"This does not make them evil. It just makes them greedy."
#1
West coast oil prices in the news: http://blog.oregonlive.com/commuting/201...ces_c.html

Report raises suspicions of market rigging

[Image: gaspriceschartpng-4c7cc5a7ec266457.png]

Excerpt: "...Robert McCullough, the Portland analyst who helped topple predatory electricity traders with energy giant Enron a decade ago, has issued a report arguing that gasoline prices should have never reached this spring's dizzying, budget-draining heights.
Oil refinery operators intentionally created a supply shortage in order to charge motorists inflated prices, he contends.

In fact, according to his latest report, (PDF) the companies' apparent manipulation of West Coast markets added up to a windfall of $48 million a day.

In the past week, a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Oregon has dropped from $4.23 to $4.10. In Washington, it slid 12 cents, from $4.26 to $4.14.

It was the first significant relief for Northwest drivers in two months.

However, McCullough's research into supply costs shows Oregon and Washington gas prices should have fallen to $3.51 per gallon.

The national average has been sliding for weeks, dropping another 3 cents to $3.54 in the past week.

A sudden West Coast price shift "provided a significant windfall" for refineries and retailers, the report states. Actual pump prices in the region are nearly 80 cents a gallon higher than what would have been expected given crude oil prices, the research shows.

"This translates into a windfall profit for suppliers of $48 million dollars a day," the study says.

Based on McCollough's research, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., has called for a federal investigation.

Cantwell follows Rep. DeFazio, D-Ore., who called for an investigation on May 17 and followed up with President Barack Obama on June 1, saying the run-up in prices was "very suspicious at best."

McCullough Research's report further contends that oil companies used a refinery fire and suspicious delays in routine maintenance to withhold supply, inflate prices and define it as "inevitable."

..."Consumers in the Northwest are clearly victims of what looks like misbehavior," McCullough said in a phone interview.

"Normally," he said, "you'd think competitors would step up production to take advantage of what's happening on the market. But the refinery companies know that the West Coast is a gasoline island."

Since there is little shipping of gasoline between the West Coast and the rest of the country, the region is a "highly monopolized market" where economic theory is turned on its head with fuel supplies, McCullough said.

"If they are going to collude together, (the refinery companies) don't even need to call each other – they just look at the math and the market," he said. "This does not not make them evil. It just makes them greedy."
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