Fuel Shortages in California ??

[Reynod]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-08/california-facing-5-gasoline-stirs-brown-to-relax-rules.html

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

We are producing more oil than ever before, we have fewer people working since the 70s, our economy and oil usage is way way down, and heres Californika short on oil.
Obama says we cant drill our way out, we need more regulations, looks like CaliforniCA is listening

PS
Because of all the taxation and regulations, Texas is streaming jobs from Cali, now theyll have to stream some oil to them too

 

[riser]

The problem is that California requires a specific type of gasoline. Oil companies do not make money on gasoline. They only produce so much of each type. Cali's restrictions make this difficult for the oil companies to produce that special blend; the laws of California are the reason for the shortage.

While I don't disagree that California law and wanting specific fuel blends, business is business and with their own laws they brought forth this issue.

 

[dogman_1234]

There is a federal probe on the way...just to tell you...

 

[johnsonma]

The problem is that California requires a specific type of gasoline. Oil companies do not make money on gasoline. They only produce so much of each type. Cali's restrictions make this difficult for the oil companies to produce that special blend; the laws of California are the reason for the shortage.

While I don't disagree that California law and wanting specific fuel blends, business is business and with their own laws they brought forth this issue.

They were also in the process of switching to their "winter blend" and didn't want to be stuck with a large amount of the other blend in their inventory leading to an even higher shortage.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Yes, and if there were another refinery in operation to compensate for that seasonal change or the "winter blend" as you say, would there be a shortage?

I even heard a newscaster blame it on the geographic isolation of California. 😱

The latter has often been used as the ruse to pass regulations and dupe the public for higher taxes as well.
All the experiments going on in Cali, Im sure Mr BO is jealous

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-paul-otellini-california,18147.html
"I was born and raised here. I’m fifth or sixth generation. It’s one of the nicest pieces of real estate on the planet, and we’re so close to screwing it up, it’s pathetic," Otellini was quoted saying by the Wall Street Journal. "I’d like to be bullish, but I worry that we have to hit the abyss before we can fix things, and I worry that the abyss will be more like Greece." He mainly complained about the enormous housing cost, and high tax rates as well as traffic that is testing the patience of Californians every day.

On California's financial system he noted that "every now and then we get an IPO that fills the state’s coffers and they feel they can push the ball down the road. I feel we have to go through a dark time to fix this." A dark time would be about as bad as a crisis as we see today in Greece, he said.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Now, one can argue posters here on Toms, or Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan are just saying this to get elected, and we here are towing the party line, but please explain how Mr Otellini sees these same things, and then denegrate his POV?

 

[johnsonma]

Yes, and if there were another refinery in operation to compensate for that seasonal change or the "winter blend" as you say, would there be a shortage?

I even heard a newscaster blame it on the geographic isolation of California. 😱

From what I read there is always an uptick this time of the year, sometimes its pretty bad. With the refineries going down on top of the transition it created a perfect storm. Still their fault though, not saying that its acceptable or anything.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Permitting Issues. It is unlikely that new refineries will be built in California. In fact, from 1985 to 1995, 10 California refineries closed, resulting in a 20 percent reduction in refining capacity. Further refinery closures are expected for small refineries with capacities of less than 50,000 barrels per day. The cost of complying with environmental regulations and low product prices will continue to make it difficult to continue operating older, less efficient refineries.

To comply with federal and state regulations, California refiners invested approximately $5.8 billion to upgrade their facilities to produce cleaner fuels, including reformulated gasoline and low-sulfur diesel fuel. These upgrades received permits since low-sulfur diesel fuel regulations went into effect in 1993. Requirements to produce federal reformulated gasoline took effect at the beginning of 1995, and more stringent state requirements for CARB reformulated gasoline went into effect statewide on April 1, 1996. That requirement was removed by Governor Gray Davis when it was found that the oxygenate, methyl tertiary butyl-ether or MTBE, was leaking from some underground storage tanks and polluting water supplies. MTBE was phased out and removed as of December 31, 2003, and replaced by ethanol.

http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/petroleum/refineries.html

This is the governments side, knowing their dilemma.
Look no further than regulations and ethanol

 

[MU_Engineer]

California is so far out in left field with their regulations and this big prolonged recession has made the consequences of their regulatory regime very apparent even to those who are attempting to deny it. You can do very stupid things and be okay if you are rolling in the dough or still have daylight between your credit card balance and the credit limit. But once the money dries up and the card maxes out you are in a world of hurt. That is what is happening to California right now- they are in massive debt, tax revenue is way down because the economy sucks (due to their regulation driving businesses out of the state, and the recession) and they can't borrow any more. I sure hope we don't have to bail them out because you KNOW that's what they are fishing for. Let them have to go through the tough process of fixing their problems and let that be a sign to all of the rest of the similar states that are heading down the same path as California such as Illinois and New York.

They were also in the process of switching to their "winter blend" and didn't want to be stuck with a large amount of the other blend in their inventory leading to an even higher shortage.

If they have any summer blend gas left over, I will take it off their hands free of charge. 😀