued Monday.
Read more: www.sfgate.com/business/article/Oil-firms-kept-state-s-gas-supply-tight-to-hike-6816376.php