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I've been told that the gas in the north comes from northern refineries, while the gas in the southern part of WV comes from the gulf. Or rather doesn't come from the gulf after a hurricane. So how's the availability?
Is there a gas-o-line across the middle of the state where it's plentiful above but scarce below?
Doesn't answer your question. I use this website to find local prices . . also to monitor California gas prices, they're higher, but we're usually not far behind them.
There's no magic dividing line, and where your gas comes from can vary, depending on conditions.
Gasoline is shipped via pipelines from the Gulf, the Great Lakes, the East Coast, and wherever refineries are located, to terminals that serve your area. Like the road system, there's a degree of flexibility built in. If a refinery in the Great Lakes, for example, is offline due to maintenance, more gasoline will be shipped from some other area. The oil companies try to get the supplies to your local terminal via the least expensive method, using a mathematical technique called linear programming.
If there are long term outages in the Gulf, I would expect the oil companies to redirect shipments from other areas into regions served by the Gulf refineries. So far, I haven't heard anything about how much damage has been done to the wells or refineries in the Houston area.
Oil and its constituents are commodity items, and to the extent there's a shortfall, I would expect prices to rise. Interestingly, the price of home heating oil is now at its lowest since last March, and did not spike on Friday, even when it was clear that Ike was headed straight at the Houston area.
Well the terminals in my town (knoxville) are bone dry and spiking through the roof. Fortunately my gas tank is full so I have enough fuel to get to your fair state, just want some reassurance there'll be enough to get home.
A refinery in Ashland, who knew? Does the oil come in by barge or pipeline or is it home grown?
Thanks for the links r601, it does indicate that gas is 50c higher in Martinsburg than Princeton, for example.
The refinery at Ashland uses only domestic regional oil stocks....was going to be scrapped...refurbished instead and has made BP, Marathon billions...by rights, should be almost at the $2.75 old days level, but its about making the money...buy some of their stock...will only get better...
Crude went under $100...prices are inflated...
Last edited by David Kennedy; 09-13-2008 at 06:23 PM..
Relative in Virginia Beach, VA area says ditto "out of gas" signs. Relative in Orlando says ditto "out of gas" signs.
Fill-up in Virginia along I-81 around Wytheville before coming here, it's cheaper gas. West Virginia has higher taxes on gas than Virginia, 49.9 vs. 38.0 cents per gallon. We jumped .20 cents, to $4.05 in Charleston this morning.
Refineries along the upper Texas Gulf Coast account for about one-fifth (20%) of the nation's refining capacity. AAA says it's a short-term supply problem, coupled with people making a run on gas, created problems, and the refineries won't be able to be assessed until Ike is out of the way -- tomorrow.
..And the media and politicians will sell you on the notion that the current price is tied to output and our usage. Hasn't gotten much press, but the dollar is on the rise. That's really what drives the price of oil we see everyday. Dollar closed at it's highest level in 5 months...and now oil is the lowest it's been in 5 months.
Gas companies have no reason to lower the price at the pump. They jammed us for months, and we didn't balk at the price. They know we'll pay it,and we're too inept as a society to organize against them.
The refinery at Ashland uses only domestic regional oil stocks....was going to be scrapped...refurbished instead and has made BP, Marathon billions...by rights, should be almost at the $2.75 old days level, but its about making the money...buy some of their stock...will only get better...
Crude went under $100...prices are inflated...
While I agree prices are inflated, the rise isn't because oil has dropped... the price of oil, in this instance, has little to do with the price. Refineries, where crude oil is processed and turned into various things such as diesel, gasoline, toueline (sp?), etc. have been affected by Ike. So, while the supply of crude has gone up (since demand has gone down), the supply of gasoline (because of the refineries) has gone down, causing the price to increase.
However, the price shouldn't have increased as much as it has in some parts of the country.
Oh well, here in Washington State we haven't been affected at all. Gas has actually gone down a little bit in the past few days.
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