Az gasoline prices?

[recycled]

Pima County (Tucson) and the surrounding area get refined gasoline and diesel from pipelines connected from several large refineries in West Texas and New Mexico. The oil is from the vast Permian basin oil fields in those two states, and is the cheapest priced crude oil available in the USA. Therefore, the price per gallon of the refined gasoline or diesel from the pipelines from the Texas and New Mexico refineries that connect to Tucson is going to be much lower than the price of gasoline that is shipped by pipeline from refineries in southern California to Maricopa County (Phoenix) and the counties north, west and east of there.

It is not a vast conspiracy. It is market forces, and the additional cost that refineries in California have to pay for crude oil. 35-40 percent of the crude oil refined in CA comes from oil fields in CA. 10-15 percent comes from the Alaska North Slope, via AK pipeline and tankers to the refineries near Torrance and Long Beach. Almost half is imported on tankers from far corners of the globe, but 3 of the biggest sources are Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Colombia. Without even looking at Google, I can guess that running a refinery in California is also going to be more expensive than running a refinery in West Texas or Eastern New Mexico. So all these additional transportation costs, combined with the higher cost of oil from foreign sources (compared to Permian Basin of TX & NM) explain why Maricopa County and the rest of middle and northern AZ have fuel prices that are 30 to 50 cents per gallon more than Pima County and southern AZ.

[Adamson865]

Prices are still dribbling downward bit by bit... $2.09 at Costco in Tucson this morning, and there are some places in town now in the 2-teens.

[ShampooBanana]

Originally Posted by recycled

Pima County (Tucson) and the surrounding area get refined gasoline and diesel from pipelines connected from several large refineries in West Texas and New Mexico. The oil is from the vast Permian basin oil fields in those two states, and is the cheapest priced crude oil available in the USA. Therefore, the price per gallon of the refined gasoline or diesel from the pipelines from the Texas and New Mexico refineries that connect to Tucson is going to be much lower than the price of gasoline that is shipped by pipeline from refineries in southern California to Maricopa County (Phoenix) and the counties north, west and east of there.

It is not a vast conspiracy. It is market forces, and the additional cost that refineries in California have to pay for crude oil. 35-40 percent of the crude oil refined in CA comes from oil fields in CA. 10-15 percent comes from the Alaska North Slope, via AK pipeline and tankers to the refineries near Torrance and Long Beach. Almost half is imported on tankers from far corners of the globe, but 3 of the biggest sources are Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Colombia. Without even looking at Google, I can guess that running a refinery in California is also going to be more expensive than running a refinery in West Texas or Eastern New Mexico. So all these additional transportation costs, combined with the higher cost of oil from foreign sources (compared to Permian Basin of TX & NM) explain why Maricopa County and the rest of middle and northern AZ have fuel prices that are 30 to 50 cents per gallon more than Pima County and southern AZ.

Good stuff. Was not aware of the difference in where the oil comes from between the two metros.