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Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 4:56 pm
by Hawkeye
A gas station in the Northern California town of Mendocino is reportedly charging nearly $10 per gallon, making it the most expensive gas station in the country, as fuel prices continue to climb nationwide.

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As locan ABC affiliate KFSN-30 in Fresno, California, reported:

Schlafer’s Auto Repair is selling regular gas for $9.60 for a gallon.

But that’s not the worst part, if your car requires plus then you’ll have to shell out $9.69 and if you need supreme, well, get ready to pay $9.91 for just a gallon of gas.

According to GasBuddy, it’s the most expensive gas in the country.

That is far higher than the state average of $6.371 as of Tuesday, which is the highest in the country; nationwide, the average is $4.919, according to the American Automobile Association.

There are many reasons for the high price — such as the fact that Mendocino is fairly remote, and that California as a whole pays higher prices due to high taxes and a relative lack of refineries.

The owner, Judith Schlafer, explained further to SFGate.com:

Running a small town, independent gas station is “a real hard business,” said Schlafer. Because she buys in comparably small quantities compared to high-volume stations in the city or places like Costco and Safeway, the price she pays, she says, has gone “sky high.” For years, she said, she carried up to $80,000 in debt for the Chevron gasoline she was buying. “I said, ‘I can’t keep going like this.’” Now she prices it to pay for a truckload in 10 days.

Another contributor to the high costs, she says, is the fact that her station sells only gas and offers basic maintenance, like wiper replacements and brake light repairs. Other stations, she notes, have convenience stores. “It’s really hard up here to stay in business,” Schlafer said. “I don’t have a convenience store to mark up the food and the trinkets.” At one point, she said, she was offered the opportunity to attach a convenience store to the station, but it would have cost $100,000. She didn’t have it, she said.

She professed to be surprised that her gas station was the most expensive in the country, and said she could not afford to lower her price.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2022/ ... er-gallon/

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:09 pm
by Marcus
We recently and reluctantly gave up on a larger car that we originally acquired because it was extremely useful, versatile, and could tow various things. We are past most of that stage so it wasn’t prudent to keep the vehicle. In the tri-state area gas is over $5 a gallon.

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:12 pm
by Hawkeye
Marcus wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:09 pm
We recently and reluctantly gave up on a larger car that we originally acquired because it was extremely useful, versatile, and could tow various things. We are past most of that stage so it wasn’t prudent to keep the vehicle. In the tri-state area gas is over $5 a gallon.
Even if I went to riding a bicycle it's still got to drive up shipping costs for all the stuff I buy on Amazon these days.

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:16 pm
by Doctor CamNC4Me
From Reddit:
Dubb18 153 points 18 hours ago

To better educate people (a little) about what is actually going on in the energy sector...

The Dallas Federal Reserve took a survey of 132 small and large energy companies to see what is keeping them from growing production more than what they had already planned. See the following chart:

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surv ... 2201c5.png

59% said it was due to investor demands. Long story short, investors want to see a nice return on their investment. Yes, they rake in the cash when oil prices are high. To be "fair", they also take significant losses when oil drops below a certain point.

15% said they couldn't grow production more due to the lack of skilled labor and overall supply chain issues.

11% said social, governance, and environmental issues.

8% said lack of financing

6% said government regulation

There are other interesting facts gathered by the Dallas Federal Reserve if you want to take the time to educate yourself about other topics concerning the oil/gas sector during this global energy crisis.

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surv ... -questions

The whole, "Joe Biden" cut production since he entered office is BS. The US as a whole is producing about 11.7 million barrels per day, and is headed towards 12 million by the end of the year. Again to be "fair" to energy producers, it takes time turn a lease into a producing well. It can take years. Things fell off of a cliff during the pandemic. Having said that, many are in no hurry to drastically ramp up production. One CEO said he is relying on market correction to fix prices. That translates to global consumers chilling the f### out on gas consumption. If the global economy doesn't completely collapse, the US should be producing near pre-pandemic highs. Note that this doesn't take into account that there were some energy producers that ceased to exist during the early stages of the pandemic. Biden's push to find cleaner energy does play into how investors look at the sector over the long term. The global stance on wanting cleaner renewable fuel sources also does that. Refer to the following US production chart for full data:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafH ... RFPUS2&f=M

Refineries were also impacted by the pandemic as some closed permanently. Since there is a move to cleaner energy, maintaining, restarting, and building new refineries is not attractive in the long term towards investors. It's expensive to do so. They're seeing a nice profit during this period too. Refer to the following articles for details:

https://www.gulf-times.com/story/717142 ... ty-too-low

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-04-21/

Bottom line: In the short term we are seeing a major unsustainable global supply issue. In the broader term, we are seeing an exponentially increasing demand issue that needs to be addressed because that is also not a sustainable path.
Based on the above information, Ajax (wish the mods would enforce the ONE HANDLE RULE), what would you have Joe Biden do? The market is working as it should. Would you have the federal government interfere with the free market, which is the cornerstone of GOP policy and the American way?

- Doc

eta: I forgot about the grandfathering of multiple handles - Doc

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:19 pm
by Doctor Steuss
Marcus wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:09 pm
We recently and reluctantly gave up on a larger car that we originally acquired because it was extremely useful, versatile, and could tow various things. We are past most of that stage so it wasn’t prudent to keep the vehicle. In the tri-state area gas is over $5 a gallon.
I've had to abandon the comfort and back support of my truck and just toss back some extra Tylenol daily and drive our 4-cylindar car. Stopped for a soda this morning, and premium (cash price) was $6.19. With the truck, it was starting to cost almost $100 a week for me to drive. I'm sure a lot of the rural areas (especially those in mountainous regions) are going to be feeling the fiscal pain extra. I'm heading up to Bryce Canyon area in about a month, and I am bracing myself for the fill-up in Tropic, UT.

Between the drought, and gas, I'm wondering how many smaller farmers are going to be losing their livelihood in the coming months/years.

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:32 pm
by Res Ipsa
Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:16 pm
From Reddit:
Dubb18 153 points 18 hours ago

To better educate people (a little) about what is actually going on in the energy sector...

The Dallas Federal Reserve took a survey of 132 small and large energy companies to see what is keeping them from growing production more than what they had already planned. See the following chart:

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surv ... 2201c5.png

59% said it was due to investor demands. Long story short, investors want to see a nice return on their investment. Yes, they rake in the cash when oil prices are high. To be "fair", they also take significant losses when oil drops below a certain point.

15% said they couldn't grow production more due to the lack of skilled labor and overall supply chain issues.

11% said social, governance, and environmental issues.

8% said lack of financing

6% said government regulation

There are other interesting facts gathered by the Dallas Federal Reserve if you want to take the time to educate yourself about other topics concerning the oil/gas sector during this global energy crisis.

https://www.dallasfed.org/research/surv ... -questions

The whole, "Joe Biden" cut production since he entered office is BS. The US as a whole is producing about 11.7 million barrels per day, and is headed towards 12 million by the end of the year. Again to be "fair" to energy producers, it takes time turn a lease into a producing well. It can take years. Things fell off of a cliff during the pandemic. Having said that, many are in no hurry to drastically ramp up production. One CEO said he is relying on market correction to fix prices. That translates to global consumers chilling the f### out on gas consumption. If the global economy doesn't completely collapse, the US should be producing near pre-pandemic highs. Note that this doesn't take into account that there were some energy producers that ceased to exist during the early stages of the pandemic. Biden's push to find cleaner energy does play into how investors look at the sector over the long term. The global stance on wanting cleaner renewable fuel sources also does that. Refer to the following US production chart for full data:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafH ... RFPUS2&f=M

Refineries were also impacted by the pandemic as some closed permanently. Since there is a move to cleaner energy, maintaining, restarting, and building new refineries is not attractive in the long term towards investors. It's expensive to do so. They're seeing a nice profit during this period too. Refer to the following articles for details:

https://www.gulf-times.com/story/717142 ... ty-too-low

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 022-04-21/

Bottom line: In the short term we are seeing a major unsustainable global supply issue. In the broader term, we are seeing an exponentially increasing demand issue that needs to be addressed because that is also not a sustainable path.
Based on the above information, Ajax (wish the mods would enforce the ONE HANDLE RULE), what would you have Joe Biden do? The market is working as it should. Would you have the federal government interfere with the free market, which is the cornerstone of GOP policy and the American way?

- Doc
That squares with everything I've read about gas prices. The companies in the petroleum industry are profit maximizers and, for the larger companies, owe duties to their shareholders to make profits -- not to cut the price of gasoline. That's how economics works.

Pick up an introductory economics textbook and learn something, Ajax.

Oh, and Hawkeye is a grandfathered sock. Shades requested that people give those up, but didn't require it.

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:47 pm
by huckelberry
Marcus wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:09 pm
We recently and reluctantly gave up on a larger car that we originally acquired because it was extremely useful, versatile, and could tow various things. We are past most of that stage so it wasn’t prudent to keep the vehicle. In the tri-state area gas is over $5 a gallon.
checking wikapedia they list 24 different tristate areas. That preserves a bit of privacy for your comment.

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 6:09 pm
by Chap
huckelberry wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:47 pm
Oh, and Hawkeye is a grandfathered sock.
So Hawkeye is Ajax? Why does he bother with this silly dressing-up?

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 6:22 pm
by Res Ipsa
Chap wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 6:09 pm
huckelberry wrote:
Tue Jun 07, 2022 5:47 pm
Oh, and Hawkeye is a grandfathered sock.
So Hawkeye is Ajax? Why does he bother with this silly dressing-up?
I dunno. Hawkeye was one of Kevin's screen names on the old board. Ajax took it on this board to irritate Kevin, I assume. Now that Kevin is gone, who knows why?

Re: Gas goes to $9.45/gallon in Mendecino, CA

Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2022 6:26 pm
by Res Ipsa
Also, the cheapest gas in the U.S. today seems to be in Philadelphia: just over $3.50 a gallon.