Oil refinery profits set a record in California
The recent surge in regional fuel prices has left L.A. area drivers paying the nation’s highest average for a gallon of gas.
Oil refinery profits set a California record of $1.61 a gallon in July as consumers in the Los Angeles region paid as much as a dollar more than the rest of the nation.
The refineries’ gross profits, the amount they collect on a gallon of gasoline, was the highest on record since the California Energy Commission began collecting data in 1999, said Gordon Schremp, a senior fuels specialist at the commission.
The record $1.61 was set during the week of July 13, when gasoline prices reached as high as $5 a gallon in downtown Los Angeles. Schremp said the next report for the period ending July 20 could go even higher.
SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >>
Refineries are charging more because of low gasoline inventories following a February explosion at Exxon Mobil’s Torrance plant that cut production at the facility to less than 20%.
Twitter: @ivanlpenn
MORE FROM BUSINESS
Buick drops Regal price to reignite brand’s U.S. sales
Fruit grower Dan Gerawan’s decades-long fight with the UFW
Women in science and engineering seek their own version of ‘MacGyver’ on TV