Good choice of a link. I think there's some basis in fact regarding the special circumstances they spoke of, plus special CA blends, etc., but I suspect that the various oil companies exaggerate the impact of those issues to inflate prices. It's curious that the rate hikes always seem to happen at the same times of the year. These fluctuations in usage are no surprise to the oil companies and, theoretically at least, they could plan ahead for these times. It doesn't require any collusion between these companies to pull this off. If just one starts the process, the others will follow.
I suspect another major factor that we haven't heard much about in a while is speculation by investors in the commodity markets. They also know when the biggest usage times are. Those activities drive up the cost per barrel, but I'm not really versed on how much of the final cost is based on the price of the unrefined oil. I'm just glad this is being looked into!
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