The author of that article does not understand how things work, as is the case with most of the public.
Crude prices are up but not because of the refineries.
The storm could affect drilling and production of crude oil and that raised prices as speculators gobble up futures and spot market oil.
There is some terrorist stuff going on in mexico, leftist rebels are blowing up pipelines (damn lefties). The crude inventory is down slightly, all those things have led to an increase of crude.
Some is real but most is emotional. If people think the price will go up, they react and buy which sends the price up. Self-fulfilling prophecy or something like that.
Same thing happens with gasoline.
In the past there was always an abundant supply of product available and the excess available tended to level things out and stiffle the speculators. Nowadays it doesn't take much to send them into a feeding frenzy and that creates the wild fluctuations.
I hate government interference in what is one of the only free-market systems left, but I do think it is time to put some restrictions on the speculators. They have too much power to influence price.
i ask one thing: please do some homework before spouting garbage based on emotion and lack of knowledge. Study the system, find out how it works, and then comment. Don't use an aticle or news story from some news yokel who doesn't have a clue to base your assumptions on.
Go here first
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/info_glance/petroleum.html
There you can get real, accurate information that really explains how things work and what causes what to happen.
I do alot of research for my investments but 90% of what I need to know is right there on that website. Spend a half hour or so a week to study it and you will know more about crude and gasoline markets than 99% of the world. you will also be amused or possibly annoyed by the comments by those who don't really understand.
Blaming the big bad oil companies and saying that they are ripping you off and they have you by the short hairs only shows your lack of knowledge and understanding of the systems.
If you want to comment as if you are an expert, then at least try to have some real information to back it up. Not just knee-jerk reactions based on what someone else said or what you might have seen on the local news last night.
I've been studying these exact systems for decades and besides making me relatively wealthy for an average working stiff, I have learned one thing for sure: the oil companies do not control the price. If they did it would be well over $5 a gallon. Maybe even $10.
They want to get as much as they can. that is their job.
they can only get as much as the buyers are willing to pay. just like on E-bay.
The refiners have to sell the stuff, they can't sit on it for very long. It has a shelf life and they only have so much storage capacity. They ask as much as possile but settle for something lower.
That's the wholesale market.