California: Shell-Shocked

Link to Bloomberg (posted earlier).

...“We’re really sort of shell-shocked,” said Tom Robinson, president of Santa Clara, California-based Robinson Oil Corp., which operates 34 Rotten Robbie convenience stores. “If you’ve been in California long enough, you know how volatile our market can be. But to see prices go up $1 a gallon since Monday -- I’ve never seen that before.”

A perfect storm? Efforts to move to renewables -- EPA mandates -- summer-to-winter gasoline formulation switching -- small refinery fires -- lack of flexibility.

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On another note, same subject: some months ago I remember folks saying I was absolutely "off my rocker" (or words to that effect) to suggest that gasoline would go to $5.00 or even $6.00 by the end of the year.