House of Paine

cal state:'s gas staions of the double cross

 "diversity is god's grace  ..."

yes indeed .....

take  commodity markets 
 
 there are
              markets 
          and there are   markets
            
       they come in many shapes sizes
                        and 
                    intrinsic behaviours 
     
yes indeed......

              and then 
                   there are   .....

                                    rigged up  rackets ....


=======================================


"
  California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer
 has spent years examining 
the inner workings 
of California's fuel business 
and thinks he's found 
a partial solution 
to expensive gasoline:
 Every time he starts up 
his hybrid Toyota Prius
 he figures he's conserving..."

--------- 
even after Enron and friends' 
                    N billion dollar  
                              RIP AND RUN 
    this pointy head
   eclair spined nimbus

             sez 
        that type of jerry brown circa 74
                  penny full of piss shit ......

  don't that just top it all off ? -------------------


" because of a series 
of actions by regulators
and  oil companies
   Step by step 
over the last decade 
— starting with  oil company mergers
 the Golden State's fuel business 
has been transformed 
into a kind of dream market 
for oil refiners"

----------- nice sum up -----------------


--------- to deal with the supply squeeze
  of course
  you have yer usual 
upper middle 
         lower-self mutilators ------------- 

"If we were smart about this,
 we would increase the gas tax substantially
 — that would reduce demand 
and get us back to a point at least 
for a while where we were able 
to supply our own needs for California,"
( Severin Borenstein,
 director of the University of California 
Energy Institute in Berkeley) "

----------------------------------------

----- but what of capacity ? 
since ...-----------------


"  Few refineries 
outside the state 
are capable of producing California gas"

-------and we're led to believe ...-----------
" A minor disruption
 at one of California's 
13 gasoline-making refineries 
could immediately increase prices
 and a serious one could send
 gas costs through the roof"


----so lets increase refining capacity 
                          right ?

                                wrong --------------

  "There hasn't been a new U.S. refinery
 built in 29 years,"


---------- why ?
 no good reason technically --------------

despite 
"The conventional wisdom 
 that California's 
13 gasoline-producing refineries 
produce almost their maximum amount
 of gasoline with limited prospects 
for major expansion
  a new report 
from the California Energy Commission
 concluded that California's refineries
 could produce more...

'The ability to match 
or exceed future growth 
in clean-fuels demand 
is there......'   "


-------------------------------------
----------- then whats up ?

            profits  of course ------------------


-- -------mission -----------

•  Limit prices
 and therefore  profits 
or otherwise regulate market activity....."


---------- a shining shot in the dark .....--------

" On Sept. 1, the nation's only cap 
on wholesale gasoline prices 
will be launched in Hawaii,
 an isolated market
where gas often costs more than anywhere else 
in the United States.

( last week 
Hawaii's average retail price 
for a gallon of self-serve regular
 was $2.54 on Friday,
 compared with $2.37 in California)


Under the new  law 
Hawaii's Public Utilities Commission 
will set a maximum wholesale price
 based on weekly spot-market averages 
in Los Angeles,
 New York and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Although the law
 doesn't limit retail prices
 it's intended to keep a lid 
on what's charged at the pump 
while ensuring the oil industry
 a limited  profit  ..."



----------- so whats the cal refiners 
   bottom line now ?

who the fuck knows ----------------- 


" Shames of the Utility Consumers' Action Network 
has called on Schwarzenegger
 to require oil companies
 to disclose the quarterly profit margins
 for each of their California operations
 Then the state should consider
 imposing a tax on earnings 
that exceed a five-year average 
for each company"

---------------and ...----------

" In addition
 there have been various efforts 
to boost competition 
in the market...."


------------- ta ta taaaah --------------

"Under an Assembly bill
  California refiners would  be required
 to allow their dealers 
to buy generic gasoline 
from any supplier
 and pay the oil companies
 separately for the additives 
that make each brand 
of fuel different.

Currently, dealers who sell Chevron-branded gasoline,
 for example,
 must buy their supplies 
from Chevron at prices set by Chevron.

 California's service stations are branded
 — and thus bound by contracts with refiners 
— the system keeps dealers from getting 
the best deal on fuel 
and allows oil companies 
to control pump prices 
without owning the stations. 


Others have suggested laws 
that would prohibit refining companies
 from owning and operating 
gas stations in California 
or from using "zone pricing,"
 a practice in which refiners
 charge different wholesale prices 
to gas stations 
in neighboring areas 
using complex and secret formulas.





------------- fine  fine gesturing eh?

   drafting  populist
    plans- mart solutions 
          
           albeit 

 still
           in a grub state ----------------

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