SANTA MONICA, Calif.,
Sept. 3, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- A new analysis by Consumer Watchdog shows Californians have paid
$5.3 billion extra for their gasoline
due to the higher amount Californians are charged than the rest of
the nation since February. As Labor
Day weekend approaches, Californians are paying 88 cents more than the national average.
The analysis shows Californians paid $900
million more for their gasoline than typical Americans in
August alone. The analysis uses California consumption and both US &
California gas prices, deducting
California's marginally higher
taxes.
"The historic Golden State gouge continues to grow and drivers
continue to pump up record profits for California refiners that are shorting the
market through exports and outages," said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog.
"California oil refiners
profiteering has cost each California driver $220 since February."
Persistent low gasoline inventories maintained by the state's
largest refiners has led to a record price spike that saw
Californian's paying as much as $1.30
more than the national average this Spring. Refiners in the state
continue to export refined products from California, despite the continuing
shortage. The supply problems worsened since refinery outages
began in February. They were exacerbated by record exports in
December of 2014, when refiners exported more gasoline from the
West Coast to foreign nations than ever in history.
Exports
Consumer Watchdog's review of industry data also shows that
during the last week six tankers are or have loaded up to 2 days of
Californians' petroleum supplies at California refineries for foreign export. The
capacity of the ships, which are carrying California refined products as opposed to
crude oil, totals over 80 million gallons, which is two days of the
state's fragile gasoline supply.
Consumer Watchdog questioned why refiners would be exporting
product when California Energy Commission data on stocks shows that
inventory of gasoline in the state is teetering on the bottom of a
supply crisis.
"When Californians' gasoline supplies are almost on empty, no
ship should be leaving a California refinery with products we need,"
said Cody Rosenfield, researcher at
Consumer Watchdog.
The ships, which fly flags from Malta, the Bahamas, Singapore, China, and Denmark, are the latest fleet to export
much-needed petroleum products from California.
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visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/labor-day-ca-gouging-gap-at-pump-rises-to-53-billion-since-february-oil-refiners-exporting-amid-gasoline-supply-shortage-says-consumer-watchdog-300137849.html
SOURCE Consumer Watchdog