AgentOrange's blog

Recently, an estranged relative (emphasis on “strange”) suggested shipping "Georgia," my 1966 Oldsmobile to Europe for some high-speed touring, and then eventually selling the vehicle at a profit as an exotic American muscle car.  It's a bizarre idea, and I was a bit leery of it for several reasons. 

Reports of a problem at a Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit at Arco/British Petroleum's massive refinery in Carson could make for jumps at local pumps this weekend. As of this morning prices charged to some retailers jumped as much as 8¢ a gallon on news that Arco was having problems. Arco's FCC unit went down at a time when British Petroleum is trying to divest itself of Arco refineries and gas stations. Most troubling is that fact that mid-September should be a season of steadily declining gas prices.

Did your car run out of gas and require a tow because the local gas pumps weren't working?  Did all the food in your refrigerator spoil?  Most homeowner insurance policies have a $1,000 deductible, but if you experienced blackout related damages, you may be able to get reimbursed for your losses by SDG&E. Details are at UCAN.

Gas prices in San Diego have surged upward, moving up 12.3¢ over the weekend at a rate of more than three cents a day.  This is a major move by anyone's standard, and to the best of our knowledge the fastest and most aggressive 4-day price hike in the 13-year history of the UCAN.org Gas Project.  The average prices below were recorded very early Monday morning. They have gone up since then.  Our analysis of wholesale prices strongly suggests that gas prices could easily climb another 7¢ by Thursday afternoon.

Normally gas prices come into the New Year like a lamb and then roar like a lion in May. Not this year.   In 2011, they're roaring out of the gate with a two-year record high.

Gas prices in Southern California reached a 25 month high this morning after surging nearly a nickel over the weekend. The last time gasoline cost this much in California was on October 22, 2008 when oil cost less
than $70 a barrel ($1.60 a gallon)

Oil is currently selling at $89.04 a barrel on the NYMEX (2.12 a gallon), the highest price for oil since Since May, 2010, when oil closed at $94 a barrel, or $2.23 a gallon. At that time the average price of gasoline in Southern California was $3.11 a gallon. Regional tables showing price movements in the last week below.

x~~~~x~~~~x~~-~ BEGIN San Diego  1:02 PM October 14, 2010 ~~x~~~~x~~~~~-~~~x~~~-~
x~~-~~x~-~~x~~~~~x~~-~~x~~-~~~x~~-~~x~-~~x~~~~~x~~~~~~x~~-~~~x~~~-~~x~
                              
              When Indies can't compete, the majors  cheat.