On Feb 23, 7:37�am, "Bryan" wrote:
The news ticker tape just said that Bay Area (San Francisco) gas prices are
expected to increase by 40 cents per gallon over the next two weeks! *What's
the explanation for that? *Anyone know some facts?

When pressed for reasons, the only people in a position to know why
the prices of refined products fluctuate as they do (the oil companies
and their spokesmen) will always cite "supply and demand".

In a free market, that means the price will go up until overall
profits are suppressed by a decrease in demand. So far, regardless of
the price, we have
demonstrated that we will continue to demand as much as the refiners
choose to supply. With the passage of winter, there is less need to
keep prices down and avoid the political drama of "freezing granny out
of her house and home", and it's back to sock-it-to-us time for
discretionary uses like boating and vacation driving. The current
stock values of Big Oil are based on last year's record profits (Exxon
netted over $4 million an hour, 24/365) and unless investors can be
assured that such profits are sustainable the stock prices will fall.

But heck, where in the Bill of Rights does it say that we're entitled
to cheap gasoline and diesel? Given the same corner on the market and
the control of the entire chain of distribution from extracting raw
materials to retailing finished products that a handful of oil
companies enjoy, darn few people would be able to say that they
wouldn't do *exactly* the same thing that Big Oil has done the last
couple of years.

Expect another ugly year at the fuel dock, but the good news is that
it won't seem quite so bad as before because we're all becoming
accustomed to paying 50-cents a pint. :-)