Report suggests West Coast gas price manipulation
Nov 15, 2012, 8:04 AM | Updated: 10:12 am
New research concludes some West Coast refineries were up and running during claimed shutdowns this year. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
Rising gasoline prices are often blamed on refinery closures. But new research concludes some West Coast refineries were up and running during claimed shutdowns this year.
An Oregon-based research company, McCullough Research, claims gasoline inventories were rising in May when West Coast gas prices jumped 50 cents a gallon above the national average.
McClatchey Newspapers reports on the findings ahead of a formal presentation at a hearing Thursday in California before the state Senate Select Committee on Bay Area Transportation.
Data collected from government agencies showed that a Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif. never stopped operations at a time when it was supposedly down for maintenance for two weeks.
The research company said a price spike in October, that mostly affected California, drove gasoline prices 66 cents above the national average, based on historical gas price data.
Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is demanding the Obama administration and the Justice Department investigate individual refineries.
The data in the report was not shared with the Western States Petroleum Association. But a spokesman for the organization of West Coast refiners said every investigation had concluded that gas price spikes are a function of supply and demand, not market manipulation.
