Surging Gas Prices: What's the Real Cause?

[StupidScript]

From Reuters:

U.S. refiners' glittering profits are expected to jump this year as robust demand growth from motorists and recurring snags at aging plants push fuel prices near record territory, analysts said.

How many times have you seen the excuse given for increased prices as "refinery problems" or "delivery bottlenecks"? Now we hear that "recurring snags at aging plants" are doing their thing to push prices up ... aheck-gaak-chuk ... say again?

I can see it now ... in the boardrooms of Mobil\Texaco\Shell:

"We've got some pretty bad problems at our refineries that just keep getting worse."

"Should we fix the problems?"

"Why? As long as those babies keep breaking down, we're raking it in! Never seen such profits, and we can thank our aging infrastructure and our reluctance to spend money to fix it for the dough."

"Many days we have multiple problems," he said. "No refinery operates smoothly, these are old facilities which handle very flammable liquids, so they will be susceptible to accidents, just by the law of averages," he said.

Meanwhile, the refiners themselves are enjoying a field day in profits.

On the West Coast, profit margins are at an unheard of $39.88 per barrel of crude oil processed, as the area suffered more refinery glitches than the rest of the country. Margins in the Gulf Coast are at $25.28 a barrel, the Midwest at $28.38 and the East Coast $17.31, Gheit added.

Ahh. The sweet, sweet sounds of shareholder bliss. <blech> Makes me ill. I remember back when the price of a barrel of oil topped $20 back in the early 1970s. Now we see $70 per barrel ... and with a profit margin of $40 per barrel in some areas, it's not too hard to believe.